"It's only a few words..."

I've been hearing this a lot recently when new clients have approached me for a quote.

💬 "It's only 20 seconds"
💬 "It's only 10 words"
💬 "It's only a couple of sentences"

Of course, they say this in the hope that it will mean my quote won't be very high.
Cause how long does it take me to say a few words into the mic, right?

And I get it.
Voice-over rates can be a bit complicated.
And there actually are genres where the word count matters.
Some corporate narration, e-learning, even audiobooks to an extent tend to be priced according to length.

❗ But where it doesn't matter how long a script is, is in the commercial sector.

A VO for an advert can be 4 words:
"available now in stores"

or it can be a whole minute long monologue.
And yet the rate for both might be the same.

😩 But why? I hear you scream.

Because as soon as we're talking advertising (i.e. TV, Radio, Online, Social Media, Cinema etc.) with paid ad spend, what usually makes up the bulk of the final rate is:

✨ THE USAGE ✨

Easily put, it's the licence the client pays to be able to use my voice to advertise their product or service.

💡The more ears hear my voice, the higher the price.💡

So whether I say 3 words or 300, doesn't make a difference.

If my 3 words go out on national TV, the rate will be much higher than if I say 300 words for a small scale instagram campaign.

Does that make sense?

To make it easier for producers, animators, creative directors and other voice buyers to get an accurate quote from their voice talent, I created a little guide last year.

And I think it might be useful to share it again.

Below are the questions to answer when approaching a voice actor about a project.

And if you're a voice actor, they're the questions to ask your client so that you can work out the rate for them.

If you find this useful, message me for a copy!