Then, if the book sells, you get half of the author's share of the royalties.
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If you have more flexibility or like to gamble, you can do RS (royalty-share) and you get paid nothing. They tend to stick with PFH (per-finished-hour) jobs, where they're guaranteed a certain amount based on the length of the finished recording. The amount of money you make varies greatly depending on how well you pick the books you audition for, and how well they sell (if you do royalty-share). If you're just starting out you're not going to have work from a major publisher, so you're probably going to have to start with ACX (owned by Audible), as I and many others do. I've been doing it for over a year (on the side I have a day job). I just wonder how you deal with these objections, and how you handle negotiations that lead to an hourly rate you can survive and thrive on.It's a metric shit-ton of work. People have a right to work for next to nothing. "Socialism doesn't work," said my critic. I was told that I had to accept the fact that we're living in a capitalist economy, and that prices are driven by the market. When arguing in favor of rates that - in my opinion - are fair and reasonable, I was more or less accused of being a proponent of price-fixing. That's the reality."Ĭriticism has also come from colleagues.
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So the choice is no production or a discounted hourly rate. At this point, no one is getting rich over here. If we paid everyone the rates you are suggesting, the productions would not be made. "I just want you to understand the realities of the marketplace. This was his response to the $100-$350 hourly rates you quoted: I was recently contacted by a rep from an audio book publisher. Don't be surprised to see more than 100 people bidding for the project. Some voice-over casting sites will continue to post jobs, offering $250 for narrating a 350-page book on "Making it Big in Business". Thanks for this excellent article John! I sincerely hope that it will silence those who still believe that doing voice-overs is a "get rich quick" scheme," but I doubt it. Where else can you act out 50-75 parts, make all your own character choices, direct, and produce all from the comfort of your own home? The creative freedom is tremendous.
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That AND the fact that you probably have to pay 15% self-employment tax ON TOP OF regular taxes, as well as having to pay for our own health insurance.Īlan, right as always, sir! You do have to love it, and I do. Would you do that for me if I asked you?" or "Would you take your car in for a tune-up and insist that you think you should only have to pay for the spark plugs?"Īdam makes an excellent point, which is reason enough to defend yourself for having real hourly rates. Something like, "So, basically you're saying that you would like me to paint your house, but you think you should only have to pay for the paint. On the rare occasion when I do feel compelled to educate the uninformed/clueless/careless potential client - as so many people think performing voice over is "just talking," or they only consider their own financial aspects and fail to take ours into consideration - I'll give them a very quick overview of the time involved, and include some analogy that most people can identify with.
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It's for these reasons that I pass by all of those small, one-time jobs and stick to the medium and larger publishers who know the realities of the business. Whereas, those who produce many more than one book at a time can absorb the production costs more easily. Those people are usually producing just one book and have to maximize their profit by minimizing their overhead. Paul, answering your question is easy - People who argue that we don't know the realities of the marketplace apparently don't know the realities of production. This is info that I learned on my own as I haven't come across anyone who teaches it in any detail in books, classrooms, or workshops, and thought others would find it helpful.