Creating Strategy and Momentum in Voice-Over

Success in voice-over rarely comes from random bursts of inspiration. It comes from strategy, consistency, and momentum. Sometimes voice actors can wait for motivation before taking action, but momentum is actually created through action. The more intentional your daily habits become, the more opportunities begin to appear.

If you feel stuck or inconsistent by a lack of auditions, it may not be a talent issue. It may simply be time to create a stronger system. Here are some practical steps to build momentum in your voice-over career while staying proactive, focused, and marketable.

1. Treat Voice-Over Like a Business

One of the biggest shifts a voice actor can make is moving from “artist mindset” to “artist and entrepreneur.” Passion matters, but strategy creates sustainability.

Start by organizing your week with structure:

• Audition hours
• Marketing time
• Research sessions
• Skill development
• Networking outreach

Professional voice actors don’t simply wait for auditions to appear. They create routines that keep them visible and improving. Even dedicating an hour or two of focused time a day can create long-term momentum if done consistently.

Create measurable goals:

• Submit three auditions daily
• Research and reach out to ten potential clients weekly
• Practice voice-over every time you’re in your car

Tracking progress helps you see growth even during slower seasons.

2. Build a Daily Research Habit

Research is one of the most overlooked habits in voice-over. The industry evolves constantly, and staying informed helps you sound current, competitive, and marketable.

Listen carefully to what’s booking right now. Voice-over trends shift from polished announcer reads to conversational authenticity, to very casual, then evolve again. 

Research also means studying buyers:

• Advertising agencies
• Production companies
• Casting directors
• Game studios
• Audiobook publishers

Understanding who hires voice talent allows you to market yourself more effectively instead of blindly sending emails.

3. Audition Consistently Even When You Don’t Feel Inspired

Momentum in voice-over often comes from volume and consistency. Some auditions will feel exciting. Others will feel repetitive. The key is continuing anyway.

Daily auditioning improves:

• Speed
• Interpretation skills
• Mic confidence
• Stamina
• Adaptability

Overthinking kills momentum. Make it a point to stick to daily goals regardless of how you’re feeling.

4. Analyze Your Audition Patterns

If you are auditioning frequently but not booking, step back and evaluate patterns honestly.

Ask yourself:

• Are your reads too performative?
• Is your audio quality competitive?
• Are you choosing appropriate auditions?
• Are you sounding conversational or overly polished?

5. Market Yourself When Auditions Slow Down

Slow audition periods are not dead periods. They are marketing periods.

If auditions decrease, redirect your energy:

• Send introduction emails
• Update your website
• Post new samples online
• Create social media content
• Network
• Reconnect with previous clients

Marketing does not need to feel aggressive. Think of it as relationship building. Share your personality, your professionalism, and your reliability. Consistency builds familiarity, and familiarity builds trust.

6. Stay Visible, Flexible, and Persistent

Voice-over is rarely a straight path. Careers expand through persistence and adaptability.

The actor booking commercials today may later move into:

• Animation
• Promo
• Corporate narration
• Video games
• Audiobooks
• Live announcing

Remain open to growth. Keep learning. Keep refining your sound. Keep building relationships.

Most importantly, keep showing up.

Momentum is not created overnight. It’s built through repeated daily actions. Strategy gives your career direction. Habits create consistency. Persistence creates opportunity.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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Artificial intelligence is often pitched as the “hero” solution for content creators. It promises faster workflows, lower costs, infinite scalability…we’ve all heard the pitch. Inevitably, someone is going to ask your client the question that makes your eye twitch:

“Why hire a voice actor when AI can do it instantly for less?”

On paper, that sounds persuasive; in practice, it quietly sabotages the goals your clients actually care about.

By understanding why human voice-over remains the better solution, you will be able to better understand the temptations your clients face and position yourself as the true solution to their needs.

The Trendiness Trap

As we all know, AI voice-over is everywhere right now. Social media, automated systems, even national ad campaigns! That can make an AI takeover of our industry feel inevitable. Most of the articles you see about how great a solution AI narration is come from companies selling the tools! A shocking coincidence to be sure, even if you don’t think about it very hard.

Clients don’t always understand that “modern” doesn’t automatically mean “effective.” They often think that moving to the newest technology is going to give them an edge. You’re in a great position to help them see what you can provide – beyond the hype – by focusing on outcomes.

Ultimately, your client’s goal is engagement, comprehension, trust, and retention. Synthetic voices simply fall short in delivering on their promise in these areas.

Emotion Is Not a Decorative Feature

If you are one of my coaching students, you know how much I talk about “emotional payload.”

As humans, we have a deep and intuitive emotional understanding of the text we are reading. That’s what we practice, that’s what we coach for, that’s our job. The emotions that we experience as we speak are heard or experienced by the listener.

This emotional connection takes our performance beyond just “words delivered in order”. It creates timing, subtext, breath, emphasis, restraint, warmth, urgency. The emotions that we feel as we read a script carry actual meaning.

Of course, AI voices can approximate emotion, or rather, approximate the sounds of emotion; but AI has no actual emotion, and in fact cannot understand what emotion even is, let alone convey it in a meaningful way.

