Tutorials Audio

How to Find Voice Over Work

Beginner · ~45 min

Overview

Finding VO work is a business development problem as much as a performance problem. You need the right demo, the right platform for your experience level, and a consistent outreach habit. Most beginners start on pay-to-play platforms, build a portfolio, and move toward direct client relationships as their reputation and demo improve. This guide maps out every major channel, with honest assessment of what each requires and what it pays.

What You Need

A quality home recording setup (see our How to Record Voice Over at Home guide)
A professional demo reel for your primary VO category (see our VO Demo Reel guide)
A profile photo and short bio for platform profiles

Steps

The two VO markets

Voice over work broadly splits into two markets. The broadcast and agency market is the traditional, higher-paying world: national TV and radio commercials, video games, animation, and major corporate narration. This market is accessed through agents, direct relationships with casting directors and production companies, and a professional-grade demo. Rates follow union guidelines (ACTRA, SAG-AFTRA, Equity) or established non-union equivalents. The online and independent market is newer, more accessible, and lower-paying on average: explainer videos, e-learning, YouTube narration, corporate training, audiobooks, and independent animation. This market is accessed through P2P platforms, direct marketing, and sites like ACX. Most new VO talent starts in the second market while building the skills and demos needed for the first.

Pay-to-play platforms

Pay-to-play (P2P) platforms charge a membership fee in exchange for access to audition listings from paying clients. The major platforms: Voices.com (the largest, with the most auditions, premium subscription required), Voice123 (strong for commercial and corporate), Backstage (primarily for actors but includes VO work), and Bodalgo (European-focused). The economics: subscriptions cost £150 to £400/year. Competition on popular auditions is fierce, 100+ submissions for a single spot. The value is in the volume of auditions and the direct client relationships you can build over time. Tips for P2P success: respond to auditions within the first 2 to 4 hours of posting (early submissions get more listens), tailor each read to the direction in the brief, and prioritise auditions where your voice type genuinely fits rather than auditioning for everything.

ACX for audiobooks

ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) is Amazon's platform connecting authors and publishers with VO narrators for audiobooks. You can audition for listed projects or set up a profile for authors to approach you. Payment models: royalty share (no upfront payment. You split the audiobook's royalties 50/50 with the rights holder for 7 years) or per-finished-hour (PFH) (you're paid a flat rate per hour of completed audio, typically £100 to £400 PFH for non-union). Royalty share can be lucrative for popular books but unpredictable for unknown authors. Per-finished-hour is lower risk. Calculate carefully: a 10-hour audiobook at 200 PFH pays £2,000, but production time is typically 3 to 4× the finished runtime, so that's 30 to 40 hours of work. Audiobooks suit narrators who can sustain consistent character and pacing over long sessions.

Direct marketing

Direct marketing, reaching out to potential clients without a platform intermediary, takes more effort but builds the most sustainable and highest-paying relationships. Identify your target clients: production companies, advertising agencies, e-learning providers, animation studios, corporate video producers. Research specific contacts (the audio director, the creative director, the producer). Send a brief, professional email introducing your services and linking to your demo: not a cold sales pitch, but a genuine "here's what I do and here's a sample." Follow up once after 2 weeks if no response, then move on. The conversion rate is low, but the clients you do land pay at market rate or above and return with repeat work. Maintain a CRM (even a spreadsheet) of who you've contacted and when. Consistency beats volume, 5 well-targeted outreach emails per week compounds over time.

Agents and representation

A VO agent submits you for work, negotiates your rates, and takes 10 to 20% commission. Agents are worth having for the broadcast and agency market. They have relationships that you don't. To approach an agent: research agencies that represent talent in your category. Check their websites for submission guidelines. Submit your demo with a short, professional cover note. Most only take talent when they have a gap in their roster for your type. The honest reality: agents don't make you a career. They extend one. An agent won't take you if you have no bookings and no impressive demo. Build credits first, then agents become interested. In the UK: Hobson's, Yakety Yak, Rhubarb. In the US: CESD, Atlas, DDO. Most also work with non-union talent, not just SAG-AFTRA members.

Free casting sites

Several free platforms list VO casting calls without a subscription fee. The trade-off is lower average project budgets and less rigorous vetting of clients. Casting Call Club: primarily non-union, community and indie projects, low pay but good for building credits and experience. Voice Realm: free to join, clients pay per project. Mandy.com: film and media jobs including VO narration. ProductionHub: corporate and broadcast production work. Free sites are good for starting out, building portfolio recordings, and getting comfortable with the audition process, but budget your time against the lower average project values. A hybrid approach works well: use free sites to build early credits while investing in a P2P subscription as your demo and technique improve.

Pro Tips

Your demo is your most important marketing tool. A mediocre demo on every platform will produce mediocre results. One great demo on fewer platforms produces better results. Invest in a professionally produced demo before spending heavily on platform subscriptions.
Track your audition-to-booking ratio over time. An 8 to 12% callback rate on auditions is healthy for established talent. Far below that suggests the demo or technique needs work. Far above suggests you're not auditioning broadly enough.
Build a website. A professional VO website with an embedded demo player, testimonials, and a contact form legitimises your business and gives clients a destination when you reach out directly.
The VO business is heavily relationship-driven. Clients who book you and are happy return with repeat work. Deliver on time, be easy to work with, and follow up after delivery to check the client is satisfied. That habit builds a career faster than any platform.

Knowledge Base

What You'll Learn

Find and land voiceover work as a freelancer. Learn platforms, pitching, rates, and how to build a sustainable VO career. From side gig to full-time income.

Where to Find VO Work

Voices.com: Largest VO platform. Thousands of jobs daily. Competitive bidding.
Fiverr: Gig-based. Set your own rate ($5-500+). High volume, lower per-project rates.
Upwork: Similar to Fiverr. Better client vetting. More established projects.
Local Studios/Producers: Direct relationships. Ask if they need VO talent.
Agents: Best path long-term. Take 10-20% commission but land bigger projects.

Pricing Strategy

Commercial (30-60 sec): $200-500 buyout. Can be $1000+ for broadcast.
Corporate Video: $250-500 total. Usually 5-10 minutes of narration.
Audiobook (per finished hour): $0.04-0.10. 1 finished hour = 3-4 hours work.
E-learning: $0.05-0.15 per finished minute.

Professionalism Wins

Deliver on time, every time. Provide multiple takes (enthusiasm level variations). Be easy to work with. Respond to feedback without ego. Clients remember professionals and hire them repeatedly.

Where This Fits

This guide covers one specific part of podcasting. The wider picture. The whole setup from equipment and recording through editing, publishing, and handling remote guests, is in Best Podcast Setup for Beginners, which frames the discipline as a whole and links out to the detailed guides underneath it, including this one. If you are starting from scratch rather than solving a specific problem, read that first and come back here.

FAQ

Q: Can I do both Fiverr and Upwork?
A: Yes. Fiverr for quick gigs, Upwork for bigger projects. Some clients use both platforms.