In this column, we will look at two strategy areas—budgets and negotiating—and talk with some illustration professionals to give us their tips and techniques when pricing their services.

What budget?
A new factor in today’s marketplace is to find out how much money can be dedicated to the illustrations for a project. Often, money is set aside and called the illustration fee, but that is just one small line item on a very big project budget. Technology today allows you to be more involved in the creative process, but clients’ budgeting allocations are not accounting for this critical factor. There are often other line items named in that project budget that can be redirected towards your creative fees and expenses. Check on items such as pre-production, research, any and all retouching, post-production and prepress to name a few. Different types of clients handle illustration budgets differently, but the money is there to pay—though you will probably have to help the client find it for you.

Ann Field of annfieldimagesinc (www.friendandjohnson.com) says, “I make a point to familiarize myself with the client and their assigning habits before I give them my answer. I do this by calling fellow illustrators or reps I know. I think of the money behind their company and their past purchasing habits. As a rule, in editorial, the budget is the budget. With publishing I have found there is a twenty-percent variance, depending on how much work the project develops into, which means I sometimes end up with twenty percent more than the budget as it was first discussed.”

Richard Tuschman, Richard Tuschman Images (www.richardtuschman.com), comments, “After we’ve discussed the other particulars, such as the nature of the job, the schedule, etc., I’ll try to get the client to give a figure first. Usually I’ll just ask straight out, ‘What’s your budget?’ If it’s a corporate job, I always say ‘I need to think it over and I’ll call you back.’ At this point I do some research, looking at past jobs I’ve done, the GAG pricing guidelines, and I’ll usually poll two or three illustrator friends. By then, I’ll usually feel I have enough info to negotiate intelligently. If it’s an editorial job, it’s a little more cut and dried, but there usually is some wiggle room. I’ll sometimes say, ‘Hmmm...that seems a little low, I was thinking closer to x.’ Usually they’ll have a little more to come up with. In a case where I think the budget is low, I’ll try to negotiate for maximum creative freedom. Lately, it seems many clients are interested in saving money above all. Often in these cases, rather than settle for a lower fee than I’d like or walk away, I’ll try to steer them towards stock, for all or parts of the job. This has worked out for me in several cases. And of course, sometimes you just have to walk away.”

Brian Ajhar, Brian Ajhar Studios (www.ajhar.com), talks specifically about an important area for illustrators, children’s book publishing. “When I first started out in children’s publishing, the publishers definitely had the upper hand in the negotiation process. Without a track record of sales, it was very difficult to sell them on my ability to move books. I have been working with two publishers; one publisher pays me an up front on royalties that they hope my books will recoup in future sales. I have done two books with them that are currently on the market and were both collaborations with authors.

“This basically means that the publisher must pay both the author and me and we must also share in the royalties. The third book (for release in September 2004), which is still in production, for a story that is in the public domain. This means that there is no author to pay. Because of that I was able to secure a better up-front payment on future royalties, as well as a better royalty percentage. The hope is that all three books will take off and the royalties will start pouring in. My decision to stay with the same publisher will allow for backlisting my older titles if one of the books becomes extremely successful. That’s really the only way that an illustrator can make a decent income in this business.”