Part One: The Dark Side

This is the first part of a two part series talking about what I wish I knew when I seriously thought about going into voice over. This first part deals with knocking the stars out of your eyes and the downside of pursuing voice over as more than a hobby. The second part will discuss why, regardless of the pitfalls, it’s a wonderful thing to do.

I have been involved in the Voice Over business for roughly three years, which is a fairly short amount of time. I have made countless mistakes. I do, however, pride myself in only making the same mistake once and learning from my errors.

This article is meant for those ‘newbies’ who are just starting on their Voice Over journey or those considering taking on VO as a profession. My intention is to point out the potholes that I have found myself in and give you a taste of both the light and dark side of the industry. This is meant to be one of those ‘if I knew then what I know now’ sort of pieces and will try and present a balanced view of today’s quickly changing Voice Over market.

Lately, a massive number of people are exploring and entering the Voice Over business. Here are a few reasons why.

You have a good voice and everyone tells you that you should be doing voice overs. You’ve alway loved reading to your kids. You just got laid off from your radio station. It seems pretty easy since all you have to is read and get paid. There are lots of people out there who will discover you. Performing is fun. Some USB microphones are really cheap; it won’t cost you much to get started. All you need is an account with a Pay-to-Play site and the money will start rolling in.

Over the last few years, the Voice Over business, and I want to stress that voice over is a business, has taken on too many aspects of a Gold Rush mentality. A quick Google search for voice over training will bring up dozens of people and companies claiming that they will train you to become a voice over talent, produce a demo, and turn you into a quick success.

As Larry Hudson, a wonderful and wise voice talent puts it: “The only ones who made money during the Gold Rush were the guys who sold shovels.” There are a lot of people out there selling shovels. Many of those will tell you about their wonderful success, the bags of money that get delivered every day and that for a fee, most likely a huge one, they will give you all the training you need PLUS record your demo in a very short amount of time (maybe a month or two), and you will be on your way to a lifetime of riches. There are people putting out shingles advertising voice over coaching services who have little or no credentials. Dave Courvoisier, a wonderful voice talent and all around nice guy, posted this cautionary tale:

“Top AudioBook narrator Johnny Heller wrote just the other day in his blog lamenting that some audiobook narrators with 10 books under their belt are turning to coaching, and holding webinars (shakes head). 10 books is just a start...not a coaching certificate”.

Personally, I have narrated 34 audiobooks, some are even good, and if I hawked myself as a coach, I would probably arrest myself for false advertising. There are no academic degrees or certification awarded for voice over, so Caveat Emptor (buyer beware)

If you hear of anyone promising you an early path to success, the only course of action is to run for the door and quickly, since buying that lie will do no more than transfer money from your pocket to their pocket, and you will be no better off than when you started. People who fall for this are sheep waiting to be shorn and there are many unscrupulous individuals constantly running shears. I will not name names, but just know that there are many names to name and it’s far easier to make a buck coaching than it is to find voice over work.

Here Are 13 Things You Don’t Want To Hear About The Voice Over Business:

Hardly anyone makes real money at it. It takes years to establish yourself. To be competitive you need constant and consistent ongoing training. A good voice is probably the least important part of the equation. Never make a demo until your coach tells you that you are ready to make a demo, and that may take much longer than you bargain for, and cost more than you can imagine. To be competitive you need a home studio which can cost quite a bit when you take into account items such as: a microphone suited for your voice, a decent computer, recording software, acoustic treatment, and more than this general article will cover. You’ll need to become an audio engineer. That the majority (I would say well over 75%) of your time will be spent marketing yourself through direct email marketing, cold calling, knocking on doors, whatever. A voice over talent runs their own business and must be prepared to run it as a business with plans, goals, objectives, budgets and all the stuff you’ve been trying to get away from by becoming a voice over talent. Pay-to-Play sites put you in competition with hundreds of others who have been doing this longer than you, and, at the start, are better trained than you. Finding an agent is hard. If you find an agent and are very good and lucky, only a small part of your income will come from your agent. Most people give up in a fairly short period of time.

So, am I saying that you should not pursue your dream since you are doomed to failure and might as well sell real-estate? Emphatically no!! What I am saying is that you need to approach voice over from a realistic perspective and that includes doing a lot of stuff that’s not fun, and winding up working 80 hours a week for yourself so you don't have to work 40 hours for someone else.

Now, if you’re not totally scared off, you are in a far better position than I was when I started. I knew nothing more than I liked reading to my kids who are now grown, and that voice over is something I always wanted to do. I knew no one who did voice over, had no contacts, and was a lamb getting ever closer to the big set of shears.

The second part of this article (the light side) will discuss what I found, who I found and how I found all the reasons why I will be a voice over talent for the rest of my life, and wouldn’t think of doing anything else and how I avoided becoming roadkill.





About the Author

David Winograd earned his Ph.D. in Instructional Technology from Arizona State University and has taught hundreds of in-service teachers how to systematically create curriculum and deliver it using technology. He has been involved in online communication since the late 70’s when he started the first themed Bulletin Board System in Northern New Jersey called “David’s Place”. He oversaw and moderated Apple][ and later Macintosh-oriented forums on the CompuServe Information service for a decade. His doctoral work focused on Distance Learning, now referred to as e-Learning. “Retiring” to Florida, David is now a voice talent, having recorded over 30 audiobooks and is involved in e-Learning, among other forms of voice over.

David can be found at Davids-Voice.com and can be contacted at 516-637-8692 or david_winograd@davids-voice.com