Children's Book Pricing Question
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@donnamakesart while working with an independent author can be a great learning experience for you, $500 is way too low. I get paid $3500 per book I work with on an author friend, and while I acknowledge that is still too low it’s also not my primary source of income, it’s something I use to build up my savings and have some fun money. $500 is definitely less than minimum wage.
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@donnamakesart If the book is 24 pages it would take me minimum 3-4 months full time to illustrate it. $500 is barely enough to cover 1 week of expenses, so for the remaining 11-15 weeks I'd be in a hell of a pickle. Truthfully, at $500 per book you're literally losing money working on this.
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I agree with what others have said about the price. It is not a fair price.
Book illustrations are not well paid in small European countries such as Norway (Where i live). This is mainly because the market size is really small. But still, a 32 pages picture book is paid around 2500-3000USD, and with 10% royalty (a lot higher loyalty compared In the US and UK).
I would be careful with "paid internship" approach with an independent author. I am just not sure what she/he can teach you. Also royalty is a tricky question with a self-publishing author.
I know everyone is different. If you decide to do the project, make sure to get creative freedom, and also enough time to produce something you are proud of, and useful for your portfolio.
I also agree with David about accepting one book at a time, rather than 3. Depending on your style, three picture books may take you more than a year to do. The commitment is big for 3 books.
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@xin-li I agree - most authors are inexperienced and relying on us to tell them how to publish their books, so we receive little guidance and end up guiding THEM! Honestly some Google research would be a better use of your time, @donnamakesart You're a very good artist and your worth is worth so much more.
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Thank you everyone for the feedback! They really helped put things in perspective.
@mag Thanks so much for sharing your experience with working on similar projects. Yes, I agree. Rushing the project would not be a good experience for me or the client and I would just end up with work I wouldn't want in my portfolio.
@davidhohn Yes, I'm so thankful that we have a forum like this! I was pretty flattered and excited to have someone inquire for children's book but I thought I would hear a pro's perspective before saying yes and I'm so glad I did!
I asked some follow up questions as you suggested and, after weighing the pros and cons, decided to do my own project instead.
@Melissa-Bailey-0 @lpetiti This is a goldmine of information! Thank you for being transparent with the numbers. Living in a third world country, I'm used to very low pay. Having an international perspective on things opened my eyes to possibilities!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donnamakesart/
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Website: https://donnamakesart.com/ -
@xin-li The comment on "internship approach" with fellow beginners was really great food for thought. I was still willing to give it a try but when he mentioned how he had a specific style and vision for how the book was to be illustrated, I decided to do my own project instead.
@NessIllustration thank you so much for the kind words! It truly means a lot
and yes, I'm probably better off doing Google research than being tied to a project I might not be proud of for 3 months :)) -
@donnamakesart you're very welcome! Your art is beautiful -- keep up the good work and well-paying jobs are sure to come along!
illustrator - author - smiley person
mbaileyart.com
instagram.com/mbaileyart/ -
@melissa-bailey-0 thank you for the vote of confidence! It means a lot
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@donnamakesart Honestly, you deserve better. That's hard to say when you're the one taking or refusing the job, but consider that if you're locked up doing this for a year and you get a better offer, you can't take it! You also won't be free to concentrate on your own priorities in your work.
Also, @NessIllustration says in her YouTube video about mistakes beginning illustrators make (I recommend it!), a huge one is asking too little. Oddly, there is a correspondence between how much you charge and how others view you as a professional. And also, asking too little hurts other artists because it feeds the idea that artists aren't worth their own time. This is especially true when you end up making less than you would doing a minimum wage job that has nothing to do with illustration.
And while it's true that there are self-published books that really look professional, there are many more that don't, and it's even rarer that they get professional publishing eyeballs on them. Also, it's unlikely that they would sell enough books to pay you royalties.
Again, maybe I'm not one to talk, but I do feel strongly about this. One only has so many years to work, so use it as strategically as possible. Keep plugging away, because I feel confident that you will make it!
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@lauraa Very true! If we charge $5 people will think "Ohh, this crap is only worth 5 dollars" but if we charge $5,000 they will think "Wow! This is top of the line art worth $5,000!" There's a direct correlation to our price and how much they respect and value our work and our time. Clients who have paid more tend to respect our expertise more, give us more room to do our thing and cherish the finished product more. On the other hand, they expect an impeccable work ethic, active communication at every step and all the deadlines to be met.
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This would be appropriate pricing for a cover but for a book this is insulting in my opinion. Think about how much you want to earn per hour and from there figure out how long it would take you to illustrate a book. That should give you a good idea of what you should be getting paid. It’s great to get work and it’s tempting to take projects but I think your time and your artwork is worth more than this project. You’d get some good portfolio pieces out of it but if I were you I would instead spend that time working on my own projects which will also generate portfolio material.
