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Ranking Rates

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Everybody struggles with setting freelance voice over rates.

Well, not everyone.

I know established talent who have set minimums for all sorts of contingencies.  $350 minimum session fee for turning on the microphone, regardless of the length of the copy.  25-cents/finished minute.  $50 per page, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, Arial 12-point typeface. $250 for the first hour, then $125 after that.  Quarter hours go for $50 each.

‘Course you could get around it all by joining the union.  Their rates are set in stone for reasons lost in the mists of time (kidding!)  Union rates may be more relevant VERY SOON if the AFTRA/SAG merger goes through.

I’ve tackled the subject of rates several times recently.  Paul Strikwerda and others, too.

See:  CourVO’s Blog:  Setting Rates, October, 2011

See: CourVO’s Blog: 20+ VoicOver Rate Sheets and Resources July, 2011

See: CourVO’s Blog:  VO Rates Rants, Feb. 2011

See: CourVO’s Blog: Setting VO Rates, June 2010

See Paul’s Blog:  Why You’re Leaving Money on the Table

See Paul’s Blog:  AudioBook Fees, What to Bid?

From time to time VOICES.com’s VoxDaily touches on this:  http://blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/2010/04/a_discussion_about_rates.html is an example.  And Edge Studio publishes a highly-regarded rate card.

Doing a search for “rates” on VoiceOverXtra also returns quite a few good resources.

I also administer two LinkedIn groups on this subject, one is private, one is public.

SETTING VOICE OVER RATES

VOICE-OVER RATES (private)

This issue is inevitably tied to honest appraisals of self-worth, time and equipment invested, and market variables.  No matter what others tell you…unyielding, fixed, hard-and-fast one-size-fits-all rates are a rarity.

Ask friends in the biz.  Research the topic.

The last thing you want to do is underprice your value, nor do you want to over-bid yourself out of a job.

One immutable law comes clear, though.  The more you think of yourself and your product, the higher esteem you will gain in the eyes of your client.  ‘Works like a charm.

One more thing:  be willing and able to say “no”.  “YES” can seem desperate sometimes when you know better.

A couple of recent articles on setting freelance (not necessarily VO rates):

Setting Freelance Rates:  Hourly or Per-Project?

Setting Rates: A Field Guide

CourVO

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“X” Man Stands His Ground

November 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

You gotta draw the line.  Stand up for yourself.

Peter Dickson did.  Maye we should all take a little lesson from him.

The booming Brit voice on the X-Factor saw a challenge to his job comfort coming, and (with a little help from his agent) put his foot down.

We may not all operate in the rarified air of performance that Mr. Dickson enjoys, but the principle is the same.  Roll over, or push back.

Peter pushed back, and it worked.

See how he “Threatened to Quit the Show”.

In a somewhat related matter.  You may want to review a recent blog by Paul Strikwerda entitled: “Those Bloody Bottom Feeders”

CourVO

 

 

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ACX Incentive

July 11, 2011 By 10 Comments

The launch of Audible’s site for narrators in May sent ripples through the audiobook business.  The blog I wrote about ACX was one of my most-visited articles.

Check back in a few days, I’m working on some Q & A with one of the principal officers you’ll want to read.  In the meantime, the folks at ACX are offering some meaningful incentives you may want to consider as you decide on auditioning.  (note, offer assumes you’re “approved”…See below the release they sent me).

The offer below is a creative tool.  Overall, the compensation model ACX has devised is not perfect, but shows they did plenty of research and consideration before launch.  It reveals what I believe to be the widest spectrum of choices for narrators seeking more work, and hoping to find a pay solution that works for them.

ACX’s limited incentive plan:

To celebrate the first hundred ACX audiobooks in production, we have a new special offer for you, THIS OFFER IS ONLY FOR PRODUCERS WHO ARE EITHER “AUDIBLE APPROVED” OR WERE PART OF OUR BETA-TESTING PROGRAM EARLIER THIS YEAR.

