There's Money Where Your Mouth Is

There's Money Where Your Mouth Is by Elaine A. Clark is as subtitled:  A Complete Insider's Guide to Earning Income and Building a Career in Voice-Overs.  In only 23 chapters, Clark covers everything a beginner to voice-over could possibly want or need to know, from simply what voice-over is, to recording tips and producing a quality demo reel, to working with an agent and the differences between union and non-union work.  I have the 3rd edition of this book.

If you've ever read anything about working professionally in voice-over, then a lot of the information in Clark's book will be a review for you, but that isn't a bad thing - fundamentals are always important to remember, no matter the topic, and the way Clark breaks down each aspect of the field makes it simple to learn even if you're just skimming through instead of properly reading it.

Where this book truly shines is that it is so comprehensive as to include a variety of detailed copy samples for the reader to practice the concepts and tips Clark discusses.  In books like this, I always prefer to be given that sort of content; I'm not much of a creative type, in that I would never know what to come up with if I had to write my own copy to practice with.  It would just feel silly and disingenuous, which pretty much defeats the purpose.  Besides, I'm not a professional in the field - Clark has already made a successful career in voice-over, so I can trust that copy samples she provides are representative of what one would see when booking a job. 

Voice-Over Voice Actor: What It's Like Behind the Mic

Okay, so I was about to start reading something else entirely, but I had ordered Voice-Over Voice Actor, and when UPS brought it, I couldn't resist diving into it right away.  And I'm not one of those people who can read multiple books at once (not counting textbooks for school).  Anyway.  I was not familiar with either Yuri Lowenthal or Tara Platt until I saw them as guests on an episode of Tabletop, a gaming show on the web channel Geek & Sundry (which I highly recommend you check out, if you aren't familiar with the site already).  I became immediately enamored of them both because they are absolutely awesome and adorable, and I sincerely hope they have babies, because if anyone in the world should reproduce, it is them.

But I'm getting a little off topic here.  If you don't know who they are, or haven't clicked over to either of their websites, or haven't figured it out by the title of the book...Lowenthal and Platt are professional voice actors.  Voice actors, obviously, are the people doing the voice-over work in the narration for commercials or movies, they bring life to your favorite animated characters, and the style of voice-over that many of you reading this right now may be very intimately acquainted with, narration of audiobooks.  They get paid to do these things, and eventually may end up making a living off of it.  And I think that sounds like one of the most fun jobs a person could possibly have.

The more technical behind-the-scenes parts of the world of voice-over were kind of a mystery to me, though, and I'm sure they are to a lot of other people.  Probably to most other people.  I mean, I've seen clips of musical artists and radio personalities in sound booths before, either recording or broadcasting live.  But voice actors?  I never used to think so much about who the people were, who were doing all this narration or providing the voices for the cartoons I enjoy watching, but I've been more interested in it lately, and I think these people all deserve way more recognition and general appreciation than they seem to get.  I know in some Asian countries at least, voice actors can have the same kind of celebrity status as screen actors, and that is how I feel it should be.  For real, go compare the IMDb listing of a relatively well-known screen actor to any voice actor, and don't be surprised if you find that the voice actor is more prolific - these people do A LOT.

Okay, I'm digressing a little again.