VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[iannyc]

Haha--

is anyone on here doing the premium thing, and is it worth it for them? I wonder

[Jonathan Lockwood]

Hiya. Yes, I upgraded to Platinum some time in 2012 when it was less expensive, but have continued with it since I've found it so lucrative. I've scrutinized the results a few times, including just recently. I was working on an article about this, so I'll just post a portion of it here.

"In the last few years, I've had some periods in which I submitted hundreds of auditions on Voice123, Voices.com and private sources that comprise less than 3 % of the total, and find that I win 9.3% of them. This includes the 12% that are never listened to and the unknown percentage of jobs that just blow up and get dropped, so this is a straight-up win percentage purely based on how many auditions I submit and how many I actually win. This average can be lower or higher when considering smaller sample sizes, but when the total batch is 400 or more, it's very consistent. The average win is about $350, and I can submit 3 auditions per hour for a total of 133.3 hours of effort. Every time I've made the calculation it comes out very close to $125 an hour.

I don't consider $125 an hour an outstanding rate for a voice actor. But if you have time on your hands, it's not bad at all. This doesn't even consider the fact that some of those audition wins will turn into repeat (or even regular) clients.

But...it's also been my observation that a majority will be one hit wonders. While it's convenient for voice actors to have access to dozens of auditions per day, it's also convenient for clients to post jobs, knowing dozens will respond. When finding a voice was more involved, clients would routinely call upon those from their go-to list, but now that they have quick access to an eager collection of talents, many may simply post all their projects, thinking, “Maybe this time someone will really blow the client away. Why not? (click)” They have every right to this policy, but it does mean the P2P strategy can be a leaky bucket for voice actors.

Fairly often I receive messages from those who've found my voice demos. About 80% of the time they want me to audition, but the remaining 20% has already decided to hire me. The sample size here is smaller, but I've determined my win percentage is more like 15%. Obviously my efforts would be better spent creating my own strategy for attracting prospective clients.

If we use the same sample size as with my P2P auditions, and if we assume I can (at some point) accumulate 400 respondents to my own strategy, then that 133.3 hours is reduced to 106.6 hours, and (when factoring in those no-audition-needed jobs) my result goes from $125 to around $531 per hour, increasing my efficiency by more than 400%.

Noteworthy Items
That my win percentage gets me $125 per hour obviously doesn't mean this will be the case for everyone. More than 90% of my auditions are submitted on Voice123, and at the moment my private stats report, “Your audition/proposal ranking score is greater than the ranking score of 91% of all Premium Subscribers (91 percentile).” So all I can estimate is that the lower your ranking falls from 91%, the lower your per-hour auditioning rate will be. Further, since 9% of talent have a higher ranking than I, some must be making more."
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I like to use that $350 average initial win figure, but it's actually more like $361, which means it takes me about 150 auditions submitted to reach the $5000 fee. But remember: the $361 is only on the first job. Although most of these wins are one-hit-wonders, I've determined that the value of each win actually comes to average around $550 for the year, considering a fair number come back with more projects.

Hope this is helpful.
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Jonathan Lockwood
www.JonathanLockwood.com

[iannyc]

Johnathan,

Thankyou so much! Very helpful.

Thats with v123 and its $5k. I'm still just with voices and their premium is $2500; they offered it to me but I'm not ready yet.

You figure I suppose with v123 theyre not taking a cut of your profit and if you booked that much through an agent at 10% and you make more than $50k with them a year, you're ahead of the game eh?

-I

[DougVox]

[Philip Banks]

What works and what works "under the circumstances" are 7 entirely different things (nothing of consequences in these brackets). I calculated the statistics over a 14 month 3 summer year adjusting for discounted cash flow.

I can tell people what works for me, adding "Don't try this at home"
I am able to guide pro voice over people as to what should work and how they are wasting their time.
For talentless F***wits, I got nuthin !

[DenaliDave]

I'm reminded of the 1848 California gold rush...

Very few miners and prospectors ever walked away with anything to show for their labors...

However, the people who sold them their mining equipment made a killing. In 1848 a dozen eggs went for $3.

