Audiobook (from TOS)

Doug Parks · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 227

I love this one from TOS. Client wants somebody to record a 38,000-word audiobook and has a budget of $500-$1000. I don't know which is funnier--reading a listing like that, or the blurb at the bottom:

Client's budget may be considered low by some.

Laugh of the day!

Scott Feighner · **Voice Talent** Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Posts: 55

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008, 14:32 (GMT) Post subject:

I responded with a reasonable quote. Odds are they won't hire me if it's out of their budget, but ya never know.

Doug Parks · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 227

Wow, Mr. Pollak, I admire your optimism, but that one had "waste of time" written all over it. By the way, there was one even WORSE on TOS the same day...

Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549

I started to read the sample copy for the book written by a guy's Russian father that he wanted converted to audio format so his blind brother could enjoy it. After about the 3rd or 4th Russian name I said, "What the hell am I even doing this for?" The guy's suggested price range was $500-1000 and I estimated that at 10 cents a word that project would run in the neighborhood of $15,000. So I hit the Stop button and threw the lead in the trash.

Doug Parks · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 227

That might be the other one I was referring to. Unbelievable...

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008, 20:53 (GMT) Post subject:

I didn't understand it as being something for his blind brother to hear, Lee. The way I interpreted the lead was that they wanted to tell his dad's story, but neither he nor his brother had the ability to voice it.

Here is what the client wrote:
"To read a 300 page book that my father wrote about life in Russia in 1920 and his experiences in WW1 and 2.

My brother is nearly blind and cannot read it, he lives in Australia and I in the US and I have a raspy voice to boot.

Basically I am looking for someone with a pleasant voice, a computer and a headset to do this. I, at this point do not have any feel for the cost, please make an offer. Time to finish app 2 month."

Lee, where did you get $15,000 from? It's a 300 page book. I'm not sure how many words are on a page, but I typically estimate about 200 words/page, so this would be an average-sized 60,000 word book. I quoted a normal rate for this length.

Robert Jadah posted not too long ago about quoting his normal rate (.08/word) on an audio book, and his quote was well above the client's budget. Robert got the job regardless.

Notice the guy said: "I, at this point do not have any feel for the cost, please make an offer. "

Guys, he's TELLING us to give him a quote. Honestly, I'm quite surprised so many of you ditched it without considering it. If he hires me I'll get paid fairly for my efforts.

Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549

The sample page was single spaced and relatively small type. It contained close to 500 words.
But it was the Russian proper names that stopped me in my tracks more than the size of the book or the sticker-shock factor.

Steve Royal · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 167

I got this lead, too.

As this is essentially a not-for-profit type of job (and a damn nice thing for him to do for his brother), I gave a fairly reasonable quote, but it was still waaay outside his budget.

I have a feeling that the word count might be closer to 150,000 as the sample page was just under 500 words.
So, Lee's estimate of $15,000 at 10c per word may not be too inaccurate.

I have a feeling that the client might be a bit shocked by the cost of getting this book recorded.
Chances are, he'll hire somebody who quotes within his budget range.

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627