Thoughts on royalty agreements?
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Happy New Year everyone!
Last year I had been working hard on trying to to make a legitimate second career out of illustration, but things have changed for me. I was recently promoted into management at my day job, which requires an allocation of my time away from illustration, and more to my 9-5.
I'm not unhappy about this, but I have had to accept that it isn't going to make sense for me to work so hard at trying to get agent representation and/or take on big illustration projects anymore.
I have done some freelance work on and off the past few years for very low pay. This is mostly due to the sheer amount of competition out there, as well as the fact that many people who are reaching out are self-publishers without a lot of initial capital to write and publish their books. I had a family member reach out a while ago asking if I could do illustrations for his board game. He wanted to know about a royalty agreement where I would get paid on the back end instead. I kind of scoffed at the idea. I would still reject the idea if I were trying to make a living as an illustrator, because the guys have said before that its rare that those books will every make much money.
Now that things have changed for me, I was thinking of offering to self-publishers and indy creators my services for a percentage royalty, as opposed to any payment up-front. I honestly could use the motivation to be drawing more regularly, and I don't necessarily need the money as a primary source of income. I would also only offer if I liked the project enough to see it being successful in the future, and that the creator/s would allow me to work on my own timeline.
Good idea/bad idea?
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@jvartandillustration Royalty only deal for self-publishing authors is tantamount to charity work. I understand you don't rely on this income anymore, but it's still never a good feeling to be taken advantage of. Most of these authors are putting very little effort into an actual, viable marketing plan. It often feels like the illustrator is actually putting in much more effort than the author is, even though it's their project... It leaves a bitter taste.
If you find yourself with time and want to work on books and you're not sweating the pay, what I'd recommend is to work on creating your own books to self-publish. Amazon KDP makes it much less difficult to self-publish as it used to be, and it's a fun project that can get you both recognition in the field and a little side income.
