Anyone who can maintain a 12-hour-a-day voice-over business, a separate side business, have some semblance of a family life AND complete a book …deserves an “attaboy”.

Attaboy, Bill DeWees!!!

You have probably seen any of Bill’s 100+ YouTube “how to” videos on the subject of building your voiceover business.  Bill is the poster boy for voice over success, and he loves mentoring, teaching, and coaching voice actors…which means we’re all the beneficiaries of his abundant spirit.

Now, he’s produced a book that summarizes much of what you would learn by watching all those videos (not that you shouldn’t see them…they’re great!).

The book is called:  HOW TO START AND BUILD A 6 FIGURE VOICE OVER BUSINESS. It’s available on Amazon.com.

Buying the book automatically gives you back the free audio download:  “7 Secrets to a 6 Figure Voice Over Income” (gold).

The book has chapters like:

“Office Tools for Professional Voice Over Talent”
“Workflow in your Six Figure VoiceOver Studio”
“Marketing Execution for Voice Over Success”

I’ve known Bill for some time now, and I can unreservedly and wholeheartedly recommend this book.  I’m getting nothing for this endorsement but the satisfaction of spreading Bill’s good word.

Bill is the authentic article.  He genuinely enjoys helping people, and raising the bar for voice actors to the all-around betterment of our business.

As I mentioned in my testimonial on the back cover of the book:  “Bill offers a treasure-chest of hard-won experience, here, because he believes in mentoring.  Lucky us!”

CourVO

Google is fascinating to me right now.  You probably gathered that from my GOOGLE IS ON FIRE blog of last week.  I’ll stop with the open infatuation after this article…but I won’t stop being a fan.  There’s just so much going on with their many services, and the new ways they’re integrating them.

Along with all that, I’ve found a new marketing blog I want to tell you about.  It’s a site you should put on your RSS feed reader.  And THAT puts me in the embarrassing position of reneging on my Google admiration.  Google is sunsetting one of their more popular services:  Google Reader.  Google Reader’s demise is getting closer…so please revisit my article about Google Reader replacements.

I’ve settled on Feedly as my Go0gle Reader replacement.  You can easily add it to your Chrome or FireFox browser as an add-on or extension.

OK, so what site is it you should add to your Feedly Reader?  Convince &  Convert: Social and Content Accelerators.  This site is great for marketing AND social media tips… which brings me to the title of today’s blog, and even more reason to love Google:

3 WAYS TO USE GOOGLE TO BE BETTER AT PR

Honestly, Convince & Convert would love to sign you as a client.  Jay Baer is the force behind the site, and he’s for hire, but he obviously believes in the CourVO pay-it-forward blog philosophy, ’cause you’ll find tons of other great ideas on this site.

The particular article I’ve referenced above is actually by guest blogger and marketing veteran Carrie Morgan.  It hits 3 quick ideas for using Google to get and find better Public Relations.

CourVO

WoVO:  an affectionate acronym for World-Voices Organization.  WoVO is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) with the altruistic motive of being the Industry Trade Association for voice-actors everywhere.  http://worldvo.org = info and sign-up.
http://worldvo.com = online WoVO community.

Do you know what an Industry Trade Association is?  For the dictionary-like definition, I like Wikipedia’s description as well as any:

“…A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association participates in public relations activities such as advertising, education, political donations, lobbying and publishing, but its main focus is collaboration between companies, or standardization. Associations may offer other services, such as producing conferences, networking or charitable events or offering classes or educational materials. Many associations are non-profit organizations governed by bylaws and directed by officers who are also members….”

I’m not trying to bore you… I’m just not sure how many voice-actors know what a trade association is.  As it sits now, most of us are not part of an orgainzed whole, we’re all independent freelancers.

…and THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT.

Together, our words, intentions and action have more direction and power than if we are apart and unorganized.  You still get to be a freelancer, but joined with others of your kind, in an industry trade association, OUR profession takes on a pride, a community, a cohesiveness that works for the good of your business.  SAG-AFTRA doesn’t really fill this need, and by the same token, WoVO isn’t proposing to move into the union’s mandate.