If you accept a Royalty Share offer on any ACX title by August 31st, it comes not only with the usual extra $100 per-finished-hour stipend (e.g. $1,000 for a 10-hour audiobook), but we’ve sweetened the pot by making your second Royalty Share deal earn a $200 per-finished-hour stipend (e.g. $2,000 for a 10-hour audiobook), and your third Royalty Share deal earn a $225 per-finished-hour stipend (e.g. $2,250 for a 10-hour audiobook). See Stipend Offer Terms and Conditions for complete details and requirements. The stipend is, of course, in addition to the Royalties and Bounties you earn on sales of the audiobook. Here’s how it’ll work, step by step:

  1. Choose any book being offered as a Royalty Share deal. We especially recommend titles from this list, which were hand-picked by Audible’s editors for their good sales potential
  2. Submit your best audition
  3. If you get a Royalty Share offer on one (or more) of these titles, accept the offer.
  4. Upon your completion and approval of the audiobook, submit an invoice to ACX for $100 or $200 or $225 X the number of finished hours
  5. We pay you that fee
  6. You also earn half of the 50 – 90% escalator royalty on each sale of the audiobook (i.e. 25% – 45% as outlined here)
  7. You also earn half of any $25 bounty generate by downloads of the audiobook, as outlined here

You can get this per-finished-hour stipend offer on up to three productions, so don’t be shy about auditioning. Good luck!

Best,
The ACX Team

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Auditions, Compensation Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

VO for Peanuts

March 25, 2011 By 1 Comment

Seasoned VO Talent and Casting Director J.S. Gilbert writes a perceptive blog article in reaction to a Parade Magazine story about respective pay scales for different professions.

At the bottom of the list:  you guessed it –  VO talent.

J.S.’s analysis of this state of affairs is well worth the read for the realism it may inject into the starry-eyed dreams of get-rich-quick VO hopefuls, or it just may spur you to try harder.  Either way, do yourself a favor and take the few minutes to read the blog.

Parade Magazine’s Annual Salary Survey

Nice work, J.S.!

CourVO

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Freelance Fodder

October 13, 2010 By 1 Comment

Nothing dogs a freelancer more than the issue of fair pay.

The freelance voice talent I know struggle mightily with this on the various forums (see yesterday’s blog, Lively LinkedIn)  I’m not going to beat this horse too much more, but I’m fascinated by it.

Well-established voice talent don’t seem to waste much time on it.  They have a price and stick to it (Did they always when they were newbs?  No!).  The rest of us rabble seem to writhe in endless agony over the question of fair pay for fair work.

Paul Strikwerda, who always writes cogently on this issue, pointed out the standard 2008 article on Freelancer.com about the “Fast Good Cheap” answer.

Members of the VO-BB constantly remind each other to “get spiney” or hold the line on the urge to sell-out for the low-ball.

Here’s a new article I found on another freelance site:  Freelance-Zone.com.  Read Joe Wallace’s article “Be Fearless” (kind like spiney, I guess).

CourVO

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Setting VO Rates…

June 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

….is more than just a quandary, it’s actually a group forum over on LinkedIn.

Lately, there’s been some lively discussion about pricing long-format narrations (with some side-notes about how the industry is in the throes of trying to decide how much it wants to pay).

You can find the discussion HERE if you are a LinkedIn member.  If not, you should be. It’s one of the “Big 4″ social media sites, and it’s free.

Also, my partner in Social Media ventures — Terry Daniel – has posted a new YouTube video about FOURSQUARE.  Terry thinks FourSquare is the best thing since graham crackers, and talks about it in his video on SocialMediaVO.com.

I’ll have some video of my Social Media teleseminar with Edge Studio — recorded on my FLIP  during the session — in the next blog.

CourVO

Filed Under: Compensation, Pricing, Social/Professional Networking, SociaMediaVO Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Easy Calc

June 21, 2010 By 1 Comment

We gripe about the chunk they take out for the convenience of safe, instant payment…but PayPal is almost a de-facto standard for quick online payment from VO clients.

PayPal is now charging the same for all accounts. The formula is 2.9% + .30USD.  So sending or receiving $100 is gonna cost the sender or the receiver $3.20.

Make it easy.  Visit THIS site for an unbelievably convenient and quick calculation of ANY PayPal transaction amount.

Also, THIS is PayPal’s ‘help’ page explaining their fee structure.

I usually ask the client to pay that handling fee, and almost without exception or complaint, I get compliance.

CourVO

Filed Under: Compensation Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

New “Fair Treatment” Blog

May 6, 2010 By 1 Comment

You’d have to be living in a voiceover-proof invisible dome not to hear about the goings-on with VoiceJockeys and atty Robert Sciglimpaglia.  I’ve been blogging about it myself relentlessly for the last three days, and this will be an addendum, then I promise to let it go until the “next big thing”.

Why?

The world continues to turn, the sun comes up in the East, and Muamar Q’adaffi is still the dictator of Libya.

