“Want to work from home during COVID-19?”
“Millions of dollars paid out to voice actors globally.”
“Audition for your dream job now.”
“Instant access to amazing opportunities.”
“One million registered users can’t be wrong.”
“New job postings every day.”
It sure sounds tempting, doesn’t it? Especially when you’re young, idealistic, and impressionable. It’s the way online voice casting sites throw out their net. Especially now that many of us are jobless and stuck inside thanks to a killer virus.
Day after day an ever-growing army of hopefuls is eagerly looking at their inbox, waiting for the next “amazing opportunity” to become a voice over star. It comes at a price, though.
If you’re taking part in these online cattle calls, be ready to be milked!
Of course these casting sites won’t tell you that you have to spend between $349 and $399 per year to take part in a crapshoot. They’ll feed you success stories about people who claim to make a six-figure income by winning audition after audition. Anecdotal evidence always trumps independently verified numbers, right?
People believe what they want to believe when they’re desperate and uninformed.
So, today I’m not going to give you the golden formula to online voice over success. Sorry to break the news, but it does not exist. Instead, I will give you a few reasons why you probably should stay clear of this business. I’ll start with the most important one.
1. The world doesn’t need you.
Yes, you’ve heard me.
We have enough people talking into microphones, thank you very much. What this world needs is less talk and more action.
We need teachers, doctors, nurses, and scientists. We need experts in conflict resolution; people who know how to fight global warming and racism. We need first responders to pandemics, contact tracers and census takers.
If you really want to make a difference on this planet, don’t hide behind soundproof walls selling stuff no one needs. Get out there and start helping the poor, the sick, the homeless, the marginalized, and the ones without a voice. They need you more than Disney does.
2. There’s no money in voice overs.
The cost of living goes up every year while voice over rates are in steady decline. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Even the union can’t stop it. Thanks to online casting services and ignorant amateurs, your voice has become a commodity, sold by the lowest bidder to the cheapest client.
VO has become a game of averages, and here’s how it works.
The bottom feeders choose lowball sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and freelancer.com to sell their services for beer money. The top end of the market consists of A-list actors making millions voicing cartoons and commercials. If you’re average, you’re forever stuck in the middle. You have enough integrity to leave the crumbs to the idiots, but you won’t get the big gigs for the big money.
Don’t be fooled by voice-over veterans posting on Facebook how well they are doing. Some of them confided in me that they’re just keeping up appearances. No one wants to hire a loser, so they’ve got to tell the world they’re still an important player. Yay for social media! Everything people post is 100% true, right?
3. You are a social being.
Unless you enjoy going to expensive events to hear VoiceVIP’s talk about themselves and plug their books, you’re pretty much on your own in this business. I mean, who likes being locked up between the four carpeted walls of a 3.5’ by 3.5’ recording booth all day long?
You have no one to talk to but yourself, and you’ll never see a response from the people you’re supposedly entertaining. If acknowledgment is what you’re secretly longing for, wait for the Corona crisis to be over and go to a nursing home and read to the residents. Tell stories to kids in the cancer ward. It will make their day, and yours!
The sedentary lifestyle of a typical voice-over is unhealthy for the mind, body, and soul. It’s bad enough that you have to stay at home to stay safe these days. Let’s assume you’re an extrovert and you thrive in the company of others.
I can tell you right now that you will curse the day you decided to lock yourself up in a walk-in closet, just so you could narrate some third-rate novel for a royalty share that doesn’t even pay this month’s water bill.
4. You’ll spend at least 80% of your time trying to get work, and 20% doing the work.
Voice-overs spend a lot of time being busy without being productive. How rewarding is that? Regardless of what voice casting sites want you to believe, most jobs you audition for will go to someone else, and you’ll never know why. Don’t you love it?
But what about agents, you may ask. Once you have an agent or two, things will get better, right?
No they won’t.
The pickings are slim, and these days, all the agents in North America will send the same bathroom tissue script to every talent with a potty mouth. That really makes you feel part of an exclusive club, doesn’t it?