Synthetic speech can simulate emotion about as well as a mannequin can simulate a smile. It looks like a happy fella, until you spend more than ten seconds looking at its face with its vacant, absent expression. We all know that AI voices are everywhere right now because we can tell. 

This really matters because your client needs its listeners to feel, understand, connect, and ultimately engage. That can only happen when the person reading feels, understands, connects, and is engaged with the script.

AI simply doesn’t have the capacity to do that.

As learners and listeners, we all subconsciously register when a voice has no internal life. Studies show that when this happens, attention drops and engagement fades. The voice becomes background noise. We have to work harder to listen, to pay attention, and to learn.

This isn’t artistic snobbery. It’s simply a fact of basic, inherent human communication.

As a voice actor, your emotional intelligence is not fluff, it’s functionality.

Recommended further reading:

• “Empathy Erosion in the Age of AI“
• “The Human Touch in Digital Communication“
• “Emotion Recognition in Voice Technology“

Flat Voices Increase Mental Fatigue

Synthetic speech is harder to process. I don’t mean this metaphorically – it literally increases the cognitive demands of the listener. 

Studies consistently show that listeners expend more mental effort decoding AI-generated voices than human ones, and that the extra effort reduces retention and comprehension. People remember less and tune out faster.

So yes, AI narration might shave dollars off a production budget, but it’s quietly sabotaging the entire purpose of the content.

When clients say “it sounds fine to me,” what they usually mean is “I didn’t listen long enough to notice the damage.”

Recommended further reading:

• “Comprehension of Synthetic Speech Produced by Rule“
• “Perception and Comprehension of Synthetic Speech“
• “AI Overload: Effects on Student Focus“

Ethics Are the Landmine Nobody Wants to Step On

Voice cloning lives in a gray zone that moves faster than laws and ethics can keep up with.

Real voices have been cloned and repurposed without consent. Performers have found themselves embedded in platforms, products, and brands they never agreed to. Volunteer recordings meant for accessibility projects have been absorbed into commercial AI training pipelines.

Clients using AI voices often have no idea where those voices came from or who didn’t get paid.

Human voice-over is clean, transparent, contractual, and accountable.

That matters more than most clients realize, especially when brand trust is on the line.

Recommended further reading:

• CBC News: Actor Sues TikTok
• ElevenLabs Lawsuit Coverage
• Ethics of Voice Cloning

How This Positions You

You’re not competing with AI on speed or cost. That’s a losing game, and we all know it.

You’re competing on:

• Listener engagement
• Message clarity
• Emotional credibility
• Retention and learning outcomes
• Ethical sourcing
• Brand trust

Speech-to-text voice-over is convenient. Human voice-over is effective.

Those are not the same thing.

The Takeaway You Can Actually Use

Clients don’t need to be convinced that you’re “better.” They need to understand what they lose when they remove the human element.

Your job isn’t to fear AI. It’s to calmly explain why it fails at the exact moments that matter most.

Real learning, real persuasion, and real connection still require real voices.

Annoying, isn’t it? Turns out humans still want to sound human.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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You’ve been working really hard all year on building your voice-over career: auditioning hot and heavy, marketing, attending conferences, workshops, invoicing and bookkeeping, staying organized… You name it! Whether this is your first year as a working VO professional or if it’s your twentieth, one thing that is crucial to your business is maintaining relationships. 

You might think, “But I’m already doing that through my regular marketing.” Well, there’s more to it than just that. Every other pro voice-over talent is also marketing regularly. You’re not the only one, but there are a number of ways to build, cultivate, and maintain business relationships. I find that the best way is to be genuine – people can sense a phony, or a suck-up, a mile away. Don’t be that person. 

Ask yourself, “When was the last time that I reached out to a client, but not to ask for work?”

During your last live-directed session, your client mentioned that their dog had to have surgery soon. Did you check in on your client to see how things went and if their dog is feeling better post-surgery? 

People tend to remember kind sentiments like that. You didn’t contact them to ask about any upcoming projects that they think you might be a good fit for, but you sincerely asked about something personal that they shared with you.

Keep it short and to the point; don’t drag it out. Simply mentioning the event is usually meaningful enough. Another way might be to send a short email just to say hello, or to ask how their recent holiday was. Maybe you go above and beyond on a project and deliver a little more than they expected. Offering discounts from time to time is another way to help maintain business relationships. 

Another scenario might be that your client, whom you’ve worked with on multiple occasions,  just doesn’t have it in their budget this time to meet your usual rate. Offering to adjust your rate in this instance to help meet their budget may be a good idea. Who knows, they may remember your generosity and recommend or push to have you on a project in the future.

People tend to prefer working with those they like and get along with easily, and by developing a closer professional relationship, even better. 

Now, I’m not saying that by doing these things it will guarantee you more job opportunities, but it’s a good way to do business in general. People appreciate personal connections. Let’s take Starbucks, for example. Most people, whether they admit it or not, like the fact that they write your name on your cup of coffee or drink, along with a smiley face. It’s a gesture and statement that says, “We appreciate YOU, specifically”. Like Starbucks, we should also have a way of showing our clients that they are appreciated. 

