The biggest magic trick the Freelancer ever pulled was convincing his client to actually pay him a fair wage.
You want to make it in this business, kid, you gotta get paid. So how do you figure out how what to charge?
You can turn to the Graphic Artists Guild Pricing Guide for some reference if you're just starting out. But unless you live in New York or LA (lower Alabama I'm not talking about) those prices are going to be spit-took when the client hears them.
So HOW do you get paid? The easiest way is to negotiate with respectable clients.
First and foremost, make sure you agree up front (and in writing) that you WILL be paid. Not only do I use a formal contract I also insist on ALL communication between me and clients to be via email-- why? Because then I have a paper trail-- I can re-read emails for project details and I have essentially a written correspondence regarding the agreement of trade. Keep the email conversation in a chain— i.e. so you can scroll back and see what was said. Update the Subject line so that you can find a particular conversation quickly. Just keep it professional and remember this is a client/provider relationship.
Cause that's what it is-- the client is trading you something (preferably cash) for your services to provide.
When you first hang your freelance shingle up you're going to get approached by a LOT of people offering you work either on SPEC or "for the exposure". Here's a cold hard truth-- unless that company offering you exposure is Time Magazine it's not worth it-- and guess what? Time Magazine actually pays you for work so the point is moot.
This brings up the basic formula of work:
1. Work on Spec - You'll get paid after publication based on the number of copies sold because your work appears in it. I HATE these deals. HATE 'em. If you're going to work on SPEC then work ONLY on something you OWN. In the comics world writers can whip out a 22 page story in a day or two, an artist will take a month or longer if they have a full time job. Yet SO many writers and publishers of small companies offer you spec for payment with ZERO equity in the product. BAD. Make sure if you're providing the artwork you are getting a share of the profits. If you’re hired on spec to provide an illustration, or worse, for donation purposes (for exposure) make the image something that you could sell prints of afterwards to turn your time into money.
2. Work for hire-- You'll get paid up-front or upon completion but you will own nothing. You are solely providing a service, like a plumber installing a new bathroom for you-- they can't come over and use it any time they want just because they installed it. Same thing here, you do the work, you get paid and that's it. This is how the vast majority of publishing works.
3. Royalty Work-- You get paid up front or upon completion of the work and you will get a royalty based on the number of copies sold or you negotiate for additional payments if the image is re-used, or you set a limit to how often it can be used.
How do you negotiate?
I use a simple method when someone contacts me-- here's how I handle it and it works 85% of the time:
"Hi Andy-- we LOVE your work and we have (such and such) we think you'd be PERFECT for! We were wondering if you'd have time and what such a project would cost?"
"Great! Thanks! What's the budget?"
That's as involved as it gets, now keep in mind there are a couple other factors--
A- I look over the project that they're talking about and make sure I understand exactly what it is they are looking to hire me for. I listen carefully to what they’re describing and trying to figure out if I can “see” what they’re looking for. If I can’t see it in my head as they describe it this might not be a good fit for me. But asking for their budget is essential.
B- I calculate a rough budget and time frame in which I can deliver it so I have a number in my head.
Now if that client has a project that I REALLY dig, or if they happen to make me laugh in the proposal AND they show that they've actually LOOKED at my work that will go a long way towards keeping my price down. Steve Altes, when he reached out to me about his graphic novel GEEKS AND GREEKS, not only referenced specific works I'd done but he made me laugh. His online presence was tremendous and he happened to mention a record album he had been looking at that day- and by sheer coincidence I had looked at the same exact one (a vintage one at that) -- I knew it was instant Karma and this was a guy I not only wanted to work with but I found a new friend.
Ok, so about 85% of the time the client will come back with a budget they had in mind. On the 15% of the time they don't I have to give them a number. I've been doing this a long time so I can come up with a number pretty quickly.
I use a simple equation:
WHAT DO I NEED to pay the bills this month?
HOW busy am I?
How LONG will this take?
How badly do I want to do this project?
Let's say you pay yourself an hourly wage of $100/hour and that is what you consider your IDEAL rate. Ideal= you're in good shape bills wise so it's okay if you lose this job.
Factor in the number of hours you expect this to take (a good rule of thumb is to double whatever number you come up with because you're likely to underestimate how much work this'll be).
ASK and UNDERSTAND what your royalties will or won't be. If it's none then you need to up the price a bit. If it's being used for commercial purposes what kind of permissions are you granting? Someone who hires you to design a T-Shirt for a Cub Scout fundraiser shouldn't have to pay the same amount as someone who is hiring you to design a T-shirt for their website that they will then sell in perpetuity with no royalties on those sales.
This is the point where you're going to hear about the magic of exposure. Exposure means you should do this cheap because of the fame you will gain.
I just don't buy into that. I DO free work that I donate to Charity Auctions like Art In The City or the Boys and Girls Club. I do it because I believe in the cause and if it's lead to any exposure no one has mentioned it to me. Full disclosure— I used to donate to a community medical clinic’s annual fundraiser— the pieces I would donate generated a good amount of money. One time back when I was starting out and I didn’t have health insurance I went there with an emergency and they turned me away. Note— the for profit hospital I went to next admitted me, so this was a serious situation. I tell them to get lost when they call me every year now.
