Sound Advice - The Most Complete Voiceover Demo Service

April 2007 · Newsletter Archive

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax."
--Albert Einstein

"What Should I Charge?"

Hi Kate, I just received an email from someone named 'Joe BLOW' who wants to know what my rates are for 30 and 60 second spots? He has a spot he needs produced by end of next week. What should I ask him? What should I quote? I have no idea who he is, how he got my email, if I'll actually get paid.
Thanks, Susie Talent

Name sounds familiar. Regardless, if you don't know him, ask him--"who are you with? And how did you find me?" Those are perfectly reasonable questions.

For the record...your rate is "scale"--always.

Make this your stock answer. Even if you're non-Union. (Unless, of course, your agent suggests you should receive a rate that is "above scale" which is not very likely if you're still just establishing yourself.)

Non-Union rates are based on Union standards. However, non-Union spots are not subject to residuals, which typically account for a bulk of the revenues a talent can expect from a Union commercial airing.

I trust these are radio spots we're discussing, correct? (I suggest you clarify before you give him a rate.) Scale for radio is basically $250 per spot, usually this is a flat fee (in lieu of residuals) for a one year buy-out. The rate nearly doubles for TV usage, and then it depends on whether that spot will be used for cable and the Internet. Again, the rate will increase accordingly. Are there exceptions to this rate--sure. But by and large, it's not likely to be less.

This is another good reason why you should have a talent agent. This is precisely what an agent does--and thank goodness for that!

Since you're not a producer, 'S.T.', I'd suggest you field your would-be client to us for an estimate. We can produce the spot here in our studio and handle the rate so you remain focused on the job at hand, which is simply being the best voice talent you can be.

By the way, we recently added another recording booth to our Orange Room studio--so we now have TWO fully operational booths, allowing us less need to reschedule Sound Advice clients or Big House Casting auditions. Isn't that handy? It's swank. Cozy, but swank. I love it.

Promoting Your Demo and Website

Hey Kate and Colleen... what do we think of CommercialVoices.com? Worth it? Another oar in the water... thanks. �BMW

Ugh. I have to say, this site violates every Internet "DON'T" in the book. (And most of my senses. Sorry.) Where do I begin? Maybe with the fact that a very dated mnemonic AND narrative blares at you (whether you like it or not) the moment you arrive.

Here's the thing: like most of us, I'm usually listening to my iTunes when I'm surfing the net. And one of the steadfast rules of Internet protocol is, if we want to listen to ANYTHING we will do so ONLY if we click on it first. It's Internet 101.

So, when a site such as this has an automated greeting / sfx / music / vox or (oh, horror of horrors) all of the above--it's immediately and completely off-putting because it creates a collision-cacophony that demands you STOP whatever it is you're doing--curse those who are even remotely connected to the site for interrupting your even flow of productivity while you search frantically for a button to turn the offensive thing OFF! Which, alas, to add to my misery--doesn't exist on this site.

Okay... all that said I'm pretty confident who might find a site such as this "valuable." Ironically, they are neither commercial nor promising as clients. Instead they are likely to be rather low-paying, corporate clients who have no notion of what your skills are worth. To add to this they generally will treat you as if you were a producer by foisting a barrage of technical questions on you such as: what's your rate, the studio rate, how long will it take, can I have it by Thursday (and it's now Tuesday night), can you burn the discs as well as post it to an ftp, how about adding music and SFX?

I'd rather see you attempting to raise your game, not degrade it, and this sort of work is problematic in the extreme as well as worth about .25 cents an hour to the would-be "client." Give it up!

To add to this, we couldn't get a single demo from this site to play--not that Colleen and I persisted beyond 3 or 4 attempts. Regardless, the point is: not one worked, which is completely counterproductive to what's advertised. If you make me click 5 times or more just to expose the button that grants access to your "demo"--well, you've lost better than 90% of your potential audience. (Ideally, we should find and have clicked on your demo in less than 2-3 clicks of a mouse--no more! This is the standard.)

Beyond that, I have serious design issues here. The site looks as if it were designed by the same guy that did our first site in 1996, so that's not good. It reads as being extremely old-school, rather than progressive, competitive and forward-thinking.

To summarize: you'd do better to concentrate your promotional efforts toward your own site with options that link others to your site! That should be your primary aim. You already know your site works and does so immediately. Your site speaks for itself and sounds awesome. Beats this one to death.

Okay, so you had to ask, right? I honestly don't mean to be such a downer, but--it is what it is. -KM

Thanks Kate.... glad I asked... ask a simple question... and get a drink from a fire hose! So I'm doing about 100 cards/week to ad agencies, did about 70 emails to voicebank talent agents (nationwide) this week. Should I be sending CDs to ad agencies as well?

