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andyctwrites · 4 years ago

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Selling Your Story – Peaks and Pitfalls of Publishing Contracts

Points to consider when deciding if a Publisher is the right fit for you.

Landing a publishing contract is the Holy Grail for many creators who set their sights on “breaking in” to comics, and it’s understandable as to why this is the case…

It’s a big ego bump for starters. Someone external, has recognised your work as good enough to be associated with, promote and sell. In terms of logistics, publishers have established distribution and promotional tools at their disposal and should have a bigger voice than you alone to share your creation with their customer base. As an independent creator, associating yourself with something bigger can also boost your profile – Like a more positive version of joining a gang in prison (I’d imagine).

The subject of publisher relations with creators, differential deals and the fairness of agreements became the subject of debate across comics twitter recently. Voices of creators and collaborators I have a great deal of respect for came out to talk about their views on several publishers with messages of both condemnation and support. Wider spread trends led to a number of freelance workers actively sharing what they had been paid for projects. While there’s no need to pick through a debate which is easily searched, I’ve been thinking a great deal on the subject of publisher contracts. Specifically, how an independent creator can review and consider what publishers are offering more critically in the hope they secure favourable terms, or at very least don’t feel regrets down the line as items not considered at the time of signing come home to roost.

I’ve sat to write this piece in the hope it sparks more discussion and helps those working in the small press scene, which I love, ask the right questions and considering offerings from publishers who show interest in their work. Hopefully I’ve made it accessible and not hideously dull.

Before we take a step further, let’s cover a few notes and caveats here:

Who is this guy? – I’m Andy Conduit-Turner a writer and extremely small name, in all but letter count, in UK indie comic publishing. The chances are, that if we’ve not met, you’ve not heard of me.

My comics contracting experience is primarily limited to drafting my own commissioning contracts to engage with collaborators for comics I have written, and in licencing short stories which I’ve written to appear in anthologies and other mediums produced by others. At the time of writing, I have neither signed with, or been rejected by any major (or minor) comics publisher and am not providing comment on any observed content which may or may not appear in a publishing agreement from any given company.

I am, neither a qualified legal professional or literary agent. In the event any contract you ever receive for any purpose is of extreme importance, investing in the support of a qualified person with greater industry experience is of far greater value than anything you’ll read here.

Outside of comics, my professional career and other personal projects over the last decade have seen me review, interpret, question, edit and respond to countless legal agreements for a variety of purposes. This has left me with a wealth of experience in considering longer term impacts for both the purchasing and suppling parties of service agreements – I’ve spent a great deal of time having both commercial and capability-based discussions prior to contracts being signed.

This is by no means an anti-publisher piece – Regardless of where you stand on recent publishing discussions, I’ve no desire to create an Us (Creators) vs Them (Publishers) sentiment here. There are countless publishers who are passionate about sharing creator’s stories, invest significantly and add a great deal of value to both individual projects and the industry as a whole. No reputable publisher is out to trick creators or deliberately give them a raw deal. That said, as with many transactions, a publisher is a business with an end goal of limiting liability and generating revenue in both the short and long term – Depending on your ideological feelings, this isn’t necessarily an inherently evil objective, and it’s how publishers remain in business.

Your publishing contract is equally not a formality, a magnanimous offer from a friend with nothing to gain from the arrangement, and your unconditional ticket to success and acclaim. Different deals will work for different creators – A good deal to one will be an unacceptable deal for someone else and there are few terms which would be universally perfect or awful for everyone. I’d hope through these pages I can maybe help you consider your offers, ask necessary questions and make decisions you’re comfortable with for your own circumstances.

Negotiation carries risks – Especially within the sphere of indie publishing, there are a couple of truths we need to reflect on.

1. Comics are an attractive and exciting creative medium for people to get into. Especially if a publisher is welcome to unsolicited submissions, they are likely to have no shortage of people interested in publishing with them.

2. Many publishers aren’t huge organisations. In the event a member of their core team is not already a legal professional, it’s unlikely they will have a legal department on their staff to directly manage adjustments to legal documents and agreements.

What this boils down to is that, many publishers may simply not have the resources or interest in negotiating or adjusting a contract with you – There’s every chance that the offer made to you is non-negotiable. While I’d argue that the withdrawal of an offer in response to a question asked or statement challenged in good faith is indicative of the professionalism of the organisation in question, you should be prepared for the fact that being the squeaky wheel may not land you the deal you want, and may take the one you have off the table.

A Note on NDAs and Market Norms

NDAs, or Non-Disclosure Agreements are very common, as part of, or prior to contracting in many industries. They are typically used to protect (in this case publishers’) private or proprietary information concerning their business practises, contracting terms, project pipeline and pay rates private and confidential. They are a routine consideration and not indicative of any sinister goings on. In keeping with professional conduct, if you sign an NDA you should, of course, respect its conditions though here are a few considerations and questions you may ask or confirm however.

1: Is the NDA mutually beneficial – While you are agreeing not to share the details of a publisher’s business and offer outside involved parties, does the signed NDA bind the publisher to offer you the same regardless as to whether the end result is a signed publishing agreement?

Are there stated commitments to your work remaining confidential and not circulated to other outside parties during your negotiations? What commitments are made to the return / disposal of any project details or materials shared should an agreement not be finalised.

Additionally, can you expect details on deals you accept in terms of up front remuneration, percentage splits on profits and additional contract terms to remain confidential?

2: Pitch exclusivity – Are there any expectations, formal or otherwise that you should not pitch your comic elsewhere until negotiations have been concluded?

3: Your right to advice – No NDA should prevent you taking appropriate professional advice before signing any final agreement.

Rules on business competition internationally, already provide a great deal of legislation to ensure businesses to remain competitive and prevent illegal practises such as price fixing and market sharing. While market norms may dictate and guide the offers you’re likely to receive competing businesses should not mutually agree to adhere to set fees or conditions. At this point I’ll pause and note that I don’t hold the market specific professional knowledge to apply Anti-Trust and similar business competition legislation to publishing contracts – These should be forefront of a publisher’s mind when managing confidentiality of contract content.

So…With all of that now said (in painstaking detail) let’s get into this shall we

What’s in this for you?

So, you’ve pitched your book to a publisher and they’re interested in working with you? Great news! Now comes the time when you need to consider what you want to get from your potential partner, and consider, realistically, what you’ll accept. For many creators your wants and expectations may include:

Contribution to production costs. Particularly for writer led teams, an ability to appropriately pay artists, colourists, letterers, editors and other professionals make up the bulk of comic production costs even before downstream logistics such as printing, marketing and distribution come into play. Many publishers may state up front whether this is a model they can support. Initial production costs add to the overall risk and increase the volume needed to sell before profits are realised. Consider – Landing a publisher may not relieve you of the need to raise personal funds or take to Kickstarter.

Upfront royalty payments. A noble dream for some, though likely only realised by more established creators. Belief in your project will need to be high to warrant an upfront payment to the creator for a book prior to a single copy being sold Consider – Manage your expectations here, how promising is your pitch? Do you have a track record of success that offsets the risk of an upfront pay out?

Percentage Profits – This is likely to be a long-term arrangement of any publishing deal whereby the creator and the publisher acting a licence holder take an agreed % split of future profit revenue generated from the project – Profits from what exactly we’ll come to later. Consider – There’s no way around this, any additional step in the process here are going to reduce the by unit revenue you receive per each sale. By working with a publisher, the benefit to you is that they support you in, ideally, selling more copies than you would alone.

Production and logistical support – Sure, you know writing, art or whichever your creative field may be, but there’s every chance that your publisher is more familiar with the processes involved with getting your book into people’s hands. With established relationships with suppliers and retailers your publisher may also be able to optimise the per unit profit on your book sales, in addition to increasing your potential audience through supply networks and wider convention attendance.

In some cases, your publisher may also take a creative role in the process, appointing an editor, or suggesting changes to make a book more marketable in their experience – We’ll also return to this point later.

Comic Financials - Hypothetical example – Comic X

Working without a publisher

You as creator spend £2000 on the production of your comic (Art, letters, colour, whatever!) Print volumes allow you to obtain copies of your book at £2 per copy

You price your book at £5 per copy Let’s then also assume a modest spend of £200 on website, and attending some local cons, and you break even on Postage and Packing. Under this model you’ll see a profit on your creation once you sell your 734th copy of Comic X. This assumes you sell exactly all of your stock and are left with no additional copies which you’ve paid to have printed, but not yet sold. Let’s make this a tiny bit more complex and suggest that you diversify from selling physical copies online and at cons alone. You begin selling digital copies via an established digital store front at £3. You also connect with local comic retailers who agree to carry copies of your comics in store. To keep this simple and not lose the remaining 3 people this dive into maths hasn’t lost already let’s assume that your sales across all avenues equal out to 1/3 each, and once again all copies you produce will sell. The digital sales have no print cost but the digital storefront takes 50% of the sale price

The stores agree to purchase copies of your book from you for £4, creating a 33% share on profit after print costs.

Under this scenario, Comic X will officially be profitable after around 245 direct physical sales, 489 digital sales and 367 sales via stores.

Working with a publisher

Under this model, we’ll assume that you as a creator invested the same £2000 in production costs but nothing further, leaving the publisher to manage the printing along with costs for attending conventions etc.

Outside of the numbers here, your publisher is also the party taking the risk regarding the volume produced if any copies go unsold. The trade off is that your publisher will take a percentage of any profits before they reach you. For this example, let’s say you agree on 50% revenue share and receive no contribution to production costs or any upfront payment.

For argument sake, let’s assume your publisher secures the same unit costs and margins (though you’d hope they may be able to negotiate better through volume purchasing). Understanding a publisher’s direct cost with con attendance, and marketing when applied to a single book is a level of hypothetical we won’t attempt here.

Focussing on you as a creator, under the same sales methods used in the non-publisher model you would begin to see profit on your production investment of £2000 from publisher paid royalties after 445 direct sales, 889 digital sales and 667 in store sales.

After all this talk of money, the first thing to recognise is that it isn’t everything to all creators. Many will consider the long-term goals of building an audience as a pathway to bigger and better things, or simply an investment in their creative hobby. Those with realistic aspirations will likely not expect to anything resembling a profit from their early books (save perhaps for those with the skills to produce a comic entirely alone or with collaborators satisfied with payment purely from sale revenue). For many creators, having a partner who ensures copies of their books get into people’s hands, minimising their own administrative efforts is the goal.

What is critical is to do your own calculations, consider your goals along with level of financial investment and energy you have to invest in selling your own book. In this simplified example, we’ve not considered the accuracy of print orders vs sales, tax applications or eligible rebates or potential publisher costs deducted from profits to account for their operational expenses, but it should give you a loose model to consider your own investment against.

Potential Questions – Depending on your financial and creative motivations

What sales numbers does the publisher consider to be a success? Assuming the publisher will set sale price – What margin do they consider acceptable vs costs? What sales avenues does the publisher use? Does the publisher have established relationships with distributors and retailers with agreements to carry their stock? If so, what regions and countries do they have distribution networks within? Which electronic store fronts does the publisher make books available via? What volume of conventions, in which locations, does the publisher typically attend? Are they willing to share any statistics on which platforms generate the strongest sales? How, if at all, are publisher overhead costs factored into overall sale profits for division between publisher and creator? Does the agreement permit the creator to obtain copies of the publication at cost, or discounted rates for either personal use or onward sale? What marketing methods do the publisher deploy to promote new and existing content? Does the agreement, place any expectations or limitations on the actions of the creator to promote the comic? Does the agreement commit the publisher to any minimum volume of books to be produced for sale, or resources allocated to promote the publication?

What’s in this for them?

Now we come to the other half of the deal. In working with a publisher, you grant your partner certain rights in potentially both the short and long term. Understanding the rights, you’re happy to sign away and the long-term implications can be key points in your decision-making process.

Your potential publisher may request some of the following:

Percentage Profits on book sales – This is a given and how your publisher will make the most immediate return on backing your comic and investing in its production or distribution

Editorial and creative direction – While some publishers may primarily take on completed projects, others may provide editorial input. For many creators, this may be beneficial professional, input to improve the project overall. Consider – When you engage an editor privately as a self-published creator, the final decision on how you incorporate your editor’s feedback is your own. A publisher driven edit may take the final creative control out of your own hands. As with many aspects in this section this can be a positive, but it is something you should consider and make peace with before you agree to your publishing deal.

Revenue on sale of promotional and licensed goods – As part of your agreement, your publisher may gain rights to produce and sell a variety of goods associated with your comic. For a small press projects, this could be as simple as prints, postcards and pins made available as add on purchases, but an agreement could equally account for additional 3rd party licensing. Consider – From a financial perspective do you retain a share of the profits from the sale of promotional or licensed goods? Is the rate in line with the percentage you earn from book sales? Depending on the answer to these questions, if your book is successful and lends itself to popular merchandise, you’ll potentially see a larger return on your production investment more quickly, in time you may even see more royalties from the tasteful sets of commemorative glassware your story has produced than the book itself. From a creative standpoint, you need to consider that you are likely giving up a degree of control here. If you’ve strong feelings that series logo should never appear on a tote bag, this is potentially something your deal may remove your option to veto in the future.

Adaptation rights – In licensing your comic for publication, your publisher may request rights concerning the adaptation of your comic into other mediums. These rights may extend to written and audio productions, stage, television and film versions and interactive media such as video games. The requested rights may be inclusive of both financial benefits of licensing for alternative mediums and overall creative control in the adaptation for other media. Consider – If you’re a creative person with hands in other media, be it a keen filmmaker or an apprentice of coding, you may wish to seek to retain your own rights to pursue alternative interpretations of your story. Particularly in fields you have interest in. This may also be the time to consider how you would feel about any alternative take on your work with which you may have no creative involvement or influence over.

Sequel / Spin-off Rights – In agreeing to publish your project your publisher may also requests rights relating to production of related projects, both in comics or other media (as detailed above). These rights may include first review and option to license the new publication prior to it being offered to other publishers, the right to engage the creative team professionally to actively work on a related publication, or potentially engaging a separate creative team. Consider – As with the above point, your decision on agreeing with these terms will depend on your overall attachments to the project and your own long-term plans for ongoing related stories. If the idea of having limited or no control on how your original story grows into future projects gives you cold sweats, this is a right you’ll need to consider your comfort with, before you sign. How important is having ongoing control to you?

Potential Questions – Depending on your financial and creative motivations

What history does the publisher have with facilitating adaptation of comics to other media? Does the agreement, obligate or limit the creator in efforts to adapt the publication for other media? Does the publisher actively seek opportunities for property adaptations, or is this handled ad hoc as interested parties approach the publisher as licence holder? Does the publisher’s right to financial share in adaptation driven revenue differ in the event that the publisher take no active role in adapting or pitching the an adaptation of the property? What rights do the publisher hold regarding the sale or transition of publishing or ongoing licensing rights to a third party?

Overall, considering the ongoing rights and control a creator or creative team is willing to hand over to a publisher will be a critical point for many in making a decision before signing an agreement. How you perceive the value of publisher input, a potential reduction in creative control and your confidence in the long-term potential of your story will be key points in influencing what you’re comfortable in conceding in exchange for the benefits your publisher brings to the table.

The Finer Details

With the main points of your agreement carefully reviewed, it’s time to consider the ifs and buts, concerning the terms and limitations of your agreement.

Time – How long does your agreement grant the stated rights to your publisher? A set period? A set period with right to extend or first refusal to negotiate extension on similar terms or terms related to performance? Indefinite? Location – Are publication rights granted internationally or only in certain territories? Does your selected publisher have capabilities to market and distribute in all stated territories? If not, do they actively seek third party partners to distribute successful publications in additional territories?

Obligations – Are there stated timings for release, efforts to market, volumes sold, or stock made available for purchase a publisher must maintain to retain the license to your comic? Remuneration and Reporting – How frequently are royalties calculated and paid to the creator or creative team? Are there lower and upper limits to disbursement amounts? What reporting does your publisher provide to indicate gross profits leading to creator revenue share? Specifically, when it comes to matters of accounting. If you intend to maintain a financial interest in the performance of your work, appropriate transparency of accounting may be essential to understand your publisher’s level of investment and gross earnings before final profits are divided? Most organisations should permit you a right to audit, but be mindful of the conditions applied. Permitting a deep audit via the appointment of an official accountant able to review documentation on a publisher’s premises may fulfil legal obligations but creates an immediate pay wall for you as an independent creator, whose initial earnings on a single book may not warrant the investment.

If your potential publisher is able to provide sample reporting, you can accommodate yourself with the level of detail prior to signature and assure yourself that the level of transparency meets your level of interest.

Legal obligations – In addition to any submission conditions when you pitched your book, signing a publishing agreement will almost certainly involve your further verification that the work is your own and indemnify your publisher from any obligation or responsibility should this statement prove inaccurate in the future. In addition to the obligations on the creator, take note of any commitments made by the publisher to protect the IP you are licensing to them, and potential indemnity from any actions arising from material changes to the work or subsequent adaptation upon which the publisher, or their representative exercises creative control.

Limitations and release – Tied to the any limitations relating to time or location stated in your contract, it’s also worth noting any other terms which would lead to overall rights being returned back to the original creator or creative team. The most commonly anticipated reason for this would be publisher insolvency, though in some cases a struggling publisher with the appropriate rights could look to sell on any held licensing rights to a third party to raise capital prior to this occurring (assuming your agreement permits this). Clauses that benefit the creator in this area could speak to the minimum level of production or service provided to promote your comic, which if not met over an extended period results in the rights returning to the creator to pitch elsewhere or develop further with no further obligation to the publisher, thus holding your publisher to a higher degree of accountability for your book’s ongoing performance. Another alternative may represent a defined buy out clause, permitting the creative team to release themselves or further obligation to a publisher by either ensuring a pre-defined return on the publisher’s initial investment or a sum equal relevant to the book’s performance. The latter examples, I’d anticipate would be less frequent in their appearance within standard contract language, however these may be some of the most essential inclusions for a creator who is invested in the long-term management and performance of their work.

For an example, we’ll return to Comic X…

Worst case scenario…

Joe Creator, writer of Comic X, signs a publisher agreement granting licencing rights, inclusive of, merchandise, sequel and adaptation control and financial rights irrevocably to a publisher.

Joe’s agreement sees the creator receive 50% of Net profits from book sales but nothing from any additional licensing or merchandising unless directly engaged by the publisher to work on this new content under a separate agreement. The publisher will manage distribution and printing costs but does not contribute to the initial creation cost for artwork and associated tasks.

The rights will return to Joe only should the publisher file bankruptcy or should they fail to produce any volumes of the work within a defined period following initial project completion.

With no minimum term of service, the publisher fulfils their obligation to Joe through a short production run of 50 copies of their book, which are not directly marketed by the publisher but organically sells 30 copies through their inclusion on the publisher’s stand at conventions. The remaining 20 copies are sold at stock clearance reduction prices and do not recoup their print costs. The book is not listed digitally or marketed to any retailers. In the end of his first year since publication, the royalties owed to Joe from the profit share fall well below the minimum payment threshold and no payment is made.

In the five years that follow, the book remains listed on the publisher’s store front as “Out of Stock” and based on performance no further print runs are ordered.

Meanwhile, Joe continues to build career momentum through well received subsequent releases, published independently and interest in obtaining adaptation rights for Joe Creator properties hits public consciousness. Having secured irrevocable licencing rights the publisher secures a lucrative 3 series deal with Netflix adapting Joe’s original Comic X series. Netflix opts to use their own writing team, whose agents ensure they are recognised as lead creatives. A credit listing “Based on Comic X by Joe Creator” appears at the end of the opening credits, but everyone skips these.

With the Netflix series differing significantly from the original Comic X, rather than reprint the original, the publisher opts to engage a different creative team to spin off a new ongoing series based more closely on the aesthetic and themes of the new Netflix creation. The financial impact to Joe from creating the original work remains fundamentally minus £2000 as the £35 owed to Joe in previous revenue falls below the minimum payment threshold. This is an extreme example, played up for the sake of hyperbole, but hopefully it illustrates the point Consider your conditions carefully, what you gain, what you give away, and the level of effort your publisher commits to you. and finally.

