VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Jeffrey Kafer

I went to Voices.com today looking for a female audiobook narrator. I didn't want to do the cattle call, but instead filtered by those who had tagged their profiles as being interested in this kind of work. I sent them private invites. Some observations and suggestions for people:

1) If you are going tag your profile as someone who does audiobooks, please have an audiobook demo.
2) Pat Fraley slates his students demos and most of those demos sounded *good*. I'll be curious to see how the actual auditions compare.
3) For Voices.com: If I'm using your directory and choose a specific type of work, it'd be great if you put *that* demo front and center instead of something else like IVR. Thanksmuch.
4) I'm judging you based on how your whole audio sounds, not just your narration. If I can hear your hard drive grinding away in the background, I'm not going to hire you because I'm assuming your work will sound like that, too.
5) Lose the intro music and extended slate. Your name is fine. But if you have a 7 second musical intro, then you've wasted my time with something I don't give a crap about.
6) And here's a controversial one: If I have a very reasonable budget for this project and specify that budget, don't try to haggle me up. You're probably not "better" enough.
7) If I ask for a custom demo, please give me one. The author is not an expert and needs to hear her book in your voice. At the rate I'm paying, this is not unreasonable.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

ballenberg · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 8:57 am Post subject:

Thank you so much for those helpful suggestions so we don't waste your valuable time.

Sorry to hear that so few talent apparently live up to your high standards. I'll pray you find someone soon.

Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 9:27 am Post subject:

i'll bet there are many talent who will be served well by the list.

only thing i disagree with is the set budget. my opinion is it can't hurt to request more and then have the fortitude to accept the rate as it was stated or turn down the job if the rate is not acceptable.

honestly? people are using long music intros on their demos? ish.
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Mike Sommer · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 9:55 am Post subject:

Your demos and auditions are a representation of your sound as well as your performance.

Number 4 on the list (smack dab in the middle) is Poor Audio Quality.

If you don't think good audio quality matters, you've got another thing coming- I don't know what that other thing is, but you got it coming.
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 11:47 am Post subject:

Deirdre · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:20 pm Post subject:

Jeff, I didn't read snark at all.
I appreciate the time you took to construct your list and post it here.
After all you are hiring people— and you're trying to help the voices who really ARE qualified to make the best presentation.
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Bill Campbell · DC Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 621

Wow! $1200 for a six hour book? I don't do that kind of work, but it sure seems low for a type of work that takes very skillful talent.

Does that ballpark rate include best seller, major publisher type books? Just curious.
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captain54 · Lucky 700 Joined: 30 Jan 2006 Posts: 744 Location: chicago

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:33 pm Post subject:

Audible pays $275 pfh for full production. My ideal rate is $300 pfh, but I'll go to $200. So yes, $200-$250 pfh is a fair rate. I'm sure other audiobook narrators here will agree.

I know the big players pay by the work hour, so I don't know how that translates, but I know that BeeAudio pays $100 pfh and BooksinMotion pays $65 pfh. Admittedly, those are both low on the scale and I've turned work down from them.

Trust me, most authors get sticker shock when I quote them $300 pfh. Smile

@BillCampbell - I know a few of the major narrators who ask for $650 pfh, but they're doing the blockbusters, the titles that are almost guaranteed to sell millions. But that doesn't mean I can ask for that much, any more than your average character actor can demand Tom Cruise's $20 mil paycheck. They're the elite.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

todd ellis · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:44 pm Post subject:

i'm with bill --- audio books take a long time to complete as it relates to the $$$ earned, and as jeff said in a previous thread, you've got to pre-read the entire book before recording ... whew!

not to knock YOU, jeff - you are a talented guy, and do great work - i guess audio books are just something you have to love doing, right?
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:48 pm Post subject:

The ratio is worse than you think. It's about 4:1 of work to finished product. So a 10 hour audiobook will take a week to do, 2 weeks if you have other stuff. So for that week's worth of work, I get paid $3000, ideally. Annualized, that's $156k per year, without any other work. Can't complain. Smile

And yes, you have to love them to do them.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

cyclometh · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:49 pm Post subject:

I'm working on my first commercial audiobook project right now.

1) It's a lot more work than you'd think if you've never done it.
2) A $200 or $300 rate per finished hour may seem steep but there's a lot more that goes into each hour of finished audio than one would imagine.

Personally, I love it. I don't command those rates (yet), but I do enjoy the work and the craft of it. And as I improve I look forward to better rates and more efficiency in my work, which means I make more from both ends! Smile

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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:54 pm Post subject:

You're going to find this out soon enough, Corey, and I know this doesn't put food on the table, but there's a grand feeling of satisfaction after every book I do. I've done over 30 books now, and I never get tired of seeing the latest one pop up on Audible. And certainly that's worth something.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

cyclometh · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:00 pm Post subject:

Right now I'm happy pushing a chapter out! Wink

And it is a lot of fun. Frustrating at times- I just threw away most of a chapter and marked it "re-record".

But I love doing it, and I'm getting better every day, and that is a great feeling.
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whalewtchr · Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 8:27 pm Post subject:

200 pfh is a fair rate in the audiobook world. You have to be really good at post production (meaning fast) to make this a worthwhile rate. If you are slow at post then you will fade quickly at this rate. Bottom line, fewer mistakes means less post. Ideal is 1.5 to 1
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