Not many singers can lay claim to a success story like Philip Shepard’s. He went to Germany on a whim and after just three weeks in the country landed his first job. Shepard attributes much of his success to pure luck, but he is also quick to add that he was well prepared and was in Germany auditioning, instead of sitting at home, contemplating the idea. Now he has set out to help other singers find similar success, arming them with more knowledge so they will need less luck. Shepard talks about his new book, What the FACH?! and shares a slew of great ideas and terrific resources for auditioning in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, including his top three tips for a successful audition experience.
So what is an ebook, anyway?
An ebook is a book that is meant to be read on a computer. The technology is relatively new, and the market for ebooks is growing by leaps and bounds. An ebook is—aside from the most obvious ways—somewhat different from a traditional book. Most significantly (and particularly in the case of the What the FACH?! ebook), the ebook is fully interactive. In my ebook, for example, there are literally hundreds of active Web hyperlinks for everything from how to find out about repertoire in German theaters to links for agents and theaters. There are also numerous documents actually embedded into the ebook, so when the time comes to gather important information (such as visa applications, German tax guides in English, etc.), everything is just one click away.
Did you decide to publish as an ebook because of these conveniences, or because the traditional commercial publishing industry failed to recognize your brilliance?
Brilliance? Well, thank you!
I thought that sounded better than “rejected you.”
I decided to first publish the book as an ebook because it seemed the most logical choice for this type of resource. When singers and other opera professionals sit down to try and figure out if an audition tour is right for them, naturally they will have to sit down at the computer to do some searching. With the ebook, my goal (and what I believe I accomplished) is that they can read the book, get a detailed idea of how things work over here, and also have virtually all the resources they need at their fingertips.
An ebook actually saves a singer lots of time for research. Now, if I wanted to sit down and read Bob Woodward´s State of Denial, for example, I doubt that an ebook would be my first choice. However, for the subject of an audition tour and the heavy Internet searching required for the singer, it makes a lot of sense.
In a side note about publishing. I actually never looked for a publisher and have no plans to. I wanted to keep full control of this project. For both the ebook and paperback, I have distributors who make sure the books are out there in stores and online (such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, [and] Powell´s), but I like being my own boss on this.
What about the latest kids on the block—publishing for portable reading devices such as Amazon’s Kindle or Sony’s Reader Digital Book? Have you looked into those?
I just heard about Kindle last week and I will look into Sony.
As for compatibility for handheld devices, I have been in touch with my friends at www.powells.com (Powell´s Bookstore in Portland. I think the biggest independent bookstore in the world), who sell the WTF ebook. Officially, the word is that Adobe ebooks can be read on PalmOS. However, there are sometimes problems with conversion from the computer to the handheld device, depending on the complexity of graphics in the ebook. But I am looking into converting What the FACH?! into formats specifically for sale on handheld devices. Being able to read it on your laptop while sitting on a train going from Berlin to Hamburg, is certainly possible right now. In fact, the Deutsche Bahn is steadily adding wireless Internet to their trains.
The next technological step for the WTF ebook is to make sure it works perfectly with handheld devices. For this, unfortunately, I have to wait for the technology to catch up with my ambitions. But I think that there are unlimited possibilities for other music books to be successfully converted into ebooks, and we will see much more of that in the next one to three years.
So how does the process of publishing and marketing an ebook work?
This was my first book, so I am learning as I go. I did not actually have to publish an ebook in the traditional sense. Rather, I hired a distributor (the ebook branch of Ingram Book Group) and set about marketing in my free time. The marketing has really just begun. I hired a fantastic advertising/Web marketing and design team to create the brand and website (www.what-the-fach.com) and then used the Internet to get as much word out as possible.
The ball has certainly begun to roll and the feedback has been very good. So, it is going steadily into libraries and English-speaking bookstores. I will continue to
do this—and then I am also working now on reaching a wider audience through translation. By March, the plan is to have the What the FACH?! website translated into 18 languages. If sales continue to rise, as is steadily happening, I will begin the process of having What the FACH?! translated into different foreign languages.
