Hourly Rates – Not Good For Creatives ?

It’s widely accepted by creative professionals that charging by the hour is a bad deal for everyone, yes even the client. So we should be exclusively focussed on outcome based pricing right ?

What Is Outcome Based Pricing

Outcome based pricing is another way of describing a total cost for a project. In Voiceover it factors in the Basic Studio Fee, along with consideration of usage.

Flat Rates For Voiceover ?

With creative services differing from one speciality to the next, there isn’t a single approach to pricing that can be adopted. My audioguides are priced differently to my audiobook narrations for instance. If you’re interested how I break down pricing, feel free to check this out here.

Projects like eLearning are charged per word and Documentary Narration often has usage as a key factor.

Overall, agreeing a fee involves value being added at a price point that’s fair both ways. 

The Cost of Creative Experience

There’s an old story about the carpenter that charged $100 to hammer in one nail to fix a creaky floorboard. The price was broken down as: $1 to hammer in the nail and $99 to know where to put the nail.

It’s a great story, but dropping that on a client is maybe not in the spirit of professionalism.

Experience is hard to price in as a creative, so I look at it like this: An experienced VO will be able to give a client absolute peace of mind when it comes to their needs. They deliver broadcast quality audio, they take direction well and have a broad menu of performance styles.

They can bail you out at short notice and always deliver on time, but probably most important, they’re professional in every way.

If you’re hitting all those markers then you’re probably in demand, which justifies a higher fee. If you’re not…..

Pricing For Commodity Services

Voice Artists, like many other creatives struggle to get out of the ‘commodity service’ categorisation.

If you’re positioned as a commodity service, there’s always the argument that quick work deserves the lowest rates.

In the gig economy, what we then see is an inevitable race to the bottom with creatives under-cutting each other. The end result is a general lowered perception of market value.

Hourly Efficiency Is Not Rewarded

The thing with commodity services is that you do get slicker at delivering the same product over time.

So the more experience you gain, the better you become at your art and the more credibility you have, the less you earn…..

That makes no sense.

The Argument Against Hourly Rates As a Freelance Creative

As a Voiceover Artist, it’s sometimes frustrating to be told how long a project will take me to complete.

The thing about hiring a creative freelancer is that you’re hiring their expertise, their knowledge, skill and experience. Thats why it’s so important to outline the terms of service in a contract. 

It keeps everything honest and up-front, informs expectations and allows the creative to follow their own, well rehearsed processes.

What Makes Up A Quote For Voiceover ?

Consider the time required for:

• Rehearsal
• Editing
• Mixing
• File Rendering

Usage Fees In Voiceover

If you’re not sure what Usage Fees are, check out this link.

It’s common for Professional VOs to charge an hourly Basic Studio Fee (BSF). Thats the cost of dedicating your studio to that client for one hour.

With outcome based pricing, the BSF has all of this taken into account. What then follows is consideration of usage and every project is different. 

The Rate Guides provided by the GVAA (US based work) and GFTB (Non-US based work) have all of this factored in and are an excellent hand-rail for both voice artists and clients looking for VoiceOver services. 

What About Day Rates ?

I see that a lot video production companies charge by day and half day rates, which makes a lot of sense to me. Overheads are priced in and there’s a benefit to increased productivity.

As a UK Voice Artist though, you’re not managing a wider production team and it’s not so much a project that has to be managed.

I’ve been known to charge day rates and half day rates for Voiceover work, though it’s not the norm. So with that in mind, how should we be charging ?

Should Creatives Never Charge Hourly Rates ?

The general consensus as a creative service provider is that you should move away from hourly rates, especially as a freelancer and move towards a price based on outcome.

Really, never ?

Still A Place For Hourly Rates ?

For me the answer is yes, hourly rates are ok under very specific circumstances. If it’s for a returning client who pays a rate that values the service provided. A client that you’ve built a relationship with and who offers repeat work.

Otherwise I think the best approach is outcome based pricing.

I recently had a directed voice recording session with a high end Audioguide Production Company. 

A returning client, an ideal client that pays market rates and we were recording new material for a popular heritage tourist attraction.

Previously, we’d worked to my Basic Studio Fee. The previous job took around 1 hour, with some post production time added on.

With this one being much longer, two hours were set aside.

Maybe it was familiarity with the content, or the fact that I’d just finished narrating a 110,000 word audiobook, but the 10 stops in the audioguide were completed in 40 minutes. 

The work wasn’t rushed, I was just in the groove. It hugely impressed the client and allowed me to get straight into the edit.

So based on hourly rates, the work volume increased, my efficiency increased and the delivery happened quicker. So why is my wallet lighter ?

By the time the edit, mix and file rendering was done, it did all add up to a healthy figure, but somewhat beneath Voiceover Market Rates.

There’s a case for hourly rates when the Annual Client Value makes it worth it.

I love working with this client and they keep returning. We’ve built a rapport and the average annual client value is way above the level of most commodity work.

There’s a middle ground for me, based on fair rates for value added. That’s why I never say never and approach pricing for VoiceOver on a client by client basis.

Meet James Fowler – British Voice Artist

My name is James and I’m a British Voice Artist with 7 years as a full time professional. I run a successful studio in Hampshire, UK, providing broadcast quality audio for my clients around the World. Don’t just take my word for it, lots of happy clients have said nice things here.

Check out my work with Documentaries, Audioguides, Audiobooks and Game Characters , which are the things that excite me most. Get in touch if you’ve got a project that needs an experienced British Voice. I’d love to hear from you

Best regards

James