Debbie Grattan

When Hiring Voice-Over Talent Online, Watch Out For Hidden Fees

April 12, 2016 by Debbie Grattan

When voice-over talent and clients use an agent or casting service, they can typically expect to pay a fee of 10 to 20 percent for agency services. But when voice-over talent and clients use the pay-to-play site of Voices.com (referred to as VDC in this article), the overall amount of fees charged has become a bit of a mystery as of late.

The VDC fees topic has been brought up recently:

At the VO Atlanta 2016 Voiceover Conference (March 2016)
During a lengthy November 2015 interview between Edge Studios’ Graeme Spicer and VDC Co-Founder David Ciccarelli
On numerous blogs and discussion boards throughout the voice over industry

Mysterious Fees

What propelled this topic into the hot seat is the amount of money VDC appears to be making from some of the jobs that voice-over clients post on the VDC site. Voice-over actors have discovered significant gaps between the dollar amount that clients are paying and the amount that voice-over talent are receiving. Rather than a standard percentage cut, VDC appears to be taking as much as 80 percent in some instances. This is especially obvious when the same job appears in competing agency listings or on other voice-over talent casting websites.

A few anecdotal cases in point include:

$1,050 to $2,000 Mystery Fees: An $1,800 to $2,500 job for Harley Davidson that showed up on VDC for $500 to $750 (mentioned in Edge Studios interview)

$210 Mystery Fees: A $650 job from a repeat client of voice-over talent Andrew Randall that showed up on VDC for $440 (mentioned on Randall’s website)

$1,250 Mystery Fees: A $1,500 job booked outside of pay-to-play sites, with the VDC version of that same listing offering talent $250 (mentioned in Paul Strikwerda’s Nethervoice blog post in Sept. 2015)

$130 Mystery Fee: A client who paid Voices $250 to book a job, only to find the talent received $120, which is less than half the original price and less than VDC got paid (Nethervoice, Sept. 2015)

Mystery Fees Explained (Kind of)

Based on the above examples, and numerous others throughout the voice-over arena, the VDC fees appear to vary from job to job, and can range anywhere from around 30 to more than 80 percent of the cost the client is paying!

Edge Studios’ Graeme Spicer asked questions about this during his interview with VDC Co-Founder Cicarelli. But getting a straightforward response from Cicarelli proved to be quite challenging.

Cicarelli did admit to introducing a Professional Services feature on the site, which he said was in response to client demand. He said the service’s “high-touch, white-glove approach” was geared toward clients who had:

Rush projects, such as those that needed to be delivered in hours instead of days
Particularly complex projects, such as those with multiple voices and extensive recording hours
Specific legal requirements, such as their own terms of service and other parameters
Specific financial requirements, such as purchase orders and a lengthy get-paid process

Spicer said that’s all well and good – for projects that require one or more aspects of that special handling. But what about the jobs that don’t require any special handling; straightforward jobs that any voice-over pro could complete rather easily and painlessly. He asked Cicarelli what the fees were paying for in those cases.

While we heard plenty of words in response to that same question Spicer posed again and again, we don’t recall hearing a straightforward answer.

Failure to Explain

What may be even more disturbing than the flurry of fees found on VDC is the failure to clearly explain what’s going on. Clients in many cases seem to be unaware that a big chunk of their money is going directly to the VDC site instead of to the voice-over talent. And the talent appears to be offered jobs at the baseline lowest industry rates (which seem to constantly be getting pushed lower because of these types of practices), as Spicer pointed out during the interview, regardless of how much the client is willing to pay.

VO actor Marc Scott provided an excerpt from a VO Atlanta discussion panel that featured VDC Sales Director Jennifer Smith. She said clients could receive an explanation of the fees, but only if they specifically asked for it. And will the talent ever be graced with an explanation?

Scott said her answer was a simple and direct “No.”

One more eye-opening insight comes from veteran voice-over talent Todd Schick, who is not shy about sharing his opinion of VDC practices. He pointed out the VDC press kit features an overview of the VDC team’s wide range of industry backgrounds, with the first item on the list as the financial industry.

