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It’s Survival of the Fittest in Today’s Voice-Over Gig Economy

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It's survival of the fittest in today's voice-over gig economy

While the gig economy is nothing new, it is going through a rather new transition. It’s being flooded by an influx of workers. Millions of fresh workers entered the world of flex and freelance work between 2003 and 2013 alone. From video production to copywriting services, fitness training to photography, fields across every industry are feeling the effects. The voice-over realm is one of them.

This increase in workers leads to an increase in competition. And one of the strategies some workers use to beat out the competition is to offer impossibly low prices. While this may initially appear to clients as a great move for a business, it’s actually not. Not for the client’s business or the voice-over actor’s business.

Why Impossibly Low Prices are Never Good for Business 

Since the lowest prices are typically offered by new workers with the least amount of experience and industry knowledge, the low cost of the work is likely to be reflected in the quality. On the voice-over talent’s end of things, offering impossibly low prices not only makes it tough to make a living, but can also reflect negatively on their professional reputation. Only those who are not confident about what their work is actually worth would even dare to set a price that’s ridiculously below the skill, talent, and scope of a specific project.

 

voice over gig economy pits fittest voice over talent against not-so-fit talent

What Eventually Happens

Prices can’t continue their downward spiral forever. There’s got to be a breaking point. That breaking point tends to come when the workers start to thin themselves out, in a process that’s reminiscent of natural selection – where only the fittest survive. Those that are not-so-fit for the industry may bow out for any number of reasons, some of which are outlined on voice-over actor Paul Strikwerda’s Nethervoice blog:

  • Not booking enough jobs or any jobs
  • The goal of instant stardom
  • Can’t afford to invest in quality equipment or coaching
  • Hard time getting motivated
  • Fed up with the same old tasks, over and over
  • Not sure how to market self
  • Crushed by repeated rejections
  • Stressed out by freelance uncertainty
  • Working too much for too little
  • Don’t know how to stand out from the crowd

“If even pros with years of experience and an impressive portfolio have trouble booking jobs these days,” Strikwerda writes, “you need to bring something very special to the table if you wish to compete at the highest level.”

The Fittest Who Survive

Voice-over actors who can indeed compete at the highest level, who bring something special to the table, and who have paid their dues over the years are those who are likely to survive. Members of the fittest group typically:

1. Are backed by years of experience and training

2. Have full-time availability and are easily accessible when needed

3. Record on sophisticated equipment in a professional studio

4. Focus on high-quality results

5. Have found their niche

6. Are constantly learning new things, developing new skills

7. Know their worth, and charge prices that reflect that

8. Are strong, determined, and persistent enough to stick with their voice-over career/dream no matter what

No matter what’s going on with the gig economy in general or the voice-over industry in particular, the thought of quitting is not likely to cross their minds.

While the sharp plunge in price and quality may be bad news in the overall gig economy, the good news is the fittest exist in every industry. Clients can find them and hire them at any time. Evidence in the voice-over industry includes a strong portfolio, sophisticated recording equipment, versatility, skill, extensive experience, high-quality work, and a long history of happy clients.

Ready for your next high-quality voice-over project? Contact me for a quote or complimentary audition today.

Related Articles You Might Like:

Looking for Free Voice-Over Talent? Here’s Why You Shouldn’t

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Looking for Free Voice-Over Talent? Here's Why You Shouldn’t

While the concept of “free” anything is often attractive, when it comes to using free voice-over talent, the downside risks will usually far outweigh the upside cost savings.

Head into a store, any store, and bring your selected item up to the cashier. Then tell him or her you’d like to have this particular item for free, with the promise of coming back to purchase loads and loads of additional items in the future.

Think the cashiers will go for it?

Not if they want to keep their job.

In fact, you may be lucky if you get out of the store without a personal security guard escort.

But this very scenario happens all the time in creative industries, particularly in the voice-over world. Asking VO talent to work for free is a ridiculous request in the world of business. It hurts their business for obvious reasons, but it can also hurt yours. Still, some companies still ask for it, and some VO actors still oblige.

