[thatvoice]

One of the first things you'll notice as you start to listen to Kim Snyder's new book The Voiceover Survival Guide is that it's aptly named. Apparently Kim has decided to put her new book out in the form of an audio book. This was great for me because I always like being read to rather than having to read.
She starts out telling a little bit about herself where she's been how she got where she is now and her start in radio and that lead her to doing voiceover's full time. It’s a path many of us have followed.
Kim is quick to point out, that like any other business, voiceovers require a lot of hard work, research, and commitment. If you treat it like a hobby it will always be a hobby. We’re reminded of all the people who made less than 4000.00 per year according to AFTRA. But if you're willing to work hard as well as smart you are more than likely to be successful.
Now I should note that this book is geared more toward the novice or amateur voiceover actor. While many veterans would find this a nice refresher a lot of it would be information they already know. There are however, a few great tips even for the veteran.
As she starts to break things down, Kim explains the signature voice and how it determines our best bet for marketing and what to do next. Who to talk to about this new signature voice and how to make the most from it? What better place to get info than from someone in the business. Kim reminds us of the willingness of other voice actors to help. She explains that we don't want to talk to just any voice actor but now that we've found our signature voice we want to talk to that voice actor doing the same basic thing we are. She gives us guidelines on those things that we should feel comfortable asking and those things not to ask.
Next she moves on to tell us how our voice works and how to take care of it and the importance of taking care of our voice. She reminds us that our voice is our instrument and what we make our money with and that we need to take care of it. She takes us on a tour of some terms and how they relate to what we as voice actors do. Words like Tone, Weight, and diction.
This book tells me what I might need to be successful. It does not give me step by step instructions on how to make it in voice over. Instead I find it gives me an outline to follow and tells me how to work smarter in the industry. In my opinion if you do what she outlines for you in this presentation, you’ll do more than just survive. But she also is quick to tell you that it is you who determines how well you do.
She covers all the bases, from demo production, including the do’s and don’ts to setting rates and understanding your worth to putting up a website and working with an agent.
Probably the most important thing she teaches us in this survival guide is how to work smart rather than just hard.