Making a lot of money is not the issue, every company sets out to do that. But, the lengths to which VDC seems willing to go in order to make a larger profit is what is disturbing to so many in the voiceover community. Especially the apparent willingness to add unexplained and undisclosed fees whenever VDC sees the opportunity to do so.

My Personal Experience With VDC

I have been a member of VDC since 2008. I’ve been very successful with landing jobs through their site over the years, although it is clear that things have changed in the last couple years. It saddens me immensely to see a company that is as highly visible as VDC, become part of what’s wrong with the voice-over industry. Rather than providing service and solutions that truly help all concerned, they have elected to take advantage of voice-over talent in order to pocket more profit for themselves.

It’s as if they have forgotten that without the voice-over talent, they wouldn’t have a business.

If you are someone who has used VDC in the past or is using them now, I recommend that you educate yourself on what the current policies are at VDC and make sure you know where your money is going.

There are some new alternatives available now and coming online soon. WoVo – World Voices Organization is one great option for finding experienced, high-quality voice talent. And there is another site which I can’t mention yet that will be launching soon that looks extremely promising for the services that it will provide voice talent seekers as well as voice-over talent who are listed on the site. Stay tuned to my blog for more news on that.

Even Better Yet, Eliminate the Middle Man Altogether

While seeking out high-quality, alternative sites to VDC can reduce some of the hassles, seeking out high-quality voice-over talent directly lets you to eliminate all of them. No more middle man gobbling up a chunk of the profit (for services that may or may not be rendered). No more sifting through loads of auditions from voices that may be nothing near what you’re looking for. No more holding your breath in the hopes the person you’ve picked has the skill, experience and background to deliver what you need.

Working directly with a reliable, versatile, full-time voice-over professional not only makes your project easier, it can make your life easier every time you need a voice-over job done right. You’ll consistently get the quality work you need, when you need it – with no mysterious fees.

I have made it my personal mission for more than 20 years to provide voice over services that go above-and-beyond what most clients expect. Please contact me directly for a quote or more information.

Additional Sources:

“The Ciccarelli Circus”
“The Voices Dilemma”.”

Professional Narration Voiceover Has Many Advantages

March 9, 2016 by Debbie Grattan

This is Part 2 in a series on the advantages of hiring professional narration voiceover talent for your business narration projects. Please also read Part 1, “Voiceover Narration: Do It Yourself or Pay for a Pro?”

No one wants to lose the audience for their corporate video after only a sentence or two, so a pleasant, listener-friendly voice is a must for effective narration. It is also the top reason to hire a full-time VO pro outlined in part one of our series.

Reason #2, also discussed in the previous article, is the ability to produce a vocal style that meshes with your company vibe. Whether you need an authoritative and serious tone, or a voice that reminds listeners of a trusted friend, professional VO talent can deliver it each and every time.

That covers the first couple of reasons to hire a professional narration voiceover talent for your corporate video narration projects. Now we move on to the last three.

3. We can keep your style for the long haul.

Once we’ve mastered your company’s style, professional narration voiceover actors can do two very important things with it:

Maintain it
Reproduce it

Holding an accent, keeping up a specific tone and otherwise maintaining a consistent vocal style through an extended narration is no easy feat for the untrained voice talent. Experienced professionals, however, have what it takes.

Reproducing the exact sound of a vocal style used in previous projects is another big plus with VO pros. This especially holds true for medical narration or e-learning narrations that may regularly update information or change facts that need to be inserted into the video at a later date.

You want any additions or changes to blend seamlessly with the existing content, with your audience not even being able to tell that that any additions or changes even took place.

Choosing a seasoned professional voice talent means you’ll have consistency, getting the same style that matches the original recording whether you need the voice three weeks or even three years down the line.

If you have a few changes in your narration but your voice is out of the business, or was never really in the business in the first place and is now nowhere to be found, you’ll probably be stuck having to re-record the narration for the entire project. A few quick changes suddenly turned into an extensive and expensive project.

This generally doesn’t happen when you hire a professional narration voiceover talent with a long and sustained track record. I often still have the original recording that I may have completed several years ago for a client. When they contact me to make changes or redo a portion of their audio file, I can usually search my archives and retrieve the original recording, making it much easier to match whatever script changes are needed.

