Is There Money In Your Mouth?

About the Book

Is There Money In Your Mouth?

Mike Weiner (pronounced like Finer) started on the air in radio at age 15. After many years as a radio announcer, he was fed up when he was fired from a Washington, DC radio station in 1985.

Vowing never to work for any one employer again, Mike struck out on his own as a free-lance voiceover talent in a highly competitive market. Fortunately, some sales experience, marketing education and not a little luck landed him enough clients to earn a little more than $30k his first year out. He was able to double his income each year in subsequent years, and now earns six figures as a nationally heard voice and on-camera narrator for commercials, television programs, industrial training programming, cable TV infommercials, and voice mail systems at major corporations and government agencies.

Not long after he started his free-lance career, Mike began receiving calls from people all over wanting to know how to get into the business; where to start, what things to put into a demo tape, how much to invest, how much to charge, etc. It didn’t take him long to realize that there were a lot of people who were frustrated with being told how wonderful their voices were… and not knowing where or how to go about discovering if there was a talent they could exploit. In 1991, Mike began teaching small groups of “civilians” and active performers some of the techniques and marketing strategies he had picked up along the way.

Is There Money In Your Mouth? is the culmination of transcripts from that workshop as well as personal observations and tips on discovering if you truly have the talent to do this type of work, and what you then need do to put yourself in front of potential employers.

Mike says there are no guarantees of success, but there are ways to more effectively prepare yourself and address the market than most performers know about. This book will help the “wanna-be” as well as the working professional get a leg up on the competition by making their talents more compelling to those who employ voice talent.

About the Author

Mike Weiner has been a broadcaster, producer, writer, director, actor and voice-over talent since 1971, starting with the construction of a high school radio station with friends in Silver Spring, MD. Mr. Weiner entered the U.S. Air Force as a Broadcaster for the American Forces Radio and Television Service in 1974, returning in 1977 to the Washington, DC are, where he was raised.

He worked in commercial radio while also teaching television production in the local Montgomery County School system, then returned full time to the broadcasting business outside of the metro area. In 1985, he left WPGC AM/FM in Washington, DC to become a free-lance voice talent serving clientele across the country.

Since 1985, he has built his own 32 track digital audio production facility and produces radio commercials, audio infomercials, advertising on-hold messages and internet audio production for a multitude of clients.

His client list includes regular work for the United States Government and several agencies, Lockheed Martin, Booz Allen and Hamilton, Boeing, Merrill Lynch, DDB Needham, and dozens of others across the country.

Mike has narrated dozens of programs appearing on The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, and ABC as well as several thousand radio commercials and many hundreds of narrations for video programs. Through his studio, he supplies audio production services to commercial client companies in real estate, financial services, automotive and hospitality.

Mr. Weiner holds a BS in Communication Arts, a BA in Business and Management, and an MBA in Marketing.