What Does a Teenage Voiceover Specialist do?

A teenage voiceover specialist provides voiceovers for their clients. Somebody may need a voiceover for a video, an audiobook, or even a phone system. Being a voiceover specialist can be a lot of fun, especially if you enjoy acting but get nervous being on stage or in front of people. By doing voiceover work from the comfort of your home, you can get paid to act without fear.

There are a ton of different types of voiceover projects that are available depending on your level of talent and your voice. Before jumping in, take some time to think about what type of voiceover work you want to do. Do you want to voice cartoon characters or documentaries? Or, do you want to help create audiobooks?

How Much Does a Teenage Voiceover Specialist Get Paid?

How much you get paid as a teenage voiceover specialist will vary greatly depending on who you are working for. At the beginning, you probably will get paid a lot less since you will need to take whatever job is available in order to build up your portfolio and gain experience. Once you have experience, you can find better-paying jobs.

As a teenage voiceover specialist, you could earn anywhere from $10 – $500 per hour. If you are thinking of pursuing voice acting as a career, this is a great place to start. You may even find that you enjoy working as a freelance voiceover specialist so much that you continue to do that. As long as you are willing to put in the time and work it takes, you can make money as a teenage voiceover specialist.

How Can I Get Started as a Voiceover Specialist?

1. Ask permission from your parents. You will be working online with people you don’t know, so it’s important for your parents to be involved. If you are under 18, they may also need to help you set up your accounts so you can get paid.
2. Buy equipment. You don’t need to go out and spend thousands of dollars on the best equipment possible when you’re first starting out, but you will want to at least have a nice microphone and some type of recording software on your computer.  Take some time to find a good microphone, and it could last for several years. Blue microphones are great for beginning voiceover specialists because they’re professional quality but many of them are under $100. For your recording software, you may be able to get away with a free program, or look for a program like Audacity that will let you easily edit your audio then save it as an mp3.
3. Sign up for accounts on freelancer websites. There are a lot of websites that connect freelancers with people looking to hire them, but they’re not all very good for finding work. We recommend UpWork and Fiverr. You can start with just one if you want, or make an account on both of them.  The biggest advantage to making accounts on two different sites is that there are more clients that you can connect with to find work. However, it can also be confusing to keep track of work if you’re on two different sites, and it takes longer to build up a good rating when your jobs are split between two sites.  Quick note on freelance websites: You will sometimes be contacted by people who will try to scam you into doing work for them for free. Red flags of scams are: people who are paying WAY more than others for simple jobs, people who ask you to communicate only outside of the freelance website, and people who ask you to give them a personalized sample before hiring you. Always be extremely cautious in these situations.
4. Create samples. Before somebody hires you, they will want to hear samples of your voice. The best way to have your samples easily available online is to create a video and upload it to YouTube. For the video portion, you can include slides describing what you are demonstrating in that video and what you charge per word count or time. Then, make several of these to show what you can do.  One video could be of you reading a portion of a copy-right free book to show how well you can do audiobooks. In another video, talk about a product that you like or use often as a promotional demo. If you want to try acting, then use a monologue from a popular movie to quote to show off your acting skills. If you can do different voices, you can devote a video to that.  If you only want potential clients to have access to these videos then you can set them to “Unlisted” which will allow only people you send the link to be able to view the videos. But, if you want them to be available for anyone to see, you can keep them as public and be sure to include links to your freelancer profile page in the description.
5. Set up your gigs. This is only if you are using Fiverr. You will need to set up gigs that allow anyone to hire you based only on your profile. Set up several gigs, one for each of the types of voiceovers you want to do, and one for general voiceovers. Look around at other voiceover gigs to get ideas for how much to charge and how to offer extras.  You can upload your sample videos directly to each gig and will need a picture for each one. If you don’t want to use your own photo, you can use pictures of your microphone or use a royalty-free photo website to find pictures to use. You could also make a video of yourself explaining what you will do. Make sure you use your microphone for the video and that it’s very professional.
6. Start putting in proposals and offers. On Upwork, you’ll need to search for voiceover jobs and then put in a proposal. Every month, you will be given “connects” which allow you to put in a certain number of proposals. Most proposals cost 2 connects to submit. On Fiverr, you can put in up to 10 offers every day for the buyer requests.  In the proposal or offer, you should tell the person why you are qualified for the job, how much you will charge them, and how quickly you can finish the job. You should also pay special attention to the listing and answer any specific questions they have. On Upwork, this is where you will include links to your samples.
7. Check back often. Potential clients may contact you to ask additional questions, so check the site often to answer their questions as quickly as possible. That way, you can also be ready to begin the work as soon as you get it. Answering quickly and finishing work fast are both great ways to improve your ratings which leads to more sales.
8. Get to work! Once you have worked out an agreement with someone, get to work. Follow their directions carefully and when in doubt, ask them before you continue. Make sure you do an outstanding job and go above and beyond their expectations so you can get a good review from them. Once you have sent in your first voiceover recording, you will have officially become a teenage voiceover specialist.

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Helpful Resources

• Amazon.com: This is where you can go to find the right equipment, including Blue Microphones.
• Audacity.com:  This is free audio editing software you can use.
• Upwork.com:  A platform where you can find freelance work as a voiceover specialist.
• Fiverr.com:  Another platform to find freelance work as a voiceover specialist.
• Shutterstock.com:  This is a good website where you can buy cheap photos for presentations to show clients to get work.