It’s pretty normal for businesses to show gratitude to their valued customers during the holiday season by sending them small gifts.  Now, how are you going to convey this to your clients? 

If you’re just getting started, you might not have built a budget to be able to purchase small gifts to send to your clients. Don’t sweat it! There are ways to show them that you care that are completely free. One way is to create a nice holiday card with kind sentiments. Don’t be afraid to be unique. Customize it to reflect who you are. If you’re humorous by nature, perhaps come up with a funny holiday card. Most people will appreciate the humor. 

Once you’re able to set a budget for end-of-the-year client gifts, you may want to send out some personalized merch with your company name and/or logo. Try to think of something they may actually put to good use. Perhaps a nice pen, a calendar, or a screen cleaner. There are many options out there, but remember not to break the bank by spending a tremendous amount on client gifts. A small token of appreciation will suffice. It’s the thought that counts. You’re thinking of them, and hopefully they’ll also think of you in the near future. 

As the year winds down, it’s the perfect time to take a step back and evaluate your progress, check in with clients, review finances, and set new goals for the year ahead. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this end-of-year reflection can provide valuable insights to help you elevate your voice-over career in the coming months. Here’s how to wrap up the year on a productive note.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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 “The play is not in the words, it’s in you!” – Stella Adler

If you’ve spent any time acting, you’ve heard at least one Stella Adler quote. Another quote we hear all the time in our industry is, “Acting is reacting”. To me, this really showcases how our life experiences inform our acting; in order to be genuine, we must rely on who we are day-to-day and where we have been.

I’m fairly certain none of us come to voice-over without having done anything else. Moving through life, we all gain insights into the world that are unique to us. We all have different experiences and skill sets.

I, for one, have held a lot of jobs. I’ve worked in kitchens, driven forklifts, sold couches, recycled electronics, and worked in optometry. These jobs all had their own needs and challenges. However, I learned a lot while in those phases of my life. Now, when I find myself working on medical narration or speaking about data security, I feel right at home, because I can apply my life experiences to the script.

If you’re taking your life experiences and breathing life into scripts to be a better performer, then why not apply it to your whole business? It’s really easy to get that tunnel vision: you’ve worked so hard and all you’ve ever wanted is to hear your voice doing the thing! But freelance work ebbs and flows; finding any kind of stability can be hard, so how do people do it?

It’s not a secret!

I’m going to let you in on a little “not” secret. Every single one of your VO coaches is also a full-time actor. I mean, that’s why we trust them to coach us, but think about that for a second. They are doing more than one thing. Sure, they are voice actors, but they leverage that skill to teach. Many even have additional services. They are applying their skills in a new and different way. If you look at the greats in our industry, they’re all doing multiple things and it’s not just teaching acting. 

From a personal point of view, I started to get real traction in our industry when I realized I had a unique skill set that was VO adjacent. I’d been playing in DAWs, manipulating music, doing sound design, and just generally being creative for years already. My experiences made me a natural audio engineer. More than that, having experience on both sides of the microphone gave me even more of an edge.

Looking at my peers, I’ve seen them also succeed by embracing their additional talents. Of course, we should never compare ourselves to others – we each have our own path. That doesn’t mean we can’t take some inspiration. What are others around you doing to expand their brand? Do you have a skill that is marketable to the voice-over community? 

Use what you already know!

We wear a ton of different hats running our own business. What are you already good at? This may take some brainstorming, but we all have unique skills. Take a moment and make some notes. Is there something specific that you seem to just understand better than some? Maybe you had a job in the past that gave you unique qualifications? 

Grab a pen and paper, open a Google Doc, or just turn on the mic and start talking. Do whatever you need to do to get that information somewhere you can access it. There is a good chance that it won’t be long before you see something. To give you a head start, here are just a few of the opportunities I see people taking advantage of. 

Tech Support:

If you are a techie like me, then this is a no-brainer. We get excited about tech and want to know how it all works. Guess what? Most voice actors just want to turn it on and press record. We all know it’s not always that easy. If you can walk someone else through troubleshooting a problem, you are a huge asset. 

Website Design:

There are a lot of domain services out there touting how easy their platform is. Having used a few of them, I can say that is an exaggeration. Some people just aren’t wired to understand website design. If you understand any of these sitebuilders on a fundamental level, you could be the new voice-over website-building guru! 

Graphic Design/ Artist:

A successful business knows how to leverage images to make its brand pop. We may all be artists, but visual art is a unique skill to be proud of. It may seem like just a hobby to you, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. If this is your skill, then you could be a master of creating digital media and not even know it!

Canva Expert:

This one is a bit similar, but also super important. Canva is such a powerful tool, and knowing how to use it is a skill. Do you know how to whip up an amazing logo, put together an out-of-this-world slideshow, or make a social media banner that tells a story? If you can make powerful branding, then you have a marketable talent. Double points if you can teach this skill to others! 

Writer:

English majors, this one is absolutely for you! Voice-over needs all kinds of writers. Scripts, branding, and even resumes. Writing a good resume doesn’t come easily to everyone. It is even more complicated in a creative field like ours. If you are a wordsmith you could be crafting all kinds of valuable content to the community and your business margins. 