Read this comment sent by Mike Elmore in response to yesterday’s blog:

“I know this is a heated issue. I personally think VO people spend WAYY too much time worrying about this. Yes it is a bee in the bonnet…but this market will more than likely always exist (as clients will always exist that either can’t afford our rates OR know they don’t have to pay them because there IS this market of VO people as well. Of course there is the argument that you get what you pay for. But if the client is satisfied and they paid 50.00 instead of 300.00…then I guess they got a good deal and fueled this new arm of the market even more.

I too find it almost shocking that VO people have so much friggin’ time on their hands. So much time to gossip and complain and judge and say LOOK AND ME, LOOK AT ME…lol …on these boards and things. Why not spend this time marketing? Anyway…I just think it’s something that is there/here….and why waste so much time talking about it? I personally feel like I have typed enough about it in the last 5 minutes to last me a lifetime. But to each his own. I must admit I do enjoy READING thru these things from time to time…but I certainly don’t have enough time to create them…so…guess I’m glad someone does~~”

Just another opinion, I know, but one that hilites a struggle I have every day.  Priorities.  VO has an extremely high level of attention in my life right now.  Personally, I love following the trends, working the Social Media, attending the forums, and contributing with my blog.  But at the end of the day, I have to audition, market, invoice, and seek coaching ,just as relentlessly.

I will support Rob Sciglimpaglia in every way.  I think his tack has merit.  In fact, I want to mention his new blog designed to expose online P2P sites like VoiceJockeys (and you know who you are).  It’s called TREAT VOICE OVER ACTORS FAIRLY.  Let Rob know of every unscrupulous site you think undercuts our industry with mercenary pricing and policies.

Also, be sure to visit John Florian’s VoiceOverXtra site for the latest installment of this stand-off.  HERE.

CourVO

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VoiceJockeys Debate, Part 3

May 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Robert Sciglimpaglia responds with a quick and challenging answer to VoiceJockeys‘ contrition over outrageous contract stipulations.

Please review the previous two Courvo.com blog articles to see how this compensation issue exploded over the last few days.  HERE and HERE.

The complete text of Robert’s initial take-down of VoiceJockeys demands can be seen on VoiceOverXtra.

Now, return to VoiceOverXtra HERE to see the rebuttal (sorry, Robert, couldn’t help but use legalese).

Be sure to read all the comments on both articles….very revealing of the tenor of the industry…and comment yourself!  Let them know how you feel!

Maybe we’re onto a real undercurrent, here, of discontent that could result in enough outrage over declining compensation that something could get done!

CourVO

Filed Under: Compensation

VoiceJockeys’ Response

May 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

VoiceJockeys‘ reply to Robert Sciglimpaglia‘s dissection of their contract language, showed up in the comment section to my blog post of last night.

You can go to the comment section to see it, but I’m reprinting it here in its entirety.  I appreciate the fact that they’re willing to talk about it.

You may also want to go to VoiceOverXtra to read Robert’s Original position on VoiceJockeys’ policies.

Here’s VoiceJockeys’ response:

The community has spoken and we are glad to take your feedback both negative and postive. We would like to address the issues one at a time and invite responses from all.

Our pricing – Yes the prices we charge consumers is low. So low, that it may not be worth it for some of you. We understand that and can appreciate it. We hope to brindge that gap by providing our voice over artists with an abbundance of work throughout the month.

Our agreement – we have taken the feedback of those who actually reached out to us directly (and not via a blog) and are taking the neccessary steps to change our agreement to proctect us as well as our talent pool. The new agreement will be rolled out before the end of the week.

As far as the inferrence of Jocks being listed without their permission – the is totally not true whatsoever. We maintain a datbase of IP addresses, Date Time stamps, tax forms, etc.

Again, we understand the concern from the Voice Over community and we are looking forward to working together to make intelligent changes that the industry talent calls for from time to time. Please understand that there IS a market out there of clients that can not afford the high rates charged by some voice over talent and for them is the reason that we exist.

No one is forced to join our site and we would hope that voice artists would welcome the extra work in their downtime.

As for Rob’s detailed analysis of our current agreement – we would like to thank him (actaully we can’t believe he has so much free time). Rob has opened our eyes and opened up dialogue throughtout the industry that will allow us to work closer with all of you and create an environment where we can work together on improving niche products like those offered on our site.

Thank You,

VoiceJockeys.com

Also, please take the time to read through the comments on VoiceOverXtra at the bottom of the article…lots of really good observations.

CourVO

Filed Under: Compensation, Jobs Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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