Between you and Bill DeWees, I feel like I'm in Voiceover College. Building up my VO career and y'all provide SO. MUCH. VALUE. Thank you so much for the videos and content!
Great advice Jay. If ever possible to get a Word Doc (or convert a PDF to a doc) there’s so much you can do. For example, you can use the “Find and Replace” feature and highlight each character name in a separate color. You can also annotate punctuations accordingly, and underline delivery cues; I.e. “she whispered,” “he screamed,” “gritted through clenched teeth,” etc. If all you’re working with is a PDF, Pozotron can markup all character names and provide a pronunciation guide for just $12/per manuscript. Anyway, Loving this channel!
It certainly does. I tend to read off an android tablet, and unfortunately… the pdf annotation apps for android aren’t great (in my opinion). Pozotron definitely provides some peace of mind and speeds up the prep process.
Nice Video. Again 🎉. I do all the same things like you and if someone has an Android Tablet. I recommend the app "Xodo" for annotations. You even don't have to buy for license because the free version has all tools you need to mark something up. But it's only working with PDFs. So, for you Jay : I would like if you could make a video how you format your manuscripts. Do you change the size of the pages, change the font etc. And if you have any tips to avoid making reading mistakes. I often overlook some words or read a wrong word or change the position of the words in a sentence. That would be awesome. Greetings from Germany
Excellent to know! Thanks for laying that out. I would love to make a video on how I format my manuscripts, but it would be terribly short I'm afraid as I don't do anything to them! The only thing I do is keep my PDF reader in a single-page format versus continuous scroll, so I can 'turn' the page with a single swipe/click. I find scrolling leaves me prone to more errors. As for your question on avoiding mistakes, I will likewise file that away for a future video! Great question. For the moment, here are two of my biggest tips in that regard: -SLOW IS FAST. Just take your time! Often times when I move/read too quickly, is when I end up making more errors. -PRACTICE. Maybe not what you're hoping to hear, but I used to make TONS of little mistakes when I was starting out. Now, after many many books and particularly after reading daily news for The Economist, I'm much MUCH more accurate. I think a great way to practice is to cold read different stuff. Pick a random newspaper article every couple of days, and narrate it for yourself. After a while, more likely than not you'll be improving in measurable ways. Hope that helps!
@@jaymyersvoiceover thank you Jay. I practice all day because I am a full time audiobook narrator 😅. Maybe it is only a mindset/ concentration problem I have or I want to compare me with others about their mistake rate to see if I do more or less mistakes then average. And I know I do a lot of things right as an audiobook narrator but I believe I could be more productive
@@sirbaerias3456 Oh, I didn't mean to imply anything by suggesting more practice, my apologies! I've just found that improving my "sightreading" has been really helpful in improving my accuracy and flow in my actual narrations. But that said, I definitely hear you regarding becoming concerned with one's mistake rate and becoming worried about how one might compare to other narrators in that regard. Been there myself many times too. All I'd say to that is, don't be hard on yourself! It's a tough gig that demands an incredible amount of focus on a 'good day.' In thinking more about it, one thing that helps me a bit in my accuracy as well, is to lean into the story telling more. Sometimes I'll be getting tired, unfocused, or apathetic regarding the story and I just want to get through it, but if I reengage myself in the telling--using my hands and body a bit to animate things, etc.--it reactivates my mind in a way and makes everything flow a bit better. In other words, focusing on the story rather than 'getting the words right' is helpful for me. For what that's worth. I'll try to make a video about it or something similar soon regardless. ;) and if anything else pops up you'd like me to weigh in on just let me know!
@@jaymyersvoiceover it's all okay Jay. You didn't heart my feelings ☺️👍 I thank you so much for your opinion and how you refocus yourself. Looking forward to your video. Love your style to explain your topics. You are doing great and hope you channel will grow a lot. I even share your videos to other German VAs 👍
Hey Jay, nice video. I VO the book "treasure island". The story is told from the first person's perspective. The narrator is an elderly man who tells about his life. Would you emphasize the voice of his younger self given that it's the young version of the narrator?
Great question! For a fiction book around that length it might take me 2-3 days while still working on other projects. Sometimes more/less if the book requires lots of research or not.
I haven't used iAnnotate extensively, they're both pretty comparable in terms of features. I think the primary difference might be simply that PDF Expert allows for a bit more cross device integration. (But don't quote me on that. :) )
And here it is!! Thanks for posting Jay.
Between you and Bill DeWees, I feel like I'm in Voiceover College. Building up my VO career and y'all provide SO. MUCH. VALUE. Thank you so much for the videos and content!
My pleasure!
Learning from a master like you Jay is very helpful. Thanks! 🙏
My pleasure! Glad to hear that.
I really needed this! Thank you!
