How to get a Great Deal on Voice Over Work

[gracebjarnson]

Hello, fiverr is a great place to get an incredible deal with voice overs, and have an awesome experience. Here is a list of things that will help you get the best deal possible.

1- HAVE REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE MONEY YOU SPEND. I recently saw a buyer post a job where he wanted a clear, clean recording of his entire e-book, split into 3 separate parts, for $5. WOW! NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Even if you have a 100 word job, don’t expect you’ll get a $200 recording for $5. Simple as that. Fiverr provides an opportunity for those just starting out in the business, with no experience whatsoever, but also for those who know what they are doing, and would be charging you 3 to 10 times more on any other site. But guess what, the experienced ones who have been on fiverr and have proven their reliability, are going to charge more then $5. Each seller has a status. Level 1’s have got their feet wet on the site, and have provided some good work. Level 2 sellers should really know what they are doing, and have a lot of experience on fiverr. If your budget is tight, then look for those that are new on fiverr, but expect that a you are taking a chance. Some are just new to the site, but have a lot of talent and are dependable, while others are not. So if you try a newbie, (which I suggest you do for the heck of it every now and then ) and you get good results, hold on to that golden opportunity with that voice over artist as long as you can. Provide them awesome and specific reviews. But also realize that eventually they will charge more for less words, when people discover they are reliable.

2- PROVIDE AN AWESOME SCRIPT. There are so many times that an artist is blamed for a bad read, when the script is challenging, or just not well written. Good voice over artists drool at a good script, they love it. So don’t blame the artist if the recording sounds awkward, or redundant, or not snappy enough when you’ve not been careful with your script.
Also realize that when you have a time limit on your script, usually you provide way too many words for the time limit. Only about 25% of the time have the scripts I get been anywhere close to the time someone wanted. Brief is better. Don’t expect an artist to read 300 words in 1 minute and sound natural. They’ll sound like the disclaimers at the end of car advertisements, and still come in too slow.
Please note that the formatting of a script helps indicate pauses, idea changes, and so much more to the artist. We cannot read your mind, but your formatting of the script sure helps us. Be careful with this, though. I had someone provide me a script with a lot of bold words and underlined words, I assumed that one kind meant one thing, and the other meant another.

I actually had to re-record the whole thing, because what he REALLY wanted…
was quite bland.
( See, I would know EXACTLY how to read that last sentence. No mind reading required.)

3- PROVIDE PERTINENT INFORMATION SO THE ARTIST CAN DO THEIR JOB RIGHT. Who is the audience, what is the mood and feel of the job? What age range is the voice you want? If it is a video, do you have the footage so they can get the feel of it? And background music? Any of these things helps the artist do their job better. Please provide it the first time around. We really don’t want to redo the recording, when the info could have been provided up front to make it right the first time, and frankly, we shouldn’t have to. If you don’t know what you want, and don’t discover that until after the recording is done, then recognize this fact. We will work with you, but you should be charged an extra fee for the redo. This does not fall under revisions. Revisions are for simple mistakes that an artist may naturally make, like a mis-pronunciation of a tricky name, a skipped word, or maybe you want the emphasis to be changed in a sentence. These are reasonable revisions.

4- BE CLEAR ABOUT WHAT YOU NEED AND WANT UP FRONT. Don’t expect the artist to record more words than you originally said you had in the script. Don’t expect them to sync the recording to your video, or provide you three different reads, or 20 different files, or deliver the files in 10 hours, without specifically asking for it and being willing to pay extra for it. These things take time, and we are willing to give you a great deal, but we hate feeling like we are being taken advantage of. When you add on to your order, we can offer extras to make it fare for us all. When you expect us to do things for free, both of us end up disappointed. And many of us will cancel the order, and you will have wasted precious time.
When getting something quick is critical then please choose a gig that specifically deals with this, or message and ask if they are available for a quick read immediately. Most voice over artist have other jobs or are also on other voice over websites, and are not available 24/7. So when someone can accommodate your emergency, expect to pay for that privilege. Be available to quickly answer any questions they may have. Once they start recording, too bad so sad. Bad communication equals bad results.

5- GET MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK WHEN BUYING CUSTOM JOBS . Don’t hesitate to ask for a custom order. Lets say that you need more files then normal created out of the recording, or you are really picky about your final product and know that you’ll need tons of redo’s, or maybe you have 20 children’s stories that you want read. Give the artist all the information needed, and ask for a custom quote.
I really want to focus in on those who want something very specific. Realize that when good voice over artists record, they understand the potential ways in which the read could go. They get it , but they can’t read your mind. On key phrases, I might record it 3 different ways. I hate having to try and read your mind and pick which of those phrases to send, only to find out later that I chose the wrong phrase and have to redo what I already did and erased. Let the voice artist know you are willing to recieve several reads of a phrase. Sometimes you will get charged on extra $5 or $10, depending on the size of the script, and you have to spend time cutting and pasting to create your own perfect recording. But it is totally worth it because it saves both you and the artist time and stress. Options are worth GOLD to some people, especially when time is short. Or some even want two completely different reads of the entire script. If you order it the first time around you won’t have to pay two license fees, so you save money and time. So think about what will make your experience the best as possible, and order it up front with a custom order.

THANKS, AND MAY YOUR EXPERIENCE ON FIVERR BE AWESOME!

[amitkaria]

My God… This Article is like a Bible for every voice over artist… Thank you so much for sharing this… Amazing Article… i wish every buyer reads this and also i wud suggest other fellow voice artistes to read this as well 🙂 Thank you once again …now this is the reason i love being on Fiverr(Due to Fantastic Sellers like you)

[markusvoice]

WOW! This is the gospel. As a voice artist on an off-fiverr, I find that the hardest part is clear and accurate directions. So often I’ve read “blind” meaning, I know the voice was going into a video with a music bed, but I couldn’t get direction on tone. I do a lot of “Big Voice” reads, but they can’t all be over-the-top, announcer reads.
Another issue is punctuation and emphasis. As voice talents we tend to be able to feel the “money” words, but if there are points of emphasis such as a new service, a power close on the call to action or just the company’s name…it helps if it’s bolded, underlined or otherwise denoted. On the punctuation side…it’s impossible to know where the stop or pause without commas, periods or exclamation points. I normally grammar check most of my scripts without charge, but I never want to color the read with my un-directed interpretation of a script. Buyer’s input = great read.
Great post!

[gracebjarnson]

You are so on with the punctuation! The worst is getting a sentence that is several lines long with no commas. I see several options, and I have to move forward and hope I’m reading their minds. Not fun.

[gracebjarnson]

Thanks, I’m glad you thought it was useful. I generally have had good experiences with my buyers, but it sure would save me a lot of time, and them also, if they read this article before ordering.

[gfxusa]

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