In designing WoVO, we looked at many successful trade associations, and specifically chose the template of the National Speakers Association to model after.  Not that they have all the answers, but we think they’re doing a lot of things right.

“I dunno Dave,” you may ask…”it seems a bit esoteric to me”.  “What will a membership in WoVO benefit me, my freelance business, and my clients?”  Great questions…I’ve seen them posted by several individuals, and it’s the impetus behind this blog.

We’re not saying World-Voices is going to appeal to everyone.  We think, though, that it answers the needs (or ultimately will answer the needs) of the majority of working voice actors.

7 Great Reasons to Join WoVO

1)  WoVO is you.  You and hundreds of other voice actors.  People you know.  People you respect.  People who desire for their business what you desire for your business.  Success.  The collective will have more leverage than the individual.

2) WoVO has integrity, transparency, credibility.  We have legal counsel.  We admit our mistakes.  We constantly ask for input.  You can serve with us.  We saw what went wrong with the…er…other…or, previous…aw, let’s not even talk about that.  We know how to avoid those pitfalls.

3)  WoVO has connections.  We know tons of people:  your peers, coaches, agents, producers, engineers.  99.9% of them like what we’ve done  with the place (and when I say “we”, I mean the core of about 10 of us who formed the organization, and act as its directors). Our connections are your connections.  We like putting people in touch with each other.

4)  WoVO is right answer to the question.  And the question is:  how can voice-actors advance their professional goals?  In fact, every question that comes up becomes a possible issue for the trade association as a whole to solve. This is where the power of the hive-mind overcomes the resources of the individual or even an individual’s close circle.

5) WoVO is all about community.  This is one of our early and enduring commitments to the voice-actors who join.  Our WorldVO.com site is an online meet-up for sharing, relationship, conversation, and business.  It’s free, and it’s been brilliantly designed by Voice Actor and WoVO director Andy Curtis.  Visitations are growing by the day.

6)  WoVO is an inexpensive and worthwhile investment.  For $49/year, you are becoming part of the first-ever voice acting trade association.  I realize that may not be a big deal to some people.  But for many of us, getting in on the ground floor, and helping to set an early agenda is fulfilling and exciting.  Joining in organized relationship with other professionals in common goals can be incredibly gratifying and productive.

7)  WoVO is just getting started.  Any of us on the Executive Board would tell you of the philosophical discussions, public relations challenges, and organizational roadblocks of the early months.  I would agree that the first year was low-key, and offered little more than hope and promises to those looking in from the outside.  But year two is already taking off with enthusiastic sign-ups, a refined vision, renewed vigor, and a better sense of what it will take to succeed.

One of our hopes is that high-profile producers, coaches, and other VO thought-influencers will understand the value of our vision, and join in our endeavour.  I’m not at liberty to name names yet, but impressive and respected individuals at the top of our profession are preparing to announce their commitment to WoVO.

That means you too!

Thanks for taking the time to read today’s blog.  I hope you will see the upside to joining WoVO.  We need your participation to help us achieve our goals.  Visit http://www.WorldVO.org to sign-up.

CourVO

In less than two weeks, the Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC) takes place in New York City.   The conference itself is only one day, but the entire Audiobook publisher’s community makes this their seminal annual event by putting APAC in the context of other meet-ups, sessions, mixers, and awards.

For one thing, the Audies take place the day after APAC.  The Audies is the equivalent of the Oscars for audiobook narrators and publishers.  SAG-AFTRA  is holding a meeting…so is ACX (Audible), and the Book Expo America (BEA) also takes place at the same exhibit hall.  I’m sure I’m leaving something out.  Suffice it to say the world of audiobooks in North America comes together in every way during APAC.

This will be my second time going.  I’m finding audiobook work increasingly fulfilling as I’ve found more and better publishers to work for.  Making the commitment to be there and meet the movers and shakers of that business has been one of the best investments of my time and money in growing my voice-acting career.

