VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 8:28 pm Post subject:

Hahahahahahaha!

I just entered your basic 100,000 word audiobook and it gave me a great quote of $133,000. Basically, if I land an audiobook gig through voices.com, I really only need to do one per year to make solid living. Oh, and if the words are "hard", tack on another $30k!

Score!
_________________
Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2279 Location: Atlanta

Thank you, Voices. I'm going to score an Audiobook this year and buy myself an entire neighborhood in Detroit.
_________________
Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

heyguido · Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 11:11 pm Post subject:

Foog · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:11 am Post subject:

It ain't the Brit slang that has me all confuzzled. And it ain't the spelling (since we Canuckistanis spell all British and correct-like). It ain't even the Red Dwarf references in his sig (cause yay Red Dwarf!). It's the fact that they eat smoked fish. For breakfast. 'Tis downright disconcertin' to the innards to even contemplate such a thing! I wish it weren't true, but this is no red herring I tell you!

cheers,
Andrew Fogarasi

Lee Gordon · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:58 am Post subject:

What, you've never had lox & bagels for breakfast? cool

_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Foog · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:11 am Post subject:

CarynClark · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:38 pm Post subject:

10% SurePay fee missing - good note, Lee.

I actually like SurePay, b/c I have been screwed out of payment when I've not used it. However, it does bug me that the clients don't typically seem to realize that we have to account for that fee in our quote. They also don't seem to realize we pay a subscription fee to be there. Not that it matters to them, I guess. But I hate being dinged twice. 10% is an awful lot in camparison to other percentages one pays in life for PayPal, etc.

That said, I just re-upped on voices.com. It's definitely worthwhile, quirks and all. I've not been on voice123 for years, though. Just not sure I should go back down that road...
_________________
Caryn Clark... The Hip Chick Voice!

"A positive mental attitude and having faith in your ability is quite different from being irresponsible and downright stupid." - Dave

Lee Gordon · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 7:57 pm Post subject:

Yes, say what you will about SurePay, but the name does accurately reflect the benefit: you do the job and you are sure to get paid. I just completed my -- gasp -- 85th SurePay job. In each case, it was the client's idea, not mine. The one time a guy offered to use SurePay and I told him it wasn't necessary, he stiffed me. And I am currently owed about three grand by a couple of clients who started out with SurePay but then went "off the grid" for some subsequent jobs. I may ask Erik to drop the hammer on them, so I'll end up paying the 10% anyway.

But it would really be nice if Voices.com were a little more transparent about the fee. Ideally, there would be a check box asking the job poster if he or she were willing to pick up the cost of the SurePay fee. It would make them all aware that such a fee exists, and it would give us a better indication of which clients were less likely to try to nickel & dime us.

While we're at it, I wouldn't mind if the P2Ps also offered job posters the following options:

1. Slate
2. No Slate
3. What's a Slate?
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

ricevoice · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:41 pm Post subject:

Gregory Best · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:53 pm Post subject:

did they take the price quote generator down? It doesn't work from my laptop. I wanted to play too. wawawaaaa
_________________
Gregory Best

greg@gregorybest.com

Bish · Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:03 pm Post subject:

It seems like the generator has been taken down. Shame. It's so much fun when someone actually gives you the stick to beat them with.

As for the escrow notifications. They are never going away, and Voices are never going to make it any more transparent. I understand the arguments both for and against... it's the compulsory nature of it that is irksome. What I do, is always write my quote in the text of my reply, with a clear indication that this is subject to a Voices.com escrow fee. Something like:

My bid for this job is $500. This is subject to an additional 10% escrow fee applied by Voices.com for their SurePay service.

It may not be perfect, but it's the best I can do and makes me feel better about the whole SurePay debacle.
_________________
Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

bransom · DC Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 650 Location: St. Louis, MO

Bish, I like that method of calling out the SurePay fee in the quote. The clients have no idea that we're eating that each time. I'm gonna start doing that.

On a side note, it really does make sense for Voices to work to push rates up, whether it's with a simplistic calculator or something more realistic, since 10% of a higher rate = a lot more profit for them, too.
_________________
Bob Ransom
"I really need a pithy quote here."

SoundsGreat-Elaine Singer · Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 8:27 am Post subject:

I always included SurePay in my quote. Something like, the fee for this is 350, with SurePay that is 385.
_________________
Elaine
The Youthful Mature Voice (Emeritus)
Senectitude is not for the faint of heart.

MooreVoices · Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:24 pm Post subject: