With permission and reposted from my friend and colleague (and overall badass) Brigid Reale. The original Facebook post can be found here.
LONG & HOPEFULLY HELPFUL POST WARNING Something I (and many of my fellow Voice Actors) hear often is “How do I get into/break into voiceover? People always tell me I have a great voice (can be replaced with “I do all kinds of voices”)”. To be 100% honest and transparent, when I hear that last part, I fight the eye-roll, take a deep calming breath, and mindfully unclench my shoulders. It’s like when I was a yoga instructor and people would say, “You teach yoga? Oh I LOVE TO STRETCH!” 🙄🤦♀️🤯 Honestly, I can’t really be salty. Compared to other careers, you don’t run into voice actors everyday like you might IT people, unless you are a voice actor. And there are thousands of us! We are actually a pretty tight knit community. But to the rest of world, yeah, we’re kinda like rainbows. And you don’t know what you don’t know. It seems like I am (or my non-vo hubby is) being approached by people more frequently right now, understandably, due to the pandemic hitting employment so hard. This is one of the reasons I am writing this now. And yes, I’d guesstimate that 90% or more of voiceover work is happening from home studios at the moment. It seems like a win-win! And let me be clear- I am not trying to dissuade anyone from having a dream. I simply want to be fair and honest. Voiceover is cool, and fun, full of variety, and potentially lucrative, but it is not something you wake up and decide to do on a whim. Having a great voice is wonderful and certainly can serve you well in this industry. But it is one of the smallest parts of the big picture. I have been a voice actor for a short 7 years now, and the one thing I have learned– Voiceover is not a job. It is a small business; one that requires a pretty hefty initial investment of time, education, and money to get you up and running. Think of it like being a coffee lover, who thinks it would be great to own a coffee shop. That love of coffee is amazing, but you have a lot to buy, prep, and organize before you can start selling your signature lattes. In your first 6 months to a year, you should expect to spend between $10k – $20k. Why? Because you will need to:
Build a home studio (whether in a closet, out of PVC piping, converting a room, or buying a fancy professional isolation booth).
Buy your equipment (XLR microphone, interface, audio-production level headphones, recording software, just to start).
Get many many MANY sessions of training in genre-specific voiceover technique, vo business training, audio production and editing training. Training can be done 1-on-1 (around $175 per hour), or in workshops and conferences (prices vary from $25-$40 for group classes, up to several hundred dollars for weekend long conferences).
Get professionally produced demos for EACH genre for which you are looking to book work. Demos run between $1800-$2500 each for the pro ones that you really DO want.
Build a website.
Acquire various other memberships, crm software, marketing, networking, engineering, bookkeeping tools, and business resources to help you organize your business, find opportunities, deliver work, and collect payment. And I’m just scratching the surface here. Once you have everything in place, you will need to know:
Where to find opportunities (It’s not just one place or type of place).
Industry standard rates for all the different areas of voiceover. TV Commercial work charges differently from radio commercial work or explainer video work or e-learning or audiobooks or IVR or podcasts or animation or video games or mobile apps or museum tours or or or. Usage is not one size fits all.
How to generate a quote with all the necessary line items and terms & conditions.
How to audition.
How to record work, edit it, and deliver it to the client in their desired audio format quickly. Also how to do pick-ups quickly and efficiently.
How to run and be directed in a live session.
How to invoice and collect payment. It’s a lot! In no way, shape, or form is this a thing that you should think, “OH! I wanna do some voiceover work.” NOPE! This is a full-blown small business, and the minute you enter this arena, you are an entrepreneur. You should think, “OH! I want to open a voiceover business!” There are no shortcuts to this. And like I said, the industry is a very supportive and inclusive community. I LOVE MY TRIBE OF COLLEAGUES! They are some of the best people I have the privilege to include in my daily life. Can you make a fulltime living? The short, sing-songy answer- Yeees! When you are first starting, you should expect to be seeking opportunities 80% of the time, and working…maybe 20% of the time, more or less. And do not expect to recoup your investment right away. If you do, I suggest you also go buy a lottery ticket, because your luck is on fire! It takes time– not uncommonly, years. As you market, create connections, and develop strong business relationships, that 80:20 balance should change, but again takes time. My point is, yes, voiceover is really cool, interesting, diverse and well-paying work, when done right. Yes, it is as fun as it looks most of the time. But it’s not easy, nor is it for the faint of heart. It’s a long game, not a lightning round. Hope this helps!