In advance of the APAC event, there is a webinar coming up this next Tuesday that is an excellent warm-up.  Everybody’s favorite voice acting coach — Pat Fraley –  teams up with accomplished audiobook narrator — Scott Brick — and one of the true giants in all aspects of the audiobook publishing business — Robert Deyan — to hold a webinar called THE 2013 AUDIOBOOK GOLD RUSH.

That webinar team alone is worth the $47 dollar price of admission, but get this:  100% of the entry fee goes to help performer Nicole Nielson, who has been stricken with an incurable disease.  Nicole is one of Pat’s former students, and isn’t it just like Pat to go this extra mile to help someone in need?

Click this link to see all the details of the presenters and the subject matter of this webinar.  If you can’t attend during the hour-and-a-half webinar, no worries, a recording of the whole webinar comes with the price.

Thanks for considering contributing to this.

CourVO

Without getting to the politics of corporations, loyalties, patents, stock prices, or international intrigue, can I just say that Google is the new Apple?…the new Apple in the sense that they’ve earned the mantle of the hippest, coolest, most innovative and technologically edgy/highest quality products around.

The Google I/O Developer’s conference is underway right now.  At yesterday’s opening, the trend-setting tech giant made some significant announcements that will effect you and ostensibly how run your voice-over business.

Coincidentally, I was in an online Google Hangout twice yesterday, once for the TV station, and once with some voice-over friends.  I was struck in both situations by how much people DON’T know about the tools available on Google — incredibly enabling tools available on Google — for free!

I realize I have a tendency to gush about this stuff, but someone in voice-actor-land has to, and I’ve appointed myself.  :)

Two things are prodding Google:

1) they smell a weakened competitor in Apple, and they’re pouring on the coals
2) they’re locked in a battle for social media dominance (and so far losing) with Facebook

First, the World Domination Plan

Never has Google worked harder to unify it’s products and services…all built on what it knows about you, and the world in general.  Dozens of different apps, programs, and services are showing definite signs of stronger connecting threads, being tightened into a cohesive design that is ultimately about us.  Are they making oodles of money? Yes.  Are you benefiting with free services and best-of-class technology?  Definitely.  It would not be good for them to become a threatening monopoly, but as a free-market example that’s changing the world in a positive way, Google is about as good an example as you can find.

Second, the Hardware:

Google’s new Chromebook Pixel is out and in just about every way meets or surpasses the design and functional quality of the best Mac laptops.  Don’t believe me?  Check out this review on the ChromeBook Pixel on Engadget.  (BTW, it also has an Apple-like price).

Google Glass.  Any geek worth the duct tape on his black horn-rim glasses will tell you that they are drooling over this possibly culture-shifting invention.  I’m not kidding.  In a couple of years, half the population could be wearing these darn things.  Not much is being said about Glass at the developers conference, but they don’t have to…it’s got momentum on its own.

Third, the Services

Here, the most obvious signs are in Google Plus.  Wednesday, big changes in the look and feel of G+ were evident.  But under the hood it’s even more impressive.  Changes to the photo service…a multi-column layout…new features in Google HangOut, including standalone Google Hangout Apps.  Google Maps have been refined.  Google search is evolved.  You can now speak questions into it, and get spoken answers back.  Google Play Music All Access All Access lets you stream from curated genre collections and will automatically create and preserve playlists of new tracks based on what you already listen to. (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/).  There are Google Cloud improvements, more location-based services, and more, but it gets a little esoteric.  Here’s a great GeekSugar article on the G+ changes alone.

Fourth, Gmail and Beyond!

Gmail deserves its own category, because it’s the runaway success Google hopes G+ will be, and Gmail is still the center of the universe for Google’s integration/gateway to all it’s other services (YouTube, Calendar, Drive, etc).
Two days ago Google upped it’s free storage plan to 15 Gigabytes to be shared between Drive, Gmail, and G+ Photos.  That’s 15 Gigs free cloud storage, just because Google likes your face.  [The competitive fallout of that is noted in my "Ripple Effect" below.]  You can now send money to friends with Google Wallet and Gmail.  You can launch the new Google HangOut experience from Gmail, and you can add events to Google Calendar from Gmail.  All of this is explained in Google’s Gmail Blog.

