A Fascinating Article about the Audiobook Biz

Heidi Schooler wrote a fascinating article over at Backstage.com where she interviews the amazing Mr. Pat Fraley and Marc Cashman about the Audiobook Biz.

It's called (Audio) Book Smart. It's an interesting read and I highly recommend you pop over and give it the once over.

A Whopper of a Voiceover Resource Directory

I came across this list from one of my subscriptions, can't remember which but in any case, here is a WHOPPER of a voiceover resource directory which includes over 200 sites that list voiceover casting opportunities. OVER 200!!

You can check out Taji's Voice Over Directory by clicking here.

It is ALIVE!!!

Scott Brick and the Audio Publishers Association contest is officially live! They are looking for the next great audiobook narrator. Could it be YOU??

For more info, visit Scott's site.

Good luck!

To Shave . . . or not to shave. THAT is the question!

I've had a goatee for about 15 - 20 years but recently, due to various theatrical productions I've been in, I've changed my facial hair styles from goatee to full beard and then to clean-shaven. Now that I'm between shows, I am wondering which style to keep? So what do you think? Should I go with A, B or C?

Winners of the 2009 Audie Awards Announced

Without further ado, the winners of the 2009 Audies:

Audiobook of the Year was won by Neil Gaiman, writer and narrator of "The Graveyard Book"; HarperChildren's Audio.

Distinguished Achievement in Production was won by Live & Listen Audio for "Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady" by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren.

Solo Narration - Male was won by narrator John Lee for his work on "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas; Blackstone Audio.

Solo Narration - Female was won by narrator Katherine Kellgren for her work on "Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady", a novel by L.A. Meyer; Listen and Live Audio.

Narration by the Author was won by David Sedaris for "When You Are Engulfed in Flames"; Hachette Audio.

Multi-Voiced Performance was won by "Mudbound" by Hillary Jordan, read by Kate Forbes, Joey Collins, Peter Jay Fernandez, Ezra Knight, Brenda Pressley, and Tom Stechschulte; Recorded Books.

Special Achievement Awards were won by Michael Snodgrass and Eileen Hutton of Brilliance Audio.

Judges Award - Politics was won by "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman, read by Oliver Wyman; Macmillan Audio.

Humor was won by "The Learners" by Chip Kidd, read by actor Bronson Pinchot; Blackstone Audio.

Spanish Language was won by "Por in Dia Mas/For One More Day" by Mitch Albom; read by Jose Manuel Vieira; FonoLibro, Inc.

Teens was won by "Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady" by L.A. Meyer, read by Katherine Kellgren; Listen & Live Audio.

Children's Titles Ages 8 to 12 was won by "The Graveyard Book", written and narrated by Neil Gaiman; HarperChildren's Audio.

Children's Titles Ages up to 8 was won by "James Herriot's Treasury for Children"; James Herriot, read by Jim Dale; Macmillan Audio.

Original Work was won by "Louis Vuitton Soundwalk: Beijing" by Stephan Crasneanscki, narrated by Gong Li; Louis Vuitton.

Audio Drama was won by "The Odyssey" by Homer, narrated by Tim McInnerny, Amanda Redman and a full cast; BBC Audiobooks America.

Audiobook Adaptation was won by "English Majors: A Comedy Collection For The Highly Literate" written/read by Garrison Keillor and cast, with special guests Billy Collins, Roy Blount Jr., Robert Bly, Donald Hall, Allen Ginsberg, and Calvin Trillin; HighBridge.

Package Design was won by "Founding Fathers", written by Arthur M. Schlesinger, read by Ira Claffey and Richard Rohan with package design by Margo Goody; Macmillan Audio.

Classic was won by "Great Expectations", written by Charles Dickens, read by British narrator Simon Vance; Tantor Audio.

Romance was won by "The Dark Highlander", written by Karen Marie Moning, narrated by Phil Gigante; Brilliance Audio.

Thriller / Suspense was won by "Child 44", written by Tom Rob Smith, read by narrator Dennis Boutsikaris; Hachette Audio.

Science Fiction / Fantasy was won by "Calculating God", a book by Robert J. Sawyer, read by Jonathan Davis; Audible, Inc.