5. It may take many years before you see a return on your investment, if you’re lucky.
A voice-over career cannot be bought. It has to be conquered. Slowly.
You may think you’re going to be successful because of your unique sound. Dream on! The only way you’ll stand a chance is if you stop treating your pipe dream as a hobby. This means you’ve got to invest in professional gear and in a quiet place to record ($$$). Then you have to get yourself a few top-notch demos, plus a website to tell the world what you’re doing ($$$).
And this is just the beginning.
Having all of that in place is no guarantee that you’ll make any money with your voice. Thousands of people all over the world are doing exactly what you do, and they are giving up within a year. The only money they’ll ever see is when they’re selling their stuff on eBay. At a loss.
When you really think about it, you have to be an idiot to become a voice over.
I was foolish enough to choose that as my career, and guess what?
I’ve never been happier!
PS If you believe I’m being negative for no reason, you should read 5 awful things nobody tells you about being an actor. Then we’ll talk, okay?
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Why is doing voice-overs so difficult? Part 2
Why is doing voice-overs so difficult? Part 3
Voice-Over Newbies: You Have Been Warned!
Incompetent and Overly Confident
4 Things I Wish I Would Have Known Before I Got Into Voice-Overs
The Deaf Leading the Blind
The Trouble With Giving Unwanted Advice
Certainly no nerve hit here. 🙂
You’re just laying out the ironclad truth about the industry, and no one has any right to fault you for it.
The message should be, “This is gonna be HARD, folks. Before you even TRY this, you better make sure you want it like NOTHING else…” which is exactly what anyone trying to get into VO needs to hear.
I’m so glad I could be somewhat of a catalyst, Ted, but if there’s one person who deserves massive credit, it’s YOU!
Dead honest + spot-on!
I love the honesty. Thank you. So many times I thought of posting an article like this but I know it would come off too harsh. You said it best. Maybe I still will, just to vent LOL
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Overnight success usually comes to those who have put in MANY years of work first.
I had 60 jobs in my first year of voice work. I suspect I could have had many more had I put in more effort. Yes, it is not as easy as some claim. However, your pessimism should not discourage those who have some ability in this field. I turned to audiobooks later and have narrated nearly 50 so far and been paid well for all of them. I consider it good part-time work. It is enjoyable just to work at the craft and try to get better.
People should never be discouraged by anything I say or write. If anything, they should do whatever they can to prove me wrong. Meanwhile, I feel a responsibility to tell those interested in a VO career what it’s really like from my perspective. There’s enough hyped up propaganda telling people their voice can make thousands of dollars. Many have been called and few have been chosen.
Me being a pessimist? Read my last line and see if that sounds like a pessimist!
Actually, I like both of you….Mr. Strikwerda and Mr. James. As someone who wishes to pursue this as a part time job (I’m recently widowed and working as a telephone operator for a major Hospital in Indianapolis. I am told every day I sound wonderful on the phone and that I should try this.) I don’t take you as cynical, Mr. Strikwerda. On the contrary, I so appreciate your realistic view of this industry. I’m a bit disenchanted myself, having taken three expensive voice over classes and feeling like I’ve gotten the same information without any real advice as to how to get started. I see here now, after reading your commentary, that in the best interest of those selling voice over classes to keep that dream going because it benefits them financially. While I try to be hopeful and open-minded and positive! I’ve lived long enough to consider seriously the opposing side. Proverbs 11: 14 “Where there is no guidance, people fall, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety ” So thank you both for your wise advice and and God bless you both, too.
You are most welcome, Kristina! So far I have published 470 blog posts about the voice over business on this website. That’s info you don’t have to pay for. As you can tell, I’m not sugar coating anything because I’m not selling anything. Best of luck on your journey!
…And I appreciate that you don’t. Your honesty and willingness to share important truth about this industry that’s foreign to me is so very appreciated! I’m going to be looking up your blog posts to read more. Thank you again, Sir and God’s richest blessings on you!
One of the reasons I’m reluctant to sign up with a VO coach, is that I might find out that they’re actually failed Voice Actor looking for a revenue stream, and that I am the one who should be coaching them!