https://vosuperhero.com/wp-content/uploads/NEW-LOGO-FILE-2024-V2-300x91.png00Bonniehttps://vosuperhero.com/wp-content/uploads/NEW-LOGO-FILE-2024-V2-300x91.pngBonnie2020-12-11 14:27:542020-12-11 14:28:20LONG & HOPEFULLY HELPFUL POST by Brigid Reale
There are many “social media marketing gurus” out there, and just as many, if not more, influencers with massive followings selling you something every time you refresh your feed. How can you tell if they’re legit? Enter: SocialBlade. This nifty site allows you to look at the analytics for users on social media platforms from Youtube to TikTok, and everything in between. For most users, it allows you to look at a brief history of the user’s account over the last year or so. You can track followers, unfollows, media upload count, and more. What are some things to look out for and investigate before you give any of these gurus/influencers your money or time?
It is quite unusual to go from 300+ new followers in a month to suddenly having over 4200 new followers in a month. That boost in followers accounted for about 1/4 of their current following.
One thing to look for is a sudden increase in followers, an unusually high number, especially compared to their average follower count, surrounded by a gradual dropoff. A big increase isn’t the most unusual thing to happen – let’s say someone was cast in a show on Amazon Prime and their PR team announced it. There’s a big chance their social media following is going to grow. But the thing is – it’s more likely than not) going to keep growing.
Here are some statistics from a popular fitness Instagrammer who has been accused of buying followers. If you look at November 6th, they had a sudden increase of over 2,000 in one day.
Another giveaway of a fake following: low engagement on posts. SocialBlade considers followings with 1-2% engagement rate to be “okay” while 5% is considered a success and much more likely to have an authentic following versus fake followers.
So why do people buy fake followers? Honestly, if I had to guess, it probably goes back to appearances. If you have over 10K, you can use the swipe up feature. It “looks” more legit. But it does more harm than good in the long run. Audiences are wising up. Instagram is getting smarter in catching it behind the scenes. Remember the purge of inactive followers from a few years ago that people freaked out about? A lot of users who bought fake followers basically wasted their money and their follower count dropped. At the end of the day, buying followers can get your account shut down if you’re not careful. It’s really not worth the risk.
So, lets recap. The next time you see someone with an impressive social media following who is trying to sell you some sort of IG course or service, look them up first before you open your wallet. Scroll through their feed, look at their pictures and videos. Are they getting the kind of engagement that you think is successful? Or are they selling you the appearance of being successful? There is a big difference. I love using my voice on social media to spread happiness, meet new people in the industry, and have also had the pleasure of making some incredible friendships online through various platforms. To me, it’s more than image, it’s about the connection. Why have a large following if you’re not truly making an impact? I might not have as big of a following as some people who push social media marketing online, but the numbers speak for themselves. I’ve never claimed to be an expert, just someone who loves using social media to actually be social and meet new people. I’d rather have a smaller following if it means I’m being authentic and genuine versus selling a lie. Be honest with your audience. Especially if these are people buying from you and trusting you with their business. Stay tuned for part 2 of the blog where we’ll talk about ways you can authentically connect with your followers, and some tools that have been really helpful for me in my business.
Hailing from Los Angeles, Bonnie has been acting on the stage, television, film, and a voice actor for over 20 years. Credits include Isabel in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Margaret in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, and Glory and Rhonda in ALMOST, MAINE. She also recently performed in COMING BACK FOR ME, the winner of Project Chrysalis 2.0 with Cary Playwrights. Voiceover clients include Amazon, Buick, NC State, Toyota, and K-Swiss. She has a Bachelors in Theatre Arts from CSU San Bernardino. When she’s not recording in the studio, she can be found hanging out with her dog Marcel, drinking too much coffee, and serving on the board at North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre. You should totally check out her website at vosuperhero.com
https://vosuperhero.com/wp-content/uploads/NEW-LOGO-FILE-2024-V2-300x91.png00Bonniehttps://vosuperhero.com/wp-content/uploads/NEW-LOGO-FILE-2024-V2-300x91.pngBonnie2020-11-17 13:41:492020-11-17 13:41:50Marketing Woes and Foes in 2020, Part One
When I was younger and talked about how people often told me I wasn’t good/smart/pretty/thin enough to be an actor, my dad would say that living well was the best revenge.