Virtual Assistant:

Admittedly, this is a bit of a catch-all, but there are a ton of opportunities to be a virtual assistant. This category is absolutely massive. It’s not just scheduling, but that is certainly one thing you can do! Are you an expert at crafting emails? Do you have a lot of experience managing CRM’s? If you are a social media master, this could really be your chance to shine! Not to mention the subtle gains of getting to work side by side with another working voice actor. 

These ideas are all just the tip of the iceberg. The possibilities really are endless. Finding ways to stay engaged with the voice-over community while expanding your business is, in my opinion and experience, a double win. So I encourage you to put on that thinking hat and consider all the ways you are unique and talented. Get out there and craft something AWESOME!

Nick Marrs is a voice actor, audio engineer, and BBQ dad based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can find him online at: https://linktr.ee/nickmarrs

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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You did it! You auditioned for a gig and got cast! Time to sign whatever they send over and get to work, right?

Wrong.

Do not sign just any piece of paper that crosses your desk based on the lovely words of your soon-to-be employers. Even if they are reputable. Even if they are someone you personally know. Even if you’ve worked with them before.

In the interest of keeping you all safe, we’re going to keep this simple and clearly lay out some terminology. So strap in, because we’re gonna un-legalese this whole thing with as little use of Latin as possible.

Note: the following does not constitute legal advice on behalf of Such A Voice nor this article’s author, and is meant for information purposes only. 

1. For Your Consideration

Before we get started, there is one thing you must always remember: every contract is different. Do not trust a boilerplate. Read the contract every time. Do not be afraid to send back questions, corrections, or additional riders.

First off, we’re assuming that the Parties involved have the capacity to sign a contract and are operating towards both sides agreeing and walking away happy (known as mutual assent). Like, who would want to write a contract meant to misuse your work and abuse the rights you’ve given them?

The key thing that’s different in each contract is something called the Consideration. In short, it’s the expressed, mutual exchange of obligations between Parties—you do the work, they give the monies. But, as you’ve likely seen, the rates, terms, and asks for each field in voice-over are different. Fortunately, there are several places that keep track of the standard minimums, which is important to ensure all actors get paid fairly and can continue to live without undermining one another or the industry as a whole.

2. Clause and Effect

Each contract has clauses defining aspects of its obligations. Key words you’ll need to know are:

License: what a Party can do with your work once you’ve given it to them, such as ownership of the recording, narrowing it to the specific project, or allowing it to be used in a variety of other places (like advertisements and promotional media for the project).

Term: an aspect of the License, including the number of months the Party is allowed to use a work, the locations and markets it will be used in, aspects of any renewals of the usage, and any and all platforms in which it will be used.

Rate: the agreement on compensation based on services rendered, such as: per finished minute, per hour, per session, per episode, or flat. This may or may not include revisions.

In Perpetuity: this gives a Party eternal, exclusive rights to a work, often without additional compensation. The reddest of flags.

Buyout: a large payment for services rendered to obtain full rights and usage of a work. Usually given by Employers to appear as a lucrative offer to the Performer in the hopes of a bigger return for the Employer.

Non-Disclosure Agreement: a clause in a contract stopping Parties from discussing the work being performed or any status of the project as a whole, as well as a process by which Parties must be notified of any disclosures. If present, don’t tell anybody. Seriously, don’t say anything as you could be liable for hefty fees for breaking this.

Alternative Dispute Resolution: a clause dictating how disagreements between Parties are handled and arbitrated to avoid going to court or bearing the brunt of full legal costs.

Jurisdiction: the state or country in which the contract is enforced, determining under whose governance the enforceability falls and where legal disputes must be settled.

Severability: a section of a contract stating what happens in the event any clause in the contract is deemed unlawful or illegal, ranging from the single section being removed and work continuing to full dissolution of the contract.

Rider: an additional document to be signed by all Parties that adds more terms surrounding the obligations, usually focused on an unstated aspect or clause in need of further clarification.

3. Modern Times, Modern Solutions

We certainly picked an era to live in. Currently, the threat of AI is ever-present in our work, and Employers are looking for ways to cut us out of this industry to save them a buck.

If you’ve been under a rock, the latest Interactive strike revealed just how Employers wanted to use our work beyond the basic scope of projects, including training machines based on work you do for them or feeding your voice to an algorithm to further replicate and amalgamate your likeness.

You need to be on the lookout for terms like: Secondary Performance, Digital Replica, Digital Double, Real-Time Generation, and Independently-Created Digital Replica. These can indicate they want to do more than the current work being contracted. Do not sign over your rights for these purposes in any fashion—no buyout will be enough if it means risking the future of your career. Once you give your likeness to them for a single lump sum, it’s curtains.

Be wary of conditions that grant third parties any rights, as this can be a way for Employers to skirt around their obligations in the Consideration. If you don’t have the benefit of union representation, there are still options available to you. The National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA) now offers several contract reviews per year to members. 

4. The Checklist

That’s great and all, but how is the above used in practice, if you can’t afford a legal team? I gotchu. While this won’t substitute proper legal counsel, this is a solid start for solo endeavors. Follow these each time you pore through a contract.

