marketing

Chapter and Voice – Book Marketing via AudioTeaser

May 26, 2011 by George Leave a Comment

Chapter & Voice JoJo Jensen, voice artist, author and entrepreneur tells the tale:

“It would be really cool if you recorded the first chapter of my book,” my friend Tom said in his easy manner.

I looked at him like he had just invented the snickerdoodle. Brilliant!

Chapter & Voice didn’t start out as a business… it began as a favor. I wanted to help Tom spark interest for his military science fiction novel. It was (and still is) a ripping good yarn, but he was stuck in marketing and submission hell and didn’t know what else to do.

As an author myself, I knew how hard it was (and still is) to market and sell manuscripts. But… I also knew that as a professional voice talent, I could record and produce an audio sample that would give Tom the attention-grabbing marketing tool he needed to sell his kick-butt, action packed novel.

The recording for his book totally rocked. When I mentioned my little endeavor to other writers, they flipped out. They wanted me to record samples of their books too! So- I did. And, here we are.

Here’s what I know now. Audio, in all its forms, is gaining in popularity and Chapter & Voice is here to help writers use this medium to get published, get known and sell books.

And with that, Chapter & Voice was born. It was a great pleasure and privilege to be a part of kicking off this project, along with Heather Henderson, Stephen Bowlby, and Jamie Muffett.

To be clear, this is not full audiobook production. We will record about 1,250 words from whatever section of the book the author would like, and send back a clean, polished “AudioTeaser,” which can then be used to promote the book to buyers and publishers. I know from talking with JoJo a number of times about this that she is very excited for Chapter and Voice to see the light of day. She definitely has a vision for this, and really wants to open up this new path for marketing books in an exciting and effective new way.

So go check out Chapter and Voice on the site, find us on Facebook, and of course follow the Twitter account @chapterandvoice. It’s definitely fun to be on the leading edge of something like this!

The Image Issue – Do You Look Like You Sound?

May 24, 2011 by George 19 Comments

A look in the mirror photo © 2008 Andrey Maximov | more info (via: Wylio)I don’t remember who recommended it to me, but last year I started running a Google Search on my name that lets me know when I show up on the web. It’s a good thing to know when people are talking about you, and more importantly, what are they saying. If nothing else, it can be gratifying to see the hits, informative to know where backlinks to your website are showing up, and entertaining when it is seemingly untethered from reality.

Once I started voicing for ROOT Sports Northwest, I saw some posts about the “Root Sports voice over guy” on the SB Nation Seattle Mariners fan site, Lookout Landing. Some of it is pretty funny: I was blamed for the Mariners losing games, called drunk, and the very erudite “sounds like a retard given the confidence of a booth and multiple tries.” Ah, my fans.

But there was an interesting thread that came up speculating who the voice was. And since there was a press release out and circulating about my getting the gig, one of the enterprising Mariners fans was able to find the information and my picture. Once it was posted in the thread, there was a comment that I found pretty interesting (especially after being accused of being drunk):

“He looks exactly how he sounds like he should look.”

This got me to thinking. I know that I am doing something many voice artists don’t do; that is, letting people know what I look like. The standard argument against letting your face come into play is that it can get you stereotyped into or out of specific kinds of jobs. I remember specifically speaking to a female participant at Faffcon 2 about this problem. She believes because she is blonde, a picture would lead people to assume that she has a higher voice, where her actual voice is dark and smoky.

Age is also a consideration, particularly for women. Sadly, it has been reported frequently that even if a woman’s voice sounds much younger, she can miss out on a job because she may not look as youthful as she sounds.

And so I am curious: do you use your photo in your promotional material? Is it on your website, and if so, where? Do you think it has been a positive for you, or are you considering another direction? I would love to hear your thoughts.

UPDATE: Thanks to all the Mariners fans at Lookout Landing who stopped by to check out the post. You guys are pretty cool!

Alan Sklar on Marketing

April 22, 2011 by George 1 Comment

VoiceOverXtra has a great two-part article on marketing by voice talent Alan Sklar. In both Part 1 and Part 2, he shares some of the little things he has done over the years to make himself accessible and memorable to clients, potential clients, and agents. his technique comes from having been a salesperson in the paint industry for 20 plus years, and he knew what to look for when talking to a potential client, how to make sure you are not forgotten, and being bold in your efforts to get them to take your information.

I think boldness is the key, at least for me. For all my on stage experience and sining in front of hundreds and thousands of people, the “boldness” it takes to make that step into selling my goods has always been daunting. I feel like I am making progress though, and I will definitely be looking at some of Alan’s tips and techniques to make it work. So often in the new, high tech world of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and the Internet itself, we lose sight of the need to be physically introduced to some people in order to “make the sale.”

Kat Keesling wrote about this with a different twist in her blog post a few weeks ago, “Are You Booking a First Class Flight to Say Hi to your Next Door Neighbor?” She points out the need to use tools proper to the task at hand, and that sometimes includes just going over and saying hello, telling them what you do.

Alan’s articles are must reads. So is Kat’s, even if I have mentioned hers before. Give them all a read, and let me know what you think.

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