Why Free Voice-Over Talent May Agree to Work for Nothing

Finding free voice-over talent may be easier than you think, especially with increased competition popping up in every corner of the internet. But you need to be wary of those who agree to performing work at no cost, as not all the reasons for accepting such work may promise exceptional – or even usable – results.

free voice-over talent can be very inexperienced

The talent is new or inexperienced.

Nabbing that first voice-over job can be tough. But nabbing that first free voice-over talent gig can be relatively easy. Even if the new voice-over actor has talent, it may be rather raw.  And inexperience in the business may leave the final product in a state of incompleteness, or worse. Hiring a full-time pro VO talent from the get-go can save your company time, money and headaches in the long-run. It can also ensure you get the job right the first time.

The talent believes the promises of more work to come.

Even if your company has the honest intent of providing more work for the person if the first freebie is a goody, there is usually nothing binding you to make the promise come true. And if you really look at the deal from the talent’s point of view, additional work from a company that is too cheap to even pay for the first job may not be such a good deal after all.

The talent wants exposure, professional samples.

This reason is not all that horrible, as it’s always a good move to stock a voice-over portfolio with stellar samples of your work. But it also uses the project as a training ground, and if the voice-over talent is providing their contribution to the project at no cost, it can make you wonder how highly other aspects of the project are valued. This could result in a decidedly less-than-stellar sample out of the gig.

The talent thinks that’s the way the industry works.

Yes, even in this age of information, many remain uninformed on the basics of the voice-over industry. Attention clients and talent alike: working for free is NOT how the industry works. Anyone who tells you differently may also have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

Using free voice-over talent can hurt your business

How It Can Hurt Your Business

If you’re not yet convinced that asking voice-over talent to work for free is not the best route to take for your business, a few more reasons may do the trick.

You get what you pay for.

This adage holds true all across the board. Cheaper services can often mean cheaper results. And you can’t get much cheaper than free. It simply doesn’t make sense to cheapen your marketing or video efforts with a free voice-over talent added to the mix.

You can earn a reputation as a cheapskate.

Once your company is known for offering low-cost or no-cost gigs, a cheapskate reputation can be hard to shake. Even if you up the ante in the future and start paying fair rates for professional services, your name may already be tainted enough for talent to view you with suspicion or avoid you altogether.

You can end paying more in the long run.

A free recording technically costs you absolutely nothing, at least in theory. But in reality you must account for the possibility of multiple do-overs as well as the editing, training and babysitting you may have to provide.

An anecdotal case in point comes from a friend who owns an event planning firm. She’s frequently had to clean up after her unpaid staffers by retracing their missteps, correcting their mistakes and apologizing to business partners they’ve alienated.

She notes it’s easier to hire one decently paid person who knows what she’s doing than deal with nine unpaid people who can make things difficult.

And no matter how many unpaid voice-over actors you may go through, results may still fall flat. Then you have to add in the time, effort and additional resources it takes to seek out and hire an experienced, versatile, professional voice-over talent who would have done it right in the first place.

hiring free voice-over talent can lead to bad karma

Your company can end up with lots of bad karma.

Finagling free work out of people is an unethical practice that can even be illegal in certain situations. While voice-over actors can often be legally classified as independent contractors that exempt you from federal and state labor and wage regulations, the definition of independent contractor is a hazy one.

And karma does tend to come around. You may not notice the negative effects right away, but you can rest assured they’ll be on their way.

While the karma idea may sound philosophical, it also contains a major dose of common sense. Bad karma can create a massive drag on your profits:

  • Abuse customers and they’ll flee as soon as they find a competitive deal
  • Abuse employees and they’ll jump ship as soon as they can get another job (while the really talented folks will avoid you entirely)
  • Abuse the community and you’ll end up with protests, boycotts and court cases
  • Abuse the law and you’ll end up getting caught and punished, no matter how long it takes

It’s tough to be profitable when you’re stuck with fleeing customers, disgruntled employees seeking escape, boycotts and court cases, and monetary penalties or prison time.

One final reason to steer clear of free voice-over talent was mentioned by voice actor and audio producer Chris Mezzolesta. He pointed to the extraordinary feeling you get when you create something fantastic and watch it come to life with an equally fantastic voice-over talent, a creative partner that knows his or her job.  Finding that kind of creative partnership with someone with no real stake in the game may not even be possible.