Know who you’re dealing with - Know your own worth

Throughout previous sections, I’ve encouraged creators to consider what they want from a publisher, what they are happy to give in exchange and the finer details of agreements.

I’ll leave you with a (mercifully) briefer point by encouraging both research and self-reflection. Your research on a publisher should not begin and end with “Who is accepting pitches?”

Consider the fit of your project within their body of work.

Meet and connect with other creators who’ve worked with them and politely request their feedback.

Look at publisher’s company performance and makeup with resources such a Companies house or Endole. Do they appear financially stable? How large is their team? What other interests to their leadership team have?

Look at publisher’s websites and social media platforms, how are they marketing? How large is their reach? How much interaction do you see with their posts? How large is their portfolio?

Measure your own, time, resources, and reach against your potential publishers and consider objectively and, in quantifiable terms wherever you can, how you measure up. If you’re brining a sizable or active existing audience with you to a publisher this may enhance your ability to negotiate.

To wrap up I’ll say, that I hope the last, almost 5000 words *Jeez* have been of some value, whatever your experience of creating or publishing to date. I by no means consider myself an authority on anything so would be delighted if this sparks further conversation and discussion from others who may add more specific examples and considerations which may help others chasing the goal of having published work out in the wild.

I’ll return to one of my opening points that there are some fantastic publishers doing incredible work in the indie comic scene and making books possible that would otherwise never see the light of day. For indie creators, whether a publishing deal is a Holy Grail or a Poison Chalice will likely remain up to the individual and determined by how circumstances play out. If this helps just one person, take pause, consider their options and make an informed choice it will have been worth the effort.

#comics #comic books #smallpress #indie comics #publishing

1 note · View note

strangevoyages · 6 years ago

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Very cool of you to start this! I was wondering... as someone who would like to publish a traditional novel someday (romance, if that helps) and was wondering if you could outline the publication process for novels? It's a little intimidating for someone like me and I would really appreciate the clarity. Thank you!

Hi there, thank you so much! :) And okay, I’ll do my best to outline how it generally works:

Traditional Publishing

Step 1) Complete your novel.

Step 2) Edit and revise your novel to the best of your abilities! You only get one chance to impress an agent (the next step) and you want to start with your best foot forward. Do not send an incomplete or unpolished manuscript: it must be as close to the finished product as you can get on your own! If you feel you need help, shop it around to people you trust (friends or family, creative writing workshops, writing partners, mentors or professors, etc). Professional and freelance editors (like me!) are also always an option if you need an experienced second pair of eyes!

Step 3) Find agents whose work you love. The best way to do this is to go to your favorite novels (preferably in the genre you want to publish in), turn to the back of the book, and find the agent of that novel’s name in the “Acknowledgements/Thanks” section. Look them up and read carefully to see if your story fits the kind of work they read and are looking for.

Step 4) Write a query letter. This is possibly the most intimidating aspect of the publication process because many authors love to write fiction, but don’t love to write about themselves and their work. The query letter is essentially the marketing or elevator pitch to give an agent a preview of what to expect in your work (and is your chance to intrigue them). There’s a wealth of resources out there on how to write a query letter, and here are some of my favorites:

How to Write a Darn Good Query Letter

How to Write the Perfect Query Letter

Query Letters

Samples of Query Letters

The long and short of it is, query letters contain your book’s introduction and stats (what its word count is (), what its genre and title is), its summary (picture what its blurb would be on the back of the hardcover copy and write that), your credentials as an author, and why you’d like to work with that particular agent.

Some other tips: don’t let the letter extend beyond one page. Agents (and editors) appreciate conciseness, not least because they’re busy and it shows your skill as a writer when you condense important information into a small space. Don’t oversell your work. NEVER describe your book as “the next Harry Potter” or “the masterpiece of our time” or whatever. Let the agent decide that for themselves! But don’t undersell or self-deprecate, either (“you probably won’t be interested in this, but I thought I’d give it a shot...”). It can be hard to have confidence in your writing, especially when entering the pro arena, but you need to inspire an agent’s faith in you as much as in your work (without exaggerating or boasting!)

Step 5) Send your query letter and manuscript to the top 5 agents you’ve been looking at. Sending too many will be overwhelming (and many agents hate “simultaneous submissions,” where you send copies to multiple places at the same time) and sending too few would be putting all your eggs in one basket.

Be careful to read exactly how each agent would like to receive your manuscript! Some only accept physical copies in the mail, in manila envelopes; some only accept attachments by email; some only accept PDFs and not Word and vice-versa! If you don’t follow their submission guidelines, you often won’t get a second chance or a courtesy reminder.

Oh, and format your manuscript according to their instructions. If there are no specific instructions, it’s always best to have your novel in standard manuscript format. Shunn’s guide to story formatting is a bible in this industry, so following those guidelines will make you look professional. Please avoid kooky or unique fonts as well: you may think it helps you stand out, but speaking from experience, most agents/editors really hate this!

Step 6) Wait.

Some agents have a projected time of response to get back to you (“if we don’t get back to you within 8 weeks, we are declining to represent your work”) on their website. Some don’t, and you’ll just have to wait (sending a follow-up query 6-8 weeks after sending your manuscript can be reasonable unless their website asks you not to do this).

If those top 5 agent don’t get back to you (or decline to represent your book) don’t be discouraged! All the greatest writers of all time struggled to find their agents and publishers at first. J.K. Rowling suffered through “years” of rejection from agents before she finally found one to represent Harry Potter, and even after that was rejected by 12 publishers (many very rudely!) before someone wanted HP. So send your manuscript out to the next five and keep going!

Step 7) An agent wants your manuscript.

Ideally, they’re over-the-moon in love with it: you want an agent who’s passionate about your work and will shop it tirelessly to their connections in the publishing industry.

(I feel I should add: do not send your work to or proceed with any agent who wants to be paid to represent you, or who charges a fee to read your work! This is a scam! Like sports agents or real estate agents, literary agents only take a cut of the profits after they’ve sold your book to a publisher. (Usually around 15%, though this could be higher or lower depending on the agent). This way, they’re motivated to sell your book for the highest rate possible, because they only make money from it then, too! If they want you to pay them out-of-pocket for anything, be extremely suspicious!)

After you’ve met with your agent, agreed to work together, and signed a contract (always read these carefully or get a lawyer to look over them), your agent will probably give you some tips or requests to polish your manuscript up even further before sending your work out. After this is done, they’ll shop your manuscript to the publishers they think will be the best fit for it!

Step 8) An editor at a publishing house reads your manuscript and falls in love with it.

This is the dream! There will be some negotiation, and this is where your agent comes in: they will protect your rights and negotiate with the publisher on your behalf to get as high of a selling price for your novel as possible. The publisher will often pay you an advance (an initial lump sum for the book) and will then usually offer you a percentage of the first sales after tax (say 10%, though depending on your publishing history or type of book or a whole slew of factors, you may get a higher/lower percentage or none at all). Your agent will guide you through this process and explain everything, so I won’t get into much more detail beyond that.

Step 9) You accept the terms of agreement with a publisher, and the book goes to their editing team: AKA your new editor.

You will likely go through several months or even years of editing with your editor’s feedback. A good editor won’t change your vision of your work drastically, but you may have to rewrite whole sections of your book to improve pacing, cut out unnecessary plot lines, and etc. Be patient with this and be flexible: your work isn’t perfect (no one’s is, not even after publication) and your editor knows what they’re doing. However, you do also have power here and can push back if there’s something you feel extremely strongly about changing.

Step 10) Your book is on the way to publication.

Now it’s just a waiting game. Your agent (or you) might ask other authors to be advance readers for your edited manuscript: these are the people who give the quotes and blurbs on the back of the books--the ones with glowing praise!

Depending on the publishing house, you may get some input on the cover and design of your book, or you may not. Your agent/publisher may also talk to you about foreign translations and licensing, etc.!

Step 11) Your book is published!

It took a while, but you made it, and now your book has hit the shelves (or the Internet, or both). Not counting the time it takes to find an agent, the whole process takes a minimum of a year to... well, I won’t regale you with the authors who took ten, fifteen, twenty years to get to publication, but needless to say, it’s a slow-moving process.

Getting an agent is arguably the hardest part (once you get one, they really do most of the work for you), and if you’d like to skip this hurdle, there’s always chancing submitting your work straight to the publishers. However, for the big publishing houses, this option has an extremely low chance of success, to put it bluntly. Unless you’re submitting to a very small independent publisher or what’s known as a “vanity press”, almost all major publishing houses nowadays don’t even look at books without agents, and those submissions get lost in slush pile hell. Agents are the first barrier to publication, and once they’ve vetted your book and found potential in it, publishing houses are more comfortable with reading a manuscript that they’re more sure won’t “waste their time.”

Of course, if you don’t want to split your profits with an agent, there’s always self-publishing! But since this post is getting so long, I figure I’ll talk about that another time. Thanks for the great question, and I hope this helped! (And good luck with your romance novel(s)!)

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thecomicsnexus · 6 years ago

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Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal, Brings Back the Newsboy Legion!

SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #133 OCTOBER 1970 BY JACK KIRBY, AL PLASTINO AND VINCE COLLETTA

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC WIKIA)

Jimmy Olsen is paired with the new Newsboy Legion, the sons of the original boy heroes plus Flippa-Dippa, a newcomer, to investigate the Wild Area, a strange community outside of Metropolis.

The boys are given a super-vehicle called the Whiz Wagon for transport. When Clark Kent shows concern for Jimmy, Morgan Edge, owner of Galaxy Broadcasting and the new owner of the Daily Planet, secretly orders a criminal organization called Inter-Gang to kill him. But Kent survives the attempt, and later hooks up with Jimmy and the Newsboy Legion in the Wild Area.

The youths have met the Outsiders, a tribe of young people who live in a super-scientific commune called Habitat, and have won leadership of the Outsiders' gang of motorcyclists. Jimmy and company go off in search of a mysterious goal called the Mountain of Judgment, and warn Superman not to stop them.

THE BRONZE AGE OF COMICS

The Bronze Age retained many of the conventions of the Silver Age, with traditional superhero titles remaining the mainstay of the industry. However, a return of darker plot elements and story lines more related to relevant social issues, such as racism, drug use, alcoholism, urban poverty, and environmental pollution, began to flourish during the period, prefiguring the later Modern Age of Comic Books.

