I took an online class on what to do with pay-to play voiceover websites. For those of you who don't know, pay-to play is just that, you pay a price, monthly or yearly, for the auditions that come in your inbox and you get a chance to do paid voice over work. (mostly non-union)
Voices.com
1) Audition quickly (first 20 and you should have a chance if your recording is comparable)
2) Audition often (stay near the computer most days mon-fri as much as you can)
3) Make sure you have the right voice category that works for you (if you have gotten work as a child voice then do it, if not don't try, know if you are mature or young adult: Trust me it will help)
4) Be willing to be directed by phone (minor)
Reasons: Voices just tosses you lots of auditions. If you get an audition for your voice age and it say BOTH in the m or f category, then you've gotta be even quicker on the trigger. I've dedicated the next two months to a regiment of doing these auditions quickly and often. It has paid off, though not as much as I'd like.
KEY NOTE: You need to be competitive first. If you are consistently getting about one-two jobs a week and NOT doing this, then you may want to give this a try, you could possibly up your weekly. You're gonna get a lot of jobs in that first twenty but as you keep consistently doing this the jobs will compound on each other because clients may not listen for weeks. The key to this grind is being good as voiceover to begin with and willing to do this as kind of a day job.
Voice123
1) Audition correctly
2) Know your skill level.
3) Use V123 to get exactly what you want.
Reasons: V123 docks you for auditioning too much. However, it's not as bad as it was, I basically installed the same system for Voices in v123 and I realized that low-budge to be defined are not for me. If it's a choice between auditioning as getting docked I want the money jobs. Also, you're going to get auditions that have already been auditioned for, you may get it and look and see "Oh 17 have auditioned and been listened too", weird. The fact is they gave it to them first, it'd be impossible for 17 to jump on right after you get the website refresh. You have to know your skill level here, if you are competitive and think you can pull jobs with a smaller amount, then go for the big jobs. You'll get less auditions but they will be money auditions. If you are new, DO the amateur to be defined stuff, you'll be grinding and getting practice. You'll figure out what you're willing and not willing to do. I had to do a trilogy of audiobooks for $85 an hour to realize that I have to do them for a minimum of $200, but now I know how to do audiobooks and have no problem with them. Cut your teeth. Do elearning, announcing, radio, everything you can get your hands on, even free stuff. I did free cartoons for people until it wasn't fun anymore. You never know what free job will get you something, you may do a job for a future Steven Speilberg or JJ Abrams. Who knows?
KEY NOTE:
Costs $300 a year. Is it worth it? Depends. Can you beat the small amount of competition, because voices.com has a lot of people but the quality may be lacking. V123 has some quality to it because the more seasoned people will choose this over voices because they can't jump on projects quick. I can, so I choose voices over v123 but I have both.
Voicebunny
1) Grind quick
2) Make Money (bit by bit)
Reason: If you cannot hear the ding of a voicebunny audition coming in (a bell rings) you're not going to get the audition. The weird thing about vbunny is that they charge the client for auditions. Say 10 auditions, for auditioning you get paid a little something. Maybe 5-10 bucks, plus you've got a 1 in 10 chance at the job, PLUS you only record 1 shot at the job, revisions cost more. Great right? Not necessarily, you have to grind it fast and quick. The jobs come at odd hours and if you see one you have to jump on it, PLUS they aren't great paying jobs, some may be downright bad. I did what would be a 4 page for about $50, it wasn't until I got the job that I thought, OH GOD this is so not worth it. But, I did a small redo for an extra $10, and they hired me again for a similar size job for $150. Voicebunny is free but you have to be ready to jump on it. It has to be like standing next to the mailbox outside waiting for these AND ready.
KEY NOTE:
It'll be frustrating if can't hear that bell, you'll see constant auditions pass you by. But it's free.
MAIN POINTS:
If you work during the day, v123 is the closest that you'll get to being a good idea and it's not that great of an idea. The grind is tough and takes hours an hours. I play wow, which I haven't done in years, while I watch the sites and I record when the audition pops up. But, here's the difference. I want this as a career and I'm risking a possible day job to do this. The next step is to be in constant contact with my clients which is something I haven't been doing. I'm also scared of getting a union job because these small tiny jobs have been so consistent and good to me. You can find extra money from voices and v123 to supplement your income, ABSOLUTELY. As long as you're good. How do you find out? Feel free to contact me and I can critique your demo and what not. The main thing I've found in success is just being realistic, HUMAN, not a cartoon. That will get you jobs. Smiling while you do readings. People can hear a smile. It's interesting. Anyways, I've ranted long enough. Til Next Time.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
A Day Time Blog Won a Contest!!