Adjusting for inflation and in "today's dollars" that $3 dozen eggs would be like you or I paying $87.

So, it seems I should be opening up pay-to-play sites if I want to be making the money...
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"The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve." - Buddha
www.alaskamic.com

[FinMac]

Jonathan has a great success story on using the P2P sites. Hats off to him!

But a funny question just came to mind.

What if Jonathan could replicate himself ? Now you have Jonathan A. and Jonathan B., both with the same talent and equipment competing against each other on the same P2P sites.

Would their combined incomes be double of the single Jonathan, or would their incomes be the same as the single Jonathan since they would be competing over the same jobs ?

Just wondering.
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www.scottsvoiceover.com - An American voice in Finland

"If you want to get to the top, you have to get off your bottom". (Unknown)

[iannyc]

Well the only advantage two would be to one would be more hours in the day, but perhaps one johnathan, say, had a really easy life and the other johnathan had a very difficult one, then, each one might specialize in one style of vo or another and not take jobs from each other.

They should do a stranger things remake but about this very question

[Bruce]

There are a few people who have trod this board who find P2P's rewarding. They're very experienced, have a unique sound, and know how to "play within the system" by picking projects and budgets that fit their style.

People fairly new to our line of work rarely achieve quick success, but it is a great place to practice your craft and maybe catch a fish or two.


B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[FinMac]

Actually, my thought was this.

If someone, with equal talent and equipment suddenly started auditioning against Jonathan, would he lose some of those auditions ? Would his percentage drop from 9 percent.

Jonathan gets work because:

1. He is talented
2. He has good gear and a good room
3. He is unique
4. He auditions for jobs he might get and does not waste time auditioning for jobs that are not fitting for his voice and delivery.

What was most interesting to me was that he was in the 91st percentile, and wins about 9 percent of his auditions. What about those other 9 guys who are above him ?

How many of the auditions do the top 10 guys win (of those who audition for the same ones that Jonathan does) ? It must be over 90 percent, and a few jobs are gotten by everyone else.

So, in order to win auditions you need to be:

1. Talented
2. Have good equipment and a good room
3. Be unique and represent yourself that way.
4. Audition for only the jobs you have a good chance to win, and understand the ones to pass on.
5. Be as professional as possible

So, it is no wonder that Bob Bergen always talks about having a professional demo from the start. And you have to have the chops to be able to record a top quality demo, and find a great demo producer.


Even then you are competing against guys like Jonathan !

Thanks again Jonathan for sharing those statistics.
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www.scottsvoiceover.com - An American voice in Finland

"If you want to get to the top, you have to get off your bottom". (Unknown)

[Jonathan Lockwood]

Great to see this feedback. Iannyc, I can't be certain which is better between V-123 and V.com. Although I do use V.com and win auditions, although I recognize they do have that escrow system, which provides more assurance you'll get paid...the truth is I like the greater independence available through V-123. I didn't mind when SurePay was an option, but now it's not--and I understand they've increased it from 10 to 20%. Their business. Not complaining, but I gravitated to the option that I felt was quite a bit freer.

DougVox, thanks so much for your comments. And, yes, I can only share my experience. My primary struggle has been in being consistent with my audition count. Nice periods of 25-45 per week; some weeks very few. I guess the $5,000 price tag is good motivation to submit more.

FinMac, I started to try and figure out the math involved in your proposed scenario...and gave up. I've found that an average of 42 people submit auditions for the jobs I try out for. Then I tried to factor in the 91 percentile thing, then...oh forget it. Who is this FinMac anyway! Teasing.

My sincere best wishes to any who, like me, keep trying to maximize their success.
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Jonathan Lockwood
www.JonathanLockwood.com

[Foog]

I've got an answer for Scott (FinMac), and it is sadly everything that is wrong with the whole P2P model...

If Jonathan cloned himself, the two Jonathans would ultimately end up making cumulatively LESS for the same number of combined gigs than the solitary Jonathan . Why? Because now they have to compete for work, and at least one of them (the clone. It's always the clone!) will end up underbidding the other one in order to land more jobs.
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Andrew Fogarasi