Ruth Kaufman - Award-Winning Author and Romance Writer

Ruth Kaufman is the author of My Life as a Star, My Life as an Extra, My Once & Future Love, The Bride Tournament, Follow Your Heart, At His Command and other books.

Mixing business with pleasure

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The more I get involved in some of Chicago’s many creative communities, the more business might mix with pleasure and networking with colleagues merges into socializing with friends.

On any given night, several friends and colleagues are performing in shows or appearing in movies, at storytelling events or book readings.   There are too many to support them all. Last weekend, I got to buy a successful artist friend’s new book at a fun signing (and am honored to be a picture of the event roaming the Internet).

I had brunch with a VO friend/colleague who’s been helping write and record my new commercial demo (a mutual colleague will do some of the production), then we worked for several hours.  I wanted to support another friend’s performance, but a 10:30 pm start is a little late for me.  Sunday I attended a storytelling event at which I’ve told a couple of stories, know the organizers and three of the participants.  I’ll be telling at another event later this year; the organizer of that recently helped me get a great audition. 

This week, another mutual VO colleague/friend joined the mix for more demo work.  And after the final session of an acting class, the teacher (also a casting director and director) went out for a drink with us and shared additional advice. 
 
Tuesday I went to an author networking event where I knew the organizer and some of the attending authors, instead of another event much farther away where three author friends were reading.  I’ll get to emcee yet another author event this weekend; I know six of the seven authors presenting and am in a networking group with four of them.

Also this week, I had auditions at two major casting agencies, and saw people I knew at both. 
 
It took some time to establish connections.  Now it’s great to run into people I’ve worked with and/or have become Facebook or in person friends with.  You never know who you’ll work with next, or who you’ll help or will help you get an audition, booking, or other opportunity.        

Getting something on the calendar

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I still prefer to use a Day-Timer for my calendaring.  Though I know things like Outlook and Google calendars can sync phone and computer, I like the ease of flipping open my little notebook and seeing a month at a glance instead of waiting for the computer screen to load and clicking around.

Because my schedule changes so frequently, and some days I have to check my calendar many times, I need quick access to upcoming business and social events. Auditions and callbacks pop up and require fast response.  Colleagues and friends may reschedule, or I might.  And sometimes more than once, depending on work conflicts that arise.   

This week I was on hold for a VO Monday morning, meaning the client was deciding between me and maybe one or two others, so I had to keep that time open.  Until I didn’t get it.  Late Monday I got a check avail for another VO to record Tuesday or Wednesday, meaning the client has chosen a few people and wants to know our availability.  I pencilled those times in, but found out Tuesday afternoon that the project had been postponed and there’d likely be another check avail next week.  I hope I find out before it’s too late to change a couple of routine doctor appointments and can avoid cancellation fees. 

And when it rains, it often pours.  A friend recently said after he’d booked a job, he couldn’t do another the same day that paid a lot more.  Recently I missed out on a huge audition because the 5 minute slot they had for me was in the middle of a VO job.  I was only 4 blocks away, but they couldn’t give me another time.  Once I had three on-camera auditions at three different places…in an hour and 45 minutes.  Other days, no work or auditions.

There are just so many people who can control the timing of and have to coordinate every step of any given project…the client, the ad agency, a casting agency, the production team, even the location.  For example, I had a job at a store, and we could only film after it closed.

We never know when the phone will ring/emails will pop up…for auditions, callbacks, check avails, holds or new work.  Or when or if any of those will change.   

Waiting

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Feelancers are often in waiting mode.  Our work flow is predicated on others wanting to hire us, and usually on their schedules, not ours.  We can’t know when the phone will ring or when opportunities will present themselves.  We can only control our output and how much waiting gets to us.

New assignments:  If I don’t have any, I take advantage of the lull by self-marketing, putting more irons in the fire, updating my marketing materials and learning more about ever-changing technology such as WordPress and Twitter.  I add to my list of products or services (more on that soon).  I network and catch up with colleagues/friends.  It can feel a bit decadent to have brunch or a long lunch on a work day, but also rewarding and relaxing.      

Quotes/submissions:  When I’m asked to quote for a job, I can’t know when I’ll hear back.  If I send a requested writing submission, only rarely does the editor/agent estimate response time.  I’m still waiting to hear about a submission from last April.  I sent a status check email early this month; the editor did reply.  And needs a few more weeks…it’ll be three weeks tomorrow. 