You’ll keep your narration projects more affordable and efficient by always hiring an experienced, professional voiceover talent straight out of the gate.

4. We can quickly and easily take direction.

Tell a novice voiceover actor to add more gravitas or to pull the energy back 10 percent, and you may get a series of retakes or, worse yet, a totally blank stare. Tell an experienced VO talent the same and you’ll get, well, more gravitas or slightly less energy in the narration.

Quality voiceover actors are skilled at quickly taking direction. Our overall goal is to give you what you want, and the quicker and more effectively we can do that, the happier everyone will be.

Voiceover talent that’s really on the ball will offer a phone patch that lets clients listen in to the remote recording session in real-time, while the actor is actually recording it. I’ve found the phone patch is immensely helpful for allowing clients to direct and give feedback right on the spot.

This allows me to make needed changes as we move through the narration project, eliminating the risk of the client getting a finished recording and realizing it’s not what they wanted at all.

5. Professional narration voiceover talent can provide direction (and script help!).

Thanks to reading thousands of scripts over a career, an experienced voiceover actor has a keen eye and a natural sense for copy. We can edit on the fly, make suggestions to improve the flow, or even offer up different word choices that could better express your message.

Since many voice over pros also have acting experience, we can also offer input on the most effective ways to connect with your audience.

Refining copy comes with the VO territory, and many of us can spot a run-on sentence or grammatical gaffe about 100 miles away. Hiring a full-time VO actor gives your company a professional voice and a professional script editor in a single, comprehensive package.

The Bottom Line

Even if recruiting Jane from reception or a member of your in-house production team for your corporate video narration may seem like a good idea on the surface, if you dig a little deeper you’ll quickly see it’s probably not. Full-time, professional voiceover actors have the experience, skills, equipment and know-how to give you what you want in a fraction of the time, and without any of the novice hassles.

“Why didn’t we find you in the first place!” is one of the most common phrases I hear from clients who come to me for help after they’ve been stuck with a substandard narration they can’t even use. While it feels great to be able to save the day, it feels even better to get the job done right the first time around.

Voice-Over Narration: Do It Yourself or Pay for a Pro?

February 16, 2016 by Debbie Grattan

Your corporation could have one, two or even dozens of video ideas in your lineup, from how-to instructional videos to those providing a description of your company or a rundown on specific services or products. You may also have an in-house team that typically takes care of all your production needs.

But, is that team using a voice that can really “cut it” when it comes to keeping your viewers fully engaged?

If you’re tempted to tap the smoothest-sounding voice from your staff to narrate your corporate videos, you may think you’re saving time, money and the hassle of searching out a full-time voice-over pro to hire for the job. But you could instead end up wasting time, money and creating an even bigger hassle when the smoothest-sounding voice doesn’t necessarily produce the smoothest final result.

As a longtime professional voice-over actor, I often get contacted by clients who have already completed their narration with someone that just didn’t work for them. The companies have already shelled out money as well as enormous amounts of time and effort – only to be saddled with a video they couldn’t use – due to shoddy and substandard narration.

The shoddiness may have come from any number or combination of problems. These are problems you simply won’t face if you hire an experienced full-time voice-over pro.

5 Reasons to Hire a Pro to Narrate Your Business or Corporate Videos

1. We’ve got the pleasant voice down pat.

Just because a voice is smooth or distinctive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s pleasant for the listener. And a grating or irritating narration can make people turn off your video within the first few sentences.

Human beings get annoyed by a variety of things they experience through their senses, as this article explains: “You Bug Me, Now Science Explains Why.” When you are competing for your audience’s full attention, you cannot afford to have anything that could be seen or heard as annoying.

Full-time pro voice-over actors generally have years of training and experience that allows them to produce the pleasant voice listeners enjoy and trust. Listeners want someone who sounds knowledgeable on a topic without sounding arrogant. They need fluidity in the presentation of the material so it’s easily understood.