Hey Everyone,
I'm blogging right now at noon in California. Which is like 3pm in NYC. I dedicated myself to a regiment this week, and I'm hoping for it to pay off in dividends as time goes on.
1) Wake up at 9am (sometimes 10am) 10am for today because I was up til one looking at the whole Boston bombings thing. Not a great thing to sleep to. I wake up on my own everyday, no alarm, and check my email hopingly.
2) Do as many auditions as fast as possible from 9-3pm. I have a laptop on my desk as well as a desktop, I keep all three sites open, my email, voices, and v123. I also have an auto-refresh on all of them. It also leaves my desktop free to jump to record and to do other things like play wow or games while I wait.
3) Do contests, edge studio and the weekend workout for voicebank. It's like a form of advertising.
Admittedly, I had more ideas of what to do but burned myself out. Maybe on the weekend I'll dedicate myself to doing more of my spreadsheet/linkedin/craigslist posts. Also, elance/guru/audiocatch and piehole as far as week one has gone. Nada!! But, I think all of those are works in progress. The ball is rolling.
Anyway, the good news. I won the EDGE STUDIO VO contest. It was kind of a corporate feel and I thought I had really great chance at it. Edge studio (for winning) give me 4 months of online classes for free. Which is great considering I dont have much to do for the next few months. Here's their review.
Click to hear justindtorres@gmail.com's recording
One of our judges didn’t have a good first impression, because our winner slated with “Hey, it’s...” then his name. Have you ever received a telephone solicitation from someone who starts out by calling you “Chief”? The effect is kind of like that. Just your name please! On the other hand, since the intent is to channel Steve Jobs’ personality, maybe such chutzpah can be overlooked this time. In any case, it’s a great technique for prevocalizing, and maybe it therefore helped his performance. But from now on, we recommend prevocalizing, do the take, then replacing the “lead-in” with whatever slate was requested. Turning to his performance, which is, after all, what we’re here for, we liked it. He used his natural voice, and read smoothly, with no unnecessary pauses. The slight pause before “to keep us” was barely a gap, just enough to signal “here comes a key point.” So there’s no need for a second micropause before “on top.” (Either spot is fine, but pausing at both sounds choppy.) As we’ve noted, a good pause point would have been the comma after “hour,” where he could have used a tiny pause or otherwise hinted slightly at a transition. Since he’s slightly fast throughout, it would give the reviewer confidence that an hour of such a performance won’t have his listeners feeling breathless. On a very strong note, his energy in “to keep us on top” is a good example of expressing confidence without resorting to hype. He sounds like he could be the head of a company, possibly a startup like Apple in its early days.
Some great stuff and some interesting notes. I've heard the whole slate thing from multiple people, some casting directors say it helps you stand out. But, it is kind of a jumping off point for conversational style reads. BUT I WON!!! So, I'll be taking free classes again!!
Lovely!!!!
Friday, is my slow day as with most. I won't be going at it with the fervor of the last few days, I'm contemplating going back to vallejo over the weekend. Just to get away from the computer frenzy. Burnout may approach soon. BUT ITS A GOOD DAY THOUGH!! HEHE!!!
I'm blogging right now at noon in California. Which is like 3pm in NYC. I dedicated myself to a regiment this week, and I'm hoping for it to pay off in dividends as time goes on.
1) Wake up at 9am (sometimes 10am) 10am for today because I was up til one looking at the whole Boston bombings thing. Not a great thing to sleep to. I wake up on my own everyday, no alarm, and check my email hopingly.
2) Do as many auditions as fast as possible from 9-3pm. I have a laptop on my desk as well as a desktop, I keep all three sites open, my email, voices, and v123. I also have an auto-refresh on all of them. It also leaves my desktop free to jump to record and to do other things like play wow or games while I wait.
3) Do contests, edge studio and the weekend workout for voicebank. It's like a form of advertising.
Admittedly, I had more ideas of what to do but burned myself out. Maybe on the weekend I'll dedicate myself to doing more of my spreadsheet/linkedin/craigslist posts. Also, elance/guru/audiocatch and piehole as far as week one has gone. Nada!! But, I think all of those are works in progress. The ball is rolling.
Anyway, the good news. I won the EDGE STUDIO VO contest. It was kind of a corporate feel and I thought I had really great chance at it. Edge studio (for winning) give me 4 months of online classes for free. Which is great considering I dont have much to do for the next few months. Here's their review.