• Make sure all usage of terms and proper nouns are consistent and capitalized. Anywhere it says, “herein referred to as X”, note and check that word throughout the whole contract.
• Understand what they intend to do with the work, as in the terms of the License, and any transformative derivatives they want to create.
• Make sure the exact locations, markets, and platforms are listed out and not written as “any”.
• Make sure the run time for the work is clearly listed and not written as “in perpetuity” or “unlimited”.
• Check to see if the rate is standard to the industry. In non-union spaces, this might be more difficult (based on each state), but you can still push back or say no.
• Ensure there is a clause for penalties for failure to be paid in a timely fashion. This might require sending a revision back to them.
• Check the terms of the non-disclosure agreement, if present.
• Search for and flag the following words:
  • “replica”
  • “artificial intelligence / AI”
  • “secondary”
  • “generate / generative”
  • “Identifiable”
• Note the Jurisdiction and Dispute Resolution sections of the contract.
• Note if there is a clause permitting the Employer to have beneficiaries.
• Note the terms of the Severability clause.

This may feel overwhelming, but the peace of mind you get from an airtight contract is worth the effort. Stay vigilant, get help if you need it, and keep on working safely.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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It’s spooky season! 

Time for leaves to change colors, candy to be purchased in bulk, temperatures to drop (except in Texas, because fall is a myth here), and you to catch a fright from doing that very necessary but very scary voice-over task you keep putting off. You know the one. 

While that task might be looming in the dark like a monster from your dreams, there’s no need to do OTHER things that will also chill your bones and make you wish you had taken up needlepoint instead. Let’s face it: other than being in front of your mic in your booth, most of the voice work we do tends to be fairly mundane, and can be downright boring at times. But sometimes, you can run into situations that make you want to pull your hair out and trade your Sennheiser 416 for a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder and drive off into the sunset singing Carly Rae Jepsen. 

But here’s a secret: it doesn’t have to be so scary! I’ll share my frightening tales with you so that you can see that with a little confidence and preparation, the horrible can become humdrum. 

The Peculiar Case of the Unpaid Dubbing Assignment 

We all usually move with the best intentions, and we assume the best intentions in others. Most of us are nice people, and we engage with mostly nice people who are well-intentioned, but every so often, you find yourself in a murky swamp where you don’t get paid because you didn’t document the terms of your agreement. 

I agreed to perform some dubbing work for an international dubbing company that shall remain nameless. Along with some fellow Such A Voice alumni, my role was to supply ADR services for a variety of foreign-language television shows. It was a great opportunity: I had never done any dubbing before, and this was a way to learn, get my foot in the door with a dubbing company, and get paid. 

Eagerly, I dove into numerous assignments, working with some really talented voice actors and very nice producers who even asked for my input on translations and localization (like, “Would this person really say it like this in English?”). Over the course of several months, I took on several assignments and learned a lot about the process along the way. What I DIDN’T get, however, was payment. In my excitement to get started, I didn’t ask some important questions about when and how payment would come, how they were being funded, etc. In the end, I did not get paid for my work.

The Not-So-Scary Outcome: I learned to ask all the questions I need to ask about a project before I accept it, and I DID learn how to do ADR work. 

The Pay-To-Play Obsessive-Compulsion Fever

It’s very common for new voice actors to gravitate toward the numerous online services that will send you auditions for a monthly, quarterly, or yearly fee. I’m sure you can name a few off the top of your head without straining a brain muscle. Colloquially referred to as “pay-to-plays” or P2Ps, these sites and services are great places to source auditions curated (mostly) to your unique voice and preferences. I have used them from the beginning of my voice acting career, I still use them, and I know of several big-name voice actors who make quite a good living off of P2Ps. They are a reasonable, reliable source of both auditions and jobs. We can debate which ones are better than others, but much of that comes down to personal preference and how much you’re willing to spend to get the best opportunities. 

However, many new voice actors can get too caught up in “gamifying” the P2P experience, spending far too much time and mental energy on how many listens they get on their auditions, whether they’ve been shortlisted, and obsessively checking to see the status. In my case, I would stalk one particular site, hitting refresh over and over to see if any updates had occurred, feeling exhilaration if my audition was listened to and outright bliss if I was shortlisted, but also feeling disappointment, dejection, and doubt if I wasn’t selected. It was unhealthy. I began associating my worth as a voice actor with the statistics on the screen of whatever P2P site I was looking at, and I was so focused on the numbers that I wasn’t diversifying my outreach, I wasn’t doing nearly as much self-marketing. I was locked into a virtual death-spiral of audition, submit, refresh, rinse, and repeat. It was a toxic relationship. 

The Not-So-Scary Outcome: Once I recognized the signs, I took a beat and thought about what I was doing and whether the juice was worth the squeeze, so to speak. What was I gaining from the constant monitoring? I made a choice for myself: I began dialing back my presence on the particular P2Ps that offered that level of scrutiny, and focused more on my networking and marketing. I still do some P2Ps today, but I have fully adopted the “fire and forget” philosophy: giving the best audition I can, submitting it, then moving on with my life. It’s made my relationship with auditioning so much nicer.