They want someone they can relate to, similar to a coworker or immediate supervisor. Voice-over pros can deliver all of the above, which is especially important in longer e-learning or instructional videos where viewers are tuning in for an extended period.

In general, people are very picky today. They have short attention spans but no shortage of distractions (both worthwhile and time-wasting) constantly pulling on their attention to focus elsewhere. It is imperative that you do everything possible to ensure that your video has a narration that is pleasant and engaging all the way through to the end.

For a very interesting article about the current and future “abundance of content” which is driving the need for better and better quality of business videos, check out “The Age of Abundance: How the Content Explosion Will Invert the Media Industry.” Thanks to CourVO for bringing that one to my attention!

Reason #2:

2. We get your style.

Full-time voice-over actors typically come equipped with an arsenal of different vocal styles they can produce, along with the capabilities to adapt them as needed to suit your own company’s vibe. Your corporate video narration may beg for an exciting, vibrant style; a serious, professional and responsible style; or a style that gives off a sophisticated and intelligent air.

The voice of your video narration is, in effect, the voice of your brand. Choosing a voice over artist carefully is a must. Picking a voice that doesn’t align with your overall brand could have the same jarring impact as picking a misaligned color scheme for branding materials. Not only can it clash with your existing materials, but it can derail your entire message.

Pros can serve up a variety of different styles, with many able to automatically produce what you’re looking for by simply reading the script or getting a bit of background on your company. Our voices are an effective tool for helping to position your company with the status you want. And once we know the audience you want to target, we can shape our voice to hit the bull’s eye.

Here are a few style examples from my Portfolio . First off, for CareNotify, we needed to create a Friendly, Reassuring and Uplifting feeling for the viewer:

The target style for this next video for the Child Check System was Responsibility and Compassion:

For a more Serious, Concerned read:

Finally, when narrating for technology-related videos, it is often important to convey Sophistication and Intelligence while still sounding very Friendly and Approachable:

You can see dozens more examples on my Narration Voice Overs page, across a wide range of types of narration.

Read Part 2 of this article, “Professional Narration Voiceover Has Many Advantages” to see 3 more reasons to hire a professional voice-over talent for your corporate narration projects.

Please share your comments and questions below. Thanks for reading!

Does Your Voice-Over Talent Income Have a Self-Imposed Ceiling?

January 13, 2016 by Debbie Grattan

Whether you’re a seasoned professional in the VO world or brand-new to the game, a common denominator is that we’re in this business to get paid for doing something we’re good at and enjoy.

But how much do we really want to be paid?

Everyone has their own set of parameters and goals, depending on various factors. Many voice-over talents are content to make an extra few thousand dollars per year. On the other end of the spectrum, you have full-time voice talent who have built their livelihood around voice-over work, and their income goals are six figures and beyond.

Certainly, the constantly changing VO landscape caused by technology and the internet is having a huge impact on voice-over talent incomes across the board.

But do you realize that YOU may be your worst enemy in growing your income? Do you sometimes feel stuck in a rut that keeps your income well below what you perceive you should be making?

If so, then perhaps you’ve been subconsciously sabotaging your own ability to earn top dollar.

How’s that possible? It has a lot to do with whether or not you are fully aligned with your income goals.

Are You Aligned With Your Voice Over Goals?

One form of alignment refers to the agreement between your conscious and subconscious mind. And the subconscious mind is much more responsible for your day-to-day decisions and actions than most people realize.

Without proper alignment, you can end up struggling and spinning your wheels, even if you’re doing many of the “right” things in your business.

My husband worked for several years as a personal and business coach, so he’s been using this alignment concept for over a decade. His firsthand research and observation have demonstrated repeatedly that alignment is one of the pivotal components of what makes a person successful (or not) in ultimately achieving their goals.

Yes, many factors come into play in being a successful voice-over talent. Experience, talent, and ability, execution of good business and marketing practices are all very important.

However, alignment is also very important.

If I say, “I want to be a six-figure voice-over talent,” but my alignment is out of whack with that intention, then the odds of me reaching my goal in a sustainable way and in the quickest possible time frame are greatly diminished.

