Author Illustrator Contract

[JDRpictures]

Hi all! I was wondering if anyone had a good working Author and Illustrator Contract for a self-published book. If you do please link me! Also what are some important things you would include? I have often put in the illustrator has the right to the illustrations and authors have been put off by that. What are your thoughts on who has rights to the illustration images?

Thank you I’m advance for any insights

[lpetiti]

@JDRpictures if they want your rights signed away they should pay handsomely for it. The truth is many self published authors think “oh what about tv or merchandising”. From experience…the three books I’ve illustrated that were self published on Amazon haven’t made my payments back in profits much less become popular enough to warrant merchandising.

My opinion is stick to your guns and explain why authors don’t need the rights (gently but firmly)

[JDRpictures]

@lpetiti Thank you Lauren! Sounds like you know from experience!

[NessIllustration]

@JDRpictures Even most big publishers don't usually ask for a buyout of the rights. Truth is, buyouts are expensive and there's no reason to get all the rights just to be able to publish a book. Authors ask for rights because they're inexperienced and don't understand how things work in the industry. Also, many online courses teaching how to self-publish are advising them to get all the rights.

What they don't say is that doing so is supposed to be super expensive. Authors only get away with getting all rights for free when illustrators are inexperienced and don't understand the value of their copyrights. All in all, the common author/illustrator contract where the author gets all copyrights and the illustrator doesn't get jack in return is really, really different from how a proper publishing contract usually goes.

[JDRpictures]

@NessIllustration great perspective! Much appreciated

[Melissa_Bailey]

@JDRpictures you can access sample illustration contracts online -- just a word of caution: it's best to do some research into the website/blogger to make sure they're experienced and legit. You don't want to get advice from someone who doesn't know what they're talking about.

A few resources that were a great help when I was coming up with my own illustration contract template:

• What Should Go Into an Illustration Contract from the Business of Illustration blog.

• SCBWI's The Book: The Essential Guide to Publishing for Children -- specifically their sample book illustration contract. While it is geared to traditional publishing and so is much longer and much more complicated than most self-publishing contracts, it's also a great example of what is industry standard for children's book illustration. There is a lot of other great information too.

• Publishing Contracts - the Basics by the AOI (Association of Illustrators) -- this organization is based in the UK so there are slight differences, but most of their advice is solid and fits the US market. They offer more resources to members but there are some free resources on their website.

If you're interested in reading my contract template, I'm happy to share it -- send me a private message with your email and I'll send it to you. Please keep in mind that I'm not a lawyer and am not giving legal advice. It's always a good idea to consult a publishing attorney, especially if you don't have experience with publishing contracts.

Another resource I recently found that you might also find helpful: Everything You Need to Know About Illustrator Agreements from author-illustrator Ariel Mendez's blog. It's not everything you need to know, but it's good stuff!

And lastly, regarding rights to illustration images: when I was getting started, most of my jobs were work for hire (i.e. the client owns the copyright). Now, I keep my copyright unless I'm given good incentive to sign over all rights to my work. As @NessIllustration said, there's really no reason that an author needs to own the copyright to the illustrations, but most self-publishers are told that they NEED to own all rights. Most of the time, a simple explanation is enough for most authors. What I've been doing lately is, when an author asks my illustration prices, I send them a quote with a range of options. The last option is what it would cost for them to own all rights to the artwork. This gives the author the freedom to choose -- and it pretty much eliminates the "but I need all rights to the artwork" conversation.

Whew! Threw a lot at you. Hope you find it helpful.

[JDRpictures]

@Melissa_Bailey Wow thank you so much for ALL of those resources. I will look through it all and message you for further information. Again wow I really appreciate how thorough this was!

[Melissa_Bailey]

@JDRpictures you're so welcome!