Now that I’m older, I think he was mostly right. But I’d say living well could also be: living truthfully, following your own path, being your authentic self. Whatever it means to you.
I’m not super into the idea of revenge in general (I’m too busy and am just trying to live a life with good vibes, you know?) but I will say… it feels GOOD when you accomplish the things others said you couldn’t. You’re not necessarily proving them wrong, but you’re really proving yourself right. 🦸🏼♀️💥
https://vosuperhero.com/wp-content/uploads/NEW-LOGO-FILE-2024-V2-300x91.png00Bonniehttps://vosuperhero.com/wp-content/uploads/NEW-LOGO-FILE-2024-V2-300x91.pngBonnie2020-10-19 14:00:072020-10-19 14:01:09living well is the best revenge?
Last chance! If you missed “New Age Farewells” by Susan M. Steadman and the rest of these fantastic plays as part of the NC 10 by 10 Play Festival last weekend… tomorrow is your final chance to watch! Admission to the play festival is pay what you can, and it all goes to support the arts here in NC.
So much effort was put into making this happen and to keep the arts alive in 2020. I’m truly honored to have been such a small part of it, and to have been able to direct such a great play with phenomenal actors. Grab your ticket to admission here!
A fellow VO colleague asked me how my branding is working for me in my business and said that they were thinking of doing something similar until they were advised against it by someone outside the industry. Had this been me ten years ago, I would’ve re-evaluated my whole brand and gone into a “Did I make a mistake?!” spiral, because back then I wouldn’t have believed it, and it wouldn’t have felt genuine and authentic. But me today? Nope. So why did I pick The Voiceover Superhero as my branding?
To answer their first question, I’d say it’s going pretty well. When you create your business brand, it needs to be about what is associated with you, what you do, and your message needs to be clear. I was raised in geek culture, and could identify and name the members of The Justice League and the X-Men before I started preschool. But it goes beyond that. At my core, I’ve always strived to be of service and help others, to offer guidance and support, to be a problem solver. Superheroes have been my own personal heroes and have served as my North Star during very dark and trying times. With the world feeling as scary as it is, we could all use more superheroes right about now.
Basically, it isn’t about me, in a braggadocious manner. It’s about what I can do for my clients, my colleagues, my friends, and my family. If I can’t be the solution they’re looking for, I want to be the person who can help them find it. Difficult things and tasks don’t scare me. I don’t give up easily. I believe that the impossible can be done. I’m living proof that great things can come from small and difficult beginnings, and I believe in the power of people combining their powers to make change happen. I believe we’re all stronger when we work together.
So when you boil it down, that’s why I chose to represent myself as The Voiceover Superhero, to be the person that can help save the day. Because where there’s a Williams, there’s definitely a way.
I’d love to hear the backstory of your branding in the comments below 🙂
Hailing from Los Angeles, Bonnie has been acting on the stage, television, film, and a voice actor for over 20 years. Credits include Isabel in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Margaret in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, and Glory and Rhonda in ALMOST, MAINE. She also recently performed in COMING BACK FOR ME, the winner of Project Chrysalis 2.0 with Cary Playwrights. Voiceover clients include Amazon, Buick, NC State, Toyota, and K-Swiss. She has a Bachelors in Theatre Arts from CSU San Bernardino. When she’s not recording in the studio, she can be found hanging out with her dog Marcel, drinking too much coffee, and serving on the board at North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre. You should totally check out her website at vosuperhero.com
LONG & HOPEFULLY HELPFUL POST by Brigid Reale
With permission and reposted from my friend and colleague (and overall badass) Brigid Reale. The original Facebook post can be found here.