Yes, you should be sending discs to ad agencies... absolutely! (Oy vey.)

Our standard promotional program is as follows:

week one: postcard,
then skip a week,
then week 3: DISC (or postcard, if you're economizing),
then skip a week,
then another postcard on week five.

This is a proper direct mailing campaign and has been our standard at Sound Advice. To put it simply, doing anything less is going to garner little if any results.

A full campaign of this five-week process should be done 3-5 times a year, repeatedly to each individual contact in a single region in order to really create an impact. After a good year, year and a half of this, you can then simply send out postcards only, rather than postcard, disc, postcard every other week.

How this works is the same individual becomes familiar with you, your demo, your site and your name/identity directly. Every producer wants to discover the next 'IT' voiceover. And with repetition comes familiarity, and with familiarity--a comfort zone develops, and that leads to hiring you with confidence. This is precisely how we (talent) make ourselves available to the work.

You'll never get out of first gear if you don't apply this fully and completely for no less than a year, if not longer. While you are between promotions to your own primary region, you should then promote to say, Texas, or the entire Midwest or NYC and the East Coast. Each of these should be done consistently with a good five-week process--just repeat, repeat, repeat...

That's how you kick the door open on your career. You need to get a little relentless about it.

I guess I've been daunted by the huge numbers of ad folks out there--there are 20-something pages of Midwest contacts. Then the NY list. Sheesh. Dat's a lotta discs. -BMW

Regarding becoming overwhelmed by the sheer number of individual ad contacts, say, in the Midwest alone...all the more reason for you to do this at least ONCE a year to EACH region.

Think of how many people fall short of doing just that because they can't confront it. The fact is most stop right there. And the result--next stop: oblivion...or certainly very near oblivion. 'Suburban Oblivion' if you will. (Ugh.)

If you're worried about costs, just send postcards, rather than postcards and CDs for all three mailings. But be sure to do the REPEATED mailing--that's the primary thing. WEEK ONE, then skip a week, WEEK THREE, then skip a week, then WEEK FIVE--sending a postcard each time. Just keep your name out there. This is how you create name recognition. Sooner or later someone will look at your site. It truly works. So keep those mailings going out there.

Remember, the mailing lists have a shelf life of only a short few weeks, so once you have your postcards, call us to get a list, and then begin the 5-week mailing process immediately. It does you no good to send one postcard in April, another postcard in September, and one postcard in January with the same musty list you got in April. Our mailing lists have a less than 5% margin of error on them when you get them, but that changes rapidly within a few weeks. They're meant to be used immediately. So, don't sit on it!

If you need help sending your promo out due to time commitments...we have assistance. Just ask Colleen, she'll give you a few great reliable folks for hire that are more than happy to put your mailing together and see to it that it gets out there.

The objective is to create a steady momentum that will advance your game dramatically. Beyond that, it's your job to maintain your vocal skills and be ready at a moment's notice to deliver the best possible performance. As talent, we're expected to continually prepare to deliver. That never goes away. It's a constant.

The fact is: you can have the greatest demo in the world and terrific promotional savvy, but if you let your vocal prowess lapse, you will be promoting services you won't be able to deliver. And we can't have that, now can we?

I suggest you dust off your old coaching sessions. Listen to them in order. (And back them up on your computer while you're at it--we don't keep that stuff in our archives, nope--that onus falls to you.) Or hop in on the next workshop. At the very least, listen online to the podcasts of our Monday Night workshops to stay connected and up-to-date. It's a great--FREE-- shot in the arm.

We truly want you to succeed. Even if you've taken something of a hiatus and are unsure on how to progress from here. We're here to help. Drop us a line and we'll assist from there. We'll give you a game plan and a timeline to do it in.

You can do this. I have every confidence you can. Trust me, there are far harder things in life than this. -KM

Web Savvy Made Easy

We've been telling you guys for years that you need to create a simple, single-page web site promoting your voiceover SOLELY. And save your on-camera stuff (if applicable) for your actorsaccess.com page. We've also been telling you to do it right the first time to avoid costly mistakes down the line, such as associating your good name with anything that is seen as sub-par. Well, here's a brief excerpt from a fellow who is an aficionado in the area of web content, Gerry McGovern, author of Content Critical.
According to him,

"If your website tries to be all things to all people, it will fail. It's very easy on the Web to try to do too much. You need to relentlessly focus on what most of your readers do most of the time. Don't let anything else get in the way."