If that’s the case you haven’t done your homework. There are plenty of reputable VO coaches you can trust. Just ask some of the voice overs you admire with whom they studied, and they’ll be happy to tell you. It’s all about word of mouth.
There is truth to this but the bottom line is you have to work hard at marketing yourself. If you do not want to put the time in forget it. Its a marathon, not a sprint. You also need really thick skin! Do not rely on P2P sites. I only get about 1/4 of my voice jobs from them. Surprisingly I have had some tremendous, well-paying, high-exposure work on Upwork (main video game character, app character, toy voice, testimonials, narrations, lots more) and have gained many repeat clients there. The pay is very good (you can choose what you audition for!) and I often get tips from clients that more than make up for the percentage Upwork takes out of the pay. I would not touch Fiverr with a 10-foot pole though! I contacted many (many!) production companies and have got work from several. I reached out to a local television station and now do commercial voice-over spots for them. I’m on all the social media sites and have gotten referrals that way. You have to work hard at marketing and promoting yourself. Oh, did I already say that? Well, I can not say it or stress it enough. Throw those fishing lines out there and hustle baby! Is it hard, yes. Do I love what I do. YES!!
I couldn’t agree more, Nancy. Unfortunately not everyone is like you. In my experience it’s often the introverted people who feel drawn to voice overs, and they in particular have a hard time tooting their own horn.
“Regardless of what voice casting sites want you to believe, most jobs you audition for will go to someone else, and you’ll never know why.”
If I had to choose the one thing I hate about audition websites, it’s that. If I go in person to a studio to audition before a director and I don’t get the part, I at least have a good idea WHY I didn’t get the part…as well as what I need to work on to improve.
With audition websites, there’s no feedback whatsoever. I might doing the same mistake over and over, and have no idea that’s why I’m not getting gigs.
I like to say that making the same mistakes over and over again, only makes you better at what you’re not good at.
Sorry Paul but I must disagree entirely. Last year when the pandemic hit I became a voiceover artist on Fiverr – I charge industry rates with a $300 minimum booking plus a minimum yearly license fee of $300 (though much higher for adverts) and I have the beauty of never applying for jobs or auditioning, I simply wait till I get a notification saying a buyer has placed an order. While some voiceover artists charge beer money on Fiverr, it’s certainly not the case for all of us and despite charging minimum industry rates I have never suffered in bookings.
That’s terrific, Clare. Congrats on your success! I think you might be the happy exception to the rule. In a recent survey among US voice actors, about 48% made less than 8000 dollars per year in 2020. Only 5.6 percent of those surveyed, earned more than 150 thousand dollars.
Hi Paul!
Do you have a link to the survey you are referring to? Those are some pretty striking numbers and I would love to read over the entire article.
I have toyed with the idea of being a voice actor for a few years now, but am reticent to sign up for coaching and demo production because I don’t like the idea of having to constantly market myself (like you mentioned above, I am an introvert, and that is out of my comfort zone).
I know that the earning potential in voice acting won’t be much my first few years, but I always assumed that after a few years it would pick up. But if 48% of the voice actors surveyed make less than $8,000, then I’m not sure this is even worth my time to try and do professionally.
Thank you for your candidness as most of the articles I’ve read have been through a rose-tinted lens.
Click here to go to the webpage of the survey. The video on that page offers a nice summary.
Dear Paul
Perhaps I was quick to jump and comment the way I did with reading your post in its entirety. In a typically hot headed way I fell hook line and sinker but purely because I see so many people discouraging others on following their passions. I know many friends who are CA’s and have stand up careers who are depressed and aching for a creative outlet in industries that will not allow it . I’m in no place to tell anyone what’s right for them but I’ve seen it enough even the sensible safe road chosen by many can end in disaster so if there’s a chance it could happen either way , then I’ll take a chance with something that makes me happy even when I’m eating dry bread and water .
Once again my apologies for the hot headed reply and thank you for making me think a little more today .
I appreciate and accept your apologies, Themba. Your initial response is not uncommon. When I write about the career path people have chosen, of course they’ll take it personally. Some even feel attacked.