There are lots of things to be wary of in voice acting: artificial intelligence, unscrupulous clients, a buildup of static electricity on your mic. But you shouldn’t be afraid of too many things. Most frights are simply the combination of you + inexperience with the situation. Listen to your mentors, your coaches, your peers, and you will find that it really doesn’t have to be so scary to be a voice actor.  

But go ahead and sing some Carly Rae Jepsen. I bet she’d appreciate that. 

Shaun Scott is a voice-over artist working in Medical Narration, Commercials, e-Learning, and more. His clients include Exxon, Temple University, Spotify, Stryker, SignifyHealth, and Carvykti.

Visit his website at: www.shaunscottvo.com

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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At some point in every voice actor’s career, they need to start thinking about making a demo, a reel, or some samples. Oftentimes, people can get confused about the differences between these things and what they’ll need for different genres and niches. So let’s break down what the difference is between a demo, a reel, and a sample.

Let’s start with the granddaddy of all of them all: the demo. A voice-over demo is a collection of short spots that showcase your acting ability and range within a certain genre. A demo should also be focused on one category. For example, you don’t want to have video game/interactive spots on the same demo that you have commercial spots. Each demo should be specialized for the specific genre you want to showcase. 

The average voice-over demo is about a minute to a minute and a half long (sometimes longer in certain cases). A demo usually consists of short scripts within a given genre to demonstrate your range and abilities within that genre. Scripts are usually written for the specific demo, and do not have to be real gigs you have actually worked. 

The demo is meant to showcase the culmination of your experience and abilities in a condensed format that you can then use to pitch yourself to agents, studios, and casting directors. It needs to be short enough not to take up a lot of their time, but also attention-grabbing so that they stay interested. Also, it’s a good opportunity to show off a bit! A demo is going to be one of your biggest marketing tools, so it needs to be professional, captivating, and a selling point for you as a voice-over artist.

Next, let’s talk about the reel. Sometimes people will use this term interchangeably with “demo.” It is also a showcase of your abilities; however, a lot of people will refer to a reel as a short collection of credits or things you have done. Unlike the demo, where the spots are all made up, the reel is usually comprised of snippets of things you have booked and worked on in the past. A good example of this is the visual reels we see people post on social media: someone might take short snippets of different characters they have done for various video games or anime, and create a showcase of them together.

Finally, let’s talk about samples. These are a little more abstract and can vary a bit from genre to genre. They are usually singularly focused on one specific thing and not a wide variety of range and characters like the demo and the reel are. Let’s visit audiobooks for a moment as an example. 

Samples work well in the audiobook world because of the long-form format; an audiobook sample would be one specific thing, such as an excerpt from a sci-fi novel. If I were to record 2-6 minutes of a sci-fi novel, this would be a sci-fi audiobook sample. When we look at characters, someone might ask for a sample of a “loving dad type character.” This would be me recording only a small spot of that specific character archetype to submit, not dissimilar to an audition. A sample is a focused, singular thing, meant to fill a specific need.

Overall, the demo is your genre-specific showcase meant to show off your abilities in a given genre and market yourself. The reel, sometimes used interchangeably with the demo, is also a showcase of your range and abilities in a given genre, but usually made up of past credits you have. The sample is a focused, singular spot or example.

Just like selecting the right tool from the toolbox, this will help you know specifically what you need for different applications. If a casting director wants to hear your video game demo, you don’t want to send over a reel of past commercials you’ve done. If a publisher wants to hear an audiobook sample for specifically romance novels, sending over your character demo might not be the move. Hopefully, this helps clear up some of the confusion surrounding these three tools, and you can go forth and use them effectively! 

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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Marcus is a biracial (Black/Jewish), non-binary voice-over artist.

They got their start in audiobooks and have since branched out to other areas such as commercials, animation, video games, ADR, and more. Marcus can be heard in a wide variety of projects, such as multiple video games, including Star-Lord in Marvel Snap, multiple voices in various anime, including Gintama, DanDaDan, Windbreaker, and That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime, commercials, multiple audiobooks for Penguin Random House and other publishers, and multiple live-action dubs!

Marcus has always had a passion for storytelling and entertaining those around them. They have used this passion to fuel their drive in voiceover, and also launch and helm “Queer Quest,” organizing and running tabletop role-playing games for the Queer Vox Community. Marcus also serves on the board of directors for Queer Vox where they serve as a PR director, and also help with organizing community events and classes.

Outside of the booth, Marcus enjoys D&D, anime, painting, kayaking, hiking, making their own dice, and hanging out with their 3 dogs.

Check them out at https://queervox.org/ and their personal website https://marcusrvoice.com/.

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According to the wisdom of the Internet, Imposter Syndrome is a persistent, unjustified feeling that one’s success is fraudulent. Imposter syndrome is characterized by doubt in one’s abilities—despite a record of achievement or respect from one’s peers—and a fear of having one’s unworthiness exposed.

Have you ever felt like an imposter in the voice-over industry? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say all of us have, at least at some point.

It’s easy to compare yourself to someone who looks like they are moving faster, shining brighter, and seemingly has it all together. However, I hate to break it to you, that even those who look like rock stars doubt themselves. I’ve had success in the voice-over industry with national spots, One Voice award nominations (five of them, but who’s counting?), and repeat clients… and I still feel like an imposter at times. 