Consciously, I may be very clear and focused on what I want to accomplish. Subconsciously, however, I may have thoughts and emotions that directly conflict with the goals I’m trying to achieve. Those conflicts will undermine me as I go along my path, usually in very subtle ways. They will affect my thoughts, my state of being, and my willingness to take necessary actions.

The Over-Riding Rule of Alignment

There is an overriding rule regarding alignment: The subconscious mind always wins.

Although a person’s conscious mind can win out over the short-term (by getting results through focused and determined action), if alignment is not eventually achieved on the subconscious level, you’ll end up with a “rubberband effect.” Everything will eventually snap back to the previous level of results. It’s like “yo-yo” dieting, but instead of your weight, your life situation, relationships, or finances keep returning to a normal level.

Two steps forward, two steps back. Back to square one, over and over again. Remember the movie “Groundhog Day?”

The experience can be very frustrating, and this phenomenon is a common reason why some entrepreneurs give up on their dreams. Anyone who successfully makes it to higher and higher levels of success has found a way to keep re-aligning with those higher and higher levels of success.

They have learned how to climb the ladder rung by rung and align with each new level as they go up.

Your Thoughts, Beliefs, and Emotions Can Reveal Whether You Are in Alignment

On the mental level, here are some examples of common thoughts that get in the way of entrepreneurs who are trying to ramp up their businesses:

– I’m afraid of failure/success
– I don’t deserve to make a lot of money
– No one in my family has ever been this successful, so I can’t do it either
– Who will I be if I become this successful?
– What if I become this successful and then lose it?

Hundreds of other possibilities of thoughts and beliefs can get in the way. This short list only scratches the surface. You may be able to consciously push them away, but if they are still active and strong in your subconscious mind, they still have power over you and will influence what you think, speak and do.

One of the primary tasks my husband worked on with his coaching clients was to identify the specific thoughts each person was holding onto (attached to) blocking their progress. Then he would use techniques to help them neutralize the power of those thoughts or beliefs. This process would shift them into proper alignment with their goals and intentions.

Your Voice-Over Talent Income Ceiling Works Like a Thermostat Setting

One obstacle for all business owners trying to boost their business is their comfort level with how much money they will make.

Just like the thermostat in your home that controls how warm or cool you will allow the temperature to get, you have an internal thermostat that controls how much money you’re going to make daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.

There’s a way to determine that exact number, and my husband/coach took me through the process many years ago to make sure my setting was where I wanted it to be. We check in on it every once in a while to confirm that it’s still set at a very high level. Generally, you want the ceiling (thermostat setting) set way above the level of income you want to make so that it can’t interfere with hitting your target income.

If I have a goal to be a six-figure voice-over talent, but my income ceiling is set at $40,000 per year, then the odds of me making more than $40,000 in one year are very low. Even if I have a great year and do hit my six-figure goal if that ceiling doesn’t get adjusted, then it will be tough for me to sustain that income moving forward, and I will likely snap back to a lower level in the near future.

If your goal is to make $100,000 per year, then your ceiling should be set somewhere above that… $150,000 or $200,000 would be fine. Or, if you want room for something big to show up, push it out to a million! The ability to reset this financial thermostat can make a huge difference for anyone struggling to get to a higher income level. Being 100% in alignment with making a certain income level can remove much of the “headwind effect,” making it easier to move forward to reach your goal.

Most importantly, proper alignment helps to better ensure that you won’t be knocked back to previous results once you reach your new goals. There is no repetitive “rubberband effect” once the alignment is properly set and maintained. The new setting allows you to make that progress while locking it in as your new baseline, your new – and successful – “normal.”

Want to Learn More About This? Please Leave a Comment

If you’d like to learn more about how to align with your voice-over talent income goals and know where your income ceiling is, please leave your comments below. If there is a lot of interest in this, I’ll write a follow-up and share more info about the alignment process I use in my voice-over business.

The Downside and Dark Side of Hiring Voice-Over Talent on Fiverr

December 9, 2015 by Debbie Grattan

Extremely limited budgets. No need for top quality. Filler or disposable work. These are three scenarios I outlined in Part 1 of this two-part article to show that cut-rate pricing sites like Fiverr may have a place in the voice-over world. And no matter how much the experienced, professional, full-time voice-over talent protests, the reality is that Fiverr and similar sites are probably here to stay, at least for now.

