Today, we’re going to go over Voices' new rate guide and compare it to the GVAA so that you’ll know exactly the differences between the 2 guides, where exactly Voices' rates are substandard and stick around because we’ll also show you where they’re actually above standard.

For years, the voice acting community has been begging Voices dot com to take solid steps to protect voice actors from unfair rates and practices on their site.

And I am happy to report that they seem to be taking some steps to do that.

First, Voices has revamped their rate guide for 2023.

business, professional development, ratesPaul SchmidtFebruary 16, 2023voices, Voices.com, GVAA, rates, bad rates Comment

Top 7 Beginner Voice Over Marketing MISTAKES to Avoid

How do I know if I'm making bad marketing mistakes that are turning clients off? What are the most common marketing mistakes in voiceover and how do I avoid them? What critical social media marketing mistakes am I making with my voiceover business?

Today we're talking about seven common marketing mistakes to avoid making in voiceover, why they are common and not so obvious, and why you want to avoid them.

Paul SchmidtFebruary 9, 2023 Comments

SHOCKING REAL CALL with an EXPLOITATIVE Voice Over Producer

What you are about to hear is an actual call about an exploitative practice that is too common in our business. It is a prime example of producers who purposefully seek out younger and less experienced talent and knowingly exploit them for the benefit of their own organizations.

To be clear, this is representative of a tiny-but-still-too-large fraction of producers in the business and this call centers on but one specific practice: the all-media buyout.

It is shocking in its brazen self-awareness.

7 Truths You MUST Know Before You Get Started in Voice Acting

Today's post is essentially a letter to my former self. It's all the stuff I wish I knew when I was starting out in voiceover and stuff that you should know, maybe even before you get into voiceover.

My goal and hope are that you can learn from some of the mistakes that I made and learn some of the lessons that I learned. As I've gotten older, I've learned that when you can learn from somebody with a little bit more experience than you, it can save you a lot of heartache and hurt. I'd like to think as a voice actor, I've done a better job of listening, but I still have made my own fair share of mistakes and learned lessons that I hope to pass on to you here.

So here are seven truths you need to know before you get into VO or at the very least, as you're getting into VO.

business, marketing, professional development, the vo industryPaul SchmidtJanuary 26, 2023getting started, voice actingComment

How To Drive AMAZING Voice Over Client Experiences

Here's a question: How do you drive an exceptional customer experience, one that generates loyalty among your customers and drives repeat and recurring business? It all starts with understanding customer needs.

And today, we're going to talk about understanding and identifying customer needs, using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and just how that applies to the service business of Voice Over.

A Dialogue with Voice123: Can We CHANGE the P2Ps?

What if we could change how the P2Ps work? What if we could have a real dialog with the decision-makers, the policymakers, at the online casting sites? What if we could make actual recommendations directly to the people at the top of the pay-to-plays?

Now, it's one thing to have a monologue to someone in such a position as we did with David Ciccarelli of Voices in a couple of videos prior to this.

But it's another thing entirely to be able to ask questions from and make recommendations directly to the CEO of a major P2P platform.

Now, as it happens, one such opportunity is coming up.

the vo industryPaul SchmidtJanuary 12, 2023voice123, Voices.com, voices, p2ps Comments

Voice Over Conferences 2023 CALENDAR: VO Atlanta and more

So, I thought the first post of the New Year would be a great time to lay out the 2023 Voice Over Conference Calendar for you, not just the big ones like VO Atlanta, but some of the lesser known, more intimate, more boutique conferences like MAVO.

So, at this point in the first week of January, when we're filming this video, some of the conferences haven't announced dates or details yet, but we know generally, historically, when they fall.

So, I want to give you a brief overview of each and, you know, details and all that good stuff, organizers, and event people when I can, in case you've never heard of these conferences or you've never been to them.

conferences/conventions, professional development, the vo industryPaul SchmidtJanuary 5, 2023VO Atlanta, VOcation, One Voice, MAVO, SOVASComment

Voices.com Changes – For The Better or Worse?

In my last video called I Offended Voices.com. and Here's How, the founder and CEO, David Ciccarelli asked me to lay out my points as to why I asserted that Voices puts profit before talent.

Now I laid out five facts that detailed their history of disregard for transparency when it comes to fees, taking egregious cuts of the budgets and a few others.

The reaction was just nuts, Unprecedented. Here's just some of what you had to say…

rates, the vo industryPaul SchmidtDecember 22, 2022Voices.com Comment

I OFFENDED Voices.com. And Here’s WHY…

In my last video, My (No Gear) Christmas Wishlist for Voiceover, one of my wishes was this:

"I wish all of the pay-to-plays were ethical, but the chief offender here, of course, is Voices.com, but they're certainly not the only ones that put profit before talent and clients. These companies control a huge amount of work globally in the voiceover business, and it's a travesty to me that rather than seeing themselves as leaders and stewards of our industry, they couldn't give a reindeer turd about anything else other than putting profit ahead of people - clients and talent."

And the very next day, I got an email from David Ciccarelli. David, if you don't know, is the founder and CEO of Voices.com, and he was NOT happy…

The VO Pro Blog