[NEED ADVICE] What is the ballpark price range for getting a map designed?

[Straf]

Does anyone consider a royalty fee as well? Or is that where the rights come in? For example do you charge a certain fee for a particular initial print run and then if it goes to another run is it renegotiable? If a book series went Da Vinci (wherever you are in the world you're never more than a metre away from a copy of The Da Vinci Code) I'd imagine anyone who sold artwork for a few hundred quid would be a bit sick, especially if it made it onto the big screen.

On the other hand unless something is self published I understand that a lot of publishers use their own artists to produce artwork, including maps. An author having a map commissioned may cause potential conflicts in the future (e.g. if a publisher's artist produced something similar to the author's artist) which may or may not jeopardise the chances of being accepted for publication.

None of this really matters to me as I don't ever envisage myself being a professional cartographer. Unless someone wants to use my fish blueprint, complete with puns, for a multi-billion dollar film franchise of course

[hassdaddy3]

And the price has not been decided yet?
The price will depend on the kind of map, size, quantity of details and talent of the artist.
Without knowing this, it could be anywhere from 50 to 500$.

Yeah the price is not set. I'm in a bit of a unique situation where the author is currently negotiating a contract with a bunch of publishers. Until the contract is finalised I really don't know what the payment situation will be, it could be royalties or just a one time cash injection from the author. In case I do end up being paid a single fee I just wanted to gain a better understanding of what I can expect.

Thanks everyone for your replies!

[Lukc]

Does anyone consider a royalty fee as well? Or is that where the rights come in?

I use language and region restricted rights, mostly, but consider royalty fees when someone can't afford the up front costs.

[DanielHasenbos]

I'm about to break a taboo here but heck.

Here are my low prices for standard size maps without fancies.
- 150 € for a black & white map.
- 250 € for a parchment with few colors.
- 350 € for a full color map.

If the map is larger, I ask for more. If there are illustrations needed, this is extra too.

If the client needs the rights to the map, he has to pay extra and I'm talking multiples of the base price.

With these kind of prices, I lose a lot of commissions (maybe it's because I'm not good enough but I'm not bad either) and I still think my prices are not high enough.

I'd recommend not to go lower than that. You can also set yourself an hourly rate and estimate the time needed to complete the map but all in all, the one thing not to forget is that you sell art, not beans, it comes at a price.

My two cents (sic).

Oh no! Someone talked!

+€100 and you have the sort of prices that I often work with. But yeah, clients often complain that prices are too high.

[Wired]

And i was thinking my prices are high. I am pricing about the same and everytime i hear the same from clients "oh man that is way too expensive for me".

I haven't got any commission with satisfactory payment in a long time.

Oh no! Someone talked!

+€100 and you have the sort of prices that I often work with. But yeah, clients often complain that prices are too high.

A lot of (potential) clients, going by my experience, have zero idea how long it takes to do a map. When I started doing this I often was willing to undercut my own set rates if there was a dearth of commissions. It's something I'm trying to leave behind nowadays since I have enough ideas and projects stacked up that even a time without commissions isn't an unproductive time for me.

[ThomasR]

All three of you are.

Amen brother !

Does anyone consider a royalty fee as well?

In my experience, maps drawn for authors seldom make it to the library shelves ...

[Wingshaw]

I'm about to break a taboo here but heck.

Here are my low prices for standard size maps without fancies.
- 150 € for a black & white map.
- 250 € for a parchment with few colors.
- 350 € for a full color map.

If the map is larger, I ask for more. If there are illustrations needed, this is extra too.

If the client needs the rights to the map, he has to pay extra and I'm talking multiples of the base price.

With these kind of prices, I lose a lot of commissions (maybe it's because I'm not good enough but I'm not bad either) and I still think my prices are not high enough.

Wow, my work apparently goes pretty cheap. I spent a year and a half on a full-coloured isometric city map that paid me $300 USD.

A lot of (potential) clients, going by my experience, have zero idea how long it takes to do a map. When I started doing this I often was willing to undercut my own set rates if there was a dearth of commissions. It's something I'm trying to leave behind nowadays since I have enough ideas and projects stacked up that even a time without commissions isn't an unproductive time for me.

You're right about this Wired, and - I'm gonna say it - thank you Thomas for breaking the taboo! I'm not sure why it is taboo in the first place; sure, discussing specific map pricings is perhaps a bit on the nose, but I think it would be useful to both professional cartographers and people interested in hiring them if there was some better information available about what ballpark figures a map goes for. This website is undoubtedly the internet's premier fantasy map-making website, so I think it would be good to make this kind of information more visible; that way potential clients with a budget of $10 will have a more realistic idea of what's involved in making a unique piece of art.

Anyway...

I think I'll get down from my soapbox now...

Wingshaw

[Wired]

I suppose the problem is "Where to post it?" in a way that everybody sees it. The most important info would probably be the average times it can take to do a map?

[ThomasR]

Another thing to consider is the country we're from. Price of living, work, art is not the same in every country.

There's also the problem of the media you work for. Individuals are one thing, writer/publishing companies another and then, there's the RPG industry (a huge part of the mapping demand) where the book sales are (in France, at least) way smaller than novel's ones. It's a pretty tricky thing.

[Mouse]

Maybe all you pros would benefit from having a sort of.... Professional Artists for Hire forum, where you have just one thread each, and you put up a price board in the first comment along with a few watermarked examples...

Or have I got the wrong end of the stick again?

It always did strike me as being a bit odd that there was only ever a Mapmaking Requests forum, and not a 'Mappers for Hire' forum... Or is it against site rules to advertise your services? Would that cause a requirement for some kind of licence to sell, or something?

These things really confuse me, so I'm sorry if I'm being a bit stupid!