Monday, October 24, 2011

Commissions in 2012

After lots of thought and consideration, I have decided that I will not be taking commissions from self-publishing authors for book covers in 2012. Before I got pregnant I had time to give self-publishing authors the attention and advice they needed. Increasingly I find that I don't have that time anymore, and dealing with individuals who don't know the specifics for trims, bleeds, and so on, takes more time than most self-published authors can afford to pay me for. I have also found that I can't charge as much with a self-published author as I can with a small press or other publisher, and I don't think I need to expound upon the expenses of a child, particularly one who was recently hospitalized for an extended period of time. I also feel that my commission prices are too low considering the amount of time, care, and level of detail I pour into my work, and most of my self-publishing clientele cannot afford to pay more.

I have found over the last few years that I thrive in environments with deadset, short-notice deadlines. I like chaos. I like e-mails at 11 PM that say, "We need this by 5 PM tomorrow." I don't do well when the process gets drawn out and depends on the availability of funds, the author's ability to be available every day to approve each step, and so on. It just drags on, and on, and I get bored easily. I like short, fast, and sweet.

If you have a contract from me for a book cover, and you really want one, you have until November 1st to return a signed contract. All book covers signed during this next week will be scheduled for beginning and completion in January 2012. I will be painting Christmas stuff all through November, and I like to take December "off" to paint, ship Christmas gift orders, plan paintings for 2012, get caught up, and probably work on stuff for publishers.

If you want a book cover done, but for whatever reason it doesn't work out with me, you can't make the November 1st deadline, you can't wait till next year, or whatever, I will happily provide a list of colleagues who are willing to take you on as a client.

Sorry if this seems to have come out of the blue. I have been thinking about it a lot this year and I've recently decided that this would be the best thing for me, but I didn't want to say anything until I was absolutely certain. Thanks for understanding.

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