Author book copies?
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Hi everyone, just wanted some quick thoughts on something…
Several months ago I had an author reach out to me through social media saying he liked my work and wanted to hire me to design book covers for his middle grade books.
I don’t have an agent, so this is freelance work that I agreed to do for a small amount of money. He was fine to work with, but I see now that they are published and available through both Amazon and B&N, and he hasn’t offered me any copies of the book.
Now, I know that there was no verbal or written agreement for him to give me copies for free, but I just figured it was a courtesy that authors would do (at least I would if I were an author).
Would it be tacky of me to ask for copies, or should I just let it go and order my own copies?
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I think it would be worth it to ask the author for copies. The author can buy them for significantly cheeper as author copies and send them straight to your address. Even if they wanted reimbursement, your bill would be lower, and that seems like the fair way for you to get books as the cover designer. Hope everything goes well!
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@jvartandillustration Free copies aren't an automatic thing. Even with real publishers, if it's not in your contract it's not happening. For authors especially, many of them don't know much at all about the publishing process and I wouldn't be surprised if your author doesn't even realize free author copies are a thing.
You definitely should have asked before, but since you can't go back in time, you have nothing to lose by asking now. Just say you forgot or something, worst that can happen is a no
