So You Want To Be A Voice-Over Star (Paperback)

by Sandy Thomas (Author), Carol A. Anderson (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A must read for anyone thinking about a career in voice-overs." -- Chris Impomeni, Director of Advertising & Promotion, MSNBC

Product Description
So You Want To Be A Voice-over Star is an introspective look into the voice-over industry written by a national voice talent, Sandy Thomas, the National Voice of MSNBC. Sandy is a highly respected voice talent that can also be heard on ESPN & ESPN2, HBO, VH1, MTV, A&E and more including Local Radio & TV stations and National and Regional Commercials all across America.

Youll have all your questions answered likeHOW DO I GET INTO VOICE-OVERS? WHERE DO I TRAIN FOR THIS FIELD? HOW DO I GET STARTED? This book gives valuable industry resource information and allows you to track the career of a successful, consistently working National Voice Talent. HOW DO I GET INTO ANIMATION? Its in there. DO I NEED AN AGENT TO MAKE THE BIG VOICE-OVER DOLLARS? DO I NEED A DEEP VOICE LIKE JAMES EARL JONES TO SUCCEED? All your questions will be answered about this very lucrative, exciting field. So You Want To Be A Voice-over Star is a must read if you want a look into the voice-over industry and as to how it all works.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 142 pages
• Publisher: In the Clubhouse Publishing; 1st edition (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967227526
• ISBN-13: 978-0967227528
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,000,193 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No real content, January 28, 2000

By	Jay Frish (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

I wanted this book to tell me something I could actually use. It is so lacking in any kind of real content. The chapter on building a studio says: "You will need one. They cost anywhere form $10,000 to $100,000". OK, but that's all it tells you! This whole book screams out to me the same way a 1980's TV infomercial does, where they tell you if you sit there through the commerical they're going to give you the precise secrets, step-by-step to buying real estate with no money down. Then you wait through the commercial and you're dissapointed that the steps they give you are: "You face your dreams and grab hold of the winds of opportunity and meet the challanges of tomorrow!" That's what this book is. It's full of pictures of the author saying "Look at me as a disc jockey. Here I am in an anonther important session." The section on how to interpret copy says: "Know your copy. You should be able to get it in several takes. You might mess of up some words cause you are human." But what about HOW to interpret the copy? Such lack of anything you can use from a book with such an ambitious title. Instead of giving specific, helpful techniques on how to interpret scripts or what exactly you'll need for your home studio, the author wastes page after page displaying photocopies of his big paychecks. This in a book of only 79 pages of "content" to begin with, and very large double spaced type. Sorry to be so honest here, but there are so many books already on the market on this subject with real content. Real how-to. I wanted to praise a book that gives insite on what the cover suggests "You can make up to $250,000 and up per year." Instead, this is a lot of "Grab the winds of change and face a handful of tomorrows and you'll be cool like me, and look at the photocopies of my big paychecks!" This is just an homage to the author's very large ego. I feel VERY ripped-off.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Without the pictures, this would be a brochure., January 24, 2000

By	Thomas H Robinson (Michigan) - See all my reviews

Although there is some useful information for someone wanting to break into the field of voice over work, Sandy Thomas, for the most part, just skims the surface. The never-ending typos and sentence fragments are also very distracting. The "Exhibits and References" section in the back can be useful, but still does not justify the book's pricetag.

1.0 out of 5 stars Seriously, this book is a stinker, June 1, 2006

By	J. Nagel "bluemoon1972" (Minneapolis, MN (United States)) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I own nearly every book on voiceover published in the last decade, and I can honestly say this is the worst of the lot. Poorly written and apparently published without having passed under the nose of a proofreader (much less an editor), it gives no actual advice or tips and instead is a sort of brag book about how good he was as a radio announcer and how work has fallen in his lap through the years. Actually, it's kind of funny to read line after line of text such as "So thn I got a call form this guy who said he loved my voice and I should be there voice. I didn't even autition. My voice is so awesome that weveryone who hears it loves it adn that's how I got to be the voice that everone hears when they turn there tv on." Okay, slight exaggeration, but not that much! Read it for a laugh, or just to fill out your voiceover library, but don't read it expecting to learn much. I'd highly recommend Harlan Hogan's book "VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over Actor" as the best first-person-narrative voiceover skills, tips, and reminiscences book on the market.