Fifth, Ripple Effect

When the 800 lb. Gorilla in the cage moves, all the other denizens have to adjust.  Here are two examples of how smaller companies are reacting to Googles moves…resulting in more good news for us.

COPY is a relatively new cloud storage service that was offering 5 Gigs of storage for it’s “free” plan.  But now (alla sudden!) it’s offering 15 Gigs on it’s free plan (just like Google).  For real.  Copy is a promising service, and you can find out more about Copy’s 15 Gig free storage offer here.  Tell ‘em I sent you.  I mean it.  We both get more space if you mention that.  courvo@courvo.com.

SoundCloud is also reacting to Google’s moves.  There’s added support for Google+ sign in, making it easier than ever to log in or create an account — just use your Google+ credentials.  It’s also added sharing on Google+, so that you can share music & audio with your Google+ circles.  This is only an added feature for Android users so far.  Download here.

Almost everything I’ve mentioned here can help in your voice-acting marketing (even the maps function).  Begin with Gmail.  Configure it to receive your email from whatever other service you now use, and so it even looks like you’re sending from that other service, complete with signatures and everything!  Why?  Because you’re never gonna want to leave the Gmail universe once you see all the integrations I’ve just written about here.  It’s that good…all for free.

CourVO

…I was approached by a wannabe voice actor who touted his cold-calling abilities, not his great pipes.

I was floored.  Really.

I mean, how many times a month are you contacted by a newb who claims they’re always told they have a great voice, and were convinced that was their ticket to free riches.  I never discourage.  An engaging voice is a nice tool to have in your kit, but when it comes to a formula for VO success, the marketing trumps the mic 80% of the time.

In the interest of  full disclosure, this gentleman also mentioned: “…my voice has been described as sounding trustworthy, impartial and sincere and as having clarity and conviction.”  That’s nice, I thought…but who’s gonna hear that conviction unless you find some agents, or clients, or prospects to listen.

Well, in this case, the VO hopeful has a useful skill to drum up those prospects: a great record of cold-calling.  Often, your first call to a prospect is your first audition.  The quality of your speaking voice AND the finesse with which you handle the call just might get your foot in the door.

I encouraged this guy to persist…it was the first time I didn’t have to explain that a deep voice alone was not enough to be a runaway success in voice-acting.

So let me just encourage you, too.  Marketing advice is overwhelming on the web.  I’ve found a few reliable blogs and sites that consistently offer great marketing suggestions.  Below are a couple of recent articles:

How to Turn Your Best Customers Into a Growth Engine

27 of the Most Important Lessons I’ve Learned Since Starting My Own Business

Free Marketing Tips Blog

Six Smart Ways to Capture Emails

…and there’s more…so much more.

Here’s the definitive list for Marketing Blogs:  The Top 75 Must-Read Online Marketing Blogs.

Whew!

Now get out there and make some cold calls! (or not — it’s never worked for me, but Maxine Dunn swears by them!)

CourVO

My Dad was born about the time the Ford Model-T became popular.

He died in the middle of the digital boom, even though he wasn’t part of it.

I marvel at the changes he experienced, but I’m even more astounded by the pace of change WE are all seeing now.

Technology is a blessing and a curse…giving us immediate access and contact, while increasing the presumption of getting it all done much faster.  The human being in the middle hasn’t changed.  More is just expected of us.

Media Morph

Voice Acting is not immune.  I’ve often written here about disruptive VO technologies, the internet, the cloud, and endless new devices that are making our job more advanced, and I’d like to say “easier”… but not always.

In my TV job, there are almost daily reminder of the morphing of journalism, content streams, digital news gathering, and device-driven viewing patterns.  Much of what happens there effects us as voice-actors, too…as some of the most lucrative work in VO comes from radio and TV adverts.

