There's Money Where Your Mouth Is: An Insider's Guide to a Career in Voice-Overs [Paperback]

Elaine A. Clark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000

Now expanded to include new insider’s tips on making a demo CD, vocal modulation and breath techniques, advanced copy-reading techniques, and a section on how copywriters see the job of the voice artists they write for, the Second Edition of this popular publication is an indispensable guide for anyone interested in a career in voice-overs.

Voice-overs represent a potentially lucrative enterprise for anyone with vocal talent. A well-connected voice actor can make as much in an hour as a stage actor can make in six weeks, and that’s before the “residuals” are earned. The lucrative voice-over field is one of the best ways to pay the bills while exploring stage and screen work, or it can become a fascinating career in itself.

Whether you’re a seasoned actor or a non-actor with vocal presence, this outstanding handbook offers an expert’s insight into launching a career and finding work in voice-overs. Author Elaine Clark, a prominent voice-over expert, begins by explaining the basics of the industry and demonstrating how prospective voice-over performers can best market themselves through the use of agents, mailings, and demo tapes. Subsequent chapters cover such essential topics as vocal preparation, the basics of reading copy, the distinction between an announcer, a spokesperson, and a character, how to “hide the sell”, how to branch out from commercials to industrial narrations and talking books, and how to work in a recording studio and use a microphone to best effect.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Elaine A. Clark is a voice and on-camera actor who has been seen and heard in hundreds of commercials, video games, websites, talking toys and other voiced products, corporate industrials, and voice mail systems. In 1986 she founded Voice One, one of the oldest voice-over and acting schools of its kind. While the primary focus is on commercial, character, and corporate voice-overs, Ms. Clark and her staff of working professionals also teach stage, film, commercial, and corporate on-camera acting. There is a series of voice-over training videos, CDs and cassette tapes for sale through the company website. To find out more, visit www.VoiceOneonline.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Back Stage Books; 2 Sub edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823077020
• ISBN-13: 978-0823077021
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it, read it, APPLY IT and you'll do it!, September 5, 2001

By 

Joel L. Gandelman (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: There's Money Where Your Mouth Is: An Insider's Guide to a Career in Voice-Overs (Paperback)

Whooaaaa! What a SOLID book! Don't let the fact that it's a paperback fool you. In some 204 pages Elaine Clark, a voice-over performer, casting director and coach, covers all bases -- and there is no padding. It's solid, useful, info that can be applied immediately. And if you read the book and follow her advice I suspect it'll shave YEARS off the typical hit-and-miss process that most of us (including me) go through in entertainment (I'm a ventriloquist, a lower form of voice life). There are many books on virtually every aspect of show biz and we're seeing more on voice-overs, an increasingly lucrative industry due to the explosion in cartoons, commercials, etc. Clark takes you through voice techniques, getting started, copy basics, looking for an agent and The Absolutely Crucial Step: doing a demo (just as most mere mortals are judged by how they present themselves on paper, entertainers are judged by what they choose to present in their demos). It even includes a section on staying on top. Nothing is left out; the writing style is to-the-point...no cutesy stuff that attempts to mask weak content. Each page is tightly-packed with detailed information. It's as if she is having her own private session with you -- and, actually, she is -- except it costs a lot less in book form. Need THE BOOK on voice-overs? This is IT.

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for novices and journeymen alike, April 18, 2004

By 

Billy Shakes (On a bull of mud circling the sun) - See all my reviews

This review is from: There's Money Where Your Mouth Is: An Insider's Guide to a Career in Voice-Overs (Paperback)

I first read this book a couple of years ago when I was just toying with the idea of making VO a career. It is a bible for aspiring talents and established pros will also learn plenty as Elaine is a renowned casting director and producer as well as a successful talent.

It is an easy read but the exercises are anything but easy. The sample scripts are fabulous and the vocal warm-ups are helpful and something that all other books on VO are lacking. The marketing chapters are also well written and leave one with no illusion about talent alone being enough to make it in this highly competitive field. That's what makes this the best book on VO that I've read. It has everything. Did I say it had everything? Let's amend that - I'd like to see a chapter on equipment and technology though with the pace of change these days, it would probably be out of date before its printed.

If you have been thinking about a career in voice over, you are not serious if you don't buy this book.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, February 2, 2000

By 

clifton weldon (phila, pa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: There's Money Where Your Mouth Is: An Insider's Guide to a Career in Voice-Overs (Paperback)

I have about 8 different books on this subject, my background is radio broadcasting, Elaine help me to deprogram myself and do real acting, that's what voiceovers are about. I just purchased her video offered in the book and I started back reading the material and practicing everyday. I have taken voiceover seminars, and I find it is a highly recommended text. She also gives you practical tools about setting up an audition tape, and how to interpet copy. The best!