There is no one single event that can be said to herald the beginning of the Bronze Age. Instead, a number of events at the beginning of the 1970s, taken together, can be seen as a shift away from the tone of comics in the previous decade.

One such event was the April 1970 issue of Green Lantern, which added Green Arrow as a title character. The series, written by Denny O'Neil and penciled by Neal Adams, focused on "relevance" as Green Lantern was exposed to poverty and experienced self-doubt.

Later in 1970, Jack Kirby left Marvel Comics, ending arguably the most important creative partnership of the Silver Age (with Stan Lee). Kirby then turned to DC, where he created The Fourth World series of titles starting with Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 in October 1970. Also in 1970 Mort Weisinger, the long term editor of the various Superman titles, retired to be replaced by Julius Schwartz. Schwartz set about toning down some of the more fanciful aspects of the Weisinger era, removing most Kryptonite from continuity and scaling back Superman's nigh-infinite—by then—powers, which was done by veteran Superman artist Curt Swan together with groundbreaking author Denny O'Neil.

The beginning of the Bronze Age coincided with the end of the careers of many of the veteran writers and artists of the time, or their promotion to management positions and retirement from regular writing or drawing, and their replacement with a younger generation of editors and creators, many of whom knew each other from their experiences in comic book fan conventions and publications. At the same time, publishers began the era by scaling back on their super-hero publications, canceling many of the weaker-selling titles, and experimenting with other genres such as horror and sword-and-sorcery.

The era also encompassed major changes in the distribution of and audience for comic books. Over time, the medium shifted from cheap mass market products sold at newsstands to a more expensive product sold at specialty comic book shops and aimed at a smaller, core audience of fans. The shift in distribution allowed many small-print publishers to enter the market, changing the medium from one dominated by a few large publishers to a more diverse and eclectic range of books.

JACK KIRBY

In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character.

At this same time, Kirby grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel, for reasons Kirby biographer Mark Evanier has suggested include resentment over Lee's media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both write and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures volume two, as well as horror stories for the anthology title Chamber of Darkness, and received full credit for doing so; but in 1970, Kirby was presented with a contract that included such unfavorable terms as a prohibition against legal retaliation. When Kirby objected, the management refused to negotiate any contract changes. Kirby, although he was earning $35,000 a year freelancing for the company, subsequently left Marvel in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

Kirby spent nearly two years negotiating a deal to move to DC Comics, where in late 1970 he signed a three-year contract with an option for two additional years. He produced a series of interlinked titles under the blanket sobriquet "The Fourth World", which included a trilogy of new titles — New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People — as well as the extant Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. Kirby picked the latter book because the series was without a stable creative team and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The three books Kirby originated dealt with aspects of mythology he'd previously touched upon in Thor.

The New Gods would establish this new mythos, while in The Forever People Kirby would attempt to mythologize the lives of the young people he observed around him. The third book, Mister Miracle was more of a personal myth. The title character was an escape artist, which Mark Evanier suggests Kirby channeled his feelings of constraint into. Mister Miracle's wife was based in character on Kirby's wife Roz, and he even caricatured Stan Lee within the pages of the book as Funky Flashman. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts, appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers. The Superman figures and Jimmy Olsen faces drawn by Kirby were redrawn by Al Plastino, and later by Murphy Anderson.

Kirby later produced other DC series such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and Kobra, and worked on such extant features as "The Losers" in Our Fighting Forces. Together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time, he worked on a new incarnation of the Sandman. Kirby produced three issues of the 1st Issue Special anthology series and created Atlas The Great, a new Manhunter, and the Dingbats of Danger Street.

Kirby's production assistant of the time, Mark Evanier, recounted that DC's policies of the era were not in sync with Kirby's creative impulses, and that he was often forced to work on characters and projects he did not like. Meanwhile, some artists at DC did not want Kirby there, as he threatened their positions in the company; they also had bad blood from previous competition with Marvel and legal problems with him. Since he was working from California, they were able to undermine his work through redesigns in the New York office.

REVIEW

If you are a ninenties creature like me, you remember all these concepts very well, because they came back in the form of Cadmus in the superman titles of the “triangle” era. This is proof that Kirby left a big legacy on more than one company. It is sometimes hard to tell where Kirby starts and where other writers come in. It is hard to tell on his Marvel work at least (and Stan Lee would often take credit for Kirby’s work). So the Fourth World is a good place to check on the real Jack Kirby. Away from Joe Simon, away from Stan Lee.

Now, about this issue. As I said, I knew most of these things from the 90′s Superman titles (that was also the last time Jimmy Olsen mattered). But I have to imagine what it was like to new readers... Jimmy Olsen readers in particular, that a few months ago were reading about Superman trying to prevent Jimmy (an adult) from being adopted. I also have to have in mind that comic-book readers were probably very aware of who Jack Kirby was. The sixties were pretty much dominated by Marvel, and a big part of that success was because of Kirby. But, as I said before, Stan Lee would take the media and take credit for everything. So I am not sure how aware casual readers were with Jack Kirby.

If they weren’t, by this issue they probably were, as DC did a lot of fanfare about the fact that Kirby was coming to DC. Some people compared Bendis coming to DC to this period of time in particular. While there are similarities, it is too early too judge Bendis legacy at this point in time.

The story in this issue is ok. There are a lot of characters and plots being introduced. It’s the first appearance of Morgan Edge, the Wild Area, the Outsiders, the Newsboy Legion (Junior) and other concepts. It is important to remark that this Newsboy Legion is not the golden age version of that group. They are the sons of the originals (and they look pretty much the same... and dress the same). Flip is a bit weird, though. I am pretty sure he doesn’t need the scuba kit on all the time. I will be reviewing the original Newsboy Legion in the golden age reviews.

The art is better than the usual Kirby style, but as it was said above, Al Plastino redrew Superman and Jimmy’s faces. This was common practice at DC, as they didn’t want their most emblematic characters changing too much from issue to issue.

I give this issue a score of 8

#jack kirby #al plastino #fourth world #vince colletta #gaspar saladino #bronze age #dc comics #1970 #jimmy olsen #superman's pal jimmy olsen #newsboy legion #comics #review

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studioshuzzardchris · 3 years ago

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Model Portfolio Photography Sydney - What Is It and Do You Really Need One to Be a Model?

So you are thinking of getting into modeling of some sort for the first time but have heard people talk about a Model Portfolio and not sure if you should have one. Furthermore, what are it and more importantly what's in it?

What is a portfolio?

A Portfolio is a collection of your best professionally taken pictures either in printed format in a book or folder, on a CD or DVD disc or more commonly these days on-line in digital format. As time goes by it will also contain "Tear-Sheets" of your best work which are pages taken from published work (Magazine's etc) from previous assignments you've done.

Do you need a Model Portfolio to get work?

The easiest answer to that is no, you don't but a portfolio is like a CV in any other industry in that you don't necessarily NEED one to get a job as let's say a Receptionist or a Shop Assistant but it's always best to have one just in case anybody asks to see what you've been doing or what you are capable of doing.

Agency Portfolio

Be aware of scams and agencies that tend to rip off inexperienced new models. If they want to charge you for having your portfolio done in order to sign up with their agency then it may not be the right one for you.

Independent or Freelance Model Portfolio

If you are thinking about being an independent or freelance model then you will have to build or make up your own Model Portfolio Photography Sydney but you can always negotiate your way to getting this done for free.

A lot of Fashion Photography and Portrait Photography studios may agree to take your pictures for no fee in return for your time.

You can expect a set of images from the shoot on a CD or more likely in a downloadable format and maybe even a set of prints if you are lucky or good at negotiating.

Don't expect a full portfolio to be produced from this one shoot but you will receive a good few select shots from the photographer to help build your collection.

Large Agency Portfolio

If you are intending to go with one of the country's larger or better agencies then you may not need to have a Model Portfolio already. All you really need are four simple pictures of you against a light-colored plain background or wall.

You will need to send them:

· One full length shot (two piece bikini for girls and shorts for guys)

· One half-length body shot (top half - just in case you were wondering)

· Head shot - smiling

· Head shot - not smiling

Please note: All shots should be natural, with no makeup on and your hair away from your face and don't try to do any poses as that's not needed at this point in time. Please don't send in your old school photographs or family photos no matter how good you look on them.

Most of them will have a facility for you to upload your photographs to their web site and one of their experienced members of staff who is known as a 'Scout' will view them and contact you if they want to take you on and sign you up.

You will then be invited to have your pictures taken by one of their own Professional Fashion Photographers Sydney for free.

Prints versus Digital

Due to costs and ease of time, having your portfolio is a big advantage and I can't recommend it highly enough so long as you have them hosted on one of the bigger more reputable modeling web sites..

However, there is nothing better than seeing a well taken large print of a model that's in a collection in a portfolio case. Any great salesman will tell you that if you can put something in the "decision maker's" hand then you are half way to making the sale or in a model's case, half way to getting the booking.

Mostly, because of the digital age and on-line facilities a portfolio of prints is more there for personal vanity.

Who should have a Model Portfolio?

· Fashion Models

· Glamour Models

· Facial Models

· Body Part Models

· Child Models

· Teen Models

· Mature Models

· Commercial Models

· Catalogue Models

· Showroom/Promotional/Exhibition Models

· Fitness Models

· Some Actors & Actresses

If you do your research on the industry and your photographers then putting together a model portfolio should be fairly easy and fun to do.

And if you found this article interesting then you might like to look at our information Fashion Photography Perth and Portrait Photography which should give you some related tips and direction to get you started.

Chris Huzzard Studios is a studio providing best photographic studio in Perth, Australia that have a great facilities, confidential, quality services. They are based in Perth [http://chrishuzzardstudios.com/], where you will find a huge stock of variety of studios. If you are interested in a full on photography project like Modelling Photography, Professional Fashion Photographers or any host industry events, it provides you the best possible solution. Do contact at +61 415 388 112 for more details.

