Comments

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  Stan Silverman May 18, 2011 at 2:16pm

  Hi all,

  After contacting local production houses for business, is it preferable to send or give them your CD demo as a future reminder of you, rather than emailing an mp3 demo that they play and forget about?  What works better?

  And what's the best way to follow up later with this prospect?

  Thanks.

   
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  Beverly Bremers May 7, 2011 at 8:08pm

  Re: VOPlanet - David, I'm an American & only received about 12 auditions all year from VOPlanet! I get tons from Voice123 & Voices, so I'm not renewing my VOPlanet membership. It's a numbers game, after all. There are pros & cons to the other 2, the biggest con being that Voices factors in a commission for themselves, which puts you in the position of trying to decide whether or not to keep your bid below the client's max. Though I've gotten jobs without worrying about the commission. The pro to Voices is that they keep a deposit in escrow for you until the job is completed, so neither side feels nervous about possibly getting ripped off. Voice123 basically washes their hands of you as soon as you get the job, so you're on your own. The smart voice over actor, talent, artist, etc. uses PayPal & gets a deposit before starting work ; - )
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  Dan (Daniel Eduardo) Hurst May 7, 2011 at 6:13pm

  Great, Judy!

   

  Remember when you set your price, that you are creating a price for exclusivity (unless you're going to have multiple sponsors).  So the per impression price must take that exclusivity into consideration.

   

  Keep us posted on your venture!
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  Judy Fossum May 7, 2011 at 5:04pm

  Dan,

   

  Thanks so much.  Those are excellent ideas.  I had never thought of asking the museums the average number of visitors they get as a way to figure out fees. And yes, I do know some advertising/sales people who would be able to help with a per person impression rate.  

   

  VU is super and so is this group.  This is great information that I couldn't seem to find anywhere else!

   

  Thanks again,

   

  -Judy
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  Gillian Martin May 4, 2011 at 6:18pm

  Dan, thanks for your tips on the 'planting the seeds' with P2P sites.  That is a great idea to follow up individually.  I've just joined Voices.com, so will start to incorporate your advice!  Thanks once again!
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  Dan (Daniel Eduardo) Hurst May 4, 2011 at 4:00pm

  HI Judy!  Nice to have you on board!!!

  That's a great idea, and will probably generate more work for you!  I might suggest that you do something similar to the way advertisers buy time/space, and that is break it down per person reached.  In other words, the museum can tell you what the average number of people through their doors is per week, so figure out a rate that would be fair in your part of Wyoming.

  If you know any advertising sales people (radio or tv or print) in your area, ask them what a fair rate for a per person impression is.  That should get you started.

  Again, nice to see you on here.  I hope others will chime in with some ideas.

   

  dan
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  Judy Fossum May 4, 2011 at 3:48pm

  Hello everyone,

   

  Awesome and insightful information about P2P sites.  The "planting the seed" idea is great.  I have been told and try to follow the idea of always being open to opportunities as they are everywhere.  Thank you, thank you!

   

  It was interesting to hear people's takes on V123 and voices.com as well and how they are working for them.  Once again thanks.  This information is invaluable.

   

  I have a completely new question to pose.  We have several museum audio tours in our community.  This in itself can be a great VO gig.  The idea has been brought up to me to voice an ad that would be a sponsor for the audio tour itself and then to work with the client to find a sponsor.  Of course the sponsor is going to ask the price/fee for the ad.  Where would one start to figure out the fee to charge the sponsor for an ad such as this?  In this medium it would (I would imagine) be hard to tell how many times the ad is listened to as museum goes would actually have to dial in the number to listen to the audio tour.   I would imagine it would be a flat fee? 

   

  Thanks for your help once again,

  Judy

   
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  David Seys April 30, 2011 at 4:40am

  I was on VOPlanet for a year. As a Brit, I only received 5 auditions during that year, and some of those did not suit my voice. I didn't renew and was asked why. I replied that less than one audition every 2 months was not a great ROI, but I would consider renewing if they had a lower rate for Brits until there were more opportunities coming through. No response. There are loads of auditions for Brits on voices and voice123 and my subscription is always covered within the first 3 weeks of renewal.
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  AL B Conahan April 29, 2011 at 7:05pm

  The things you learn here... Priceless. As I stated earlier I canceled my subscription to Boldalgo a few days ago. Up to that time I would get maybe 3 or 4 invites a week. Yesterday I get 3 in the same day. Something to ponder maybe. Another thing to consider is you pay in Euros so add another 33% on top of the fee.
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  Dan (Daniel Eduardo) Hurst April 29, 2011 at 3:31pm

  Al,

  I'm just not a VOPlanet fan for one primary reason, and here's the perfect example why:  In the last couple of days there has been an audition floating around for Columbia Sportswear.  The rate quoted by most agents is $4000 per spot.  The rate quoted by VOPlanet, for the same project to people who have already paid an annual fee for service, is $3200.  That means that on top of the annual fee, you have to give up 20%.  Now, as I understand it, they say that's the charge for their paymaster service; that you don't have to use their paymaster service and you can invoice directly.  However, if you've submitted a demo through them at that lower rate...how do you justify charging the client more?  And unless you've seen the rate from other agents, how would you know what the offered rate is?  And on top of that, most agents only charge 15% (and you don't have to pay an annual service fee to be listed with them).

  Aside from that, I have no quarrel.