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VO folks - what constitutes a "revision"?


kitbatyvo

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Hello everyone!

I have been on Fiverr a handful of months now, and luckily have found some success. Of course, as my workload increases, so does the probability for issues to arise. My question to you is - what do you call a “revision”?

Is a revision:

A) When the client isn’t happy with the tone of the read? Or maybe you mispronounced a name or other word in the read? Something that is 100% the VO talent’s fault. OR

B) When you have recorded the script as provided, and the client comes back with a new sentence to replace a sentence in the script. Or a paragraph. Or just wants a new sentence tacked onto the end with his web URL in it.

C) Both A and B

Asking for a friend! 🙂

thanks,
Kit

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I’m not a VO artist but my opinion of revisions is that you do them no matter what they are unless you specify in the gig description or questions exactly what you will or won’t do.

If it’s not specifically written out in the description then you have to do them.

If you don’t want that then say you do not offer revisions, or create an extra for your gig that offers for example one revision for $15. That way you can charge for them and send that offer when they ask for them.

Revisions included with no exceptions are really opening a can of worms for sellers.

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I’m not a VO artist but my opinion of revisions is that you do them no matter what they are unless you specify in the gig description or questions exactly what you will or won’t do.

If it’s not specifically written out in the description then you have to do them.

If you don’t want that then say you do not offer revisions, or create an extra for your gig that offers for example one revision for $15. That way you can charge for them and send that offer when they ask for them.

Revisions included with no exceptions are really opening a can of worms for sellers.

I’m not a VO artist but my opinion of revisions is that you do them no matter what they are unless you specify in the gig description or questions exactly what you will or won’t do.

I agree, and I’d say that this goes for pretty much any gig. Different people will define ‘revision’ in different ways, not to mention that some indecisive folks (or those who hired you for their indecisive clients) will keep hitting the revision button over and over and over again even if you do nothing wrong. So, it’s up to every seller to define exactly what they’ll do as a revision, and what will cost extra.

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On fiverr, I work with the context of providing the lowest possible rate for the client - which means a basic service - which doesn’t include revisions. On other sites, I charge more, so view revisions differently of course.

On fiverr, for me, a revision should be paid for either A or B.

If the client isn’t happy with the tone of the read - is that because they have asked for something in particular and you haven’t provided it (in which case - you should revise for no charge, but in my experience is a rare situation) or because they didn’t specify or were very vague about what they want and their voiceover has turned out differently to what they had in mind - which is not the VO talents fault.

Also - if there are any words that you have mispronounced - for me I often find it is business names, people names, place names, then the VO artist should ask the client to provide that information before recording and if they don’t, then they are charged for a revision. I admit, I can be a little soft with that, but it is super frustrating if someone doesn’t tell you how something should be said, then you have to completely re-do the work, because you weren’t told in the first place. Again - not the VO talent’s fault - it came from the client’s assumption you would know how they want everything in the script said/pronounced.

For B - changes to the script should always be a paid revision.

By the way - I specify my revision policy on all my gigs - in the description, in the instructions etc and I recommend that all sellers do that - as it makes it so much easier to back yourself when a client asks for a free revision or when you send them the extra request for the revision. My gigs state no revisions unless I make a mistake (which I would naturally always correct for free).

@misscrystal it is really hard to set a price in advance for a revision for a VO - as it depends on what they want changed and the scope of their original work. For example, a change on a 15 second phone greeting, is far quicker and easier to make, than completely re-doing a 5 minute voiceover because the client has now decided they want it fun and friendly when they originally asked for corporate.

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On fiverr, I work with the context of providing the lowest possible rate for the client - which means a basic service - which doesn’t include revisions. On other sites, I charge more, so view revisions differently of course.

On fiverr, for me, a revision should be paid for either A or B.

If the client isn’t happy with the tone of the read - is that because they have asked for something in particular and you haven’t provided it (in which case - you should revise for no charge, but in my experience is a rare situation) or because they didn’t specify or were very vague about what they want and their voiceover has turned out differently to what they had in mind - which is not the VO talents fault.

Also - if there are any words that you have mispronounced - for me I often find it is business names, people names, place names, then the VO artist should ask the client to provide that information before recording and if they don’t, then they are charged for a revision. I admit, I can be a little soft with that, but it is super frustrating if someone doesn’t tell you how something should be said, then you have to completely re-do the work, because you weren’t told in the first place. Again - not the VO talent’s fault - it came from the client’s assumption you would know how they want everything in the script said/pronounced.

For B - changes to the script should always be a paid revision.

By the way - I specify my revision policy on all my gigs - in the description, in the instructions etc and I recommend that all sellers do that - as it makes it so much easier to back yourself when a client asks for a free revision or when you send them the extra request for the revision. My gigs state no revisions unless I make a mistake (which I would naturally always correct for free).

@misscrystal it is really hard to set a price in advance for a revision for a VO - as it depends on what they want changed and the scope of their original work. For example, a change on a 15 second phone greeting, is far quicker and easier to make, than completely re-doing a 5 minute voiceover because the client has now decided they want it fun and friendly when they originally asked for corporate.

It takes a very carefully written gig description to say what is or is not included and some VO artists do not include revisions at all for anything unless a clear mistake was made.

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It takes a very carefully written gig description to say what is or is not included and some VO artists do not include revisions at all for anything unless a clear mistake was made.

I think all gigs - VO or otherwise, should be carefully/clearly written to say what they will and won’t include - good for the seller and the buyer 😄

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On fiverr, I work with the context of providing the lowest possible rate for the client - which means a basic service - which doesn’t include revisions. On other sites, I charge more, so view revisions differently of course.

On fiverr, for me, a revision should be paid for either A or B.

If the client isn’t happy with the tone of the read - is that because they have asked for something in particular and you haven’t provided it (in which case - you should revise for no charge, but in my experience is a rare situation) or because they didn’t specify or were very vague about what they want and their voiceover has turned out differently to what they had in mind - which is not the VO talents fault.

Also - if there are any words that you have mispronounced - for me I often find it is business names, people names, place names, then the VO artist should ask the client to provide that information before recording and if they don’t, then they are charged for a revision. I admit, I can be a little soft with that, but it is super frustrating if someone doesn’t tell you how something should be said, then you have to completely re-do the work, because you weren’t told in the first place. Again - not the VO talent’s fault - it came from the client’s assumption you would know how they want everything in the script said/pronounced.

For B - changes to the script should always be a paid revision.

By the way - I specify my revision policy on all my gigs - in the description, in the instructions etc and I recommend that all sellers do that - as it makes it so much easier to back yourself when a client asks for a free revision or when you send them the extra request for the revision. My gigs state no revisions unless I make a mistake (which I would naturally always correct for free).

@misscrystal it is really hard to set a price in advance for a revision for a VO - as it depends on what they want changed and the scope of their original work. For example, a change on a 15 second phone greeting, is far quicker and easier to make, than completely re-doing a 5 minute voiceover because the client has now decided they want it fun and friendly when they originally asked for corporate.

Thank you for your post, Sue!

It pretty much sums up my own revision policy too.

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It takes a very carefully written gig description to say what is or is not included and some VO artists do not include revisions at all for anything unless a clear mistake was made.

It takes a very carefully written gig description to say what is or is not included and some VO artists do not include revisions at all for anything unless a clear mistake was made.

That’s what I do. You need to specify exactly what is eligible. For me the following is posted in the gig description and in every custom offer.

***** Note: This offer does not include revisions. *****

Mistakes will be fixed at no charge. If the script says “John loves apples” but I say “John loves apple”, that is eligible for revision. However, revisions for tone, inflection, tempo or due to script changes are not mistakes, and do not qualify for free revisions.

Be sure to provide pronunciations. Words, names, places or brands for which you have not provided a pronunciation will not be covered for revision. You can record a pronunciation file on your phone, send a YouTube link that contains the correct pronunciation or you can include phonetic notations in the script. This is important because, for example, between 2 of my Australian clients, one prefers Mel-BORN, while the other likes Mel-BERN. Please make sure I know what you expect, it saves you time and additional cost.

Minimum charge for revision is $20. Revisions will be delivered in 3 days even if original order was rush delivery, unless additional rush fee is paid.

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It takes a very carefully written gig description to say what is or is not included and some VO artists do not include revisions at all for anything unless a clear mistake was made.

That’s what I do. You need to specify exactly what is eligible. For me the following is posted in the gig description and in every custom offer.

***** Note: This offer does not include revisions. *****

Mistakes will be fixed at no charge. If the script says “John loves apples” but I say “John loves apple”, that is eligible for revision. However, revisions for tone, inflection, tempo or due to script changes are not mistakes, and do not qualify for free revisions.

Be sure to provide pronunciations. Words, names, places or brands for which you have not provided a pronunciation will not be covered for revision. You can record a pronunciation file on your phone, send a YouTube link that contains the correct pronunciation or you can include phonetic notations in the script. This is important because, for example, between 2 of my Australian clients, one prefers Mel-BORN, while the other likes Mel-BERN. Please make sure I know what you expect, it saves you time and additional cost.

Minimum charge for revision is $20. Revisions will be delivered in 3 days even if original order was rush delivery, unless additional rush fee is paid.

That’s the best description I’ve seen of revision policy.

Will all that fit in the custom offer description box?

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That’s the best description I’ve seen of revision policy.

Will all that fit in the custom offer description box?

Yes it all fits. That was crafted over time, adding something each time someone asked for a revision that I felt was unwarranted. The funny part was having to spell out what defined a mistake. Some would say, “you made a mistake and read it too fast”. :rofl:

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Great insight by all, thank you. I haven’t had an issue yet - as far as a client returning multiple times in one gig… but I do have some good clients (25+ orders) who periodically will come back once and ask to re-record a sentence because they got made a mistake in the script, or their client changed something (like a phone number or URL). I do see the need to include something more concrete in my gig descriptions, however. I will be doing that soon!

Thanks again!

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