#Modelling Photography Sydney #Commercial Photographer Perth #Street Photography Model Perth #Model Portfolio Photography Sydney #Commercial Photography Sydney #Cheap Fashion Photographer Sydney #Professional Fashion Photographers Sydney #Fashion Photography Perth

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somniarising · 7 years ago

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Who Should You Hire to Build Your Web Startup? (Tips for Non-Technical Tech Entrepreneurs)

I actually get asked this question constantly, usually by friends who are looking to build a website or tech startup for the first time, who have an idea but don’t know how to actually create it. And if you are launching a web startup for the first time, then it’s probably one of the most important questions you’ll have to answer for yourself before you begin, as it can largely determine:

A substantial portion of your costs and how much money you raise

The quality of your product

How much maintenance you’ll need down the road and when you rebuild

How much equity you give up

Your success or failure

So here are a few of my own personal FAQs when it comes to building a web business for the first time, specifically in terms of finding talent and estimating its costs.

Should I hire a full-time programmer, a web development company or an independent contractor?

Independent contractors: they aren’t your employees and usually do freelance work on their own.

Pros: schedules and relationships with contractors are usually more flexible than those with full-time employees because you can start and stop projects and adjust hourly schedules as needed. This flexibility also implies you won’t get locked into the long-term cash outflow of an employee salary. Additionally, you don’t have to worry about employment liabilities with contractors (more on that later). Lastly, contractors are generally cheap in terms of equity because they work for cash.

Cons: my biggest problem with contractors is that they want to get compensated for their time and unfortunately not for their results. That usually means they have more incentive to take a longer to do any given job and additionally that they’ll do the minimum amount of work to earn their paycheck. I’m not trying to imply that contractors aren’t honest, because I’ve enjoyed working with countless contractors, but I am saying that they they’re first priority is getting paid while your first priority is getting a great product. It’s understandable because they have no long-term, vested interest in your company the way an employee does. Lastly, an individual contractor will require a lot of leadership and technical involvement on your part because you most likely will be the project and product lead if you have a small team.

Recommendation: remember, contractors usually want to get compensated for their time, so you’ve got to be crystal clear with your expectations up front. The more questions you can eliminate in the beginning the less likely the contractor is to say she didn’t understand what she was doing, and the less likely you’ll get sucked into a never-ending contract because you kept going through multiple iterations to fix constant mistakes. This alone can kill your business by pushing you over your expected budget. In the beginning, draft a comprehensive explanation of exactly what you want (a “requirements” document) and if possible provide visual mockups (I like to use a tool called Balsamiq – it’s easier than pen and paper and much more efficient). Then hold a meeting to discuss those requirements in detail, before you begin. The purpose of this meeting is to align your expectations and agree on a timeline. For one of my projects, I personally spent about 10 hours in a room with a contractor discussing requirements and negotiating a price before we began – it paid big dividends down the road. Once you do start, check in regularly – I’d recommend daily. I also highly recommend that you get a fixed contract with contractors whenever possible. This puts a cap on your spending and ensures that you’re paying for results and not time. Once you’ve taken those steps summarize everything in a legal contract, ideally yours. It’s usually difficult getting developers to agree to fixed-rate contracts, but it's worth putting in the extra time searching for someone who will, and the more detailed your requirements and mockups are, the more likely you’ll get your fixed rate. In my experience, contractors are great for doing quick bug fixes and straightforward feature builds on an ad hoc basis, but I’d hesitate to pay a contractor to build your site from scratch – unless you know exactly what you want, understand the technologies being used and are willing to put in the time as a manager.

Web development companies: web dev companies are teams of contractors - you hire the company, and it assigns its contractors to your project.

Pros: hiring a web dev company generally affords the same benefits of hiring individual contractors, plus a few more. One big benefit is the higher (hopefully) relative quality of work since you can presume the company has vetted all their employees and works according to industry best practices. In short, the work tends to be a lot more professional. A related benefit then is that of management – while you should expect to keep regular tabs on their work, the web dev company will usually provide their own product or project manager who will ensure that the contract stays on schedule so you don’t have to spend as much of your time doing it. This frees your time for strategy and operations.

Cons: this is arguably the most expensive (cash-wise) option, but you are paying a premium for all the above-mentioned pros. If you hire a reputable dev firm, you probably won’t spend under $10-$20K per month. In fact it's not unheard of to pay >$20K / month for a good dev firm. They’re also not going to be as flexible as working with an individual. They’ll want longer (usually a month at least) contracts and usually will want to use their own legal contracts instead of yours.

Recommendation: If you can afford the cost and you don’t want to be locked into a long-term employment contract yet, this is probably your best option if it’s a complicated project and / or if you are building your first product from the ground up, and particularly if you don’t feel comfortable having to actively manage developers yourself. Before approaching a web dev company, put together your detailed requirements and mockups – in fact, you should always do this no matter who you hire. Then get quotes from several different development companies and compare the expected quality and cost of them all. Make a spread sheet and do a cost-benefit analysis. Also, use your own legal contract if possible and try to lock down that fixed rate. Look for web dev companies like Happy Fun Corp who have extremely talented, communicative and professional engineers, world-class client bases, and founding teams with successful track records running their own tech startups. And of course, look at their prior work – odds are, if you don’t like the websites they’ve built in the past, you won’t like the site they build for you either.

Full-time employees: employees are dedicated, formal members of your team and usually work on a longer-term basis than contractors.

Pros: the greatest benefit of hiring a programmer as a full-time employee is alignment of interests. Full-time employees have a vested interest in your company, both in terms of the time they devote and the quality of their work because they share in the success and failure of the company. In my experience, employees do a far greater job than independent contractors and are much more likely to go the extra mile when doing both what is asked of them and also when coming up with new ideas and features on their own – this is the innovation factor. Shared interest is especially strong if your employee has real ownership in your company (equity, options, etc.). As a general rule, the younger your company is the more equity you should expect to award, which is true because anyone joining your team in its early stages is taking a major career risk by coming on board and must be compensated for that risk. In that same vein, the more equity you award the less cash you can likely expect to pay, implying that if the equity is great enough you can save a lot of cash on this option relative to what you’d pay a contractor or development company. In some cases, this can be a cash-free option even. Assuming you are compensating with both, however, I’d expect to pay an annual salary of $60 - $150K (and in several cases more), plus equity of between 2% - 30%. It’s all negotiable, and your final terms will depend on how talented the person is, how much you need him and what your budget is among many other variables. On a side note, having a dedicated tech team, even one person, actually helps your marketability to VCs and angels as well as ensures your business stays lean in its ability to constantly iterate the technology – this is the name of the game in startups.

Cons: hiring a full-time programmer is probably the most difficult option of the three because of the lengthy diligence required to identify and then sell the best candidate on the job, and then because of the enormous risk you are taking by placing so much faith in any given hire. In a startup, every single person on your team is a critical component, and making the wrong hire can literally sink your ship, especially when that person is building your product. In terms of compensation, if you’re paying a salary this option will lock you into a longer term cash outflow and as mentioned will also usually cost you some equity. Additionally, with full-time employees you as the business owner must consider all the legal implications such as worker’s compensation, tax liabilities, unemployment insurance benefits and others. Similar to hiring individual contractors, employees must be led, so you’ll have to devote a substantial amount of time to either hiring someone who understands both the minute details and the big picture, or you’ll have to play an active role in technology decisions.

Recommendation: If you’re looking to build a complete product and you need dedicated, long-term support then hire a full-time programmer as an employee. Because this is a long-term decision, you must identify someone that can take full leadership over the technology aspect of the business and whose competency you absolutely trust. This person will likely be your lead programmer or CTO if you have no one else. Finding truly great talent is difficult enough, but to retain it you have to compensate for it. If you don’t want to give up equity, then expect to award a competitive, if not higher-than-average, salary. If you have no cash or are trying to save it then expect to award a big chunk of equity – it’s a tradeoff, but it’s worth it. Remember, the benefit of hiring employees is alignment of interests, and if you want someone to go above and beyond and work those 18-hour days alongside you, you’ve got to pay for it. In my opinion, award the equity and be generous with key employees (which is absolutely not to say be careless). Make the employee vest over time, meaning the equity is only awarded upon completion of various milestones. If you’re absolutely opposed to allocating equity – and I know some who are – consider it this way: in the beginning one of the biggest challenges you’ll face is that of raising enough funding to build your product; raising funds usually implies you’ll have to give up equity to an investor anyway, who’ll then give you cash, which in turn you’ll pay to a programmer. What I’m trying to say is if you award the equity directly to the employee, you either don’t have to raise as much investor cash to begin with, or you can build a product first and then raise cash on better equity terms later on in the game.

Which programming language is best?

This is a common question you’ll face when you start interviewing people because many of them will be proficient in different programming languages. I’ll refrain from listing all the different languages and their merits because as a non-technical person you won’t necessarily understand all the differences and nuances enough to really decide on your own anyway. I didn’t when I began. Instead, I’ll point out a couple considerations that should help you make an educated business decision, which you can do.

Consider competency: strongly consider building your site in the language that your best candidate wishes to use.

Consider flexibility: go with a language that is well known, widely used and which has a large developer community so that you can plug and play talent if you need to. You wouldn’t, for instance, hire the only person in the world that knows language X, only to then become dependent on that one person any time you need something fixed or built. Using a well-known language will allow you to more readily find people down the road when you need them and at lower rates. Ruby on Rails and PHP are good examples of these kinds of languages.

Where should you begin your search?

Universities: visit them, post job listings at them, make friends with deans if you have to.

Craigslist.com: great source, believe it or not; cheap listing fees.

Startupers.com: highly focused on tech community; cheap listing fees.

Odesk.com: great especially for finding “cheap” overseas talent; free to list (remember, you get what you pay for).

Meetup.com: great for meeting groups of talent in person; free to list.

Devbistro.com: free to list.

Mashable.com / Tech Crunch.com: great exposure for your listing; expensive listing fees.

Recruitment agency: usually expensive, but there are some good ones like Manastaff.

Social media: use your personal network (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter), you might be surprised.