Being on ice:  Exciting yet frustrating.  You’re one of a couple or few people the client wants to hire, so you have to keep the shoot/recording date(s) completely open.  You don’t know when you’ll find out if you got booked or released.  If another opportunity arises, you can’t accept it without conferring with the icing client.

Additional information:  Sometimes we need additional information or answers to questions before we can move forward on a project.  For example, many VO jobs come without a pronunciation guide.  I send a list of terms with suggested pronunciations, but have to wait for them to reply.

Payment:  Sometimes takes three months, or longer.  I’m still waiting for payment for a VO job last August.  Because I don’t get paid until the agent does.  At least I’m not the one who has to do the collecting.   

Potential clients:  After a round of self-marketing, some contacts respond quickly.  They say they’ll keep my info on file or call with questions about rates/turnaround time, or even with a job.  Other times, there’s silence unless I follow up.      

Benefit of the doubt?

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Though somewhat skeptical by nature, I still want to believe people mean well and want to do the right thing.  That circumstances beyond our control- not intent to deceive- can impact timing and results.  Sometimes that belief is tested.

For example, a feelancer agrees to do a certain small project for a specified rate.  Due diligence shows the company is a legitimate business.  Often there’s also an element of trusting your gut.  Are there red flags to keep you from going forward?

 You do the work, there are no complaints or concerns raised or requests for revisions.  The client says the check is in the mail.  It doesn’t arrive.  You contact the client.  Excuses are made, the money is promised.  You don’t want to give up hope that the client is telling the truth about reasons for the delay.  You follow up in a timely manner and even send a self-addressed stamped envelope.  No reply.

Sure, you could’ve asked for a deposit up front.  But for a small job, it’s not always worth the effort. 

What now?  You could let it go, or spend more valuable time pursuing your money… say by posting the story on Yelp (or another review site), reporting the company/contact to the BBB or going to small claims court.   Only you can decide if it’s worth the time and effort to try to prove you’re right.  There’s no guarantee you’ll get paid.  Or should you endeavor to protect other vendors from a similar outcome?  Maybe this is the first time this has happened.  If it’s happened before but no one reports it, the contact may continue down a less than truthful path.  

Will this be a lesson- make you less likely to trust the next person who says s/he’ll follow through on something, whether it’s business or personal?  If the client eventually makes good, would you trust him/her the next time or respectfully decline the work? 
 
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.  Sometimes the pudding takes a long time to cook.  Other times, unless you do a chemical analysis, it can be difficult to know if the pudding contains the promised amount, variety and/or quality of contents.

 

Self-publish or not?

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Many author friends and acquaintances have abandoned traditional publishing in favor of self-publishing.  Others do both.  Some are doing quite well, earning what I consider to be good money and making best-seller lists.  Others aren’t.  Some already had name recognition.  Some make it sound so easy to do and succeed.

Yet there are many steps and tasks to complete before any self-pubbed release, including desigining your own cover to writing back cover copy to formatting to hiring an editor to uploading to setting the price…things traditional New York publishers and many smaller publishers do for the author so s/he can focus on promoting one book while writing the next.  I’m taking an online class and am getting a lot great information in one place.   

There are benefits to being in control, but also many costs, both in money and time.   The instructor hasn’t said yet how much of both she’s spent.  I’m not sure I want to wear other hats in addition to author, though I’m sure the process gets streamlined and easier as you put out more product.  On the other hand, I could get my manuscripts to readers when I chose.  Traditional publishers, in my experience, take a long time to read submissions (an editor who requested in April 2011 just wrote that it’d be a few more weeks before I heard) and can take a year or more to turn a manuscript into a published book.  The proof is in the sales numbers, but I still believe having, say, St. Martin’s on my cover would have more caché than whatever name I could come up with. 
 
On the other hand, there are so many self-pubbed books out there already, how would I make mine stand out?  A few places review self-pubbed books, but many review sites want to see an established publisher’s name on the spine.  RT Book Reviews , a premier trade publication, has a self-pub column but concentrates on traditional publishing. 

What’s the definition of published nowadays?  I’ve heard if you sell 5,000 copies of a self-pubbed book the first year, that’s considered good.  If you’ve self-pubbed, but only your mom and a few friends have bought your book(s), are you published just because you can read your work on your e-reader?   

Healthcare Cost- Take 2

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Will new healthcare laws really help those who don’t have insurance?  How about those, such as myself, who pay hundreds of dollars every month but still have high deductibles?  Those who have insurance, but often when we need something, it might not be covered at all, much less fully covered?

For example, an online chat with customer service confirmed that Aetna covers a “routine” colonoscopy at age 50.  They don’t cover any pathology charges.  Who knows before taking the test if ours will be routine?  Whether there’ll be additional charges, or how much they’ll be? 

