Chat with Susan Berkley: The Billion Dollar Voiceover Industry
Susan Berkley Judy Rodman
This interview I did with veteran voiceover talent and coach Susan Berkley offers you a glimpse into the real possibilities of a successful vocal career where it doesn't matter what you look like, what you're wearing, how old you are or where you live. (Except as Susan says, you need broadband, baby:) I think you'll enjoy it, and you might want to sit with the idea of at least a side alternate income stream using your voice.
Some topics of our conversation:
- Susan takes us into her own ongoing voiceover career
- How the requirement to have 'the voice of God' for success as a voice talent has morphed into the preference for more diverse, normal every-day, authentic voice.
- Susan takes us int o many of the 14-plus niche markets she's identified as now actively seeking voiceover talent... including broadcast and non-broadcast roles. For instance:
- commercials
- political ads
- cartoons
- terrestrial and satellite radio
- store P.O.P. (point of purchase) radio
- E-learning (teaching anyone how to do anything) - now a $150 billion niche!
- computer telephony
- traffic/weather/siri, etc
- medical professional training narrations (a huge field)
- audio books (last year alone 40,000 were recorded, now raking in $1 billion with a skyrocketing demand for more)
- video gaming character voices ($250 billion niche market with as many as 90 voices per game, all ages.)
- Simulation narration for projects including military fighter pilots.
- We talk about the skills needed (and not needed) for a successful career in voiceover
- We discuss ways of deeply connecting to the person you're talking to, and delivering the script
- Susan gives examples of how to make small and sometimes very weird stories important with empathy for the person you're talking to.
- Susan shares some tips for actually marketing and promoting your voiceover career like a business. We chat about the entrepreneurial spirit, empathy that makes selling a 'holy art', and
- We also talk about gear, plugins, iso booths, and how singers can be especially good candidates for voiceover.
- Susan shared some links to her training.
About Susan Berkley
Susan is also a renown teacher for voiceover talent.
- For more information on her courses, go to her training page at the Great Voice website.
- Check her blog out there, as well. Find that and much more at her website, GreatVoice.com.
Labels: all things vocal, Judy Rodman, susan berkley, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover career, voiceover talent