Comment on PAY RATE OF THE COMIC ARTIST by TheInkPages
I appreciate your stance on this point but the risk is just as big for the new talent.
I have worked with a publisher which has had that exact problem; he'd sign up a new talent to work on a book. Half way through they got snapped up by the likes of DC and Marvel leaving him with a half-finished book having already paid them. As such, he has changed his strategy; artists get a percentage of profits from their book once published rather than paying them per page.
Sounds fair. only problem is that I’ve spent 9 months working on a comic for him that he failed to market properly and then messed up the distribution on so that retailers like Amazon.com didn't get their copies till 3 months after release. And after all that, I won't be getting a penny for 9 months hard work despite the comic selling well because at the end of the year, his company hasn't made a profit. Now where others may get sour about this, I’m not cos i understood right from the moment i decided to be a career comic artist that I’d probably not make any money to start with.
Like you say, it's about being upfront and everyone has the right to say 'no'. If people find my fees to high, then they too are entitled to say 'no' and I’m entitled to say I’ll do it for less - if i think the risk worth it.
On the whole, the issue of risk is i think another article for another day. What i wanted to highlight is the lack of clear guidance on the appropriate rate to charge. But rightly pointed out, all these things (royalties included) make it hard to set a standard fee cost to follow. There are so many variables.
Thanks for your point of view.
I have worked with a publisher which has had that exact problem; he'd sign up a new talent to work on a book. Half way through they got snapped up by the likes of DC and Marvel leaving him with a half-finished book having already paid them. As such, he has changed his strategy; artists get a percentage of profits from their book once published rather than paying them per page.
Sounds fair. only problem is that I’ve spent 9 months working on a comic for him that he failed to market properly and then messed up the distribution on so that retailers like Amazon.com didn't get their copies till 3 months after release. And after all that, I won't be getting a penny for 9 months hard work despite the comic selling well because at the end of the year, his company hasn't made a profit. Now where others may get sour about this, I’m not cos i understood right from the moment i decided to be a career comic artist that I’d probably not make any money to start with.
Like you say, it's about being upfront and everyone has the right to say 'no'. If people find my fees to high, then they too are entitled to say 'no' and I’m entitled to say I’ll do it for less - if i think the risk worth it.
On the whole, the issue of risk is i think another article for another day. What i wanted to highlight is the lack of clear guidance on the appropriate rate to charge. But rightly pointed out, all these things (royalties included) make it hard to set a standard fee cost to follow. There are so many variables.
Thanks for your point of view.