Cronauer provides an audio cassette accompanying the text, and the reader is periodically asked to stop reading the book and listen to a specific cut on the tape. Unspecified but dire consequences are promised to anyone who continues to read without listening to the designated audio cut, or who dares to listen to more then one cut at a time. Only about half the cuts make points that are not already self-evident from the text.

The book correctly emphasizes the need to sound relaxed and conversational in voiceover work, and provides a number of specific, if dogmatic, rules for how to deal with particular issues in spokes copy. Yet the reader is left with the vaguely dissatisfied sense that something is missing. With all the rules about what not to do, or where and where not to place emphasis, there seems little room for personality to enter the work. Although the author lionizes voiceover legends such as Mason Adams (even reproducing a "Smuckers" ad on the accompanying cassette), he provides no real clue to what makes such people so successful.

It's as if the whole is less than the sum of its parts. There is value here, if the reader is willing to persevere through the minutiae of when to emphasize personal pronouns, how to handle definite and indefinite articles, how to distinguish function words from content words, when to end a question with an up-inflection versus a down-inflection, and so on. But the result of such mastery may have limited real-world value in today's voiceover market, because straight spokes copy is not as common now as it once was.

Bottom line: An interesting book, but probably not a "must-have."

9 of 9 found the following review helpful:


A Bit Fussy For My Taste  Mar 26, 2000 By Voiceguy
Yes, this is the real Adrian Cronauer of "Good Morning, Vietnam!" fame. And this book is heavily influenced by the radio of that era -- it's all about reading "spokes" copy, where an anonymous spokesperson describes a product or announces a sale. It sounds just like what you might hear on, say, a network radio program in the 60's sponsored by Anacin.

Cronauer provides an audio cassette accompanying the text, and the reader is periodically asked to stop reading the book and listen to a specific cut on the tape. Unspecified but dire consequences are promised to anyone who continues to read without listening to the designated audio cut, or who dares to listen to more then one cut at a time. Only about half the cuts make points that are not already self-evident from the text.

The book correctly emphasizes the need to sound relaxed and conversational in voiceover work, and provides a number of specific, if dogmatic, rules for how to deal with particular issues in spokes copy. Yet the reader is left with the vaguely dissatisfied sense that something is missing. With all the rules about what not to do, or where and where not to place emphasis, there seems little room for personality to enter the work. Although the author lionizes voiceover legends such as Mason Adams (even reproducing a "Smuckers" ad on the accompanying cassette), he provides no real clue to what makes such people so successful.

It's as if the whole is less than the sum of its parts. There is value here, if the reader is willing to persevere through the minutiae of when to emphasize personal pronouns, how to handle definite and indefinite articles, how to distinguish function words from content words, when to end a question with an up-inflection versus a down-inflection, and so on. But such mastery may have limited real-world value in today's voiceover market, because straight spokes copy is not as common now as it once was.

Bottom line: An interesting book, but probably not a "must-have."

19 of 24 found the following review helpful:


Good book for any aspiring voice-over artist  Jun 16, 1999
This book covers all essentials for any voice-over artist to know before getting into the business of actually reading copy for a variety of voice over needs. Must for every multimedia producer's library.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:


Beware when buying used!  Mar 31, 2010 By Monksheart
While this book is now 20 years old, the fundmentals are as valuable as ever. The text of the book is informational and easy to read. When purchasing the book be certain it includes the cassette tape. The copy I purchased was listed as "excellent", but gave no indication the audio cassette was missing. This negligent oversight on the part of the seller defeats the effectiveness of the book. Buyer beware!!!

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