Click SUBSCRIBE so you never miss a new video!
New voice actors usually are trying to find what niche or genre they should pursue. It's not as obvious these days what genres are open to new talent. In this video, Anne breaks down how to figure it out.
Find Your Focus
A lot of times when just getting started in the VoiceOver industry, many people want to find out what their niches should be. What genre should they pursue? What are they going to be good at? Let's break this down.
First, think about what previous experience you have and how it might transition into the VoiceOver industry. For example, I worked in technology and installed phone systems and as part of that I was also asked to record the voicemail greetings. That was one of the first genres that i got into once I got into voiceover. I loved it because I felt comfortable doing telephony and doing voiceover for telephony. I also worked in the corporate world bringing the corporate experience and understanding the corporate genre allowed me to be able to speak to that audience and also feel comfortable.
I think it's all about how comfortable you feel voicing and speaking to an audience that is within that genre. I also taught for 20 years so guess what genre is one of my favorite genres? E-learning! I brought my previous experience to my voice-over business. I'm sure that every one of you has experience that you can bring to a specific genre. For example, if you grew up listening to cartoons and you loved imitating the characters or creating character voices guess what you're probably going to find a lot of joy and you'll probably be very passionate if you go into animation. If you loved listening to the radio and idolized radio disk jockeys then guess what you probably bring a lot of joy and passion to radio imaging. Really take a step back and think about where your experiences are and how that can transition into your voice-over business.
I also want you to try genres that you may not have any experience in because you never know. I remember it was a good 5 to 7 years after I began on voiceover that I decided to try medical narration and I found that I absolutely loved it. You can always try a genre that you may not have experience in but it might run parallel. Because medical narration is also very similar to education, because I was very comfortable in doing e-learning and education, which had an aspect to the genre that I was familiar with and felt comfortable with. That interest in and of itself can actually bring the passion and the joy of discovery to your reads. The other thing you can do is take classes in something that you're not familiar with in genres that you've always been interested in. I always say give it one try because you never know, you never know if you'll find something that you really didn't think you would like but actually fell in love with. It will also help you to know what you don't like. For example, I tried audiobooks. Not for me. Give it a try, you'll find out which ones you love which ones you gravitate to, and also ones that you might just pass on.
Thanks for reading!
Keep on rocking your business like a #VOBOSS
About Anne:
Anne Ganguzza is a professional voice actor and award-winning director and producer who works with students to develop their voiceover and business skills - including voice over Coaching and Genre-based Demo Production. She specializes in conversational Commercial & Narration styles, including Corporate, eLearning, Technology, and On-Hold Messaging. Located in Orange County, California, Anne offers private coaching and mentoring services to students via ipDTL and Zoom.