Voice Acting For Dummies

Easy read helpful tips and advice

Voice Acting for Dummies has some good info, but the writing quality is just awful, and it has quite a bit of info that's either too detailed, irrelevant, or just plain inaccurate. For example, in the "Establishing Your Home Recording studio" section, it lists "budgeted start-up costs," including $500 for accounting services, $500 for advertising, $500 for legal costs, $500 for print design and printing, $500 for unanticipated expenses, and yet another $500 for website ... ALL THIS FOR SETTING UP A HOME RECORDING STUDIO. You don't need accounting services, advertising, a lawyer, or print design and printing (?!) to set up a home studio. A very decent quality home voiceover studio can be had for less than $500 total, assuming you already have a computer. This book has lots of info, but a lot of it will just leave you scratching your head, e.g., "Making sure the project is in line with your personal beliefs and convictions." Huh? It's voiceover, for crying out loud; you're a paid shill, speaking words written by someone else, about products with which you will often have had little or no personal experience. There's a lot of just plain goofy stuff like this, pushing the page count to a way-too-long 300+ pages. Voice Acting for Dummies also suffers from the same problems plaguing every "Dummies" book: non-user-friendly formatting, with too many fonts and all those silly icons that don't improve readability but simply clutter up the page. Finally, the authors of this book are the founders of voices.com, and they use this book to promote their site. I'll admit they don't go overboard, but voice actors should know that "pay-to-play" sites such as voices.com and voice123.com, and, worse, elance and odesk, hurt voice actors by setting up a "negative auction" situation wherein the money offered is below the industry average and, all things equal, jobs tend to go to the lowest bidder. For much better, more concise, and more accurate advice on making money in this business, I recommend Voice-Over Voice Actor, by Lowenthal and Platt; You Should Do VOICEOVERS!, by Dave Webster; Voiceovers, by Janet Wilcox; VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over Actor, by Harlan Hogan; and, for great info on setting up home recording, The Voice Actor's Guide to Home Recording, by Fisher and Hogan.

This book is a great read for people who are looking to get into voice acting. It will help you to build a strong foundation. As a voice actor that is currently working with moderate success, I find myself needing more help from a coach than a book. The only missing star is just that it would be better that have a better jumping off point by the end to know where to start looking next for guidance.

Well written detailed book. My young son wants to do voice acting, but there's quite a bit to learn about getting into it and making demo recordings, finding job postings for auditions, etc. Reading this book together is helping him understand the bigger scope of what voice acting entails.

I've been studying/researching the voice over industry since March '12 in hopes to turn it into a steady income some day. I like the way Voice Acting for Dummies is organized in that each chapter can stand on its own...although, being new to VO, I'll be reading it pretty much cover to cover. If you're not aware, the Ciccarelli's head up Voices.com, the pay to play VO casting website, so they know the industry and what clients are looking for, so VA for Dummies will be an invaluable resource throughout my hopefully successful VO career. I look foward to finishing this book, getting my demo squared away, and finding VO work. FYI, if you join Voices.com for a year, they are currently giving VA for Dummies (ebook) as a gift for joining (double check to see if this is still going on just to be sure). Happy reading!

Voice Acting for Dummies is exactly what I was looking. How to begin a career in Voice Acting from the beginning to the end. An easy read. Good reference resource. Makes me want to stop everything I'm doing to finish the book so I can begin following up step by step on what to do to be a successful voice actor. My "Go To" book on Voice Acting: "How to get into character," "How to record a demo," "How do prepare for an audition." "How to market yourself." The list goes on and on. A great contender in the voice acting world!

It was very informational and educational

Read a few pages. Seems good. Got to get more into it.Finally bought a mic. Now I just need some software and we'll get this train on the tracks.

I like that it gives you what you need to start your new career, hobby or side hustle.

Excellent, well written book with lots of excellent tips and thoughtful information. It's not one of those that sells you on one type of voice acting or one kind of way to do your voice over business- it's all about giving the information you need to better understand how you can be successful, no matter what genre of voice over you wish to pursue.

This is a great book for Canadians wanting to get into voice acting. The author runs Voices.com, an online marketplace for voice actors both here and in the US. It is an invaluable aid to learn about, improve, and eventually perfect your style for making money with your voice.

This book is very in depth! It exceeded expectations. A must have if you're looking to break into voice acting. Thank you!

Good book!