If your idea of a career in voice acting primarily involves the ability to imitate all types of characters, voices, and accents, you are only partly correct. The whole picture includes a lot more preparation, promotion, and business savvy.

Find out what it takes to stand out as a voice-over artist.

1. Know Thyself. 

Listen to Socrates – become familiar with your strengths and qualities and figure out which clients are looking for your type of voice. Developing a signature sound (Money voice) helps casting directors easily match you with projects and gives you an idea of how to brand yourself. Do remember, though, that you don’t need to try to be different; your biggest asset is being uniquely you. So practice confidence to be authentically you.

2. Be Prepared 

Perhaps you’ve always been complimented for your good voice and your ability to imitate different characters. If you think that’s enough to make it as a voice-over talent, think again: there...

A career as a voice-over artist should be both fun and profitable. How lucrative the job will depend on your skill level, the size of the project, the word count, and the types of voice-over work you get. While many job industry rates vary by location and time in the industry, professional voice actors are usually working from home and therefore geographically independent. To give you an idea, here are some stats of how much voice actors get paid in the United States:

• an entry-level voice actor earns about $18,390 per year
• the average voice actor earns about $31,400 per year
• an experienced voice actor earns about $90,000 per year

Whether you are amongst the lucky ones that earn six figures, voice acting salaries will be determined by various factors. So let’s have a look at what those are.

Skill Level and Minimum Rates

Your years of experience and expertise are factors that determine the rates you can set. Once you establish yourself as a reputable voice talent, you're...

If you are serious about getting into voice acting, you can’t just dive into a career as a voice talent and hope for the best. While you may have a natural talent for voice-over acting, the most successful voice actors will attest that education is still essential to success. 

Hiring a vocal coach exposes you to industry insights, techniques, concepts, and tactics you would have never known about otherwise. In addition, a highly-rated voice teacher can help you become more connected with your talent and get you to a level where you can turn your upgraded skills into money and a career. 

A good voice-over coach will provide you with a solid foundation of theory and practical training to prepare you for a career as a voice-over artist. Parts of your voice actor coaching sessions should include: 

• Warm-up/ Breathing Exercises
• Voice Culture / Voice Overs
• Voice Acting / Dubbing
• Voice Modulation
• Correct Pronunciation
• Language command
• Diction & Accentual Patterns
• ...

If you want to become a voice-over (VO) artist, chances are you’ve been researching the basics, such as: how to get into voice acting; where to find voice acting classes; or simply how to be a good voice-over artist. Sound like you?

Some of the fundamental skills of a VO artist include: developing a unique, easily distinguishable voice; sounding credible; and fostering a pitch and tone that is easy on the ear. In addition, your rhythm should be calm and measured, without rushing, your reading flow steady, with crystal-clear pronunciation, and a confident delivery. Certain projects may require many hours of recording, like audiobooks, documentaries, or biographies, and these require a high degree of stamina and patience – which are specific qualities you develop through regular training and years of experience.

The demand for VO artists is high, as there are so many types of industries that require professionals to voice their videos. Each of these industries requires the...

Here is a thought: 

You have been tasked with digging a ditch along side other ditch diggers. You decide to work harder than all the other ditch diggers there, because you believe by working harder than everyone, you will dig the biggest ditch.

So ... you pick up a stick, and begin to dig. You are working harder than everyone else now, sweating and breathing hard. As you take a quick break, you see a fellow ditch digger with a tractor digging his ditch, working 1/10th as hard as you, but 10x's faster than you.

The man with the tractor is sitting in an air conditioned cabin siping on an iced tea. "How can this be" ... you say. "I am the hardest working person here, but I will never catch up to the man with the big tractor."

I love this analogy because I see so many voice actors working hard day and night, but not getting very far. And then you see another person, working half as hard, pass by them simply because of the tools they are using. 

The only way we are...

This article talks about how to do a voice over and discusses the different parts of the voice over and the industry and how you can get involved. 

But before we start, we should make sure we understand what is a voice over and who needs a voice over? 

What Is A Voice Over

 A Voice Over is spoken words that are mixed with (Or over), music, and/or video. 

Today, we hear voice overs all the time. We hear voice actors when we listen to the radio, watch TV, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, etc. Where ever we consume information or entertainment, we hear voice overs. 

Who Needs A Voice Over?

Anyone that is creating content can use a voice actor. That is broad, so let me narrow it down with these genres:

• Commercials (This can be on TV, Radio, or Social Media)
• Video Narration (Makes up 90% of all voice overs today)
• Movie Promos (Movies and TV Shows use voice actors for promos)
• eLearning (Anytime there is online training, usually there is a voice...

Absolutely You Can!

I get asked this question a lot and the reality is ... you can make a ridiculous amount of money on Fiverr.

I started four years ago on Fiverr when it had been around for about seven years at that point. It was taking a lot of flak from people who didn't believe in the website, but I decided to give it a go because honestly, I didn't know what else to do as a beginner (It still takes flak today, but not as much).

Picture of the front page of Fiverr

As I looked around on Fiverr, I started seeing lots of people making tons of money. Of course, this inspired me, so I began to ask myself, "If all these people are making money on Fiverr, why in the world can't I make money on Fiverr?

So, this is what I did:

• I started creating more gigs
• I worked on my SEO on Fiverr
• I started paying attention to what top-rated sellers were doing

In the meantime, I got better as a voice actor, which helped me make better demos (yes, I make...

When just starting out or trying to get going, what do you put down for experience? How do you bridge that gap?

It's the chicken and the egg conundrum... how do I get experience without any experience?

Great question!

I want to give you a way of thinking about this that might be different than normal. And from this point on, use this method even when you have loads of acting experience or voiceover experience to tell others about.

The Method

We are the sum of all of our experiences in our life.

Consider this... The person that you are, the voice actor that you are, the voice actor that you will become, and the business that you will create, should be the basis for all of your experiences.

• The jobs that you have worked
• Your education
• Your family
• Where you were born
• Where you grew up
• What you know
• What direction you have taken in life
• Your morals and beliefs

All of these things go into who we are and what we stand for. Furthermore, they are the basis for our business and the...

Marketing, marketing, marketing ... It's the craze these days. Everyone's talking about marketing. And let's be honest, for good reason. Marketing is the single most important activity you can engage in to grow your business. 

So, to that end, I have decided to write a 5 part series on 5 different types of marketing styles you can use to grow your business. 

Each one of these styles I have used myself and I will also be doing a corresponding YouTube video and podcast with them (I will link to those below). 

My hope is this series will help you better understand what you can do to grow your business and empower you with the tools to get you there :)

Let's dive in!

Marketing Style Part 1: 

FREELANCE WEBSITES!

If you know anything about me, this is my favorite way to leverage OPM (Other Peoples Money) and OPT (Other Peoples Time).

When we first start out, we don't have money to invest in paid advertising, so we must find ways to leverage other...

Over the last few weeks, I have been asked ... 

"Hey Anthony, should I join Fiverr, even though so many people say that it will be bad for my business and I will get blacklisted from people looking to hire me?"

I always shudder at the question, not because of the answer or my personal belief, but because of the information that is being spread among voice actors that only applies to a small group of people. 

What do I mean?

Well, the reality is, there is a very small circle of people in L.A. and New York City that do voice-overs for top Agencies and get paid lucrative sums of money. 

To these people, joining a website like Fiverr would be silly and degrading. Not because getting work is bad, but because the prices they charge wouldn't make sense on a website like Fiverr. 

Furthermore, they would have to start over on Fiverr because social proof is more important than how amazing your demo is. So, it makes sense that they...