I have my doubts as to whether this “gig economy” model is truly a sustainable trend or a passing fad. The jury is still out. In the meantime, we have to wonder:

Is Fiverr damaging creative industries by providing super-cheap services?

Yes and no.

Yes, because there are people who have trained for professions and gained years of experience in their industries doing quality work. And those people are now frequently being underbid by newer, less experienced, less skilled contractors. People are being hired for jobs based on price alone.

That is seldom a good thing. The common rule of thumb: “You get what you pay for” usually applies. However, as outlined in Part 1, there can be circumstances when it makes sense to go this route.

But, this scenario becomes a BIG problem only if the quality buyers who are looking for quality VO services are able to actually get quality services from experienced professional VO providers at significantly discounted prices. So far, it seems that most quality-conscious buyers are willing to pay for quality, at least in fields where experience and skill really DO still matter. And, the majority of quality, experienced voice-over talent have steered clear of sites like Fiverr as places to market themselves.

Not a Sustainable Economic Model

Sure, using Fiverr can make sense in certain situations. But if the whole business economy shifted to this model, I think our country’s financial foundation would probably collapse.

Imagine if every service that is offered in our economy could be found on Fiverr. The only jobs that would be safe would be government jobs. There’d be a mass stampede for the cheapest option for everything. Until we began to realize what the real price of that philosophy is.

The High Price of Low Cost

The whole thing reminds me a bit of how the US economy has experienced a massive change due to the loss of manufacturing jobs. A statistic I ran across recently says between 2001 and 2010, the US lost over 42,000 manufacturing companies.

That’s companies, not just jobs. A truly staggering statistic.

That works out to about 11 factories closing per day over that 10-year timeframe. If that isn’t the single biggest cause of the financial troubles created by a shrinking middle class, please tell me what is.

The biblical quote, “The love of money is the root of all evil,” seems to be spot on when it comes to explaining most of the problems we now face in our country and the world. What we, as individuals, corporations and countries are sometimes willing to do to save or make money is pretty astounding. I think people don’t always recognize or consider the long term consequences and implications of their cost-cutting actions.

It seems long-term consequence projection is a blind spot for human beings. As a species, we have demonstrated time and again that we have a hard time focusing much beyond the very near-term future. Even supposed “responsible” leaders frequently choose to “kick the can down the road” rather than deal with an important issue head on.

Creative Destruction is, By Nature, Destructive

Fiverr appears to be one of the big reasons voice-over service prices are being driven down. And it could potentially have a similar effect on the voice-over industry as the loss of manufacturing jobs had on the overall economy.

Given enough time, Fiverr and similar sites could potentially cleave the VO industry into three distinct categories:

1) a very few famous voice-over talents who make millions per year,

2) many thousands of part-timers who treat VO more like a hobby than a business and are happy to make whatever they can make, and

3) a few thousand legit, experienced and seasoned pro voice-over talents who have to struggle to continue to make a full-time living.

The high-quality, experienced voice-over talents who have paid their dues over many years and rely on a VO work for their entire income could get squeezed to the point of not being able to stay in business.

This would be the ultimate downside of the Fiverr phenomenon: To wake up one day and realize the reliable, cream-of-the-crop VO talent has had to move on to other professions because they could no longer stay afloat as a viable voice-over business.

That would be bad for voice-over talents and bad for the people who hire voice-over talent services.

But I highly doubt that’s going to happen.

4 Reasons Fiverr Won’t Win

You never know what you’ll get – in general.

The fact that it can be very difficult to verify or look up voice-over talent outside of Fiverr is a problem for those who want to dig deeper into a talent’s background. Profiles on Fiverr can pretty much say anything, regardless of whether or not it’s true.

You never know what you’ll get – on any given day.

Longevity may not be in the cards for voice-over talent on Fiverr, either. The talent you hired today may be gone weeks or months from now – or even tomorrow. This a huge detriment if you need an existing recording amended with the same voice you can now no longer find.

