Im not sure why, but I have had an influx of people asking me to do their book covers lately....and not wanting to spend more than $20. I think they get insulted when I decline. Yes, I know there are people out there who charge that, and no, for what they want, I wont be one of them. This is my reasoning. So, lets have a breakdown...again...shall we? (Yes, I hear some of you groaning, but this seems to be a growing epidemic) If I make a cover, it takes a bare minimum of two royalty free photographs (I could do one, but thats slapping some words on a picture, and come on! Anyone can do that in Windows Paint, for bloody hell sakes) 1 for the model(s) and 1 for the background. 1) I spend anywhere from 1-4 hours, if not more, searching for photographs. a) each credit is $1.00 (if not more). Each photo, with proper size to accommodate use for printing materials, and maintaining a clear image is 4-6 credits. EACH photo is $4-$6. With two photos, its average $10.00. Most covers cost me $25-$40 2) Oh, you want a chalice in her hand, a sword in his, but you LOVE the models who are empty handed? Add $10.00. Oh damn, you need a ghost/house/horse in the background? Add $5.00. 3) They dont like the hair, skin, hair colors. They want a different hair style. They changed their mind last minute on the model. Add a few hours of time, and more money, plus the money I lost on the first model, and they dont want to pay for (Trust me, I get that one a lot) 4) a minimum of two drafts, but I have had to do more than that in full drafts, or small tweaks, depending on the project. In closing. Add up the variables. 2-10 hours of my time, plus $25.00-$40.00 in disbursements. But they want to pay $20.00 total? That makes what I made off of the cover way in the red. So red, I dont even know why I got out of bed in the morning. It was far more worth my time to stay under the covers and watch a movie. I wont even get into how much Abode Cloud costs us every month. Or the price of my internet, or my laptop, or drawing tablet. Dont insult artists by asking them to pay less than 50% of their fee schedule. $60.00 for an e-book cover, or $100.00 might sound like a lot, and if sounds like too much, go back and do the math. The next time, you know that maybe even two thirds of that went to expenses, and they only made $20.00 for all that time it took to make your dream real. Us, as artists? We still have to pay the bills.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 18:11:38 +0000
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