LONG & HOPEFULLY HELPFUL POST WARNING
Something I (and many of my fellow Voice Actors) hear often is “How do I get into/break into voiceover? People always tell me I have a great voice (can be replaced with “I do all kinds of voices”)”. To be 100% honest and transparent, when I hear that last part, I fight the eye-roll, take a deep calming breath, and mindfully unclench my shoulders. It’s like when I was a yoga instructor and people would say, “You teach yoga? Oh I LOVE TO STRETCH!” 🙄🤦♀️🤯 Honestly, I can’t really be salty. Compared to other careers, you don’t run into voice actors everyday like you might IT people, unless you are a voice actor. And there are thousands of us! We are actually a pretty tight knit community. But to the rest of world, yeah, we’re kinda like rainbows. And you don’t know what you don’t know.
It seems like I am (or my non-vo hubby is) being approached by people more frequently right now, understandably, due to the pandemic hitting employment so hard. This is one of the reasons I am writing this now. And yes, I’d guesstimate that 90% or more of voiceover work is happening from home studios at the moment. It seems like a win-win! And let me be clear- I am not trying to dissuade anyone from having a dream. I simply want to be fair and honest. Voiceover is cool, and fun, full of variety, and potentially lucrative, but it is not something you wake up and decide to do on a whim.
Having a great voice is wonderful and certainly can serve you well in this industry. But it is one of the smallest parts of the big picture. I have been a voice actor for a short 7 years now, and the one thing I have learned– Voiceover is not a job. It is a small business; one that requires a pretty hefty initial investment of time, education, and money to get you up and running. Think of it like being a coffee lover, who thinks it would be great to own a coffee shop. That love of coffee is amazing, but you have a lot to buy, prep, and organize before you can start selling your signature lattes.
In your first 6 months to a year, you should expect to spend between $10k – $20k. Why? Because you will need to:
And I’m just scratching the surface here. Once you have everything in place, you will need to know:
It’s a lot! In no way, shape, or form is this a thing that you should think, “OH! I wanna do some voiceover work.” NOPE! This is a full-blown small business, and the minute you enter this arena, you are an entrepreneur. You should think, “OH! I want to open a voiceover business!” There are no shortcuts to this. And like I said, the industry is a very supportive and inclusive community. I LOVE MY TRIBE OF COLLEAGUES! They are some of the best people I have the privilege to include in my daily life.
Can you make a fulltime living? The short, sing-songy answer- Yeees! When you are first starting, you should expect to be seeking opportunities 80% of the time, and working…maybe 20% of the time, more or less. And do not expect to recoup your investment right away. If you do, I suggest you also go buy a lottery ticket, because your luck is on fire! It takes time– not uncommonly, years. As you market, create connections, and develop strong business relationships, that 80:20 balance should change, but again takes time. My point is, yes, voiceover is really cool, interesting, diverse and well-paying work, when done right. Yes, it is as fun as it looks most of the time. But it’s not easy, nor is it for the faint of heart. It’s a long game, not a lightning round. Hope this helps!
For more information on Brigid check out realevoices.com
Marketing Woes and Foes in 2020, Part One
There are many “social media marketing gurus” out there, and just as many, if not more, influencers with massive followings selling you something every time you refresh your feed. How can you tell if they’re legit?
Enter: SocialBlade. This nifty site allows you to look at the analytics for users on social media platforms from Youtube to TikTok, and everything in between.
For most users, it allows you to look at a brief history of the user’s account over the last year or so. You can track followers, unfollows, media upload count, and more.
What are some things to look out for and investigate before you give any of these gurus/influencers your money or time?
It is quite unusual to go from 300+ new followers in a month to suddenly having over 4200 new followers in a month. That boost in followers accounted for about 1/4 of their current following.
One thing to look for is a sudden increase in followers, an unusually high number, especially compared to their average follower count, surrounded by a gradual dropoff. A big increase isn’t the most unusual thing to happen – let’s say someone was cast in a show on Amazon Prime and their PR team announced it. There’s a big chance their social media following is going to grow. But the thing is – it’s more likely than not) going to keep growing.
Here are some statistics from a popular fitness Instagrammer who has been accused of buying followers. If you look at November 6th, they had a sudden increase of over 2,000 in one day.
Another giveaway of a fake following: low engagement on posts. SocialBlade considers followings with 1-2% engagement rate to be “okay” while 5% is considered a success and much more likely to have an authentic following versus fake followers.
