Is the industry standard pay for a children's book still $8,000 in 2024?

[Michael Angelo Go]

Is the industry standard still $8,000?

I only ask because of the state of inflation here in the United States in the past few years.

Do we update our rates as inflation occurs, or does it stay stagnant for several years?

[Jason Crowley]

Yikes that's low - it'd take me 4-6 months to illustrate and design a book in my style. I heard it was $15,000, and perhaps $25k if you're both illustrator and author. But maybe that's when you're agented and they can help negotiate deals for you.

I've also heard that the more books you do the more you can charge for future books, but that's only if previous works do well-ish. If not then it becomes super hard to get a good deal as you become more of a risk to the publisher.

Having said all that, this is all knowledge from listening to podcasts as I haven't been published (yet), so I'm sure those who have been published will have some more up to date numbers!

[kayleenartlover]

@Michael-Angelo-Go 10,000 is the minimum I was recommended, you could also say $35/hour is your rate if you are working with someone who wants to self-publish and is asking for your hourly rate. However, $8k would be worth it if it is your first book deal and guaranteed pay. If there is potential for them to want to hire you for a second book later, and their preferred budget is $8k, you could say your business is $10k but with 2k discount for the first book only.
It really depends who you're making a deal with.

I am not a published illustrator but the person who said $10k should be minimum is a successful author/illustrator.

Also think about how many months a book is supposed to take to make. The amount of months it takes, the higher you should be compensated for plus your skills and experience. $8k would be equal to maybe 3 months of a regular full-time job after taxes. You have to set money aside for stuff like that. Books usually take 6-12 months.

[NessIllustration]

@Michael-Angelo-Go That was even on the low end before. The average range was $8,000 - $12,000 and that was several years ago. That's for beginners too - you have to adjust for experience, and definitely for inflation. Bottom line is, if you need more to make a living, charge more. Don't fixate so much about "industry standards".

[MirkaH]

@Michael-Angelo-Go I feel like there is a wide breadth depending on size of publisher and how well they expect it to sell. In the last 5 years, I've been paid anywhere from $1000- $17,000, with the first 2 contracts being the lowest with tiny publishers to get my foot in the door, and then between $10,000-$17,000 with more established publishers. At this point w my experience, I really hope to not get an offer under $15,000 anymore, and hope to work on about 3 books a year at various stages of completion to make a doable income from it. But time will tell how I can keep that up.