The highly-successful Social Media manager for the Ford Motor Company — Scott Monty — wrote a most perceptive article the other day:  MUST-NO-SEE-TV.  Take a moment to read it, and you will not regret it.  It basically states that we’re a victim of our own content over-abundance.  That all our cloud storage, time-shifted DVR programs, and net-streaming devices give us more than we can possibly consume.

Caught in the Middle

The hard part is that there is very little middle-ground.  It seem you must either be committed to the pell-mell pace, or go off the grid entirely to maintain your sanity.

Nothing has contributed more to that panic than the internet, and now…social media.  The business of voice-overs became enabled by the ease of contact through the internet, but it isolated us in our own home studios…then turned THAT on its ear when social media streams and forums allowed for real-time sharing of all that interests us.  Who knows what’s next?

Keeping Track

This is why I love being a student of social media.  It’s cutting edge.  What’s happening there at the edge is tomorrow’s world.  But one thing that hasn’t changed is the math.  Even Gutenberg’s first publishing distributors were interested in keeping track of how many volumes were sold.  Newspapers had their readership, and TV has it’s Nielsen numbers.

The internet is still struggling to find successful monetization, but rest assured, it will be decided by the numbers.  Google Analytics, Klout scores, and Kred cred (or some iteration of SEO metrics) are the hope of next year’s millionaires.

I try to keep track as best I can, but what I know pales in comparison to the mega-mongo metrics list I stumbled upon last night.  It begs you to take a look if only by the sheer preponderance of its exhaustive research.

50 Top Tools for Social Media Monitoring, Analytics, and Management

Honestly, if you can’t find the right measurement tool here, then it’s time to go back to Algebra 101.

…and if you read this far, I want to thank you for hanging with me in my ramblings today.  I thought it needed to be said.

CourVO

That old adage about beauty being in the eye of the beholder comes to mind as I sit down to write this blog about demos..

The art or performance that appeals to me or you may not trigger any response in the next person.  The whole process is so subjective, opinionated, and couched in experience, expectation, interpretation, and understanding.

And yet, there is no more important calling card the Voice Artist can present to a prospect beyond the “DEMO”.  Good auditions are essential for getting you the job, but a demo can get you in the door.

Which Demo?

Anymore, accomplished voice artists have MANY demos.  Corporate narration, IVR, E-Learning, Gaming, AudioBook, Animation, Promo, and the list goes on.  And yet, it’s the traditional COMMERCIAL demo that seems to be the de-facto standard.

And yet, even that may be changing.  People approaching a career in Voice-Acting are smart to realize their abilities (or limitations), and play to the genre that epitomizes their strength…then focus everything on that.

As a renaissance guy with fractionated interests in everything from archeology to paper airplanes, it’s been hard for me to accept the fact that I may not be so good at certain specialties.  I want to conquer them all.  Realistically, though, I’m beginning to scratch off the ones that I either don’t appeal to me, or that I can’t reasonably  achieve in the time I have left on this earth.

The commercial demo is not one of them.  I just know I’m gonna hit it big.

Where to Post?

I’m actually not a big fan of posting my latest demo to peers.  I see it done a lot on the Social Media groups and forums, and I like to listen to them, but I’m not sure it achieves a lot.  On the other hand, it IS a statement of one’s latest work.  You also never know when a fellow voice actor might hear something in your demo that would then earn you a referral when THEY see a job posted that reminds them of something YOU did in your demo.

In that spirit, then, I’m posting my latest commercial demo below.  I will tell you that there are many talented directors, producers, engineers, and coaches who deserve your demo business.  I talked to quite a few of them in deciding who should do my next demo.  I’m not going to name names, but if you want a copy of my short list, I’ll be happy to email it to you (courvo@courvo.com).

The VO Doctor

I decided to go with Bill Holmes.  Bill has been on my radar for some time.  He keeps showing up at Voice-Over conferences, and has gushing testimonials from many a respected coach and producer.

Bill is an accomplished stage actor, producer, voice actor, director, and all-around fun guy.  He’s also a closet psychologist with a great understanding of what is marketable these days… something I find is a valuable asset among demo producers (Nancy Wolfson is certainly tops in this category, too, and produced my last demo).