Remember, the voice of the actor is the voice of your business. Treating the talent well will not only make you sound better, but feel better for the long haul.

If you are in need of quality voice-over services at very fair prices, please contact me today for a free voice-over quote or custom audition. Or give me a call and we can discuss the details of your project.

You might also enjoy reading these related articles:

“A Client’s Guide to Selecting the Right Voice-Over Talent”

“Five Reasons to be Wary of Cheap Voice-Overs”

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

5 Reasons to be Wary of Cheap Voice-Overs

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Why you need to be wary of cheap voice-over rates

My husband recently took my 11-year-old son to get a new pair of shoes. He just needed some all-purpose, everyday sneakers to wear to school, so they headed to a popular brand name shoe store known for discount prices, hopefully to get a deal around half of what the mall stores would cost. They came home with the same style of shoe that my son had been wearing for the past several months, and they’d gotten a good price for them. We were expecting these to last the rest of the school year and probably partway into the summer.

Fast forward just a few weeks and my husband noticed the bottom of my son’s shoes while he was kicking back on the couch. The treads were already wearing out. Less than a month of wear and tear and they were already looking like they needed replacement. My husband vowed that he would never buy shoes at that retailer again.

The old adage: “You get what you pay for” proven true once again.

When You’re Looking For Value, Don’t Go for Cheap

One of the first things many professionals learn about marketing is to never use the word “cheap.” If you have to say it, better to use words along the lines of “affordable,” “economical,” or “at a savvy price point.” Although cheap can technically mean inexpensive, the word comes with the connotation of being chintzy, inferior or, to put it bluntly, a piece of cr@p.

Yet do a Google search on the term “cheap voiceovers” and you’ll get about 431,000 results – with a handful of ads actually paying to be positioned at the top of what could be considered the chintzy, inferior, doo-doo list.

This is not to say that sometimes cheap voice-overs may be just what a client needs for a short-term, non-essential project. But they’re not something that can typically sustain a company (or the entire voice-over industry) for the long-haul.

Here are the top five reasons why you need to be wary of cheap voiceovers:

 

Cheap voice-overs require a sacrifice

1. Cheap Voice-overs require you to sacrifice quality or speed (sometimes both).

Right after learning to NOT use the word “cheap,” business professionals often learn about what is sometimes called the “Project Management Triangle.” The triangle features the three points of:

  • Price (Cheap)
  • Service (Fast)
  • Quality (Good)

The generally accepted rule of thumb is that for any given project, you can only have two of the three characteristics fulfilled. That means if you’re already picking “cheap” as your main criteria, you either have to sacrifice the “quality” or the “service.”

  • Cheap and fast probably WON’T be good.
  • Cheap and good probably WON’T be fast.
  • Fast and good is going to cost more for both benefits; so it probably WON’T be cheap.

 

Cheap voice-overs decimate the industry

2. Cheap Voiceovers Are Decimating the Voiceover Industry.

Cheap voice-over rates are beginning to decimate the overall voiceover industry on several levels. They’re driving good-quality talent out of the industry while they’re also decreasing the value of the work.

Value is generally more important than price in any industry, and you’re not likely to be getting a good value with a super-low voice-over rate. Voice-over talent that can offer value won’t be able to compete with super-low prices, leaving the bottom end of the scale wide open for those who may not have the value but do have the flexibility (or desperation) to give you the insanely cheap rates. These are often also the same voice-over talent who have the least amount of experience and training.

 

When value is at the foundation:

  • Talent creates value for a client
  • Value builds loyalty
  • Loyalty builds growth, profit and more value

The cycle continues, resulting in profits to the talent and supreme value to the client with the production and delivery of top-notch work.

 

When a cheap price is put at the foundation:

  • Talent quotes cheapest price for a client
  • Client finds even cheaper price that undercuts the first one
  • First talent needs to go lower or drop out altogether

The cycle continues, resulting in cheaper and cheaper rates, and a mad flurry for the talent to produce as much work as quickly as possible in a frenzied attempt to make a profit (think Fiverr). Clients here are generally left with poor-quality work born out of the need for quantity and speed rather than quality and value.