Also, Aetna won’t cover the full cost of the prep my doctor chose. With it, patients drink a lot less bad-tasting liquid can choose among assorted clear liquids for most of it.  Apparently I’m fortunate that they’ll even cover some…around 12%.  That leaves me paying appx. $83.  I can, but how many can’t?  How many will have to endure additional suffering for this and other procedures because their insurance companies won’t cover state of the art treatments or prescriptions?

I wonder how many of us feel like victims at times, little Davids or Davidas nearly helpless in the face of Goliath’s rules handed down from on high that often don’t serve those who are paying for service.  If we spend our time and make the effort to take on the insurance company, to question or appeal any decision or charge we don’t agree with or understand, is victory worth it on principle, or do we have a chance of actually saving money?  Or do we just pay the bill?  Should we be grateful to have any coverage at all?

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At this time of year, many people make New Year’s resolutions.  They say they’ll excercise more, eat fewer fattening foods, perhaps drink less or spend less time surfing the Internet.  Quit smoking.  But it’s hard to resist that yummy carrot cake.  Sometimes we’re too tired to work out for a whole hour several times a week.  Facebook is fun, and all those videos and articles so interesting, time suck that they may be. 

We want to do better, be better, yet often allow the desire for instant gratification to self-sabotage us and our good intentions.  Many things may be fun in the moment, but can cause guilt, remorse or lower self-esteem after the fact.  Did we really need that whole half gallon of ice cream?  Well, at least it’s Edy’s Slow Churned.

Almost all resolutions require self-discipline.  Can we dig deep and find it now when we didn’t have it before?  Many of us need to rely on outside sources.  Some have productivity, exercise or writing buddies who help them stay on track, either working with them or checking in to be sure they’ve met agreed upon goals.  Some impose monetary penalties on themselves or cancel social events if, say, they procrastinate.  Some use apps that cut off access to the Internet.  Others who lack self-control may need even more help to attain positive results.

Why can’t people just be trustworthy?  Why don’t citizens always do as we should and/or obey laws?  Speed bumps on neighborhood streets insure we don’t go over the limit.  Red light cameras prove that we did or didn’t enter the intersection on the yellow.  Nanny cams make sure caregivers are properly tending to children instead of, say, talking on the phone or watching TV.  GPS devices on phones and in cars tell parents where their kids are (unless the kid finds a way to jimmy them).          

The only way to be absolutely sure that people are doing what they say they will isn’t usually feasible:  24/7 monitoring.  It’s rare that a spouse or significant other, or mother and child, or partners, will be in each other’s company every minute of every day.  So how do we really know what they’re doing or not doing? 

How would you know if, say, your husband did in fact quit smoking? What’s sufficient proof? Not finding cigarettes in his car or briefcase?  Not smelling smoke on his clothes or breath?  He might have quit.  Or he might be going to great lengths to make it seem like he did so he doesn’t disappoint his spouse.  Even though he’s still disappointing himself. 

So it comes back to self-discipline. The person should want to change for himself, not to please someone else.  What changes do you want to make?      

https://ruthkaufman.com/uncategorized/252/

What is the cost of healthcare?

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No one would walk into a store and buy anything without knowing the cost before taking the item to the register.  Can you imagine buying a pair of jeans and waiting weeks until the bill came to find out the price?  Many people, myself included, often wait for sales to make purchases.

Yet most of the time, when it comes to the cost of healthcare, we’re in the dark about what we’ll have to pay.  How many doctors’ offices post their fees?  Not long ago, I took a friend to an immediate care center. The initial visit cost was clearly stated on a sign on a wall; but it also said there might be additional costs. I went to a different one recently, and no costs were posted. When you’re sick enough to be at an immediate care center, are you going to spend a lot of time and effort finding out how much your visit will cost, or do you just want relief?

Of course, part of this uncertainty is because neither the doctor can’t be sure what services or in office tests you’ll need before examining you.  If he/she wants to do a prodecure while you’re in the chair, he/she probably won’t know how much it costs.  Nor are medical personnel likely to wait while you try to search the Internet on your phone for average costs. 

So what’s a patient to do?  The Healthcare Bluebook could prove useful if you know what you need in advance. Costs of many standard procedures vary widely, too, so doing due diligence on providers beforehand could save a lot of money.  Interestingly, the Affordable Care Act doesn’t seem to include provisions to help patients gain knowledge of medical fees or require care providers to be more transparent. Maybe I just couldn’t find them?