The same thing happens when people comment on a career as an on-screen or stage actor. Many are called and very few are chosen. That’s not the fault of the person writing about it. It’s just part of the business. Most aspiring actors will never make it. Most aspiring voice actors will end up choosing a different career path. If this thing were easy, everybody would be successful, rich, and famous. If you are able to make your dream a reality and feed your family, you are one of the lucky few!
One of the main reasons for writing this blog post, was as a counterweight to all the promotional BS from the Pay to Plays and demo mills, promising people a fast track to a nice and lucrative side hustle. I want people -as you wrote- to “think a little more” before they pay a lot of money for equipment and a membership to a company that only cares about you having a credit card.
The last point I want to make is that I usually don’t post comments from people who do not disclose their full identity. They hold me personally accountable, and I want to treat them the same way. Even though you only listed your name as “Themba” and you don’t list a website, I decided to include your comments because I’m sure you’re not the only one feeling this way about my article.
But let it be known that I generally do not accept anonymous comments, of comments from people who hide their full identity for some reason.
This is a rather depressing piece of work, If I had read this 5 years ago I would have really second guessed my career path, luckily I didn’t .
I think you are assuming people live great enough lives that becoming a marine biologist is simply a choice to make. I would love to have a qualification but never had those opportunities, I do however have a likeable voice and the determination to learn how to control it and use to tell stories and share ideas .
I loved a fairly depressing existence before I discovered VO and now I manage my own time, make enough to support my family , save and invest . I’m very conscious that this may all go belly up soon and I investing in other revenue streams as contingency but none of this would be possible if I wasn’t in VO.
As many have said there is no doubt you have highlighted the less talked about hardships that come with the industry . However your reason for writing a piece like this is cause for concern, are you a failed voice actor scorn trying to advise others not to make the mistakes you did or are you a successful voice actor trying to keep the pesky new kids from ruining your reign ? Your tone simply doesn’t come across as advisory.
We live in a world where things change very quickly , I share my voice over tips for free on tiktok , it gets me more work and because of my views and following I get paid to make videos so let’s says for instance VO doesn’t pay great the spins off and potential are endless . As for solitude , take it from someone who spent years as a handy man , alone with my thoughts in someone else’s 5 bedroom abode painting the walls wondering why my family doesn’t have such luxuries . There are far worse jobs that will kill your social persona faster than VO for a lot less money and a lot less comfort .
Anyone who isn’t wary of Jackpot Job mentality is very naive, especially in this day and age. And Especially if one has spent a few years doing the same type of thing Writing for hire. The idea there, as it was here w voiceover was modest effort to make around $25k part time. Falling short of that modest goal Writing has hurt both financially and emotionally. The most salient point for me in the VO critique is that there is not much of a middle earnings market. You make chicken feed or get beat out by a heavily skewed expert/high paying market. It’s daunting enough to go through it once. Not sure I can go through massive rejection and crumb wages again.
I don’t think I said there wasn’t much of a “middle earnings market.” I think the top end of the market is rather small, and the bottom end gets more crowded by the day. There will always be room for quality, but it takes time to become good at what you do and build a reputation. Most people who are trying to “break into” voice overs underestimate what it takes and how long it takes because they don’t know what they don’t know.
Yeah
You have to really enjoy this work to endure the feast and famine aspect of it. Anyone who comes to voiceover expecting the mother-load will be disappointed.
This is true for most freelance endeavors. 40% of the workforce is going from gig to gig. Not because they enjoy the feast or famine aspect, but because we live in a gig economy where employers no longer offer job security and benefits.
It’s good to know what the odds are at becoming a voiceover, just like becoming a professional athlete or world renowned celebrity. Just know that the road ahead is tough and failure is likely, however don’t give up on it if it’s your dream. Only 1 percent of the world becomes a Tom Cruise or Michael Jordan, but they didn’t listen to the odds. Even if they did fail they would have given it their best shot because that’s what winners do. Like what Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take”
with all this being said, why did you stay in voice over and acting?
The answer is in the last line: because it makes me happy.