Mystery was won by "Voice of The Violin", authored by Andrea Camilleri, read by narrator Grover Gardner; Blackstone Audio.

Short Stories / Collections was won by "Armageddon in Retrospect" by Kurt Vonnegut; intro read by Mark Vonnegut; read by Rip Torn; Penguin Audio.

Literary Fiction was won by "Elmer Gantry", a novel by Sinclair Lewis, read by narrator Anthony Heald; Blackstone Audio.

Inspirational / Faith-based Fiction was won by "Prague Counterpoint", written by Bodie and Brock Thoene; read by Sean Barrett; FamilyAudioLibrary.com.

Fiction Audie was a tie! This award was won by "The Duma Key", written by Stephen King, read by John Slatter; Simon and Schuster Audio. This award was also won by "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, read by Paul Boehmer, Susan Duerden, Rosalyn Landor, John Lee, and Juliet Mills; Books on Tape.

Personal Development was won by "You Staying Young" by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, read by Johnny Heller, Recorded Books.

Inspirational / Faith-based Non-Fiction was won by "The Word of Promise: Next Generation New Testament" read by Sean Astin and cast; Thomas Nelson Inc.

Business / Educational was won by "The Little Red Book of Selling" written and narrated by Jeffrey Gitomer; Simon & Schuster Audio.

History was won by "Gandhi and Churchill" by Arthur Herman, narrated by John Curless; Recorded Books.

Biography / Memoir was won by "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow, narrated by Erik Singer; Hyperion Audiobooks.

Non-Fiction was won by "Hot, Flat, and Crowded", by Thomas Friedman, narrated by Oliver Wyman; Macmillan Audio.

The Next Great Audiobook Narrator Contest!

Scott Brick and the Audio Publishers Association have teamed up to find the next great audiobook narrator in their "Share The Experience" contest! The winner will get their first professional audiobook narrating gig!

Interested? Thought so. Read all about it here:
http://www.scottbrickpresents.com/wordpress/blog/

and check out the contest page right here:
http://www.scottbrickpresents.com/wordpress/contest-share-the-experience-finding-the-audiobook-industrys-newest-narrator/

Please help support Relay For Life®

This year, hundreds of thousands of people will hear the words "You have cancer", and there's a good chance that some of them will be people we know and love. That's why I have chosen to fight back against cancer by participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life®. I want to invite you to join me in the fight against cancer by making a donation in support of my efforts.

Please click here to visit the Relay For Life® web page for the Mandela Mavericks, where you can make an online contribution. Every amount, no matter how small, makes a difference and provides hope. You can also sign up to join my team and learn more about Relay and how it's changing lives.

Relay For Life® brings more than 3.5 million people from across the country together each year to Celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer, Remember loved ones lost, and Fight Back against a disease that takes too much. This fun-filled, overnight event empowers everyone to help fight cancer by raising money and awareness to support the American Cancer Society's lifesaving mission.

Thank you in advance for your support!

I'm on iTunes!

I am proud to be the narrator of "It's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of Dj Disco Wiz, Hip Hop's First Latino DJ!" by by Ivan Sanchez (Author), Luis (DJ Disco Wiz) Cedeño (Author), available via iTunes and also available in hardcover on Amazon.com!

Pretty cool huh!

Free Harlan Hogan seminar open for registration!

Harlan Hogan and Jeffrey P. Fisher, authors of "The Voice Actor's Guide to Home Recording" and several other books on voiceover work and voice recording, are conducting a free teleseminar called, "How To Record Voiceovers At Home Or On The Road,"

You'll find all the information at:

http://www.RecordVoiceovers.com

What is a voiceover?

The Apple corporation is releasing an iPod shuffle that will announce song titles between each recording.  It is supposed to be able to announce the song in numerous languages.  This story came out a few recently and people in the voiceover community felt an opportunity had arisen to provide those announcements.

But wait!

It turns out that the announcements are going to be a synthetic voice!

So what does that mean for us in the voiceover community?  Are robots and computers going to take over the industry?

I be a monkeys uncle if a machine can ever be what a true voiceover actor can be.  In an industry where the watchword is "no announcer" because the want that "human touch", how can a machine possibly deliver?

