Voiceover

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Peter Stern
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British voiceover based in London, UK
Hi.
Firstly, thanks to Peter Varady for inviting me.

I first started as a VO in 2001. I am a freelancer working mostly from my own ISDN studio.

Regarding audio books: I have found that unless you are a celebrity, you are unlikely to command the sort of fee to make it worth the marathon effort it requires. Celebrity or not, I believe there should be a standard fee set by the appropriate union based upon the number of words. Until this happens, I am happy to leave this work alone.

Unions are a good idea to reguate the industry as a whole. It needn't be a specific voiceover union. Here in the UK, the actor's union Equity should be handling voiceover work across all media but they haven't gone far enough yet.

The web has always been there in my VO career. I suspect business is done in much the same way as it did before the internet existed but with two major differences: Methods of communication and marketing strategies.
Web based CVs and demos have always been the most effective marketing tool for me.

Sites such as Voice123 and Voices.com have their uses. For me, they only just pay for themselves. You have to remember just how many others are competing for the same jobs. I prefer to promote myself directly to a prospective client.

I am marketing every day. I spend far more time working on pomotion and auditioning than actual work.

Peter Stern.
http://www.peterstern.info
- 21 Sep 2008, 9:56 pm
Peter Stern wrote: > Hi. > Firstly, thanks to Peter Varady for inviting me. > > I first started as a VO in 2001. I am a freelancer working mostly > from my own ISDN studio. > > Regarding audio books: I have found that unless you are a celebrity, > you are unlikely to command the sort of fee to make it worth the > marathon effort it requires. Celebrity or not, I believe there should > be a standard fee set by the appropriate union based upon the number > of words. Until this happens, I am happy to leave this work alone. > > Unions are a good idea to reguate the industry as a whole. It needn't > be a specific voiceover union. Here in the UK, the actor's union > Equity should be handling voiceover work across all media but they > haven't gone far enough yet. > > The web has always been there in my VO career. I suspect business is > done in much the same way as it did before the internet existed but > with two major differences: Methods of communication and marketing > strategies. > Web based CVs and demos have always been the most effective marketing > tool for me. > > Sites such as Voice123 and Voices.com have their uses. For me, they > only just pay for themselves. You have to remember just how many > others are competing for the same jobs. I prefer to promote myself > directly to a prospective client. > > I am marketing every day. I spend far more time working on pomotion > and auditioning than actual work. > > Peter Stern. > www.peterstern.info
Peter Varady Group moderator
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Re: British voiceover based in London, UK
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts.

Peter Varady
- 21 Sep 2008, 10:17 pm
Peter Varady wrote: > Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. > > Peter Varady
Ed Autry
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Re: British voiceover based in London, UK
As a freelancer, one of the things you can glean from sites like Voices.com is a peek at their standard rate card. It didn't take long for me to figure out that this rate card doesn't reflect what a freelancer would charge, or for that matter someone just starting out in the business. However, as to your question about a set rate for voicing audiobooks... that's at the very bottom of the Voices.com rate card which you can see at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/81653/Voicescom-Voice-Over-Rate-Sh...
- 22 Sep 2008, 02:04 am
Ed Autry wrote: > As a freelancer, one of the things you can glean from sites like > Voices.com is a peek at their standard rate card. It didn't take long > for me to figure out that this rate card doesn't reflect what a > freelancer would charge, or for that matter someone just starting out > in the business. However, as to your question about a set rate for > voicing audiobooks... that's at the very bottom of the Voices.com > rate card which you can see at: > http://www.scribd.com/doc/81653/Voicescom-Voice-Over-Rate-Sheet
Peter Stern
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Re^2: British voiceover based in London, UK
Thanks Ed.
I don't think I'd seen that particular rate card. Over here, Equity have published a rate for radio ads but not audio books. If I simply converted the voices.com rates from dollars to pounds it might just be worth it at the 'per word' rate. Then I just have to convince a client to buy at that rate.
This leads me on to another thread: There's always someone out there who is willing to undercut you. I have been advised to stick to my guns when it comes to setting fees. It's the old balancing trick: Risk losing a client or devalue yourself.

Peter.
http://www.peterstern.info

Ed Autry wrote:
However, as to your question about a set rate for voicing audiobooks... that's at the very bottom of the Voices.com rate card which you can see at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/81653/Voicescom-Voice-Over-Rate-Sh...
- 22 Sep 2008, 5:19 pm
Peter Stern wrote: > Thanks Ed. > I don't think I'd seen that particular rate card. Over here, Equity > have published a rate for radio ads but not audio books. If I simply > converted the voices.com rates from dollars to pounds it might just > be worth it at the 'per word' rate. Then I just have to convince a > client to buy at that rate. > This leads me on to another thread: There's always someone out there > who is willing to undercut you. I have been advised to stick to my > guns when it comes to setting fees. It's the old balancing trick: > Risk losing a client or devalue yourself. > > Peter. > www.peterstern.info > > Ed Autry wrote: > > However, as to your question about a set rate for voicing > > audiobooks... that's at the very bottom of the Voices.com rate card > > which you can see at: > > http://www.scribd.com/doc/81653/Voicescom-Voice-Over-Rate-Sheet
Pearl Hewitt
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Re^3: British voiceover based in London, UK
Hi everyone,
I am actually British but based in the US. Not sure whether that's a relevant point or not but I thought I would say it anyway. I have printed out the rates set out on voice123.com. I find them to be very helpful and tend to base my prices to be in line with them. You can check them out at http://support.voice123.com/article/How_Much_Are_Talents_and...
I hope you can get to the link. I'm not sure if you have to be a member to see the page. You can sign up as a free member to use the resources if you like. It's very interesting and full of great information.
- 23 Sep 2008, 05:18 am
Pearl Hewitt wrote: > Hi everyone, > I am actually British but based in the US. Not sure whether that's a > relevant point or not but I thought I would say it anyway. I have > printed out the rates set out on voice123.com. I find them to be very > helpful and tend to base my prices to be in line with them. You can > check them out at > http://support.voice123.com/article/How_Much_Are_Talents_and_Voice_Pro > ducers_Charging_for_Non-Union_Voice_Over_Work_Delivered_Online.html > I hope you can get to the link. I'm not sure if you have to be a > member to see the page. You can sign up as a free member to use the > resources if you like. It's very interesting and full of great > information.
Peter Varady Group moderator
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Re^4: British voiceover based in London, UK
The link works fine. Interesting info.

Thank you,
Peter Varady
- 23 Sep 2008, 06:27 am
Peter Varady wrote: > The link works fine. Interesting info. > > Thank you, > Peter Varady

Voiceover

British voiceover based in London, UK

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