How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Voice [Paperback]

Gary Owens (Author), Jeff Lenburg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2004

World-renowned vocal personality Gary Owens, who gained national fame on TV's "Laugh-In," shares the inside scoop on how to break into the voice business and, once there, how to succeed. Peppered with entertaining anecdotes from well-known actors, producers, and agents, How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Voice offers an irreverent entrée into this often overlooked but lucrative entertainment career. In this step-by-step workshop, voice-over hopefuls will learn about everything from developing a demo to finding an agent to improving their pipes.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Parlay one of your most basic natural assets--your voice--into an exciting career in the entertainment industry

In How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Voice, legendary voice artist Gary Owens draws upon his four decades in radio, TV, film, and animation to show you how to break into the voice business and carve out a million-dollar niche for yourself once you get there.

With the help of priceless anecdotes and insider tips from well-known actors, producers, and agents, he gives you the inside track on becoming a successful DJ, newscaster, announcer, sportscaster, commercial or cartoon voice, or other type of voice artist.

Here's everything you need to know about how to:

• Zero in on and promote your vocal talents
• Develop realistic career goals and an action plan
• Produce a demo CD that sells
• Find and land an agent
• Write winning cover letters and resumes
• Ace interviews and auditions

About the Author

Gary Owens skyrocketed to national fame as the announcer on NBC's classic "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In." Since then, he has appeared on-camera on more than 1,000 network TV shows, has voiced more than 3,000 cartoons (including "Space Ghost and Dino Boy" and "The Ren and Stimpy Show"), and has emceed Emmy and Grammy telecasts. He currently hosts two national radio shows, and he routinely voices more than 1,000 commercial a year. Gary has been inducted into The National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (for both radio and television) and the Radio Hall of Fame, and he has a star next to Walt Disney's on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Jeff Lenburg is an award-winning author and celebrity biographer. He has written 30 books, including biographies of Larry Gatlin, Dustin Hoffman, Veronica Lake, Steve Martin, Dudley Moore, the Three Stooges, and others.

Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (August 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071424105
• ISBN-13: 978-0071424103
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,557,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Book Sales..., December 26, 2005

By 

Fifi (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Voice (Paperback)

This book is padded with a lot of anecdotes--including a liberal amount of name-dropping--from Gary Owens' career. (And it's only a little over 200 pages at that.) If you look forward to reading some of his reminiscences (which admittedly can be amusing at times), then you might enjoy this book. But if you are hoping for much in-depth discussion or expert advice about the voiceover business, it's best to look elsewhere.

It's a shame, really--with Owens' experience and long career, he should have been able to produce a much better "how to" manual than this collection of self-indulgent musings. Although, it seems by his own narrative he came by most of his jobs through serendipity or knowing other people in show business, so maybe he just didn't have that much practical advice to impart to modern voice acting students. Anyway, he should have written a much different book, or at least given this one a title more indicative of the actual contents.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The master shares his secrets, August 31, 2004

By 

Jeff Gehringer (Los Alamitos, Calif.) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Voice (Paperback)

What could be better than an educational book that is hysterical? Gary Owens has accomplished this with his great new book. Not only do you learn the tricks of the trade from one of the greatest voices in the business, but also you'll laugh out loud doing it.


Gary tells the real story of how to break into the voice over business with expert advice. This one book can tell you everything you need.

In addition, you get to experience the star power Gary has accomplished in his career. This book contains stories and pictures about every major star in Hollywood. From Bob Hope to David Letterman, Bill Cosby to Lucille Ball, Gary has worked with them all. Plus, you'll get great insights into the groundbreaking comedy "Rowan & Martin's Laugh In".

Gary Owens has taken us inside the many ways using your voice can make millions. Now, let's see what I have learned.
Place hand over my ear and repeat "Live from Beautiful downtown Burbank! It's Gary Owens great new book". You'll love it!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Gary Talks About Gary, August 20, 2006

By 

A. Pochop "T. A. Pochop" (Danville, In.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Voice (Paperback)

Sorry Gary but this is not what I wanted. A "how-to" book it's not. This book skims over the industry and is mostly all "Gary" and his wonderful past. Okay, I concede, he's had a excellent career and I'd enjoy reading his bio but I did not intend to get it out of this book! I think Gary owes me a free VO session!