This is the proverbial “race to the bottom” and there are no winners of this race.

 

cheap voice-overs require tons of effort

3. They require tons of extra effort on your part.

Ever accidentally drop something valuable in the trash, and then have to spend an extended amount of time rooting through garbage to get to your valuable item? That’s kind of what slogging through the hundreds and hundreds of cheap voice-over talent auditions or demos can be like – and there’s not even a guarantee you’ll find a gem hidden amongst the debris.

We’ve heard stories of clients who have listened to as many as 200 auditions from cheap voice-over sites before finally finding a voice they could work with. Others have pegged at least 80 percent of the auditions they typically receive from such sites as totally useless. On a positive note, the uselessness is generally apparent within the first two or three seconds of the recording, which means you can at least delete it rather rapidly.

Time is incredibly valuable. Spending inordinate amounts of time on a mad hunt for something that may not even exist is a surefire way to increase your frustration while decreasing your overall ROI.

4. Going cheap may cost more in the long run.

Even though you may end up with, say, a quote of $100 for a project that a professional voice-over artist would normally do for more like $500, you can’t count up your $400 savings just yet. Going with cheap voice-over talent means you have a high likelihood of spending much more time and effort:

  • Sifting through dozens of auditions
  • Coaching or directing inexperienced talent through the recording process
  • Enduring multiple takes or do-overs when the final product doesn’t measure up
  • Scrapping the end result altogether and hiring an experienced pro to get it done right

pencils

5. They’re lacking the differentiators.

When experienced, professional voice-over talent is faced with cut-rate pricing, we typically have two choices.

  • We can try to undercut the low prices, which would likely drive us out of business.
  • We can focus on the differentiators instead of the discount.

 

Differentiators refer to the amazing attributes that make professional voice-over services worth the price, and there are several areas where VO pros can stand out.

 

  • Features: Such as high-end equipment, ISDN and phone patch services that let clients sit in on recording sessions and provide real-time feedback
  • Quality: Such as solid voice and acting training, experience on stage and behind the mic, and hundreds of satisfied clients.
  • Convenience: Such as rapid turn-arounds, easy scheduling and even easier recording session options based on a client’s wants and needs.

 

While cheap voice-overs may at a glance appear to be a good deal, you’re ultimately likely to sacrifice quality, convenience, special features, specialized training, years of experience and the overall value of the product. And that’s without even mentioning your additional sacrifices of time, effort and peace of mind.

In voice-over casting, as in most everything else, you get what you pay for. For an end result that saves you time and effort, makes you look good to your client or boss, and still gives you the value you need, opt for great service and great quality, and you’ll be a much happier consumer in the long run.

Sacrificing quality for a cheap price is not something that typically works out well in any situation. And it’s also something we’ll surely remember going forward as we buy my son a replacement pair of shoes.

Please share your thoughts, comments and experience below. Thanks for reading!

 

SOURCES:

The Hire Price of Cheap Content
Cheaper Competitor: 5 Ways to Fight Back
Why It’s So Hard to Figure Out What to Pay Top Talent

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

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Hiring Voice-Over Talent Online is Buyer Beware

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)

Questionable Fees added when hiring voice-over talent online through VDC

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.

Voice-over talent fees causing confusion when hiring voice-over talent

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.

Big Fat Mystery Fees when Hiring Voice-Over Talent

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”.”

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

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The Gig Economy

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.

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

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.The Challenges with Hiring Voice-Over Talent on Fiverr

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

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Debbie Grattan is a top-rated professional female voice over talent with more than 25 years of experience delivering voice over services worldwide. She regularly records commercial voice overs for radio and tv as well as infomercial voice overs and direct response marketing for children's toys, health, fitness and beauty products. Other specialties include female narration voice overs for corporate narration, web videos, tutorials, explainer videos and technical medical narration. Debbie also provides phone-related voice over services including phone prompts, messages-on-hold and outbound phone marketing for companies in the United States and Canada.

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