Click to hear justindtorres@gmail.com's recording
One of our judges didn’t have a good first impression, because our winner slated with “Hey, it’s...” then his name. Have you ever received a telephone solicitation from someone who starts out by calling you “Chief”? The effect is kind of like that. Just your name please! On the other hand, since the intent is to channel Steve Jobs’ personality, maybe such chutzpah can be overlooked this time. In any case, it’s a great technique for prevocalizing, and maybe it therefore helped his performance. But from now on, we recommend prevocalizing, do the take, then replacing the “lead-in” with whatever slate was requested. Turning to his performance, which is, after all, what we’re here for, we liked it. He used his natural voice, and read smoothly, with no unnecessary pauses. The slight pause before “to keep us” was barely a gap, just enough to signal “here comes a key point.” So there’s no need for a second micropause before “on top.” (Either spot is fine, but pausing at both sounds choppy.) As we’ve noted, a good pause point would have been the comma after “hour,” where he could have used a tiny pause or otherwise hinted slightly at a transition. Since he’s slightly fast throughout, it would give the reviewer confidence that an hour of such a performance won’t have his listeners feeling breathless. On a very strong note, his energy in “to keep us on top” is a good example of expressing confidence without resorting to hype. He sounds like he could be the head of a company, possibly a startup like Apple in its early days.
Some great stuff and some interesting notes. I've heard the whole slate thing from multiple people, some casting directors say it helps you stand out. But, it is kind of a jumping off point for conversational style reads. BUT I WON!!! So, I'll be taking free classes again!!
Lovely!!!!
Friday, is my slow day as with most. I won't be going at it with the fervor of the last few days, I'm contemplating going back to vallejo over the weekend. Just to get away from the computer frenzy. Burnout may approach soon. BUT ITS A GOOD DAY THOUGH!! HEHE!!!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Amazing Day for a Non-Union Voiceover Guy
Okay, so I used to go to bed at 3am in NYC, now since I'm on the east coast I go to bed at Midnight, makes sense. The one thing I don't wanna do is wake up later than 10is on mon-thursday for these auditions.
I wake up and I got a job from Voices.com. Awesome. It's just a typical web product thing, ya know the everyday conversational guy that people want. Its a page and I get to it. On top of that I get an email for repeat business of an older project.
Older projects have a tendency, especially if they are longer, to have redos as time goes on. Scripts change and the offer was definitely reasonable so I take care of those. The whole time while I do those jobs, I keep an eye on voices, ready to jump on those new auditions.
After a few auditions pop up and I hit in under 20, I get another job from V123, this guy needs a voicemail done and specifically just wants the auditions. I keep all auditions available, admittedly they are lower quality but if they want it, it's theirs. I make sure to email him that if he really wants a few more runs, I can definitely do it.
Today, I also started adding a signature to my emails. If I'm gonna start this business, I want people who have my emails to know that I have website and am available, so thats in effect.
Next up another voices.com job pops up, I'm thinking, AMAZING!!! I've created a system now, work on the jobs and audition. This works swimmingly, as I edit my jobs, I see a job come up, run to audition and get back in the chair and edit away. Today, now it's only 8pm. I did 2 jobs with voices. One job as repeat business. One job through Voicebunny (cheap as hell but it may gain repeat business so what the heck). And one voicemail through Voice123.
I completed all those jobs as of now. I kind of feel an adrenaline high right now. Lovin life.
Along with this, I am constantly posting at least twice a day to Backpage and Craigs list, just in case someone needs it. I am also updated my client list combined with updated my testimonials on my website AND updating my linkedin. As I update my linked in I make sure to try and connect with these older clients.
List of things to do tonight. Do a weekend workout audition for Voicebank then audition for a few audiobooks. You never know what you'll get. As far as count goes, I only did 9 auditions today and 1 voicebunny audition. From that I pulled the voicebunny audition. We'll see about the 9.
Life is good!!!
I wake up and I got a job from Voices.com. Awesome. It's just a typical web product thing, ya know the everyday conversational guy that people want. Its a page and I get to it. On top of that I get an email for repeat business of an older project.
Older projects have a tendency, especially if they are longer, to have redos as time goes on. Scripts change and the offer was definitely reasonable so I take care of those. The whole time while I do those jobs, I keep an eye on voices, ready to jump on those new auditions.
After a few auditions pop up and I hit in under 20, I get another job from V123, this guy needs a voicemail done and specifically just wants the auditions. I keep all auditions available, admittedly they are lower quality but if they want it, it's theirs. I make sure to email him that if he really wants a few more runs, I can definitely do it.