Sometimes, when the bill arrives, it’s difficult to figure out what all the itemized items are for. Or there’s just a lump sum, with no explanation. 

I have insurance (the already high premium is going up 5.6% next month), but also a high deductible. My last visit to a specialist will cost me $938 for less than 15 minutes of the doctor’s time. I hadn’t researched probable costs.  But if the symptoms persist and I go for another appointment as he suggested, I will.

Career vs. hobby

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To me, part of the definintion of “career” (and my own term “feelancer”) is earning money.  By money, I mean a fair wage for my time and product usage.  In this case, the product is me: my voice and/or image.

I see too many opportunities that are in perpetuity…meaning my product can be used forever in whatever media is specified in the job specs.  Often these are print jobs, perhaps stock images, but can be for any kind of acting work.  When media options were broadcast, local or national TV and/or print (either business to business or consumer), that was bad enough.  Then came cable.  With the advent of the Internet, your in perpetuity image, commercial or video could pop up anywhere at any time or stay on a site for decades, with no additional compensation or even a fair buyout fee.

So far, no IP gig I’ve seen has paid enough to justify them having the right to use my product year after year…along with possibility of keeping me from doing higher paying work in that product category.  The first job may say it’s non-exclusive, but the next may ask what other jobs I’ve done in that category and not want to book me for theirs because of them.  One print job wanted to know if we’d ever done any jobs in that, albeit somewhat narrow, category. 

To some, $500 for a day, for example, or $150 for a half day, may seem like a lot of money.  It’s far more than minimum wage.  But it’s not industry standard, and without an additional, substantial usage fee, not worth it to me.  Some actors desperate for work or any credits will succumb, so IP jobs won’t go away.  And many actors do student or indie films for free, hoping to build their demo reels, gain on-camera experience, and/or make connections with the next Spielberg.   

It’s not always easy to quantify whether my time is better invested in, say, a non-paying Web series that might or might not go viral, or self-marketing to grow my paying client list or taking a class to improve my skills. 

Frequently, when it rains it pours.  If I’ve committed to a non-paying/very low paying gig, chances are I’ll get an audition for or book a much higher paying/better for my career one.  Perhaps more actors will consider the long term vs. the short term and whether they’re building a career or acting for a hobby when deciding whether or not to submit/be submitted for anything IP.      

Produce your own work?

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More and more at acting industry/networking events, speakers and colleagues recommend producing our own work (POOW), to get noticed and thus get more work.

Quality video equipment and editing programs are much less expensive than they used to be.  And YouTube and Vimeo make it easy to post projects online.

To POOW, however, you’ll need to wear many more hats, such as producer, line producer, director, writer, location manager, cinematographer, editor and marketing manager.  Or convince friends to work for free, or raise enough money to cover paying people in addition to production costs.  I’ve seen so many Indiegogo and Kickstarter campaigns for friends’ projects. Is the novelty of contributing is wearing off? 
 
How many hours would you have to put in to create a short film?  A web series?  Then to promote it?  How much money will you earn, and/or how many people will see it?  Not every video will go viral. 

Some friends do theatre, and may earn nothing or $200-300 for the entire rehearsal process and run of the show.  If you put in 5o hours, you’re earning less than minimum wage.  But you may want to work with a certain theatre and/or director, hope for a good review or that agents/casting directors will attend and like your performance or be impressed by your latest credit.
 
Would all that time be put to better use self-marketing?  One new client might yield more benefits more than entering a short film I’ve made into festivals or being in a play that doesn’t attract attention. 
 
Others record audio books, usually for $150 on up per finished hour (fh) of audio, with a novel being appx. 10 hours, or $1500.  That may seem like a good rate, but you have to take into account any research such as pronounciations of character’s names or words you don’t know, reading the book, editing, proofing or paying a proofer, and making any corrections. 
 
Audiobook site ACXestimates that it takes 6.2 hours to get one fh, which, at $150 per finished hour, amounts to just over $24 per hour of your time.  Much better than minimum wage, but much less than you can earn via an agent or for regular narration–if you get the work.  However, you can record audiobooks on your own schedule, assuming you have a satisfactory home recording setup.  And if you can score a fh rate of, say, $300, and can reduce production time, you’d make closer to $50 or $75 per hour. 

When deciding if a project is worth my time, I take several factors into account:

How much am I earning per hour of my time? 
Are there new skills I can learn?
Who will see/hear the project? 
How long will it run/be available?
Who will I be working with? 
How hard is the work?
How flexible is the turnaround time/schedule?