So why do people buy fake followers? Honestly, if I had to guess, it probably goes back to appearances. If you have over 10K, you can use the swipe up feature. It “looks” more legit. But it does more harm than good in the long run. Audiences are wising up. Instagram is getting smarter in catching it behind the scenes. Remember the purge of inactive followers from a few years ago that people freaked out about? A lot of users who bought fake followers basically wasted their money and their follower count dropped. At the end of the day, buying followers can get your account shut down if you’re not careful. It’s really not worth the risk.
So, lets recap. The next time you see someone with an impressive social media following who is trying to sell you some sort of IG course or service, look them up first before you open your wallet. Scroll through their feed, look at their pictures and videos. Are they getting the kind of engagement that you think is successful? Or are they selling you the appearance of being successful? There is a big difference.
I love using my voice on social media to spread happiness, meet new people in the industry, and have also had the pleasure of making some incredible friendships online through various platforms. To me, it’s more than image, it’s about the connection. Why have a large following if you’re not truly making an impact? I might not have as big of a following as some people who push social media marketing online, but the numbers speak for themselves. I’ve never claimed to be an expert, just someone who loves using social media to actually be social and meet new people. I’d rather have a smaller following if it means I’m being authentic and genuine versus selling a lie.
Be honest with your audience. Especially if these are people buying from you and trusting you with their business.
Stay tuned for part 2 of the blog where we’ll talk about ways you can authentically connect with your followers, and some tools that have been really helpful for me in my business.
living well is the best revenge?
When I was younger and talked about how people often told me I wasn’t good/smart/pretty/thin enough to be an actor, my dad would say that living well was the best revenge.
Now that I’m older, I think he was mostly right. But I’d say living well could also be: living truthfully, following your own path, being your authentic self. Whatever it means to you.
I’m not super into the idea of revenge in general (I’m too busy and am just trying to live a life with good vibes, you know?) but I will say… it feels GOOD when you accomplish the things others said you couldn’t. You’re not necessarily proving them wrong, but you’re really proving yourself right. 🦸🏼♀️💥
My NC Directing debut!
Last chance! If you missed “New Age Farewells” by Susan M. Steadman and the rest of these fantastic plays as part of the NC 10 by 10 Play Festival last weekend… tomorrow is your final chance to watch! Admission to the play festival is pay what you can, and it all goes to support the arts here in NC.
So much effort was put into making this happen and to keep the arts alive in 2020. I’m truly honored to have been such a small part of it, and to have been able to direct such a great play with phenomenal actors. Grab your ticket to admission here!
Why the Voiceover Superhero?
A fellow VO colleague asked me how my branding is working for me in my business and said that they were thinking of doing something similar until they were advised against it by someone outside the industry. Had this been me ten years ago, I would’ve re-evaluated my whole brand and gone into a “Did I make a mistake?!” spiral, because back then I wouldn’t have believed it, and it wouldn’t have felt genuine and authentic. But me today? Nope. So why did I pick The Voiceover Superhero as my branding?
To answer their first question, I’d say it’s going pretty well. When you create your business brand, it needs to be about what is associated with you, what you do, and your message needs to be clear. I was raised in geek culture, and could identify and name the members of The Justice League and the X-Men before I started preschool. But it goes beyond that. At my core, I’ve always strived to be of service and help others, to offer guidance and support, to be a problem solver. Superheroes have been my own personal heroes and have served as my North Star during very dark and trying times. With the world feeling as scary as it is, we could all use more superheroes right about now.
Basically, it isn’t about me, in a braggadocious manner. It’s about what I can do for my clients, my colleagues, my friends, and my family. If I can’t be the solution they’re looking for, I want to be the person who can help them find it. Difficult things and tasks don’t scare me. I don’t give up easily. I believe that the impossible can be done. I’m living proof that great things can come from small and difficult beginnings, and I believe in the power of people combining their powers to make change happen. I believe we’re all stronger when we work together.
So when you boil it down, that’s why I chose to represent myself as The Voiceover Superhero, to be the person that can help save the day. Because where there’s a Williams, there’s definitely a way.
I’d love to hear the backstory of your branding in the comments below 🙂