Today, I also started adding a signature to my emails. If I'm gonna start this business, I want people who have my emails to know that I have website and am available, so thats in effect.
Next up another voices.com job pops up, I'm thinking, AMAZING!!! I've created a system now, work on the jobs and audition. This works swimmingly, as I edit my jobs, I see a job come up, run to audition and get back in the chair and edit away. Today, now it's only 8pm. I did 2 jobs with voices. One job as repeat business. One job through Voicebunny (cheap as hell but it may gain repeat business so what the heck). And one voicemail through Voice123.
I completed all those jobs as of now. I kind of feel an adrenaline high right now. Lovin life.
Along with this, I am constantly posting at least twice a day to Backpage and Craigs list, just in case someone needs it. I am also updated my client list combined with updated my testimonials on my website AND updating my linkedin. As I update my linked in I make sure to try and connect with these older clients.
List of things to do tonight. Do a weekend workout audition for Voicebank then audition for a few audiobooks. You never know what you'll get. As far as count goes, I only did 9 auditions today and 1 voicebunny audition. From that I pulled the voicebunny audition. We'll see about the 9.
Life is good!!!
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Big Day and Marketing Away
First off, I had to change the title of my blog. Realized it was misspelled ARGH!!! So I changed it, all ten of you must thing I'm an idiot. Anyways, I had a big day today. In my attempt to make as much money as possible I found my first day without auditions. ECK!!! What to do.
I've heard from a lot of voice artists that they make a majority of their money off of repeat business. Now, I get a lot of repeat business but there is a lot of older business that I need to get in contact with.
So here's what my day started with. NEW WEBSITES. There will be reviews of these, MIND you, they are all free at the moment. I think if I get a few auditions, they may charge.
1) Freelancer.com
2)Audiocatch
3) Elance
4) Guru.com
5) voicejockeys.com
6) Piehole
These sites have jobs for voice over artists though they are few, they have some. The way I figure it, I may be able to get a few of those jobs, Why not, so I post my profile to all the sites and go for it.
Next I make a spreadsheet for past clients. I want to send a personalized email to each of them, thanking them for their service and giving them a website to go to. And if they want their website, I can place a link near their testimonial. All good.
However, I need to make a website. Lucky for me webs.com gets easy website up and running fast. Within an hour or so I have this.
Justindtorresvo.webs.com
The way I figure it, it's a streamlined way of getting it across. Sure, I'd love to have cartoons and videogame voices but I don't get that much work from there so why not just push what I do best, corporate industrial / commercial.
After that, Linkedin, A friend of mine said that linked in was how she got the offers of most of her jobs. Admittedly, she is in a totally different field but you never know, also it has kind of a facebook aspect to it in that you can get a connection of the people you've worked with. So, every day, I'll try and put up 10 jobs on my linkedin and try and connect with my clients there. I'll also send that email I talked about earlier but this is good enough for now.
Right as I finished, I ended up getting a voices.com job. I've got a little energy left, I kind of hate doing jobs earlier in the day, later is better for me, so I may end off the day with a job and run some v123 auditions out of the way.
Tomorrows Monday, so I'm expecting a slough of auditions and getting up early and getting to work. Not to mention, who knows if all the auditions I put up are gonna pan out. I'm hoping for a few. Also an audiobook was expressing interest. WE shall see!!!!
I've heard from a lot of voice artists that they make a majority of their money off of repeat business. Now, I get a lot of repeat business but there is a lot of older business that I need to get in contact with.
So here's what my day started with. NEW WEBSITES. There will be reviews of these, MIND you, they are all free at the moment. I think if I get a few auditions, they may charge.
1) Freelancer.com
2)Audiocatch
3) Elance
4) Guru.com
5) voicejockeys.com
6) Piehole
These sites have jobs for voice over artists though they are few, they have some. The way I figure it, I may be able to get a few of those jobs, Why not, so I post my profile to all the sites and go for it.
Next I make a spreadsheet for past clients. I want to send a personalized email to each of them, thanking them for their service and giving them a website to go to. And if they want their website, I can place a link near their testimonial. All good.
However, I need to make a website. Lucky for me webs.com gets easy website up and running fast. Within an hour or so I have this.
Justindtorresvo.webs.com
The way I figure it, it's a streamlined way of getting it across. Sure, I'd love to have cartoons and videogame voices but I don't get that much work from there so why not just push what I do best, corporate industrial / commercial.
