Need ADVICE: What to Charge for Long-Term Work

Phyllis K. Day

I was contacted privately (along with a few other talents here) to do a custom "voice sample" for an instructional company. They are offering and I'm paraphrasing here:

"...approx budget for project will be $15-20 page or we can work on per hour charges $ 200-250 per Hour final voice ...for...2000+ pages script VO in a year.

That sounds low to me - unless they will take raw audio and produce it themselves. Even so, it seems too low. And which is better, the per page rate, or the per hour, and why?

If you have experience in this sort of work, please advise. I am not looking for a quote from a rate card, but a working knowledge of the kind of pricing that is expected in this kind of long-term project.

Thanking you in advance.

Amy Snively · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007, 21:09 (GMT) Post subject:

My rates, with thanks to Rick from comercialvoices.com

Handy formulas:
150-160 wpm = normal pace. Triple that time to edit and produce.....and that's if you are really good at all the steps.
Word Count divided by 160 wpm = final production length in minutes.

By Finished Minute:
Normal corporate narration rates
Up to 10 minutes $350.
Up to 20 minutes $550.
Up to 30 minutes $750.
Up to 90 minutes $900.

By Page*:
For edited, ready-to-roll dry voice: Sliding scale depending on the client.
*12-point Times Type, double spaced, standard 1-inch margins.
Normal reading aloud is about 11 pages per hour.

$100-150 per page for the first 3
$90-120 for the next 3
$50-90 for the rest

By Word (this is how I usually charge):
Total word count divided by 150 = total minutes
Total minutes divided by 60 = total hours of finished audio
Total hours of finished audio x 3 = estimated recording and editing time

All in one file:
1-2000 words .30 a word
2000-4000 words .25 a word
4000-10,000 words .20 a word
10,000-40,000 words .15 a word
40,000 words + .10 a word

Multiple files (like kiosk or IVR prompts):
1-2000 words .35 a word
2000-4000 words .30 a word
4000-10,000 words .25 a word
10,000-40,000 words .20 a word
40,000 words + .15 a word

Nikki Saco · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007, 19:42 (GMT) Post subject:

Amy, I've never seen such a comprehensive breakdown. Very reasonable and helpful. Thank you.

Phyllis K. Day · Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007, 02:56 (GMT) Post subject: RATES

Jorge Velasco · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 02:15 (GMT) Post subject:

Amy Snively · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 02:18 (GMT) Post subject:

Yep. But only the amount of editing that would still result in "dry." Does not include special effects and music, etc. Minimizing breaths, de-popping P's, cutting out flubs and editing in picks-ups included.

Jorge Velasco · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 02:31 (GMT) Post subject:

Very helpful post! I just won an IVR bid. I thought my quote was too low... now I'm pretty sure about it!

I'm laughing right now but I'm completely pissed off LOL

Thanks again Amy!

Amy Snively · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 03:01 (GMT) Post subject:

I charge a flat .35 a word for IVR with a $100 minimum. While I like doing them, they can be a pain in the neck and often take a lot longer than you think they will. I will not do one for under .35 a word, period.

Jorge Velasco · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 03:12 (GMT) Post subject:

I know, there's a lot of editing involved.

Thank you very much Amy.

Amy Snively · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 03:18 (GMT) Post subject:

You're welcome, Sweetie! Good luck!

Dare we ask how much you quoted?

Jorge Velasco · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 03:39 (GMT) Post subject:

English-Spanish translation of a 3.750 words script + VO edited in 620 prompts and posted in my FTP = 900 Sad

Based on the rates you posted and a 0.10 rate per word for the translation, I should quoted 1.500 (maybe with a little discount for doing both jobs).

Im my defense (lol), I misread the lead trying to reply quickly, so I thought it was a smaller job... first and last time that happens!

Thanks again "sweetie" Wink

Amy Snively · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 03:52 (GMT) Post subject:

Oh dear. I'm sure something good will come of it...

J.S. Gilbert · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 06:48 (GMT) Post subject: Low pay for Spanish work

Jorge,
I do localization here in concert with another company. We pretty much produce every language you can think of except Spanish, becuase (for whatever reason) therre are some competent people out there doing translation and v.,o. in Spanish dirt cheap. I spoke with the connect in Miami and he said your pricing was pretty much at the top end for "standard" work. SOmetimes the rates are a little higher if you have to translate to time. Meaning that the English paragraph is in 20 seconds and you have to make sure the Spanish translation is also in 20 seconds. The few times that the pay rate seems to go higher is when the request is very specific for voice type - as in they have an English voice and want a Spanish equivalent voice. Apparently this can carry a 30 - 50% premium. One thing that makes it difficult to farm our work out over the internet (as opposed to having someone come into a studio somehwere) is the necessity for ADR. This is basically where the Spanish needs to fairly closely match the English speakers lips.

I have one of these with Dennis Franz, where we dubbed him in German. If anyone is interested, I can post a little bit of it.

The good money (really good money) is in the union commercial jobs available in Spanish. I'm not sure the processes for marketing in those circles aside from having strong representation, but you might want to look into some of the various commercial Latino organizations, competitions and groups. You can check with the 4 A's and AFTRA and probably get some guidance.

And in closing I'd like to offer these words of encouragement:

"Mi caja de lapiz es amarillo." "Donde esta la biblioteca?"

Amy Snively · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 06:52 (GMT) Post subject:

That's interesting, JS!

Jorge Velasco · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007, 17:41 (GMT) Post subject:

Thank for the info J.S.

Actually sometimes its hard to match in time an english script, because when you translate it you get about 15% more text.

About the unions, even though I'm a US citizen, I don't live in the US, I live in Bogotá, Colombia.

And BTW, Mi caja de lápices es amarillA, not amarillo Wink