Exactly! It's extremely unlikely anyone who intends to hire you for voiceover will be interested in you for on-camera as well. And vice-versa. This is precisely why most talent agencies have separate department for on-camera and for voiceover.
Additionally, Gerry says,

"Every time you add something to your website you take something else away: attention. Think about Google for a moment. When you come to Google you can immediately focus on searching. There is nothing else that gets in your way.

Every time you add another link, graphic or piece of content to your page, you are adding a potential distraction. This may result in slowing people down or in stopping them doing the primary thing you want them to do.
People are impatient. You cannot please all of the people all of the time. Trying to do so will mean that you annoy most of the people most of the time. That means designing for the rule, not the exception. Give the majority what they want. Make it simple. Make it clear. Make it fast. Otherwise, they will reach for their favorite button: the Back button."

Good advice. Couldn't have said it better myself!

Web Guru Extraordinaire, Alan Janis

Sound Advice veteran, Kathy Aaron, recently sent this in:

"Wanted to start this sleepy morning with a positive vibe. I recently renewed my Sound Advice web hosting and was running into some trouble with my voiceover email. Alan Janis at Obsidian (the folks we recommend for both web design and hosting--which is saying a LOT!) really helped me out. The thing that is really nice is that he knows his stuff and can explain it in a not-so-techy way--which has been a rare experience for me in the workplace. Plus, he didn't make me wait for days - he fixed the problem the same day. I just wanted you to know that!"

Thanks, Kath. We think the world of Alan, as well, and for just those reasons, too! You can contact Alan directly to design your website at alan@obhost.net.

Inc vs. LLC

(Note: This article is a reissue from last summer. But I thought it helpful--especially around tax time.)

Often I am asked, "Should I incorporate? Or maybe I should LLC?"
Good question(s).
Two of our ardent 'Sound Advicers' have offered up their personal experience and wisdom, which I impart to you here so you can discern for yourself.

Hey Kate,
(Here's) the info I found regarding the difference between Incorporations & LLC's.
These are some links that may be helpful:
A link to the bizfilings.com "learning" section, which has tons of info on incorporating all types of businesses:
http://www.bizfilings.com/learning
Benefits of the Inc.:
http://www.bizfilings.com/learning/benefitsinc.asp
Benefits of the LLC:
http://www.bizfilings.com/learning/benefitsllc.asp
Hope this is helpful. : ) �Donna

In a nutshell, as I understand it, an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) is more expensive (approx $500) at the onset, but infinitely more valuable to you in the long run. There's less maintenance throughout the year with an LLC and less paperwork to set it up. Incorporating (as an 'S' Corp or Sole Corporation or Proprietorship) costs $150 to establish. You can set either up by downloading the paperwork from your local Secretary of State's site on-line.

According to another notorious 'Sound Advicer', Kimberley Reid, "Had I to do it all over again, I would have LLC'd, rather than Inc," she recently told me.

Additionally, both certainly legitimize your expenses in this business, including workshops, coaching, demo production, promotional mailings, headshots and so forth. Ideally, you should establish your own name as your corporation, such as 'Joe Talent, LLC' or 'Joe Talent, Inc' to help legitimize your industry expenses and make write-offs easier.

Here's the thing: if you call yourself 'Excalibur, Inc' it may conflict with some unrelated business that may already be in operation and may even link you to some conflicting reference. To add to this, it will be confusing and/or difficult to simply deposit session fees and residuals--payments typically are made out to you in your name. If you find yourself insisting at each job your checks be made out to 'Lady Gwenivere, LLC', you may find it take repeated attempts to get that billing straight. Why? Because it's odd and, ultimately, a complete non sequitur. Besides you may find explaining the origin of your corporate name to the next producer that hires you may prove to be a bit more awkward and confusing than you had initially anticipated.

The links above will allow you access to the info you need to determine for yourself what you feel will work best for you should you choose to go this route.

Till next month...

Needless to say, we've been rather busy around here--which is terrific for YOU as well! All that action translates into even more opportunity for you. Why? Because, as I mentioned earlier, we've added another booth, so we're now able to run both rooms with ISDN, coaching, Source-Connect, mixing and editing or tracking. (Phew!)

So, please keep us informed if your cell, email or address changes, if you're heading out of town or even if your Union status changes. Not only will that keep us up on the latest where you're concerned--it will also remind us to include you in auditions and/or submissions to clients. (Yep, even we who love and know you best need a gentle reminder every now and then, too.)

So it goes...in the meantime, dodge the raindrops. Smell the flowers. It's April, for crying out loud! There's sunshine and baseball games right around the corner. Prepare to win! - kate & crew