Michael Yurchak’s teleseminar on the topic of getting started in audiobook voice overs is now available to Such A Voice members in the members only section of our website. www.suchavoice.com
For those who missed this teleseminar, Michael paved a roadmap of the process to take, for those wishing to do this type of voice over work. In this blog, we’ll cover some highlights and key points on what you missed.
Michael began with the fascinating story of his induction into the world of voice overs. He shared a bit about his fifteen years of experience as an actor and voice over talent. He shared about his gravitation toward voice projects and about how he stumbled into audiobook work.
Voices123.com, a popular voice over jobs site, provided Michael with his first audition opportunity for audiobook voice over work. He submitted an audition that turned into a callback. The callback resulted in him landing a gig that turned out to be a sizeable voice over project including over 120 audiobooks narrated by dozens of voice over professionals.
This opportunity provided Michael with a substantial volume of voice over work, about fifty audiobooks. It also provided an opportunity to network, collaborate, and learn from established voice over professionals.
It’s a prime example of how timing and persistence can work together to generate big breaks in the voice over industry. Since then, Michael has gone on to do additional audiobook voice over work for a variety of publishers.
Michael provided several lessons for the novice to audiobook narrations. For this blog post, we will focus on the primary lesson. Deciding if the project carries an acceptable return on investment to the voice over talent.
Michael’s lessons for the novice to audiobook narration begins with these considerations. First, decide if audiobook work will be enjoyable for you. Make your decision to get into audiobooks a calculated one based upon interest in the topic and the financial return of any given project. Then decide on the type of audiobook voice over work you’d like to do.
Michael emphasized the significance of enjoying the work rather than simply doing the job for the pay. First-time audiobook narrators do not typically generate a large monetary return for their time. Therefore, it’s important to be effective at calculating the return on investment for taking on the audiobook project. It is also important to enjoy the process of creating the audiobook. A voice over professional works much more effectively when the process is truly loved. Supreme quality is an essential element of audiobook production; therefore, enjoyment of the creation process is significant.
A solid strategy for assessing the return on investment for an audiobook project is to begin with a reliable calculation of the time necessary to complete the project. It is critical for the voice over talent to recognize that you are typically responsible for editing your work as well as recording. Time allotted for this task should be figured into the calculation.
For example, if a finished audiobook is supposed to have 5 hours of completed recording, and the pay is $250 per completed hour, then the total pay for the project is $1250. An efficient voice over professional could reasonably complete this 5 hours of audio with about 10 hours of work. This means that 1250/10 = $125 per hour for a 10 hour project. Not bad.
This formula will help an audiobook narrator to determine if you are efficient and effective with your time. Some audiobook voiceover talents are very good at creating a quality result but much slower at producing it. For that voice over professional, the 5-hour project might take 15 hours of actual recording and editing time. For the slower talent, the compensation is 1250/15=$83 per hour. Still ok, but not as good.
Newer voice over talents should expect to take a bit longer than experienced talents to complete a voice over project. The two working hours for one recorded hour ratio is an achievable but challenging goal. Achievement of this goal indicates you are an efficient worker. If the time to complete the project is more than a 4 to 1 ratio of working hour to recorded hour, then the work efficiency is regarded as very low.
To hear the complete recorded telecast click this link to be directed to the recording.
In the complete telecast Michael goes through the distinctions of nonfiction and fiction work. He also covers strategies for working comfortably and efficiently and specific skill sets necessary to do different types of audiobook work.
