Map Sizing for Print Novel

[ThomasR]

Hey Zach,

1- I agree with Kell here, you gotta get the size straight with the client firsthand. In my book, size determines price so, that's a must have before starting. The other thing is that resizing (up or down) will mess your lineart and your labelling. I'd say it's something to set in stone for every project, I remember reshaping a map for a client because he changed his mind for the format and it unbalanced the whole map which was not pleasant to fix. My advice, aim for hardcover size (6x9 inches) and add a 1/2 inch margin on each side for breathing purpose and to avoid cutting of your map. You also have to consider the map will be reduced for some editions and label accordingly.

2- I've recently been confronted to the gutter problem and just added a colored mask to my map covering one page. After that, discussions with the client allowed me to avoid putting labels or important stuff there or move what might me hidden. The issue might be with labelling consistency as you will end up breaking some rules (position of a city name near it's marker for instance).

3- Never chose the size for your client, it's choosing the price for them. Propose a price for both sizes (simple page or double page or A5 or A4, whichever you fancy) but it's their map, their choice (their money). And for your last question, see 1-, it's really a matter of labelling because that's what suffers the most from resizing.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with

Cheers !

[Tiana]

But if a client wants to print the map as a giant poster, then they are going to have commission a poster and not a book page map. That is more work required on my part

Yeah, there's a point where it becomes proportionately a lot harder to do the art because of the scale... BUT... some of that can be mediated by you keeping the window zoomed out as you work to a size closer to the final book size. Text is the major inhibitor of use in different scale prints. A poster can have tiny tiny text and a book has to have larger eyeballable text. Also you don't want to overdo detail in small items when it will be printed small. All these can be compensated for if you are aware its final use will be small. It won't be a magnificent poster, but it might also contain reusable pieces that can be detailed a bit more and text that can be resized for poster density to save you trouble on the future possible poster.

Especially because some authors are in the process of writing when they commission a map, what they really want is, something they can reference while they work. So I always suggest my A4 pricing, and make sure the text is at a scale that reads for the final print size, but the map can be printed larger without blurring.

I wouldn't do this with say, someone wanting a 20x30 poster. But I almost always regret going at actual 6x9. I generally double it to 12x18 so there's the option of the author flare / two page spread.

Yes, it's almost vital to know if it will be a 2 page spread or 1 page going in. I always regret starting a map if I don't know that. Doing it right now, where they were like "oh yeah actually we want it to be a two page spread" and okay, I did size it appropriately that we can do that, it's not locked into a 6x9 print size... but now I have to move text around for the split because this was decided halfway into the commission. /real story happening right now T_T

3- Never chose the size for your client, it's choosing the price for them. Propose a price for both sizes (simple page or double page or A5 or A4, whichever you fancy) but it's their map, their choice (their money).

Ehhh... technically, yes, but I feel it's best to not bog a client down in choices and turn them into anxious wrecks when faced with the actual reality of the sheer range of possibilities, which are endless. It's best to never give more than three choices, and most people will go for the Goldilocks option. It's good to give a choice if someone comes to you with a question rather than a definitive "this is what I want", but my prices aren't based on size alone. I also modify them based on the density and customization of elements in the map, and whether it's going to be black and white ink art or full color. When we start getting into all of the slight adjustments that can happen to the price, sometimes I think it's best to just ask, "so, what was your dream budget for this project?" and then tell them what kind of map that can get them.

Anyway, if I make a map larger than was requested, I don't charge more than was agreed, because I based the price off my knowledge of how long the density of placement would take for me to create. Sometimes doing this has saved my butt when a client changes their mind halfway through on the two page versus one page spread. This has happened multiple times this year... so I really don't trust that at the getgo, a client definitively knows what they need, even if they should, not everyone who wants a map is a pro publisher. And ahem, one of the people who changed their mind halfway through was a pro publisher. SHENANIGANS. They changed it from a two page spread to a one page spread AND changed the resolution of the map to be bigger and a different dimension than before! Fortunately I could hack a solution and look like a genius but aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

It's always better to be able to over-deliver and say, guess what, you can print it twice as big as you paid for, but no extra fee. Or to have that extra wiggle room in case they are monsters who decide to add an extra inch to one side of the book like, 3/4s of the way through the commission. D: D: D:

It's fine, they paid me what I asked, and it was more than my base price to accommodate those shenanigans, lol. I'd work for them again.