In fact you can get a lot of exposure just by building yourself a decent web-presence, but that's next week's lesson.
All right so let's assume they've given you all the details of the project and you want to do it, and it fits in your schedule and it seems to be a good mix for you.
You figure how many hours-- let's say 10 to keep the math easy-- double it because you know how bad you are at figuring how much work something is going to be and you have that hourly rate-- in this case $100/hour which brings us to a grand total of $2000/USD for 20 hours of work granting them whatever useage rights you are comfortable with. NOTE: Specify the currency you'll be paid in. USD = US DOLLARS. It's a world economy now.
A good rule of thumb is if they aren't going to pay you royalties then add 30% to the quote. So now we're at $2600. I'd also be comfortable giving them a 180 days exclusive rights to the image, after that it reverts to you so that you can use the image on your own product. If they want to keep the image as an exclusive to them in perpetuity (essentially forever) then add a few more bucks to the job.
I like the rule of 1/3s for payment- so 1/3 up front for me to start, 1/3 at the halfway point and 1/3 at completion with the agreement that they get the final useable image with the final payment.
Meaning of course, that every file you send them for approval through the stages was at 72dpi and NO bigger than 500 pixels or so tall. This ensures they don't just take your prelims and run with it never paying off the balance owed.
Remember if you give them a price that's too high you can always lower your price, but you can't raise it.
In that same vein, if you are in financial straights as this potential assignment comes in you can simply follow up your quote if you don't hear from them within a day or two and tell them it's negotiable if you were far off from the number they had in mind.
It's all about NEGOTIATION.
NOW WHAT ABOUT THE CLIENT WHO WON'T PAY ME?
It's going to happen, sooner or later. A client runs out of money before the balance is paid. Unless they file for Bankruptcy protection your best option is to file a civil case against them in your local court system. In fifteen years I've never had to do this, but I've come close twice. It's not hard to do especially if you have a contract and a paper trial of your conversations. It's a simple filing fee and the clerks will usually walk you through it. You'll have to see a constable or sheriff about notice getting served to the (likely now ex) client but that too will be explained to you when the time comes.
You should also use your instinct. If a client comes to you with a project someone else had been working on in this day and age of the internet it's not hard to track down the previous creator and find out why the relationship ended.
If a client comes to you with a project that is scattered with fallen creators that should give you a pretty good insight into how smooth this project is going to be. It certainly could be that this person is a great partner to work with and all those creatives were the guilty parties, but far more likely is that this is a difficult client who is never happy.
Add that to the equation when you're providing your quote (should you decide to work with them).
I was approached by a client once who I was warned against by several friends who stated they were difficult and slow to pay.
When I quoted the job I did my usual hourly rate x hours x2 only I added ANOTHER X2 to the equation so essentially the quote was DOUBLE what I would have normally charged.
They balked at the price, I stuck to it-- they finally relented and we were off to the races. They weren't the most difficult client I'd ever had but they were "tweakers"-- so there were a lot of revisions along the way. They were also a committee which is another FLAG-- committees are slow to green light, slow to get back to you on the latest status look, and slow to respond to emails and that usually eats into the deadline.
If a project needs more than one person's approval I stipulate when the approvals need to be in hand in order for the project to come in on schedule. This way I can point to this when we start running late. I also insist on ONE CONTACT person from the group so I'm not getting multiple directions taking me all over the place.
By the time the project was over it had taken me twice as long to finish it as I'd projected-- good thing I doubled my quote.
When they came back for a new project I knew what I was getting myself into up front and used the same quote system.
BECAUSE SOMETIMES IT'S OK TO SAY NO.
No matter how much they like you, how much they love your work, how much they're willing to pay, how desperately they want to work with you. Sometimes the right thing to do is to pass.
*OK so what about that HOURLY rate? $100 might seem like a lot or it might seem dirt cheap depending on where you live and how long you've been doing this Freelance thing. Your best bet to discover the going rate in your area is to keep yourself familiar with the work being done in your industry.
Locally you can attend Chamber of Commerce and Business to Business events, but I find local means little money (at least here in Central Massachusetts-- I've found the same thing in Boston too). So I keep my client base international via the web.
But network with other artists, find out what they're charging. Look at ads via sites that advertise for freelancers and see what clients are paying.
A site like FREELANCED.COM can give you insight and fits of laughter too. I'm always amazed at the number of people who will apply for a gig that pays something like $2 an hour. Amateurs no doubt, because a professional couldn't keep the lights on for that rate.
Meaning keep an open mind when perusing the offerings. Like the reviews on Amazon, you have to weigh in the value of what the person is saying.
Which will take us to the next lesson:
NEXT UP- ESTABLISH AN ONLINE PROFILE
Andy Fish is a freelance artist and writer who has been living the lifestyle longer than there has been an iPhone on this planet. The advice given has worked for him, it might work for you, he hopes it does. But like all advice, take it with your own situation in mind. If you want to contact him shoot him an email andy@andytfish.com
