Comments for Jeffrey Kafer Voice blog

Comment on Unpaid Invoice – Candice Blain & MintLeaf Legal by Ralph Hass

Ralph Hass — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:28:54 +0000

It appears Candice has been practicing to be a witch for Halloween. Since your birthday is on Halloween, I hope she gives you a well deserved present by tomorrow.

Always hate hearing about these types of events Jeff.

Take care.
Ralph

Comment on Unpaid Invoice – Candice Blain & MintLeaf Legal by Peter O'Connell

Peter O'Connell — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:33:21 +0000

Well Jeff in light of your very last comments I’ll offer my Father’s sage advice when dealing with those who frustrate you: don’t let the bastards get you down.

Comment on Unpaid Invoice – Candice Blain & MintLeaf Legal by Jeffrey Kafer

Jeffrey Kafer — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:50:58 +0000

Interestingly, Peter, I have a 100% upfront for almost all new clients that I get from Craigslist. The reasons for this should be obvious. However, I don’t recall this being a Craigslist client, so I let my guard down and only charged 50% upfront.

I’m generally a believer that people are good. And given my situation, that I’m a laid-off worker trying to make a go at this while trying to feed and clothe my wife and 2 young children, it especially angers me that they are the ones who have to suffer. Thanks to clients such as MintLeaf Legal, my faith in humanity has notched down ever-so-slightly.

Comment on Unpaid Invoice – Candice Blain & MintLeaf Legal by Peter K. O'Connell

Peter K. O'Connell — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:19:50 +0000

Jeff:

The challenge for every business is terms and collection. It just was, is and always has been.

When working with people out of state, I rely on Pay Pal with 50% upfront and then they must Pay Pal me the balance BEFORE I send them the final product. In other words, they do not get the final product until I have all my money.

If they need changes, that’s not a problem.

But you must establish your terms as your terms of doing business. Clearly, if Candice Blain and Mint Leaf Legal was willing to pay 50% via pay pal up front, getting it on the back end probably would have suited her.

And for the clients who need to work by check, if they can wait for their production until after I get their check, cool.

And if people can’t agree to my terms, there is a professional, courtesy and respectful thank you between us and they work with another vendor.

Its a tough stance and not for everyone but I have long ago determined I am NOT in the collections business and never want to be.

Unfortunately, Candice Blain and Mint Leaf Legal have now put you in the collection business and that seems unfair.

Best always,
- Peter

Comment on Looking for free voice-over practice scripts? by Danielle

Danielle — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:13:23 +0000

i would suggest going to mikelemon.com…great way to get started..thy have a voiceover class that is i believe 6 weeks and they will ghelp you make your demo and send it to different companies.

Comment on Web cam reading of UNCONVENTIONAL book now available by Podcast: Jeffrey Kafer on Being an Audiobook Voice Talent and How You Can DIY | The Creative Penn

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:21:57 +0000

[...] can watch Jeffrey read from (perform) an audiobook here – check out the facial [...]

Comment on 7 Reasons for Hiring a Professional Audio book Narrator by Susan Dunman

Susan Dunman — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:59:29 +0000

I’m no narrator, but as an avid listener, I enthusiastically agree with your comments. Evidently, folks who opt for “reading” their own work have no idea how bad they sound to ears accustomed to hearing Grover and Scott and any number of other great professional narrators. It’s one of the main reasons I rarely listen to podiobooks. It’s not the stories – many of them are excellent – it’s the narration that keeps me away.

Comment on 7 Reasons for Hiring a Professional Audio book Narrator by Bob Souer

Bob Souer — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:06:31 +0000

Jeff,

Good stuff here. Thank you!

Be well,
Bob

Comment on SaVoa.org – To accredit or not by Chris Mezzolesta

Chris Mezzolesta — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:27:10 +0000

Where SaVoa is going to have impact is when potential clients are not looking at your website, when you are one of 50-250 voices in a cattle call or just a name listed on an agent’s site or elsewhere, and hopefully the client will see all these little shields and go “Hey what’s this?” Something that is going to take the guesswork out of casting for them, especially in this day and age of everyone wanting to be a VO, and suffering thru hundreds of substandard auditions as seems to be happening with the P2P sites. If they can immediately narrow down their list to known and proven good talent, better for them, and better for SaVoa talent.

Who decides and who gave whom accreditation? Everyone has been as candid and honest as those who critique newbies and existing VOs on the forums, plus the reviews are double blind, and nobody knows who is under consideration, nobody sneaks through. So we are in effect self-policing. There’s no agenda, except that we just want to identify and promote those who are known to have the goods, just in a clarified and structured way. Unions do nothing to promote talent, SaVoa actively is trying to develop ways to promote and benefit members thru alliances and other means. It’s already happening. So while demos on one’s site are a great way to showcase oneself, being SaVoa-accredited will in time indicate “preferred status” to casting people and the VO community at large.

Comment on 7 Reasons for Hiring a Professional Audio book Narrator by D.L. Walker

D.L. Walker — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:13:24 +0000

THANK YOU for breaking this down this way. I’ve been doing audio books for a small publisher for the last 10 years, and am just now branching out nationally. You’ve captured exactly what I’ve been trying to articulate to a client.

Nicely said.