Are you getting enough auditions these days? Do you purposefully audition only for those roles or reads that suit you best? Can you quote quickly and confidently?
In today’s marketplace, not only do you need to think like an agent, you need to be able to act like one. Get some tips on how to improve your prospects as a freelance voice artist in the 21st century.
Do You Have an Agent?
These days, many talent literally have many agents. That fact alone doesn’t necessarily translate to booking more work, though. Having an agent (or more than one agent) is simply part of your overall marketing strategy, not the strategy. Maybe you can relate.
Perhaps you don’t have an agent and the idea of being your own agent is appealing.
No matter what your representation status is as a professional voice artist, you’re likely wearing a number of different hats. One of those hats includes the marketing of your talent. You try to get your voice heard in any number of ways. You probably have your own website, listings with online casting platforms and are also finding new and interesting ways to use social media to obtain business. Maybe you’re going to industry conferences and networking with people who can actually serve as a stream of work for you.
At the end of the day, you’re doing a lot of self-promotion, but how do you know that what you’re doing is going to pay off? Well, it all starts with thinking like an agent.
Thinking Like an Agent
When thinking like an agent, you need to take three things into consideration:
- Qualifications
- Quantity
- Quoting
Let’s look at these three in more detail.
Qualifications
To think like an agent means to be brutally honest with yourself about what your strengths are and what they’re not. When an opportunity comes up, an agent will put forward only the talent they believe are best suited to the job and are contenders to book it. This line of thinking helps the agent’s reputation because the talent they are sending are more closely matched to what is being asked for.
For you, this means looking over an audition opportunity to determine whether or not you’re the right fit for the role and if you can meet the client’s requirements. That means having the willpower (and wisdom) to forgo auditioning if you aren’t capable of meeting each of the client’s expectations.
When you spot an opportunity that appeals to you and is a good match for your talent, go for it! These are the jobs where you can bring something special to the table. On a separate note, if you are auditioning on Voices, remember that the higher your VoiceMatch score, the higher up your audition will be placed in a client’s responses.
Quantity
Similar to how an agent makes money, you’ll only make your money if you get hired! In order to get hired, you need to be where the jobs are and put yourself forward for them on a regular basis (read daily). You need to keep your pipeline full. The more irons you have in the fire, the likelier it is that you’ll book.
How many auditions does that look like for you? Many of the top booking talent in the online marketplace today audition at least 30 times a day on Voices let alone other platforms they use.
As a rule of thumb, it takes about 100 auditions to land one job. That isn’t to say it will take you that many, or that 100 is the magic number that assures a booking, but most talent I have spoken to over the years have adopted that as a realistic benchmark.
Quoting
One of the more agonizing aspects of auditioning can be coming up with a quote. Some talent wonder if they’re quoting too little or too much. Others are unsure of how to calculate their quote. While there are different methods of quoting and certainly no shortage of considerations, having a firm grasp of what you charge for a particular type of voice-over work will make quoting less stressful and more predictable.
Do you have a rate card? Having a rate card of your own ensures that you’re not going back to the drawing board every time you need to quote on a project.
If you don’t presently have a rate card, or you’re unsure of what to charge for a type of voice-over you haven’t done before, take a look at the voice over rate sheet at Voices.
When reviewing the rates, please keep in mind:
- Rates are in US Dollars and include a worldwide unlimited usage “full buy-out” license.
- Rates are for finished dry voice only. Any post-production required may be additional.
- All rates are for reference only. Each talent reserves the right to charge their own fees.
Being in business means knowing what you want to charge for your services. When you know what you want to charge, auditioning becomes faster and more seamless, allowing you to focus on the art of voice acting and getting a great read off to prospective clients.
Ready to Audition?
If you’re already a Premium member at Voices, my hope is that you’ve been encouraged and inspired to think a bit differently — maybe even to think like an agent for the very first time! Log in to your account and take a look at all the open auditions you can submit for.
Limited-Time Offer
If you’re a Guest member looking to upgrade your account the promo code THINKAGENT will save you $100 on our Premium membership!
Act quickly though, because this promo code will expire on April 9th, 2016.
To your success!
Stephanie
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