It appears that burnout is a high risk for Fiverr sellers as well. Many forums are packed with rants and complaints from former Fiverr sellers who got fed up with the system and bailed out.

Horror stories are par for the course.

The rants and complaints on forums are joined by horror stories of atrocious goings-on in the Fiverr marketplace. Faked reviews. Manipulated job completion statistics. Cancelled orders even after jobs were delivered.

The site seems to have very little supervision or regulation when it comes to controlling the business practices of sellers or buyers. Both sides of the transaction can potentially, and apparently fairly easily, rip-off the other side.

I don’t know this from firsthand experience, only from doing some research and reading what people are saying about their experiences as sellers and buyers. See some of the articles I reviewed at end of this post.

The hard work philosophy still holds true.

Most of us baby boomers and Gen-Xers have bought into a system that says, “If you study long and hard, master our craft, become great at what you do through experience and build your following, you will be rewarded.”

Despite sites like Fiverr that promise quick money to those who haven’t gone down the hard-working path, there are enough of us who have already done the heavy lifting that aren’t going to buckle. Not only have we already been through the grind required to establish and sustain a career, but we value our work enough to price it accordingly.

Voice-over pros who refuse to sign up as Fiverr sellers are not Fiverr snobs or on a high horse, as one Fiverr seller so eloquently put it. We are instead aware of the value of our work – and the years of blood, sweat and training we put into it – and we’re unwilling to offer our services at a price that doesn’t reflect that value.

Hopefully that is how the majority of voice-over service buyers feel. If you want quality, you expect to pay for it. If the price seems too good to be true, there’s a reason, and the quality is almost certainly going to reflect the lower price.

Dutch voice-over actor Paul Strikwerda summed it up nicely. He said: “A voice-over career cannot be bought. It has to be conquered. Slowly.”

And once you’ve done the conquering, you’re unlikely to sell yourself on Fiverr for a few bucks per gig.

Fiverr Update May 2019

A big change has taken place at Fiverr since I posted the initial article more than three years ago. Prices have increased. While you can still find some freelancers offering their services for $5, most freelancers on the site are now charging considerably more than the $5 price point that was once the platform’s claim to fame.

This is a good thing, as it shows freelancers are no longer as willing to reduce their rates to ridiculously low levels. It also shows clients are still willing to pay higher rates if it means higher quality work.

Fiverr may still bill itself as the marketplace for “The Lean Entrepreneur,” but at least all the work is no longer being offered by freelancers willing to fall into “The Starving Artist” category. It’s also more proof that the original setup on Fiverr did not provide a sustainable economic model, as it was unable to sustain itself for even a few years.

LIST OF SOURCES:
5 Reasons Why You Should Never Become a Voice-Over
Is Your Voice Only Worth a Fiver? You May Be on to a Winner
Fiverr, BuckMeUp and the Future of the $5 Freelance Economy
Fiverr: What Will $5 Cost You?
Why $5?
Why I Don’t Worry About Fiverr Anymore
Five(rr) Will Get You Ten – Part 1
Five(rr) Will Get You Ten – Part 2
Five(rr) Will Get You Ten – Part 3

Fiverr: What Will $5 Cost You?
The Problem With Using Fiverr for Voice Over Work
Doing Voice Overs For $5? Ugh. Lowball Pricing Is A Bad Dream
Would You Advertise Your VO Services on Fiverr or Ebay?
Is Your Voice Only Worth a Fiverr? You May Be On to a Winner

Why You Might Consider Hiring Voice-Over Talent on Fiverr (or Not)

November 19, 2015 by Debbie Grattan

Fiverr has been bashed repeatedly since its inception in 2010, thanks to its premise of selling voice-over recordings, and anything else you may need, for a mere $5. Fellow voice-over pros have bemoaned everything from the “digital slave wages” it offers to the smarmy feeling they’d be sure to get if they ever stooped so low as to take Fiverr-type gig.

“Personally, if I did a VO for $5, I’d wanna go take a shower right away,” writes Vegas-based voice-over actor Dave Courvoisier, “or be so disgusted with the whole business that I’d sell my (high-end microphone) and go work in a tire shop.”