General words of wisdom

When dealing with programmers, you’ll get a lot of answers in the conditional – the sky is never blue, the grass is never green – because engineers tend to frame their problems in the ethereal and theoretical. If you wake up in a cold sweat because you’re dreaming of strangling a programmer (actual story told to me by a non-techie entrepreneur friend), don’t be surprised. The key is to understand from the get-go that you are not building a tangible product like a house, and therefore there is rarely one straightforward solution to any given problem. With software and web engineering, there are multiple different solutions to any given problem and several variables and constraints to account for (architecture, scalability, quality, speed, etc). You as the business person need to be the bridge between the theoretical and practical sides of the business. Be as detailed as possible. Over-communicate. Constantly align on expectations. And behind the scenes, allocate at least twice the capital and time for any quote ever given to you. Go for fixed contracts. And lastly, balance treating your people with respect with being firm on expectations. In other words, try to make it a relationship where you both benefit.

Have friends or relatives starting their own businesses or who are looking to get a programming job at a startup? Share this with them!

Original article here : https://www.forbes.com/sites/shanerobinson/2012/11/01/who-should-you-hire-to-build-your-web-startup-tips-for-non-technical-tech-entrepreneurs/#c5cd9f22a38a

#web builder #Web Development

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blog-researchblog · 5 years ago

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A Frame by Frame Look at the Life of an Animator

Casey Stoneback

The Seven Questions

Growing up I’ve been asked what I want to do when I grow up. It’s the age old question many children have been asked growing up: what do you want your career to be? I’ve had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do with my life since I was in high school, but the article “7 Powerful Questions To Find Out What You Want To Do With Your Life,” helped me narrow down the type of life I want to live as an adult, beyond what career I want to have.

Not all the questions were easy to answer, and some were honestly no help at all, but the first question was very easy to answer. What am I passionate about? The one thing that I’ve been consistently passionate about my entire life is art. I didn’t really consider it as it being a legitimate career until I was in high school, but I have been making art since I was a child. Art is still a very broad field, but I can still easily narrow down what subcategory of art I’m most interested in. I’m interested in the field of animation and/or visual storytelling. Animated TV shows and movies are really important to a lot of people, including myself. I strive to be part of that process and make something that’s important to someone, which answers one of the other questions in the article: What are my goals in life?

One of my main goals related to my career is to do something with art, and more specifically make art that impacts people’s lives. Like I said earlier, I want to use animation and visual storytelling to make that impact. Moving on to smaller life goals, I want to live in a city or very close to a city, because I really want to live in a diverse area. Diversity is really important to me, and living in an urban place will put me in an area with so many people with all different types of backgrounds and stories. Some other goals are wanting to be able to travel a lot, and try working both freelance and for a studio/company just to see what both are like. These are all things I really really want to do, but leaves the question: what don’t I want to do? The last question in the article that I felt was truly insightful and important for me to answer was along those lines. What do I not like to do? I feel like this is really relevant to my career, because I know myself and I know I have zero motivation and interest in things I’m not passionate about. I really could not sustain a career outside of art, I just don’t have the drive for that. Any other field would bore, exhaust, or just plain confuse me. I know I have no choice but to give it my best shot in the animation industry, since that’s what I’m most passionate about.

With these questions and answers in mind, I wanted to know how attainable they are in the field of work I want to go into. To find out more information, I consulted the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Outlook Handbook

According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook entitled “Multimedia Artists and Animators,” a short summary of the field says, “Multimedia artists and animators create images that appear to move and visual effects for various forms of media and entertainment.” The site also listed some specific parts of the field, and stated that most artists in it stay within one certain medium (TV, movies, games, etc). Another thing to note about this career is the work environment. In addition to that, for the most part they work normal hours, but may have to work overtime when deadlines for projects are approaching. Most artists either work in an office, or from home.

The employment of multimedia artists/animators is expected to grow by 4% between 2018 and 2028, which is the average growth for all careers. This projection is due to the fact that the demand for animation across many platforms including TV, movies, video games, etc. keeps going up and is expected to continue to rise. To be able to get a job in the field, most jobs require a portfolio to represent the artist’s work (in this case it would be mostly digital pieces), and usually at least a bachelor's degree in some sort of digital art major. Self study is also an important part of this process for artist’s to better themselves and get more experience. The handbook also lists these qualities that are essential to this career: artistic talent, communication skills, computer skills, and creativity. While this information is helpful and insightful, it isn’t very personal. I wanted to know more about the first person point of view as an animator.

An Animator’s POV

To find out more, I did an interview with my animation professor from last semester, Professor Elizabeth Schnieder. For my first question, I started with asking her what got her interested in animation, since seeing something that inspired me was a big part of me picking this career path. She said she saw the work of William Kentridge as MASS MOCA, and “fell in love with the idea of creating moving artwork.” After looking into his name, he’s an artist that specializes in prints, drawings, and animated films. I found this interesting because this is different to the inspiration I had. She had a more traditional “fine” artist that inspired her, while my inspiration was a cartoon I grew up with.

My next question felt very important to me, since it’s something I struggle with even as a student: How do you avoid burnout? She recommended planning, consistent working every day, and setting goals. She also said stepping away and coming back to look at a project with fresh eyes helped. I also asked what she does on a regular basis, and she said “I always have a cup of coffee every night at 7 pm,” (which made me laugh because I do the same thing), “and sit down to work on my personal animations for two hours at least.” This is a little bit different than what someone actively working for a studio would do, but 2 hours is still a lot of time on top of being a professor.

Another question I asked that felt important to me personally was if she had time to make art for herself, to which she simply said, “I always make time!” I really like this answer because it’s so short and simple, yet so important. I think I’ll be keeping these words in mind for awhile.

I also asked was what she felt was a major issue in the field today. Her answer was sexism. She ended it on a lighthearted note though, and said she felt optimistic that the next generation behind her will have a more inclusive workplace. She said “I’m excited to see more content from female animators, writers, and directors.” I agree with this because I’m also excited to see what productions from women will come out in the future, and as a woman I hope to be a part of an inclusive production like that someday.

The last question I asked her what current events are related to this field, and I found her answer interesting and honestly inspiring. She said “the thing about animation is that you can talk about anything and everything, so all current events can inspire your stories and content.” This precise thing is one of the reasons I’m interested in animation in the first place. I want to tell stories that are important to the world, that will make a difference in someone’s life.

A Current Event Across the World

While I felt this interview was extremely insightful, I still wanted to know more about what’s going on in the field. To see what’s going on in the world of animation, I looked for a current event within the field. One subject that kept popping up no matter what I searched was the poor working conditions and poor pay for animators in Japan’s animation industry. The article I found to be the most useful was Younger Animators Still Struggling Amid Anime Boom. This article goes over the research done by the Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA), which is a non-profit organization that documents and hopes to improve the working conditions in the anime industry. It also goes over some of the thoughts and solutions that Yasuhiro Irie, the Representative Director of JAniCA and an anime director himself, and Daisuke Okeda, the auditor and lawyer of JAniCA.

As the anime industry gets bigger, the profits seem to only be benefiting middle aged veteran animators, and newer/younger animators are not also being properly compensated. Workers have faced unpaid overtime, and some have even been hospitalized from being overworked.

Animators in Japan can usually be broken down into two categories: people that draw genga and dōga. Genga are the keyframe in an animation (the most important frames in a story), and dōga are the frames in between keyframes to make an animation more smooth and fluid. Dōga work is given to newcomers, and as they improve and gain experience, they should move up to working on genga. The current issue with this system, is that the newer animators may quit before getting to move up in the industry simply because they don’t make enough money to survive. According to the most recent JAniCA report, the average monthly income for animators between the age of 20-24 is only ¥128,000 (1,168.47 US dollars).

In the article, Irie and Okeda gave their thoughts on possible solutions to solve this problem. One of their ideas was for studios to negotiate with more sponsors in order to get the money to pay animators properly. Here’s how they explained it:

“Companies should also look outside Japan, to sponsors like Netflix or those in China, he adds. It’s still too early to tell whether such nontraditional sponsors will truly make a difference, says Okeda, but he notes that since last year, when multiple animation companies began working with firms like Netflix and Amazon, ‘many titles with good budgets have emerged. In terms of A-tier titles, the average budget has increased by over 30 percent.’”

One of their other ideas was more government assistance within the field. They argue that while it’s not huge, since anime is consumed globally it does bring in a significant amount of money into the country, so the industry should be compensated for that. Another solution in addition to that is moving studios outside of Tokyo where the cost of living is lower. Two successful examples of this are Kyoto Animation, located in Kyoto, and P.A. Works, located in Tomoya. While it took years for the studios to reach the successfulness they’re at now, Irie says that “‘if new studios learn from such examples, they may be able to get a head start and improve more quickly.’”

One last solution is that a might help, but unions are usually formed to negotiate with one big cooperation, and in the case of anime, it’s broken up into many smaller production companies. These are just a couple ideas to solve the issue of animators being underpaid, because there's no one single way to solve it with the snap of a finger. Irie believes that hopefully, things will change soon since more and more headlines about the poor working conditions animators work in are being published. Hopefully these issues being brought to light will push companies to change and improve.

The reason I picked this article in the first place is when I was looking for articles about news in the animation industry, the poor working conditions and pay in Japan specifically were what almost every search result was about. I’ve also heard about this problem before, so I wanted to learn more about it anyways. One reason I picked this article specifically, is because I know of one of the studios mentioned, Kyoto Animation. Not only have I seen some of the things they’ve produced, but about a month after the article was published, which was only less than a year ago, it was all over the news and internet that Kyoto Animation went through a huge deadly arson attack (due to the studio’s success, it was luckily able to recover through donations and is still open).

I feel as if this article is relevant to the career I’m going to into, because while it’s not about America and it’s highly unlikely I’d move to Japan to become an animator, it’s still a relevant story in the world of animation. It’s important to know what’s going on in your field of work, even in different countries. I already had a vague understanding of the issues in the anime industry, but from this article I’ve learned the specifics of the issue. I had no idea the pay there was that low. What I’d still like to know is how the working conditions in Japan compare to working conditions in America (within animation). I’m curious to know if American animators are also underpaid, even if it’s not to the extreme that Japan is going through right now.

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paulabrandule-animation-y2 · 6 years ago

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Sites to Start off With

Things I want to research further based on what I found in the articles:

-What encompasses the Intellectual Property?

-Contracts- how to write them? how to make them legally binding? and whatever else crops up from the research.

