"Etiquette?"

Well, okay. Never quite thought of it that way before. The word conjures up a whiff of elevated pinkies and antimacassars perhaps, but it does create a concise and arresting title. Points for that. One presupposes Rule Number One might be, "Don’t be late for the session," and somewhere about midway through this 118 page trade paperback one’s suspicions are finally confirmed. This is not an illogical delay, as it turns out, because the various tips and dicta presented herein roll out in a chronological "here’s how you get started" approach, through such chapter monikers as "The Demo Reel," "Distributing the Demo Reel," "The Audition" and so on.

An Introduction
Chapter one is entitled "The Industry." As in "the voice over industry" cited in the book’s subtitle. "Industry?" one may ask oneself. Is the craft referred to actually a hitherto previously unsuspected mighty aggregate? "Business," maybe. "Racket," perhaps. But "Industry"? As the now-anticipated chapter proceeds, the author, alas, shies away from making the daring case that the voice-over game is anything more vital or enterprising than a relatively minor branch of the larger, more glamorous entertainment industry. Nor does he in the ensuing pages ever attempt to elevate the trade anywhere north of its position as one of the potentially-profitable-for-some-of-its-perpetrators props helping to hold up the dodgy business of advertising.

A more appropriate (to use a term borrowed from the Land of Etiquette) title to this first chapter would be "An Introduction to This Book," for that is what it is. The author’s actual goal, as it turns out, is not to provide "the definitive guide to working in the voice over industry" as some misguided naif might presume from the subtitle displayed on the cover. Instead we are presented with a more accurate summation of the true aim of this slim but breezy tome: to produce a narrative of "fairly off the cuff" observations "directed toward those interested in becoming voice over talent." The vague and impersonal term "hopefully" is misemployed four or five times in the first two chapters in discussing various other authorial aspirations. Things finally seem to get started in chapter three, which, as it turns out, is entitled "Getting Started."

The Bottom Line