I’ll try to keep this one brief…
“One of the BIGGEST reasons a lot of younger aspiring voice talents will never be successful.”
I find a lot of folks out there that ARE brilliant at their craft, but they are UNSUCCESSFUL in the Voice Over business for one big reason alone… they are picky about what kind of genre of jobs they will do. They either ONLY want to do anime voice acting, and that’s it! Or they want to do animation in general, and THAT’S IT.. they only hover around Newgrounds or “The Voice Over Alliance” forums, for example… and while focusing on ONE genre may have gotten ONE or TWO people lucky and they landed a big project that boosts their popularity. You gotta ask yourself… are they still working?? Are they still getting jobs on a day by day basis from clients??
And the big question!
“Why hinder your odds at landing a big gig to 10% when you could give yourself at least a 60% chance?”
You may land a lot of small jobs, and even big ones that don’t necessarily sky rocket your fan-fare, but hey… you’re working! And you NEVER know what those relationships and connections will get you next? You should do as much as you can, but be realistic with yourself at the same time.
Myself for example… I will never do long audiobooks.. it’s just not my style and I don’t have the patience for that. But, MEANWHILE, I do perform smaller scary stories and children’s stories. “Why?” Because I know that I can still get done with them in a day or a few days at the most. Personally I don’t like performing stories that have no production behind it (music, sfx) and with short horror, and children’s stories, I am able to perform these tasks and deliver a great production.
Try to do as much as you can, for what you are suited for. If a voice talent comes to me and says, I only want to do “Anime”… and they are serious about it, that’s great, BUT.. I don’t take them seriously at all at first unless they are willing to do other types of work. My lack of trust on their ability to build characters decreases dramatically if they are not willing to be versatile. So unless you are Crispin Freeman. Be versatile in the work you perform.. Most importantly, in front of it all… Make sure you have a COMMERCIAL DEMO. Because a commercial demo takes priority over an Animation Demo… or any other demo for that matter!
Voice Talent of Jonathan Jones 
I myself also do horror stories. I narrate creepypastas on youtube and love it. That’s how I started out but now I’ve upgraded to doing audiobooks and getting paid for it. I love it! I really want to get into doing character voices so I’ve made my way to advertizing on Newgrounds. Well not yet. I have to get a demo put together first. But yeah I’m gonna get me into some flash videos. VAA really hasn’t gotten me anywhere. I’m almost ready to give up on that.
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Keep up the good work Matt. You’ll definitely after some trial and error, figure out what your voice is good for and what it’s not when it comes to animation. You’ll jump over some hurdles. But always remember. Study people in real life.. allll the time! It’s the best ingredient for coming up with new stuff. Even mimicking some actors in movies and just bending the way they talk to come up with something of your own and mixing that with true heartfelt emotions and boom, you have a sack of new characters! Study acting. Acting. Acting. Acting! and you will find yourself progressing for sure.
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