And although they are using the term "voiceover" for this synthetic speech on the new iPod, a voiceover will always mean a human being, in front of a microphone, acting his or her butt off for their client.

What do you think?

Mistakes that could prevent you from getting hired

David Goldberg from Edge Studios in NYC, wrote a nice article titled "Why Many Voice Talent Aren't Hired ... Are You Making These Mistakes, Too?"

In the article, he describes the kinds of blunders some voice actors commit which can prevent them from ever getting cast again.  At least at Edge Studios.

Some of these are common sense and some of them are just plain dumb.  Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Creating an Audiobook Demo

Scott Brick, probably the most famous audiobook narrator around today, talks about How To Create A Demo
That Shows Off Your Narration Skills, over at Voice-Over Xtra.

If audiobook narration is an area of interest for you, then this article is a must read.

Learning from the Best - Part 2

In the world of Voice Acting, there is arguably nothing more challenging than audiobooks. To be an Audiobook Narrator, you not only need mountains of talent, but enormous endurance as well.

Two of the worlds top Audiobook narrators, Scott Brick and Grover Gardner, share their insights and experience in an interesting article over at Voice Over Xtra. Anybody who is interested in learning about how to get into the Audiobook genre can learn something from these two.

Also, don't miss the article Scott Brick wrote on his blog about breaking into audiobook narration. It's fantastic!

I also found a very nice interview with Scott Brick over at Publishers Weekly that is quite interesting as well. He shares some valuable insights on he he prepares for an audiobook narration in this article.

Learning from the Best

Bob Bergen and Pat Fraley, arguably two of the best Cartoon / Character voiceover coaches in the world, were intereviewed recently on Backstage Magazine. Luckily, you don't have to be a subscriber to get the benefit of their knowledge. Just click here to read the article. Enjoy!

Ten Mile River

A while back I wrote about my audiobook experience working at Audible.com on Ten Mile River, a first book by author Paul Griffin. Well, I am proud to announce that the book has been published and is now available on Audible.com. If you'd like to listen to a sample, visit the site and click on the sample button.

One of my Female Colleagues Caryn Clark

I was thinking the other day about branding for voiceovers and I thought about Caryn Clark. She has what I consider a very cool brand.

The Hip Chick Voice! Now why couldn't I think of something like that.

There are several other VOs who really have it together as far as branding but that cute little chick on Caryn's site just makes me smile.

I'm going to take a look at some other sites for voice actors who I think have nailed the branding thing. By examining their sites, perhaps we can learn something about what voice actor branding is all about.

That's it for now. Take care.

A Day in the Life of a SAG Voice Actor

I came across this video on the great Dave Houston's Facebook page and thought I'd share. I love these kinds of videos.

http://www.sag.org/day-life-a-voice-actor

Hope you enjoy it.

Farewell to Jekyll & Hyde

Today's show is the final performance of Jekyll & Hyde. It seems like only yesterday that I auditioned and now, a scant 3 weeks after our opening night, the show closes.

It has been an amazing experience. I've met and worked with some of the most wonderfully talented people I've ever known and I hope to keep at least some of these people in my circle of friends permanently.

It is with mixed emotion that I prepare for this final performance. I don't want it to end, but alas, in community theater, dems da rules.

Jekyll & Hyde Opening Weekend

We started rehearsals in August. It was a long, arduous process for many. For me, not so much since I get killed at the end of the first act. I pretty much sit out the second act except to help with scene changes, costume changes and such. There is one additional scene where I make an appearance as a ghost, but that's pretty much it for me.

This weekend, the show opened. The audiences so far have had very, very favorable comments about how much they enjoyed the show. Some of the people in this show are so talented, it's amazing they aren't already working on Broadway.

We've got two more weekends to go. If any of you are in or near NJ, come down and see it. Stay after the show and say hello.

For more information check out Jekyll & Hyde at the Villager's Theater.

This Friday 10/17/2008, Rumba Con Son, the New Jersey Salsa Band is going to rock the house at The hottest new spot in Trenton New Jersey, La Cabaña Lounge & Grill (formerly the Anchor Bar and Grill) at 931 New York Ave. Trenton, NJ 08638.

The show starts at 10:00 PM so come on down, you'll have a blast!