-Tax procedures for freelancers in England

-What skills are sought after currently?

-Are there any organisations in England, that support freelance artists?

Freelance Animation Work Contracts, Copyrights & Benefits

A Realistic Look at Freelance Animation Work

By Adrien-Luc Sanders

https://www.lifewire.com/freelance-animation-work-contracts-140479

In this article the author discusses some of the set backs related to working from home:

-Time management- it is easy to get distracted by other responsibilities or habits around the house. The client would be understanding if you’re juggling multiple projects, but not so much if the work isn’t delivered on time due to distractions. You have the responsibility to set your own schedule and adhere to it.

- Client base- You have to build a client base; get your name out, advertise yourself, and make inquiries. Don't forget to keep in touch with existing clients; polite, periodic e-mails will serve to remind them that you're there to meet their needs without being intrusive. Leaving good impression on clients will have them returning and also recommending other potential clients. But this can work both ways; leaving too many clients dissatisfied can ruin the reputation and client base. Maintaining a client base requires adhering to the agreements, being respectful and giving clients the appropriate attention, regardless how big they are.

- Slow periods-There are going to be slow periods with little income, it is hard to predict when there will be work since clients will contact you on as needed basis. When you do get a contract, save a set amount of the non-essential excess from each lump sum or gross hourly payment to build up a substantial savings that can cover your living when you’re not working.

- Negotiation- when starting out, you have to be willing to negotiate the payment, as at this point your client base isn’t big enough to be able to reject clients that disagree with your pay rate, its best to find a compromise. However, if the agreement leaves you ‘slaving away’, when you could be working for clients with reasonable proposals, you have to know when to walk away.

-Contracts- you should always get any work agreements in writing. You don't have to call it a contract, but there should be a written document clearly outlining an agreement between yourself and the hiring party (the client). You should make sure that it covers what they require and expect of you, your fees, and what exactly those fees cover, as well as any clauses that may incur additional fees and the instances in which they would apply. This can convey your professionalism, but also serves as an evidence of the job obligations and fee initially agreed.

- Copyright- Contract work is what's considered "work for hire"; what that means is that when your client buys your services, they buy ownership of the work that you created as well. You do, however, retain the right to display the work as part of your portfolio, as it is your creation and as a result your intellectual property. This also applies when working for a studio, you retain only the intellectual copyright to the work, while the actual work belongs to the company.

-Taxes- you are required to report your income to the government. Certain percentage will be deducted from your annual income.

-Insurance and Benefits- you don’t get employer provided insurance or benefits, so this is something that you have to save up for. Although, when it comes to holidays, as a freelancer you can work from anywhere as long as you got your kit.

Review: This article is written by a Freelance artist from US, so I am not able to apply all the information covered in here to the UK standards when it comes to pay rates and taxes. However, it did highlight these topics as something I should research further.

Freelance Animator Pay Scale

by Steven Lafler

https://work.chron.com/freelance-animator-pay-scale-2698.html

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, independent animators earned an average of $73,030 as of May, 2011. Freelancers negotiate their contracts with clients. Some animators bill clients on a fee-per-second basis, while others prefer to charge their clients on an hourly basis.

Three-dimensional animation fees are 50 percent to 100 percent higher than those for two-dimensional work.

The Graphic Artists Guild offers guidelines on the sort hourly rate freelance animators should ask for and how to prepare their contracts.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics warns that animation jobs will grow by only eight percent in the decade leading up to 2020. Although demand continues for animators for movies, video games and television, many positions are increasingly filled by off-shore workers as companies seek to cut their production costs. In addition, many talented individuals seek to enter the field, making it competitive. The Bureau cites interactive web animation as a growing specialty within the field.

Review: This site cites some organisations in US, such as the Graphic Artists Guild, that support freelance animators and offer them guidelines when negotiating the pay scales and contracts, or organising health insurance. It is something worth looking into whether there is some sort of support available for freelance artists in the UK.

The Infrastructure of the Animation Industry in the East of England between 2009 & 2011

Jodie Wick

http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/12066/1/001_04012017_Full_%20Text_Appendix_Amended_margins_JodieWick.pdf

#reportproposal

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deniscollins · 5 years ago

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Trump Administration Presses Cities to Evict Homeowners from Flood Zones

If you were the mayor of Nashville and the federal government (Army Corps of Engineers) told you to (1) use eminent domain to force people who refuse to move out of flood-prone homes who refuse to move (federal government will pay two-thirds the cost and the local government one-third) or (2) forfeit a shot at federal money they need to combat climate change, what would you choose? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

The federal government is giving local officials nationwide a painful choice: Agree to use eminent domain to force people out of flood-prone homes, or forfeit a shot at federal money they need to combat climate change.

That choice, part of an effort by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect people from disasters, is facing officials from the Florida Keys to the New Jersey coast, including Miami, Charleston, S.C., and Selma, Ala. Local governments seeking federal money to help people leave flood zones must first commit to push out people who refuse to move.

In one city in the heartland, the letters have already started going out.

Last year, Giovanni Rodriguez, whose white midcentury house backs onto a creek in the southern suburbs of Nashville, got a letter saying his home “is eligible for participation in a floodplain home buyout program.” The surprise came a few lines lower: If necessary, the city “would acquire properties through the use of eminent domain.”

Mr. Rodriguez, a 39-year-old freelance musician and composer of funk, R&B and Latin jazz, said he had no interest in selling — at least not for what the city is offering, which he said wasn’t much more than the $188,500 he paid for the home in 2013. “I would lose this house that I love,” he said.

Eminent domain — the government’s authority to take private property, with compensation, for public use — has long been viewed as too blunt a tool for getting people out of disaster-prone areas. It has a controversial history: Local governments have used it to tear down African-American neighborhoods, as well as to build freeways and other projects over residents’ objections. Even when the purpose of eminent domain is seen as legitimate, elected officials are generally loath to evict people.

Still, in a sign of how serious the threat of climate change has become, some local governments have told the Corps they will do so if necessary, according to documents obtained through public records requests and interviews with officials. Other cities have yet to decide, saying they feel torn between two bad options.

The willingness to use eminent domain shows how quickly the discussion around climate has shifted. Even as President Trump publicly dismisses the scientific consensus of climate change, his administration is wrestling with how to move people out of the way of rising seas and increasingly intense rainfall.

Still, threatening to push people out of their houses is an extreme step, experts said.

“It’s going to create a really big political backlash,” said A.R. Siders, a professor at the University of Delaware who studies buyouts. Still, she praised the Corps for “recognizing that the degree of action we’re taking needs to match the degree of the crisis.”

The Corps’ mission includes protecting Americans from flooding and coastal storms. It does that in different ways, including building sea walls, levees and other protections, and elevating homes. The Corps generally pays two-thirds of the cost, which can stretch into billions of dollars. The local government usually pays the rest.

As that risk grows because of climate change, the Corps has shifted toward paying local governments to buy and demolish homes at risk of flooding. The logic is that the only surefire way to guarantee the homes won’t flood again is if they no longer exist. But it also uproots people and can destroy communities.

As a result, federally funded buyouts have usually been voluntary; residents could decline. But at the end of 2015, the Corps said that voluntary programs were “not acceptable” and that all future buyout programs “must include the option to use eminent domain, where warranted.”

The consequences are now coming into view. In 2018, following a string of devastating hurricanes, Congress gave the Corps money to plan flood-control projects in more than three dozen cities and counties. Many of them now face a difficult decision — a dilemma the Corps saw coming.

“I know what we’re saying” when asking cities to evict people, Jeremy LaDart, an economist with the Corps, said in a 2016 webinar explaining the approach. “In order to do this project with us, you’re going to have to commit to buying out your constituencies and constituents, and doing something that may not be popular.”

Some officials within the Corps were surprised by how far the policy went.

Randall Behm was head of the committee within the Corps that studies buyouts. He said that voluntary programs are imperfect, often leaving vulnerable homes in place. Even so, Mr. Behm said the Corps should require eminent domain only for homes whose flood risk was so severe that their inhabitants were in physical danger.

“That’s where we really need to clear out the structures,” said Mr. Behm, who retired in 2018. By contrast, he said the Corps’ current approach “scares a lot of community officials.”

The Corps defended its policy. Without using eminent domain, officials said, the Corps can’t guarantee to Congress that the buyouts lawmakers have funded will actually happen.

And that would leave residents still at risk. Imagine the Corps identifies 10 homes for buyouts, but only three people say yes, said Susan Layton, chief of planning and policy for the Corps’ Norfolk District office, which is working on buyout plans in Florida. With a voluntary program, that leaves seven homes still exposed. “You’re probably not doing your best job,” she said.

The Corps applies a relatively simple formula to decide which houses should be condemned, officials said: It estimates how much damage a house is likely to suffer in the next 50 years, then compares that to what it would cost to buy and tear down the house, plus moving expenses for the owner. If the buyout costs less, the homeowner is asked to sell for the assessed value of the home. That price is not negotiable, and neither is the offer.

Many officials have balked, at least for now. Miami-Dade has yet to agree to evict residents, and New Jersey has refused. In the Florida Keys, Roman Gastesi, the county administrator, said he doubted the county commission would approve it.

“Eminent domain is not something that’s going to be palatable,” Mr. Gastesi said, adding that the Corps should fund the buyout program it’s currently looking at in the Keys, but make it voluntary. “We don’t want to kick people out of their houses.”

But local officials in other communities have been willing to accept the Corps’ terms.

Brookhaven, a town on Long Island in New York, agreed in 2018 to use eminent domain if necessary as part of a Corps plan to protect against flooding, according to James D’Ambrosio, a Corps spokesman. A spokesman for Brookhaven, Jack Krieger, referred questions to the Suffolk County government, which didn’t respond.

In Okaloosa County, Fla., the Corps asked officials to say in writing that they had the authority and the expertise needed to evict homeowners. The county said yes last June, but added that it might need the Corps’ help “justifying the necessity of the taking of private property,” according to documents obtained through a public records request.

Asked for comment, a spokesman for Okaloosa County, Christopher Saul, responded: “We are prepared to work with the Corps of Engineers to the best of our abilities in order to preserve the safety of Okaloosans.”