Great advice Jay. If ever possible to get a Word Doc (or convert a PDF to a doc) there’s so much you can do. For example, you can use the “Find and Replace” feature and highlight each character name in a separate color. You can also annotate punctuations accordingly, and underline delivery cues; I.e. “she whispered,” “he screamed,” “gritted through clenched teeth,” etc. If all you’re working with is a PDF, Pozotron can markup all character names and provide a pronunciation guide for just $12/per manuscript. Anyway, Loving this channel!
Great ideas! Yes I do use Pozotron on occasion especially for word pronunciations. Makes looking up words so easy.
It certainly does. I tend to read off an android tablet, and unfortunately… the pdf annotation apps for android aren’t great (in my opinion). Pozotron definitely provides some peace of mind and speeds up the prep process.
Thanks for the insight into your work process, and greetings to your spouse(02.18). have a great one.
Nice Video. Again 🎉.
I do all the same things like you and if someone has an Android Tablet. I recommend the app "Xodo" for annotations. You even don't have to buy for license because the free version has all tools you need to mark something up. But it's only working with PDFs.
So, for you Jay : I would like if you could make a video how you format your manuscripts. Do you change the size of the pages, change the font etc.
And if you have any tips to avoid making reading mistakes.
I often overlook some words or read a wrong word or change the position of the words in a sentence.
That would be awesome.
Greetings from
Germany
Excellent to know! Thanks for laying that out.
I would love to make a video on how I format my manuscripts, but it would be terribly short I'm afraid as I don't do anything to them! The only thing I do is keep my PDF reader in a single-page format versus continuous scroll, so I can 'turn' the page with a single swipe/click. I find scrolling leaves me prone to more errors.
As for your question on avoiding mistakes, I will likewise file that away for a future video! Great question. For the moment, here are two of my biggest tips in that regard:
-SLOW IS FAST. Just take your time! Often times when I move/read too quickly, is when I end up making more errors.
-PRACTICE. Maybe not what you're hoping to hear, but I used to make TONS of little mistakes when I was starting out. Now, after many many books and particularly after reading daily news for The Economist, I'm much MUCH more accurate. I think a great way to practice is to cold read different stuff. Pick a random newspaper article every couple of days, and narrate it for yourself. After a while, more likely than not you'll be improving in measurable ways.
Hope that helps!
@@jaymyersvoiceover thank you Jay. I practice all day because I am a full time audiobook narrator 😅. Maybe it is only a mindset/ concentration problem I have or I want to compare me with others about their mistake rate to see if I do more or less mistakes then average.
And I know I do a lot of things right as an audiobook narrator but I believe I could be more productive
@@sirbaerias3456 Oh, I didn't mean to imply anything by suggesting more practice, my apologies! I've just found that improving my "sightreading" has been really helpful in improving my accuracy and flow in my actual narrations.
But that said, I definitely hear you regarding becoming concerned with one's mistake rate and becoming worried about how one might compare to other narrators in that regard. Been there myself many times too. All I'd say to that is, don't be hard on yourself! It's a tough gig that demands an incredible amount of focus on a 'good day.'
In thinking more about it, one thing that helps me a bit in my accuracy as well, is to lean into the story telling more. Sometimes I'll be getting tired, unfocused, or apathetic regarding the story and I just want to get through it, but if I reengage myself in the telling--using my hands and body a bit to animate things, etc.--it reactivates my mind in a way and makes everything flow a bit better. In other words, focusing on the story rather than 'getting the words right' is helpful for me. For what that's worth.
I'll try to make a video about it or something similar soon regardless. ;) and if anything else pops up you'd like me to weigh in on just let me know!
@@jaymyersvoiceover it's all okay Jay. You didn't heart my feelings ☺️👍
I thank you so much for your opinion and how you refocus yourself. Looking forward to your video. Love your style to explain your topics. You are doing great and hope you channel will grow a lot. I even share your videos to other German VAs 👍
Hey Jay, nice video. I VO the book "treasure island". The story is told from the first person's perspective. The narrator is an elderly man who tells about his life. Would you emphasize the voice of his younger self given that it's the young version of the narrator?
Very cool! Ultimately I think it’s your creative decision, but if I were to narrate it I’d probably try to subtly differentiate te narrator’s ages.
Thank you for the tips! How long does manuscript prep usually take for you, say for a 50k fiction book with 10 characters?
Great question! For a fiction book around that length it might take me 2-3 days while still working on other projects. Sometimes more/less if the book requires lots of research or not.
If you’ve used iAnnotate, how does it compare to pdf Expert?
I haven't used iAnnotate extensively, they're both pretty comparable in terms of features. I think the primary difference might be simply that PDF Expert allows for a bit more cross device integration. (But don't quote me on that. :) )