Selling Audio Content and Voice Notes

Audio is the most overlooked category on the marketplace. No lighting, no face, no parcel, no stock, no postage. You can record it in bed with the lights off and it costs you nothing but time. And there are buyers who want it more than they want images.

Why buyers buy audio

Presence. Audio is intimate in a way a photograph is not, because it feels directed at one person. It is also portable and private, and a buyer can listen to it anywhere without a screen showing anything. For buyers who value discretion above everything, audio is the ideal product.

The setup

Your phone. That is it. Record in a small soft room, a bedroom with curtains and a bed beats a kitchen with hard surfaces. Hold the phone close, about a hand's width, not at arm's length. Turn off anything humming. Do one test recording and listen to it on headphones, because your phone speaker hides everything that is wrong with it.

Length and structure

Two to five minutes. Have a shape in your head before you start: a beginning, a middle, an end. Do not script it word for word, because read scripts sound read. Bullet points, then talk. If you fluff a line, pause and say it again rather than restarting, because you can cut the gap later and restarting wastes the take.

Pricing and add ons

Generic audio prices modestly. Personalised audio, using the buyer's name or referencing what they asked for, prices at a multiple, because it is one to one and cannot be resold. Voice notes are also the best add on in the business: sixty seconds, recorded on the day, going in with a worn item order. It costs you a minute and it is exactly the kind of personal extra that makes custom requests profitable.

Delivery and limits

Deliver through the marketplace, same as everything else. Set your limits before you take a request, and say no to scripts you are not comfortable reading. It is a performance, not a contract, and it is still your voice.

Record a sixty second voice note tonight, listen to it on headphones, and offer it as a five pound add on to your next order. That is the whole entry into the category.