Ep. 316 - Should You Pay for Voice123 or Voices.com? When to Join a Pay-to-Play Site, with Gabby Nistico

Send us Fan Mail Should a new voice actor pay for Voice123 or Voices.com? I used to say wait a couple of years. I've changed my mind, because I've seen people join in their first month and start getting work. So the question isn't when to join. It's whether you're going to use it. These are audition sites. If you pay and then don't audition, you really have wasted your money. Gabby Nistico adds the other half: treat it like a business investment. Fill every audio category, write your profile for the buyer, and learn how that one site works. We also talk about your availability during the work day, the red flags to look for before you pay any coach or school, and how the Academy Voices audiobook store works. (00:00) Welcome, with Gabby Nistico (01:04) Why this question keeps coming up (01:40) Why I changed my mind (02:43) The real danger: paying and not auditioning (03:05) Gabby: treat it like a business investment (05:11) Don't aim to just make your money back (05:58) Audition sites are not Fiverr (06:50) Are you available during the day? (07:42) Why I started with audiobooks (09:01) What changed when I went full time (09:58) Why fast replies win clients (12:09) How the Academy Voices store and app work (15:02) Why royalty share got a bad name (17:59) Why there are no Audible codes for our titles (19:33) Uploaded the wrong file to ACX? (20:34) Red flags before you hand over money (22:50) Gabby: what to expect from a coach (25:56) Fixing an audiobook after it's published Narrating Spicy Romance, live workshop, Sunday 25 October at 7pm ET ($27, replay included): https://www.avosjourney.com/spicy-romance-workshop?src=podcast Sit in on our live VO Journey Academy classes free this week, through Thursday 15 October: https://www.avosjourney.com/free-class-week-october-2026?src=podcast Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xRZYefgFZPo Support the show Social Links:    Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/anthony_pica_vo/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/AVOsJOURNEY Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/avosjourney/  LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonypicavo/