How Much Should I Pay a Book Illustrator?

How Much Should I Pay a Book Illustrator?

I want to self publish a children’s book. I have a friend who is an illustrator and I am not sure how much I should pay her to do the artwork. I hope you can give me some help on how much to pay her?

You should discuss it with your friend, and decide on a price that is fair to both of you. Different illustrators charge different rates. The prices are all over the board. I definitely recommend having a work-for-hire contract so you’ll own all rights to the artwork in your book – forever. You need to be able to use that artwork not only in the book, but also in marketing and, if the book takes off, you’ll want to be able to use it when creating related products in the future as well. You don’t want to have to pay additional fees each time you want to use artwork that you paid the illustrator to create. Of course, you may need to pay a bit more up front but it will be worth if you can use it freely in the future.

A sample work-for-hire contract is here:
https://www.copylaw.com/forms/Workhire.html

CLICK HERE TO SEE FREELANCE ILLUSTRATORS WE RECOMMEND.

There are plenty of artistic styles to choose from!

WARNING: Many POD publishers claim ownership of illustrations even though authors paid THEM to create those illustrations. Even if you don’t use us, we strongly recommend that you *not* pay a publisher to illustrate your book. If you want to leave their service someday, you will have a very difficult time doing so because your book will need brand new illustrations. Publishers that claim ownership of illustrations are greedy, and should be avoided. They are simply trying to force authors to stay with them forever.

RELATED:

Should I Pay My POD Publisher To Edit And Illustrate My Book? NO

Agent Wants Me To Pay For Editing And Illustrations

Even Friends Need a Contract

How To Give A Writing Critique…Without Losing Friends

Freelance Favors for Friends

Read More "Ask The Expert" Articles



90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy

Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.

We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!

Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor, which makes it fun for creative folks like you!

Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!

BOOK PROPOSALS THAT WORKED! Real Book Proposals That Landed $10K - $100K Publishing Contracts - by Angela Hoy



Peek over the shoulders of highly successful, published authors to see how they landed publishing contracts worth $10,000 to $100,000! An enticing yet professional book proposal is the key!

BONUS! Successful ghostwriter, Anton Marco, shares his secret for landing ghostwriting clients. Don’t miss Anton’s real ghostwriting contract at the end of this book! It provides an example of what he charges and the payment terms he requires from each client.

2 Responses to "How Much Should I Pay a Book Illustrator?"

  1. pamelaallegretto  September 7, 2016 at 3:42 pm

    As an artist, I have done cover art in the past. I charged $300.00 for an 8″x10″ painting and ceded all rights, but still required inside cover credits.

  2. Michael W. Perry  September 2, 2016 at 5:08 pm

    I fully agree. Buy all rights to those illustrations, so you can use them in any way you like as many times as you like. Any other approach can be fraught with trouble.