Voice Over Jobs: 7 Ways to Make Money Doing Voice Overs from Home

Of course, professional voice over artists don’t just do TV and radio shows. They work on anything from video games and animations, to audiobooks, commercials, and live announcements.

Can I Be a Voice Over Artist?

Can you identify with the following portrait:

• Because your voice has always been praised, you’ve used it in your favor (and not only to seduce potential partners with sweet words!)
• You’re the one everyone wants to make a toast or a speech
• You are the eternal candidate in any type of meetings to read texts and announcements
• Since high school and college, you have been outspoken and liked acting classes
• You had some light professional training in drama courses or at the Toastmasters
• You know how to breathe, how to pause, and how to keep your voice clear and healthy.

If you do, congratulations!

Your voice may have what it takes to make you money.

What Kinds of Work is Available to Voice Over Actors?

A voice-over actor lends his or her voice to different people and situations such as:

1. Model or business owner in a commercial
2. Puppets
3. Cartoon characters
4. Video games characters
5. TV and Radio advertisements
6. Audio Books
7. …

There is an endless list of available voice-over gigs.

And you can find gigs on the Internet, with the private sector, as well as the government.

Internet programmers and site owners have joined the traditional venues of radio, TV, movies, and audio books. Along with all sorts of organizations from religious to nonprofit, they employ legions of voice-over artists.

How Much Do Voice Over Actors Earn?

Voice over actors make very good money. In fact, Money magazine’s 2015 list of “Highest Paying Jobs You Can Do From Home” that came out in early September, ranks voice over acting as the second highest paying home-based job with average earning of $72 an hour.

Of course, that’s what the pros make. As a beginner, your best interest will be to apply low rates when bidding for gigs. As you start collecting samples of paid work and clients referrals, you’ll be able to charge more.

From a $5 fixed-price on gig sites like Fiverr to opportunities with some of the agencies that pay anywhere from 1$100 to $1000 or more for short voice-over work, to really high-end gigs (narrating a TV show) that will pay an average salary of about $60,000, you can make good money considering the increasing amount of available jobs.

To get a better idea of how much you could make with your voice, check out this Voice Word Rate Card from Voice.com. It’ll give you a good indication of the norms for charging for various gigs.

Finding Voice Over Jobs from Home

You can begin with the easiest paid tasks, then work your way up until you can work as a professional.

Chances are, if you are good at the job, you’ll make a rewarding career of your voice-over work!

I am going to break down the available opportunities based on skill levels and experience.

A) Starting up As a Beginner

Without leaving your home and with minimal equipment of a computer, a microphone, and a free audio recording and editing software (such as Audacity) you can browse for online voice-over work in freelance places like Freelancer, Upwork, Guru, and others.

1. Fiverr

A special case among the online venues is Fiverr.com, where you can offer any voice-over service, such as birthday greetings, ads, and others for $5.

Of course, the $5 you charge is just the beginning. You can add “extras” to your service and make way more than $5 on every order.

There are people on Fiverr who are actually making a living doing voice over work. One of the most famous ones is Redd Horrocks who actually quit her job to do this full time. Now she earns about $9,000 a month doing voice over work on Fiverr. Thanks to her new side business, she has been able to pay off her debt and buy a new house, she tells Business Insiders.

B) Working Your Way Up

There are several online companies specializing in voice-over work which you may address once you have some practice with voice-over techniques.

2. VoicesNow

Contact them through the Contact Us link and tell them what you can do. They’ll get back to you if interested. It will start you in the ways of the professional world!

3. Snap Recordings

A multiple-option site where you can browse for available voice-over gigs and also access from there to Monster, Indeed, and others for that same type of work.

4. Voice Talent

You may find some of their posts on different sites such as Glassdoor, Indeed, or Monster, or be hired directly by them.

5. VoiceBunny

It offers voice-over services to technical markets, such as audio podcasts, webinars, and all sorts of news developments.

You’re allowed to post a demo with your voice to show clients what you can do.

You also get to set your own rates.

When clients request a certain job, you have a short allotted time to apply and introduce your voice audition. Voicebunny will review your audition before it’s submitted to the client who will then accept it or not.

6. Voice123

Once you’ve done enough beginner work, you can join the ranks of Voice123, where you’ll be able to have a more professional approach to clients.

You’ll be in charge of setting up regular auditions, fixing your own rates, and stating methods of payment.

This company has some of the big clients in the market, such as MTV, Universal Studios, and the online games company Zynga.

Through a voice casting software, Smart Cast, your voice will be matched to the appropriate clients. At the same time, and according to your auditions, you’ll be sorted out for the appropriate type of jobs and receive automatic offers for them.

Voice123 is free but if you sign up for its Premium Membership ($395 a year) you’ll enhance your chances. The free or Standard Membership lists you in the directory of aspirant voice actors, but you’ll only get gigs if someone looks up for you.

The other downside of the free membership is that you’ll never (or rarely) be notified of new audition openings.

C) High Paying Voice Over Gigs

Now you’re almost at the top of the ladder and you can aspire to be part of the best voice-over artists in the country.

7. Voices

Think of the best clients, such as national TV stations, movies studios, and major corporations and you’ll accurately imagine what Voices is looking for when it comes to voice-over artists.

You may sign up with Free membership, but you’ll need a paid membership to see posted jobs and apply to them. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until someone finds your profile or your name posted under a long list of paid members.

As a paid member, and through a software program called VoiceMatch, Voices will match your voice and past auditions to the right gigs.

You’ll make no less than $100 per gig and up to $250 and more. With a 10% commission for Voices, your pay will also be guaranteed by an Escrow deposit, released when the client approves your work.

Final Thoughts

With the rise of audiobooks, voice acting is becoming even more important. So if you think you have the talent, give it a try.

My best advice, if you don’t want to spend any money on membership plans on sites such as Voices, is to use a site like Fiverr. You can join for free. Then put up your service and work your way from there. After sometimes doing work on Fiverr, you’ll get a pretty good idea of whether or not you have what it takes. And by that time, you will have made enough money to justify paying for one of those membership plans on bigger sites.

Who knows, maybe one day we will be hearing you narrate one of our favorite TV shows!