Eighteen languages. Wow! Which languages?
Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Serbian, German, Danish, Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian, Russian, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Japanese, and Portuguese, as well.
I decided to do this because the ebook is currently receiving most of its traffic from English-speaking singers. However, the influx of really talented Korean singers is quite high, and just in the past two years the Chinese are coming to the German-speaking world in much greater numbers. And I think it goes without saying, as well, that some unbelievable singers are coming from Russia and their former territories, which are now independent countries.
Where are you getting the people to do the translating?
Colleagues, colleagues of friends, colleagues of relatives, relatives, and friends. I went through my list of friends and colleagues and somehow managed to come up with enough smart people who could do the work.
Do you think that will be profitable, to hire someone to translate your site into languages such as Swedish and Serbian?
In the long-term, yes. There are a number of Serbian and Swedish singers here. I have a dozen working colleagues (at least) from those two countries. And that is just counting those who are here and working, not those considering it or here and auditioning. The ebook deserves to be read at a wide level by people from many different countries. It gives the reader a detailed look at what life is like as a working singer here, and the information and stories are just as relevant to a Serbian or Korean singer as they are to an American or Canadian.
One thing that struck me about your book is that some of the material seems time-sensitive. Will you be updating your publication as the operatic landscape shifts and changes?
Absolutely. Yes. The last thing I want is to see this resource become outdated. I have eight new opera roles this season and next, but the plan is still to come out with a 2009 edition. My opinions are changing a little, I have more experience, I know of more resources, and I want to make some interesting additions, particularly by adding mp3 sound pronunciation files to the 16-page phrasebook and dictionary.
I guess that is another advantage of publishing as an ebook—it’s easier to make alterations.
You bet. And I am still my own boss.
Can you tell us a little about your experience becoming an opera singer in Germany?
I came over a number of years ago essentially on a whim. I had done the fall NYC mainstage audition tour [and] had begun to get some work, but I always wanted to work in a German Fest ensemble. So I came in January for a three-week tour and had the good fortune of great timing and being prepared.
I sent my materials to about 40 or so agents, and while I was over here, one agent (whom I have still never met or sung for) called me and asked me if I could jump into a production in a leading role in a C house, that evening. I had done the role twice so I said yes. I bought a score, hopped on the train at noon, the head of the theater picked me up at the train station, and I was in the middle of the Act 1 Finale on the rehearsal stage at 6 p.m. I should clarify: this all happened after I had been here for three weeks.
Then another agent called a few months later and sent me to a last-minute guest engagement audition in another theater. I got that job on the spot and they offered me a Fest contract for the next season. Frankly, all of this was really, really good fortune—but I was here, auditioning, and prepared for what was coming my way.
If you were to give three pieces of advice to our readers who are interesting in working the Fest system right now—besides reading your ebook—what would they be?
I want four because “study your German” is a no-brainer.
Deal.
The other three are:
1. Let yourself be open to new experiences, both new cultures (Austrian, German, and Swiss cultures—although they all speak German—are much different from one another) and new ideas on stage. This is a different world here and do everything you can to embrace it and let yourself be curious.
2. Research the theater systems here and which singers are singing what kind of repertoire. You should have a good-to-great idea of how you fit into the Fach system here and if you are marketable in it.
3. You will never know unless you try. So quit saying that you want to come over and do an audition tour. If this is a move that you believe is a smart move for you, start taking concrete steps to make it happen. Secure the funds, do your research, study your language, block a lot of time out (two to three months) for a tour. And if you come over, get good feedback, but if do not get a job, be prepared to do it again. If you get a job, congratulations!
What is the best thing about life in Germany?
I live in both Germany and Austria. Best thing about life in Germany: bike lanes all over the place and free afternoons. Best thing about life in Austria: Vienna, skiing, and coffee houses. Yes, and opera!