I have to admit, I was ready to jump on the Fiverr-bashing bandwagon, complete with a sarcastic write-up poking fun at the entire idea of expecting anything other than sub-standard work for sub-standard pay.

But then I did a little more research, and I had a change of heart.

My change of heart didn’t necessarily come from reading about the Cinderella-type story where one voice-over freelancer made enough money on Fiverr to quit her day job and buy a house. It came from realizing there is a niche where services like Fiverr may actually be helpful and provide an important level of service.

Don’t get me wrong, I am surely not recommending clients who need top-notch, professional voice-overs turn to Fiverr to get them. You’ll never find yours truly listed on Fiverr or any site that is driven by low pricing. And I’m not saying Fiverr doesn’t come without the risk of ending up with really bad or even completely unusable audio recordings.

The Fiverr Crap Shoot

Fiverr and similar sites have been described as a crap shoot, both for the buyer and the seller. You never know exactly what you’ll get, but you’re only out $5 either way so what’s the harm, right? Well, that’s not exactly true, as it turns out. The $5 price tag was introduced, in part, as a way to build the brand and get people to remember the Fiverr concept.

Dig deeper and you may find your $5 will only buy you a very limited amount of words or services, with things like a professional audio format, fast turn-around, revisions, proofing your script or a higher word count coming with additional fees. Freelancers can, I heard, charge up to $8,000 on the site. That means the cost is yet another factor you have to watch out for on sites like Fiverr, even though you may not realize that going in.

Watch out for the cost. Watch out for the quality. And keep in mind you’ll probably have to spend a notable amount of time sifting through profiles and testing talent before you land on one that may be able to suit your needs.

Provided you know what you’re getting into when you scope out sites like Fiverr, there are a few instances where getting work from bargain-basement sites may make sense. Ready?

3 Reasons For Hiring Voice-Over Talent on Fiverr

Quality is not your top priority.

Yeah, I know that sounds weird. But it’s sometimes true. Perhaps you need a quick-turnaround narration voice-over for an employee training video for tomorrow’s workshop, or a recorded voice for your inter-office phone system. In either case, no one is really going to care if the voice is as smooth as silk or as deep as James Earl Jones. As long as the words are all more or less pronounced correctly, you may find your match on Fiverr.

You barely have a budget.

Here’s where non-profit organizations, charities, churches, college student entrepreneurs or others who need a voice-over on the cheap may benefit. Perhaps you need a voice-over for your idea’s explainer video, narration for a business idea presentation or a 30-second female voice explaining how worthy your charity is for a radio spot. Give Fiverr a whirl and see what happens.

You need cheap “filler,” or disposable content.

A case in point for this example comes from voice actor’s Steven Jay Cohen’s blog. His pal works in a sizable New York-based agency that uses Fiverr all the time for quick videos required for pitch meetings.

“Fiverr is where I get my filler,” his friend told him. “I don’t need it to be good. I just need it to stand in there while I sell the concept. In fact, if the art or the voice is too good, it actually detracts from what I am trying to do.”

Once the pitch meeting is done, so is the work. If the project is a go, the agency turns to high-end voice-over pros for the final project. If it’s not a go, costs still stay low since the pitch project did not require a major investment.

If you approach a professional voice-over talent in these types of situations, you’ll likely run into some kind of minimum charge of $75 or more just to get them to step into the booth and power up the microphone. There can be exceptions; for instance when the request is coming from a recurring voice-over client who has ongoing work opportunities. If I can do a quick favor for a good client, I’m all for it. But, for a single job, from an unknown source, with a tiny budget, who I may never hear from again, I will more often than not have to pass. I can see how a legitimate need is being met by Fiverr VO talent.

But, just because Fiverr and similar sites have a niche market and may be good for a few scenarios doesn’t mean they’re good for creative industries overall. Or even the economy in general.

Please read Part 2 – “The Downside and Dark Side of Hiring Voice-over Talent on Fiverr” where I explore some of the negative effects that are being created by sites like Fiverr.

Please chime in below and tell me what you think!

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