Hi all. I have just found an artist for my children's picture book. How much do authors pay illustrators? I am self-publishing so he isn't interested in royalties.
Any advice would be great.
Thank you.
Hi all. I have just found an artist for my children's picture book. How much do authors pay illustrators? I am self-publishing so he isn't interested in royalties.
Any advice would be great.
Thank you.
Joanne, could you possibly give a little info on how/where you found your artist? I've got a couple of manuscripts for children's books in final draft (well revised at least half a dozen times each over 6 months) and I am now looking to find an illustrator or even an agent/publisher who can connect me with one.
I can fully understand why an illustrator would prefer a set fee to royalties for a self-published book. I imagine that most self-published books (especially if “self”-published using one of those self-publishing services that charge 100s of pounds for lay-out, provision of ISBN, and either printing or data-storage-for-printing-on-demand) lose money rather than making it, and a set fee means that the illustrator gets paid whether the book sells or not.
And even if the book is a self-publishing best-seller, and the illustrator makes less with the set fee than they would have done on royalties, they now have a best-seller for their CV. A CV that you have paid to enhance at no [financial] risk to them.
I imagine that you’ll have to decide how much you’re willing to lose (always HOPING that you won’t) on the venture, and bargain like crazy over the price per illustration.
I don’t know prices in the UK, but years ago, a (small) Spanish publisher was offering 200€ for the cover illustration and 120€ for each interior, full-page, full-colour illustration AS ADVANCE (possible royalties later if the book sold well).
I don’t think an illustrator would be justified in expecting that much from a self-publishing author.
Personally, if I were you, I’d search a bit longer for an illustrator willing to share the risk… unless the present one is just “perfect” for your work. I wonder if you tried to find an interested art student (for example), they might be happy to expand their CV.
There is no fixed rate, it all varies from artist to artist and per project. Some will charge per hour, others have set fees.
As an illustrator and cover artist myself, I tend to quote per project, based on the brief and amount of work.
But if you have a specific budget then the artist needs to know that from the outset, as to whether an agreement can be made.
You usually get what you pay for...