MCM Voices Inaugural Newsletter |
Big changes at MCM Voices. For two years I have kept in touch with colleagues, clients, and potential clients by sending out individual emails - an initial email of introduction, a follow-up a month later, then quarterly missives to let everyone know what I've been up to. Despite actively trying to cull my database to focus on clients needing the kinds of work in which I now specialise, I still need to send out about 30 emails a day just to keep up with every one. At this rate, communication is taking up about two hours every day and is overshadowing the actual voice-over; the status quo is no longer supportable. It has taken me a long time to make the decision to switch to a newsletter for those updates, because I like being able to write personal messages to people, and I know that a newsletter lacks the personal touch. But please, drop me a note when you get this and tell me your news, and I will be delighted to write you back! And, if you don't want to hear from me again, be sure to click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. |
Get rid of spam. Well, no, I'm not talking about this newsletter. You can do that by clicking on unsubscribe. I'm talking about the weird emails full of unintelligible verbiage or the hot stock picks or the ones with subject lines full of asterisks to keep your spam trapper from recognising unpleasant and forbidden words. Here are a couple of sources of information to help you stop those emails, by hiding your address from bots that are culling addresses from your and everybody else's website. This brief tutorial explains what you need to understand about spam bots, and this encoder will easily translate your email address into its "decimal entity" for you so the html code won't be bot-readable in your source code. |
MCM News AuctionPal launches! If you're looking for help with online selling and can't face the scene at eBay, you might consider hiring this new company to do the work for you. This past fall I voiced an animated webmercial for them that shows how easy it is to use their service, and now they're ready to roll. Will do voice-over for jewels..... I wish. I thought Los Angeles producer Rick Ojeda did a really fine job with this commercial for Athena Jewelry. And, I was so pleased with the voice-over that I'm now using part of it as the lead spot in my commercial demo. The power of networking everywhere. Mike Amato of Jodom Productions was on vacation in Europe last summer and met a Long Island resident with whom he and his family kept in touch. She later changed jobs, which put her in the position of needing a commercial production. She hired Mike's Massachusetts -based company to do the work, who in turn hired me to provide the voice-over. I've never seen so many cute little white dresses and suits in one place! You can see it here. Moral: Be nice to everyone everywhere and make lots of friends. No challenge for Mike, who is a joy to work with. Nepali cuisine, anyone? I finally got to work with producer Dan Presser of Tweedee Productions in Madison, WI, this year on a commercial project after missing a connection with him in October. Madison always makes me think of the wonderful farmer's market there and the fabulous Himal Chuli restaurant on State Street (free-association is one of my weaknesses). If anybody can somehow manage to get Himal Chuli's basic dal recipe and send it to me, I'll give that somebody a free voiceover (would you like an accent with that?). Character Demo. Although I've had character voices on my website for a long time and do a lot of VO work requiring them, I don't yet have a bone fide, fully produced character demo. I'm currently working on this with the incomparable Pat Fraley and am having a blast. I hope to have it completed by Spring and you will be among the first to know when it's available. Commercials I have written for clients who don't appreciate me. This is a long-time feature on my website, and many of you have told me you enjoyed them (I also owe new keyboards to quite a few of you who were drinking coffee while listening). Now that I'm going to be spending less time sending out emails, I will have more time to produce these amuse-bouches. Look for more in the near future! |
Martial Arts and Voice-over. If you do anything physical at all, you've probably noticed interesting ways that your physical activities interact with other parts of your life. I've long noticed parallels between singing and martial arts; as in the way you control your breath in both. After starting voice-over work 2 years ago, the analogies started cropping up frequently. If this sort of thing interests you, you can find several essays about it in my blog: 6 January 2007: Wait for the count |
That's all for this month. Let me know how you like the newsletter! Thanks! Keep moving forward -
Mary C. McKitrick © Mary C. McKitrick, 2007. All rights reserved. |