When bookings are slow, or I see a voice-over colleague posting about their latest big booking, I feel less than, unworthy, and definitely doubt my abilities. My insides feel like screaming, “WHY NOT ME?” and “OF COURSE IT’S NOT ME!” all at the same time. 

How do we combat this? Reading this article is a good start!

If a friend or colleague were to start talking badly about themselves, you wouldn’t hesitate to stop them, beg to differ, and start a laundry list of all the reasons they are worthy and fantastic.

Guess what? We can do the same thing for ourselves. 

When your imposter syndrome starts creeping in, remind yourself of your fantastic traits, but in third person. Speak to yourself as if you were the friend you need. When I doubt my abilities, I say, “Hey, don’t talk about my friend that way. She is a hard worker, with a history of happy clients, spots she is proud of, and colleagues who respect her. She networks, invests in coaching, and keeps growing and learning.” 

Try it for yourself. What encouragement can you give? Write it down and remind yourself how much you have to offer. Even if you are new to the voice-over game, you are not an imposter. You are just new! We were all new once. Most clients don’t care if you are new; they just want good work from an easily directable talent that’s on time. Don’t be afraid of being “exposed” as a fresh new voice.

Okay, so we did our self-help activity, now what?

Now we make a plan because action moves us forward and gives us power. We aren’t the kind of freelance creatives who sit on our thumbs and moan about nothing going our way. We are go-getters who look at our goals and find ways to get there. I have found that nothing cures my self-doubt quicker than taking action.

This past year I was feeling like I was in a slump, so I decided to add another tool to my toolbox and build on my Voice of God/Live Event Announcement skills, go to Auction school, and become an Auctioneer. 

And boy, do I feel like an imposter. Because I’m new and I don’t have much to back up my work except a state-issued license. 

How do I overcome these icky feelings that I don’t belong? I make a plan. I’ve joined Toastmasters to improve my public speaking, I’m shadowing other auctioneers to watch them work, and I’m watching tape like a football player before a game, seeing how auctioneers I admire work a crowd. I add “work on numbers chant” to my daily calendar and practice in front of the mirror.

The same can be done for voice-over specific work. Want to work in a new niche? Well, it’s going to take some effort, but get in the game, get coaching, invest in your talent, and listen to pros. Taking action builds confidence, and imposter syndrome hates confident people because they shake their finger like Dikembe Mutombo and say, “NOT IN THIS HOUSE.”

Adios, imposter syndrome! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

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Do you ever get that itch?

You know, the one when it’s mid-week, your inbox is empty, no casting calls you fit are up, and you feel like you’re Left On Read with agents? And, to top it off, your friends are posting about all the cool stuff they’re in that’s dropping this week.

Relief isn’t gonna show up at your doorstep—you gotta make your own by reconnecting with why you’re doing what you’re doing, getting in touch with yourself, not comparing yourself to others, and finding new ways to express your creativity.

To further prove these methods work, I went through one of the most difficult times in my life while writing this, took my own advice, and got back on track, so you can too!

Intrinsic Motivation

Why’re you doing this? No, seriously, are you insane? You’re signing yourself up for a lifetime of rejections, nos, awkward silences, and a distinct lack of feedback. Why would you do that?

The answer’s clear, right? Doing this brings you joy! (At least, it should). But where is that joy coming from? Is it from potential notoriety or imagined gains from things outside of your control, or does it come from your own desire to be curious and challenge yourself?

Certainly, your goals can be tangible things like bookings or engagements, but that can’t be the only thing driving you. Bookings are brief, fleeting, and transient. Plus, that kind of motivation doesn’t have a true payoff for accomplishing it; it feeds into wanting more and more of it, without being able to enjoy your labor and creativity.

A strong internal drive to push your understanding, to enjoy the process of voice acting itself, and not relying on external validation will last you through the many droughts that happen in this biz. Find happiness in tapping into a new emotion, a new sound, a deeper understanding of characterization. Let yourself be excited and curious as you dive into the minutiae of the process. Let your eyes shine when you see and hear phenomenal performances from others.

Release yourself from the want of validation. Believe me: doing the cool thing because you love it is much more satisfying. Your inner child will thank you and be in awe of just how legit you are.

Checking In

Inside of you are many parts. Parts that want to thrive. Parts that desire justice. Parts that wanna air people out to dry for what they’ve done to you or others.

But is that productive? Is that serving anyone? What are the underlying reasons why those thoughts are coming up? It could be frustration, fear, sadness, or another underlying factor that is trying to tell you something.

Find ways to re-channel that internal passion. Take the parts that want to thrive to a class. Take the parts that want to heal wounds and connect with the community and serve them. Take the parts that want to put people on blast on a mini vacation away from work. That way, you all can come back rested, recovered, and ready.

The Joy Thief

Even if you keep the blinders on, keep your head down, and keep at it, you’ll see, especially given how much we all are on social media, that others are moving forward in their careers simultaneously. Envy’s gonna rear its ugly head—this is a fact, it’s natural, and it’s fixable. All you gotta do is STOP.

Stop
Kneejerk reactions worsen things 99% of the time. Put a buffer between your thoughts and your actions. Your fingers might wanna write something out or say something. Don’t.