After that, Linkedin, A friend of mine said that linked in was how she got the offers of most of her jobs. Admittedly, she is in a totally different field but you never know, also it has kind of a facebook aspect to it in that you can get a connection of the people you've worked with. So, every day, I'll try and put up 10 jobs on my linkedin and try and connect with my clients there. I'll also send that email I talked about earlier but this is good enough for now.
Right as I finished, I ended up getting a voices.com job. I've got a little energy left, I kind of hate doing jobs earlier in the day, later is better for me, so I may end off the day with a job and run some v123 auditions out of the way.
Tomorrows Monday, so I'm expecting a slough of auditions and getting up early and getting to work. Not to mention, who knows if all the auditions I put up are gonna pan out. I'm hoping for a few. Also an audiobook was expressing interest. WE shall see!!!!
Back in CA: Setting Goals and Getting Going
Hey Everyone,
I was on a bit of a roller coaster ride (if you're looking at my improv in NYC blog, you'll know why). Anywho, I've made the move back CA, temporarily. I may move back to NYC in July because my sublet may open up. If not, I'll be here for a bit longer.
I have a few goals in mind while I'm here. Make as much money as possible with Non-Union voice over and start a system that I can easily use going back to NYC. The first thing to do is make a list of things to do on a daily basis. Here we go.
1) Audition AWAY (Voices.com-Voice123-Voicebunny-ACX) I should do as many auditions as I can. ACX is on the list because audiobooks I can definitely do. The Stipend option brings a lot of books to $100 an hour plus royalties. It's worth looking into. And I AM!!!
2) Weekend Workout with VoiceRegistry and Script Contest with EdgeStudio. (These are free conteses (voiceregistry is a 10 a month charge with many benefits) you get heard by agents and Edge studio get's you a great discount on classes should you choose to take them (all online)
3) Work on a Client List: I've had so much work over the past years, it's time to make a list that I can easily turn into an email newsletter. I could use that list to contact them maybe get a link to my video or a recommendation on my work. Who KNOWS!!!
4) Do a new website. I know Website after website. But, I have to have a streamlined website SOLELY for getting voice jobs. It should be simple and easy to understand.
5) BLOG: It's the journal of the future. I know what I'm doing and it's help me do it. It's also containing the VICTORIes of the day which is GREAT!!!
6) Find other V/O Sites. I could sign up for as many as possible. I can only do memberships with so many but I can definitely do it.
7)Read an Article on VO. There is always something out there to help me get it going. I need to inspire myself.
CHECKLIST
1) Done (multiple ACX)
2) Done and Done
3) Did 4 clients on a spreadsheet
4) Not Done
5) This is my blog
6) Found Piehole, considering making the payment to use it.
7) Read an article about Piehole, may do it.
Here we go. DAY ONE STARTS NOW!!
I was on a bit of a roller coaster ride (if you're looking at my improv in NYC blog, you'll know why). Anywho, I've made the move back CA, temporarily. I may move back to NYC in July because my sublet may open up. If not, I'll be here for a bit longer.
I have a few goals in mind while I'm here. Make as much money as possible with Non-Union voice over and start a system that I can easily use going back to NYC. The first thing to do is make a list of things to do on a daily basis. Here we go.
1) Audition AWAY (Voices.com-Voice123-Voicebunny-ACX) I should do as many auditions as I can. ACX is on the list because audiobooks I can definitely do. The Stipend option brings a lot of books to $100 an hour plus royalties. It's worth looking into. And I AM!!!
2) Weekend Workout with VoiceRegistry and Script Contest with EdgeStudio. (These are free conteses (voiceregistry is a 10 a month charge with many benefits) you get heard by agents and Edge studio get's you a great discount on classes should you choose to take them (all online)
3) Work on a Client List: I've had so much work over the past years, it's time to make a list that I can easily turn into an email newsletter. I could use that list to contact them maybe get a link to my video or a recommendation on my work. Who KNOWS!!!
4) Do a new website. I know Website after website. But, I have to have a streamlined website SOLELY for getting voice jobs. It should be simple and easy to understand.
5) BLOG: It's the journal of the future. I know what I'm doing and it's help me do it. It's also containing the VICTORIes of the day which is GREAT!!!
6) Find other V/O Sites. I could sign up for as many as possible. I can only do memberships with so many but I can definitely do it.
7)Read an Article on VO. There is always something out there to help me get it going. I need to inspire myself.
CHECKLIST
1) Done (multiple ACX)
2) Done and Done
3) Did 4 clients on a spreadsheet
4) Not Done
5) This is my blog
6) Found Piehole, considering making the payment to use it.
7) Read an article about Piehole, may do it.
Here we go. DAY ONE STARTS NOW!!
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