Bill is all over the web, but here are his two most-traveled sites:

Compost Productions

The VO Doctor

I’m very happy with what Bill came up with from our sessions.  Please feel free to offer any feedback.  I mean it.  I wanna hear it, and so does Bill.  So comment below if you’re so moved.  Or not.  After all, VO beauty is in the ear of the beholder, too.

CourVO

Many of us who were not lucky enough to attend FaffCamp, did NOT hear Cliff Zellman’s big announcement last weekend.

Your first introduction to that presentation may have been from my friend and fellow VO blogger Paul Strikwerda, who wrote about Zellman’s new brain child “Done By Six” just as Cliff was hitting the stage at FaffCamp to explain.  It’s a groundbreaking new way to develop a voiceover demo.

Going back many months, Cliff shared his idea with me in the bleachers at TCU’s women’s soccer stadium last October (see pic of us below this article in ‘related stories’).  I had come to Ft. Worth to see my daughter play, and Cliff came to watch, commiserate, and excitedly tell me about his big idea.  It was in the formative stages then…and I agreed to keep the news under my hat.  Now it’s out of the bag…and WOW!

Zellman’s plan is to draw in expert associates to direct demo candidates, then to aggregate the resulting sound files into the cloud, where professional audio engineers do the final mix.  That’s an over-simplification, but that’s why I’ve arranged with Cliff to explain it in his own words below in a Skype interview we did just yesterday.

Perhaps the most unique facet of Done By Six is the “dream team”…a set of top microphones that Zellman sends to each demo candidate to use in their own studio to record their voice.  He explains the value of using different mics in the video.

It’s great hearing Cliff explain it himself, though, ’cause you can see the passion and commitment he has to this idea.  Nonetheless, he DID supply me with this mission statement for Done By Six:

See?  I told you it was a ground-breaking development in the making of a voice acting demo!

Now, hear as Cliff tells it in his own words, then a couple more notes about all this beneath the video player.

Cliff Zellman explains DoneBySix demos from Dave Courvoisier on Vimeo.

In case you don’t know…Cliff Zellman has more than proven himself as a producer, director, casting agent, audio engineer, friend, supporter, and colleague to many of us in this business.  You can read Cliff Zellman’s professional bio here.

Here’s the Done By Six website.

While you’re at it, stop by the Done By Six FaceBook Page and click “like”!

‘Can’t wait to hear your new demo…Done By Six!

CourVO

There is no one single piece of iconic equipment we identify with more than the microphone.  It’s so hard NOT to put it in your branding material, your website, on your business card… even though it’s cliché in the extreme.

So what?!  The microphone IS an extremely important part of the equation that makes you a VO success.  Microphone choice should be a personal decision based variously on gender, timbre, available cash, and vocal style (among other things).

Oh, and it kinda depends on being able to take advantage of the best deal when it pops up.

Hence, today’s blog!

Amazingly (I’m being sarcastic), two of the top audio equipment suppliers both launched Microphone sales on the same day!  How odd!

Again:  so what??!!  Take advantage.

I bought my first VO mic from one of these vendors for $300 many moons ago, and that was a $100 savings.

Hopefully, you’ve done your due diligence by stopping into your local Sam Ashe, Guitar Center, or similar audio-equipment store nearest you, and test-drove a number of mics already, and you’ve just been waiting for the right price to come along.  Here’s your chance!

BSW (Broadcast Supply WorldWide) launched their “Microphone Mania Month” sale this morning, and by evening-time, Sweetwater had answered with their own  “May is MicMonth”  promotion.

I’ve done business with both of these vendors.  Both are honest, eager-to-please, helpful, and more-than-happy to have your business.

Don’t be snookered into buying something you don’t need, but there are some serious bundled package savings here, and some decent deals on peripherals (mic-screens, cables, shockmounts, and booms) too.

Happy hunting for your next great mic!

CourVO

(disclaimer:  I receive nothing as kickback for mentioning these companies or their mic sales.  In fact, you will find no advertising on this blogsite, period.)