Time-Out
One of the best solutions to wanting to post is getting up and walking away. Put the phone down or push the keyboard away. If you can, go outside for a bit, get some fresh air, maybe take a little walk, or grab something to drink.

Observe
What’s going on in your body? Are your hands tense or closed? How’s your back and posture? What thoughts are running through your head? Make space for them simply to exist without judgment or attachment (remember: you’re not your thoughts). If things feel overwhelming: take a deep breath for six seconds, hold it for six seconds, then release it for six seconds. Repeat until you can actually hear yourself think.

Proceed
Once you feel more in control, understand what your thoughts and feelings are, and think about what you would hope to gain out of interacting with the thing that kicked this off. Is it rooted in kindness and compassion, both for you and the subject? What do you want to do, and will it make things better or worse?

The Waiting Game

Every industry has periods where no work is coming in or some external factor is stopping work from happening. That’s real, and what you do with yourself during those times matters.

Polish
What, you think you can afford to get rusty? Get to studying! Watch commercials, study shows and characters, practice sustaining voices for longer and longer (safely!). The simple act of reading and imagining what’s going on directly translates to your ability to set the scene in copy.

Change-Up
If voice-over itself is starting to lose its flavor, switch to another field! Give theatre or film a try! The skills you learn in those (like scene study, resonance with other actors, interpretation, and more) are cross-applicable and strengthen you in more ways than just voice. Don’t be afraid to push the limits of your creative comfort zone.

Recharge
All that said, burnout is real. There is no shame in taking a step back, decompressing, zoning out with a game or show without studying it. It’s okay to enjoy things just to enjoy them! We aren’t machines, so take a break and remind yourself what you’re working so hard to protect.

DIY
There’s a really bad idiom having to do with bootstraps and impossible tasks. But there’s one I prefer: if you want a thing but it doesn’t exist, then it’s on you to make it.

Have you always wanted to voice a femme fatale but the opportunity never comes up? Write your own script and voice it. Are you a natural at storytelling? Author a book for all the characters in your head to come out. Want to take on the Herculean labor of directing a project? Join a Game Jam and push yourself and your creative capacities.

Conclusion

Of course, applying all of these things is a work in progress. We all stumble, forget a step, and get caught up in the feels, but as long as we catch it and course-correct, we’ll be able to forge and maintain that intrinsic motivation we need to keep working.

You need to hear this: You’re amazing. You. I mean it. I want to see you shine with the light only you can provide this world. I believe in you.

Motivated? If yes, great! Get to it! If not, do it unsure/unenergetic/upset. It all starts with you.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

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The thing about being a creative in the entertainment world is: some days you feel like Wonder Woman, and other days you feel like you left your cape at the dry cleaner.

Auditions slow down. Clients ghost. Casting says they “went in another direction” (read: they picked someone with a deeper voice or the same first name as their ex). In those moments, you’ve got two choices:

1. Wait for the Bat-Signal.
2. Make your own.

Why Becoming Your Own Producer Is a Superpower

When you produce your own content, whether that’s a podcast, web series, or some gloriously weird concept you’ve created, you stop waiting for permission to create. You become the hero AND the one writing the script.

You control the story. So much of this industry is out of your hands. Producing gives you something you own from concept to credits.

You stay battle READY. Editing, directing, organizing – these skills make you sharper for when big opportunities fly in.

You expand your hero network. Every project connects you to allies you didn’t know you needed, from collaborators, sponsors, and even casting directors who share your love of Halloween.

The Sidekick Strategy

The Fantastic Four had their family. Batman had Alfred and Robin (and Batgirl, who – if we’re being honest here, was way better than Batman). Delegating keeps you from burning out and lets you focus on your zone of genius, because even heroes don’t do it alone. Decide early: are you the editor, the host, the director, or the person who wrangles sponsors while sipping coffee in the Baxter Building?

Your Rogues Gallery 

Perfectionism: Your first episode might not win a SOVAS, an Emmy, or even a Razzie. That’s okay, your origin story doesn’t need to be flawless.

Overwork: Burnout is your kryptonite. Balance is the real punk rock.

Boundary Busters: Protect your time and energy with a fierce Lasso of Truth. 

Self-Sabotaging Saboteurs: Don’t be the thing standing in your own way. POW and BAM right through those limiting beliefs and blocks. 

The Signal in the Sky… or on the Air 

Producing your own content gets your name out there in ways auditions alone can’t. You’re not waiting for the call – you become the call. You’re building worlds, forging alliances, and making yourself impossible to ignore. Every episode, video, or project you put into the world is another beacon that says, “I am vengeance. I am the night. I am… a Producer.”

And remember, opportunities often show up in disguise, maybe even in a set of glasses. Your next sponsor, dream collaborator, or life-changing gig might come from someone who stumbled across your project and thought, “That’s my kind of hero.”

So grab your metaphorical (or literal) cape, rally your Justice League, and start building the thing you wish existed. Because in this story, you’re not just a sidekick – you’re starring in your own franchise.

Need an Alfred or a Sidekick?

Let’s talk. Send me an email and we’ll see how I can help you find your producing superpowers!

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

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