Other places appear to have had second thoughts. Last summer, Atlanta told the Corps that the city was able to use eminent domain, according to documents obtained through a public records request. The city informed the Corps in January that it was pulling out of the project.

Michael Smith, a spokesman for Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Another city looking at buyouts is Charleston. At a planning meeting in January, city staff told the Corps that they expected to acquire the land in phases, according to notes obtained through a records request.

Mark Wilbert, Charleston’s chief resilience officer, said the city had told the Corps it would acquire the property required for the project. Asked if Charleston would use eminent domain for those who refuse, Mr. Wilbert said that “yeah, we’d look at it real close.”

“It would not be the first place we would go,” he added.

One of the first locales to invoke the threat of eminent domain is Nashville, where the Corps identified 44 homes it wanted the city to buy. Some homeowners have nonetheless said no.

Down the road from Mr. Rodriguez, Homer Adams, who is 98, said the city had approached him about buying his house. But he said that he and his wife, Wilma, who is 97, want to stay, and were under the impression that the program left them free to do so. “It was completely voluntary,” Mr. Adams said.

The city, however, said every resident selected for the buyout got the same letter, saying eminent domain would be used if the city thought it was necessary.

Lonnie Smith, who lives in a house by another creek in the outskirts of Nashville, likewise said he didn’t want to sell. So did David Woods, who said he thought his house was at less risk than some of the homes around it.

It now falls to the city to decide whether, and how, to enforce its pledge to the Corps to get these people out of their homes.

“Our preference is always, ‘willing seller,’” said Tom Palko, assistant director of Nashville’s storm water division. He said the city’s approach was buying homes from people who want to participate, while giving those who don’t time to change their minds.

Craig Carrington, chief of project planning for the Corps’ Nashville district, said his office wasn’t giving the city a deadline for evicting people. “We knew that this would take several years,” Mr. Carrington said. “We’re trying to eat the elephant one bite at a time.”

#Climate Change #Housing

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dawnajaynes32 · 6 years ago

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If You Really Like What You Create, It Will Sell

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0v3rlayy-blog · 7 years ago

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Illustration

There are many sectors in the Illustration section of employment, for instance there is; advertising (“advertising posters, storyboards, press”), corporate work (“brochures, catalogues”), merchandising (��greeting cards, calendars, t-shirts, ceramics, etc.”), multimedia (”TV, film, computer games, websites, apps, animation”) and many more.

In all of these sectors there needs to be an aspect of liaising (a way of establishing a communication link between people) to work with clients, as well as editors and authors for an interpretation and understanding of the “business needs”. There will need to be negotiations for figuring out deadlines and prices for projects and staff/people in the business, as they everyone needs to clearly understand the brief (specifications included such as having to illustrate the text used in the artwork or having to re-search sources).

There is more than one way of creating artwork is involved with illustration. You could create pieces or images from using “traditional hand skills of drawing and painting, alongside other techniques, to meet design briefs.” For instance, you could use CAD ( a computer-aided design software) to create 3D visuals and see if the colour scheme or design or the product will end up looking okay or will have to be changed.

Though creating artwork is not as easy in the industry as one would think. You need to provide rough concepts or ideas to get an approval before you can continue with it. For example if the idea is not approved you will have to go back to the drawing board for a different concept that will be successful and allowed to continue forward.

It is quite different if you are working freelance and do not have an agent however. You are your own boss and will have to give yourself your own deadlines and critique for a piece, having to communicate with clients and individuals personally and sorting out all the financial process that comes with the job. Freelance can be hard but if you have a good income and can deal well with it, then you can make a lot of money off of it.

As well as the initial selling point of having a job in Illustration, you need to be on the look out for galleries to “find suitable venues to exhibit work.” And you must be able to “establish and maintain your reputation, it is imperative to keep to deadlines.” - this is a very important information as having to do so might result in crazy overtime and long hours to make sure a piece is completed and referenced to the required brief.

The roles and career paths of Illustration vary depending on where you want to go and become. You could work in a design studio where you can permanently work, as some studios do occasionally hire Illustrators for a secure job, or a part-time one. Some will work freelance where they begin to “discover a market for their talent and so receive many commissions”, though there will be a big chance of having to go through many rejections before you can get a substantial amount of commissions or obtaining a secure job. This includes having to deal with flaunting workloads - “from none to too many”. The amount of pay you get in your salary will vary and at the start will most likely be “low and irregular, according to the state of the market.” During this start-off period, many budding Illustrators will take on part-time jobs to sustain a liveable income and to support themselves. The most common areas where jobs are available are in a city “especially for illustrators without an agent.”

(https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/illustrator) - reference for this post and the above information.

Code of Ethics/Fair Practice

1 - “Negotiations between an artist or the artist’s representative and a client shall be conducted only through an authorized buyer.”

2 - “Orders o agreements between an artist or artist’s representative and buyer should be in writing and shall include the specific rights which are being transferred, the specific fee arrangement agreed to by the parties, delivery date, and a summarized description of the work”

3 -”If work commissioned by a buyer is postponed or cancelled, a “kill-fee” should be negotiated based on time allotted, effort expended, and expenses incurred. In addition, other lost work shall be considered.”

4 - “Whenever practical, the buyer of artwork shall provide the artist with samples of the reproduced artwork for self-promotion purposes.”

5 - “Artwork and copyright ownership are vested in the hands of the artist unless agreed to in writing. No works shall be duplicated, archived, or scanned without the artist’s prior authorization.”

6 - “Commissioned artwork is to not be considered as “work for hire” unless agreed to in writing before work begins.”

7 - “When the price of work is based on limited use and later wok is used more extensively, the artist shall receive additional payment.

8 - “In case of copyright transfers, only specific rights are transferred. All unspecified rights remain vested with the artist. All transactions shall be in writing.”

(https://graphicartistsguild.org/tools_resoruces/the-code-of-fair-practice-for-the-graphic-communiactions-industry1) - resource used for information and quotes, and even though it is for graphics communation I think it has poingts that are relevant to the Illustration industry.

Below are notes and points on a job application that myself and another had to look and write about for class. The application we chose was for a place in Pixar as a storyboard artist. When coming up with points, for instance what skills would be good for the job, felt we had done a very good job - both having points and communicating with each other very well during this process. Time management skills for the task was also achieved really well, having all information and points needed for the class deadline.

Storyboard illustrator

Pixar animation studios - Emeryville, California

We need an experienced storyboard illustrator to join our team at Pixar animation studios. See requirements below:

Qualifications/experience

* BA degree or above in either illustration of graphic design (or an art and design)

* Experience working with clients

* Experience in drawing accurate and readable storyboards

Skills

* Strong knowledge of typography, image manipulation, illustration (very important)

* Excellent at working in Creative Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop)

* Broad understanding of marketing design and layout

* Ability to generate a reliable supply of original ideas and visual concepts

* A general understanding of how colour, texture and placement

* Ability to keep up with trends so that the work appeals to people more

* Be well known with more traditional materials like paints, pens etc

* Understand and interpret requirements from the film/advertising concept

* An ability to understand complex or ambiguous production instructions given to the artist in the initial meeting

Qualities

* Open minded - to adapt ideas

* Able to work in a team

* Work well in fast pace situations

* Highly motivated

* Good with time management

* Excellent Communication skills

* Someone willing to learn new things and improve

* Reliable

* Creative mind

* A sympathetic approach to the time constraints of media production

Responsibilities

* Study the script to understand required mood and overall theme

* Consider camera angles and lighting to be used in the storyboard presentation

* Compose wireframe drawings from which the more detailed illustrations will be developed

* Complete colour or monochrome storyboards in full for use by production staff

* Edit storyboards and make changes as per the request of director or production team

Extra

* An excellent portfolio of work - a mix of digital and traditional

‘Disney Easter Egg Video Shows How Every Pixar Movie Is Connected’ from movieweb.com, sourced from MovieWeb [online]

Available from <https://movieweb.com/disney-pixar-easter-eggs-video-connected-universe/>

[26th May 2018]

‘Can you name all 18 Pixar movies in 90 seconds?’ from www.joe.ie, sourced from Joe [online]

Available from <https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/can-name-18-pixar-movies-90-seconds-592806>

[26th May 2018]

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eelgibbortech-blog · 7 years ago

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Is $5000 a lot to charge for a sales page? Here’s what people said.

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I spent the last 4 days writing a long-form sales page for one of our Copy Hackers programs.

At my day rate of $5000, that’s a $20,000 investment.

Given what a long-form sales page can do for revenue generation, $20K is money well-spent.

But not everyone would agree with that. Few would. And, to be honest, even yours truly would have a very, very hard time paying a freelance copywriter $20,000 to write a sales page. I’d need… well, we’re gonna get into what people like moi would need in order to pony up what is effectively a quarter of the average marketer’s annual salary.

But forget $20,000, which is a lot for almost anyone to pay for a single deliverable.

What about a $5000 invoice?

Is $5000 a lot to charge – or to pay – for a sales page?

I decided to ask a few top marketers. Here’s what they revealed.

These are the 14 marketers we asked

We reached out to some of the thought-leaders, marketers and general powerhouses growing today’s coolest (and most profitable [read: they can afford $5K invoices]) businesses online.

Among the handful of questions we asked them was this one:

If a freelance copywriter quoted you $5000 to write a sales page, what do you think your reaction would be?

Although two declined to answer (because the question was optional), the other 12 reacted like so:

You’re probably not terribly surprised by those reactions. As you’d expect, there’s no consensus. There’s no certainty. There’s no definitive takeaway – no sense that, yes, freelance copywriters can always safely charge $5000 or, no, you never should.

The surface reactions aren’t the point.

The stuff BEHIND those reactions – that’s the point.

That’s why we dug into why these marketers reacted as they did. If you’re trying to get prospective clients to sign off on projects like $5000 sales pages, listen closely to what they told us. And see what you can do to put yourself in a better negotiating position.

What does “$5000 is too expensive” really mean?

Surprise! Most people aren’t in the top 1% of expertise in their field.

Bigger surprise! Most copywriters aren’t in the top 1% of expertise in their field.

Biggest surprise! Marketers and founders are wise to the random guesswork that happens too often in the copywriting world.

When I’m talking with marketers about how they hire freelance copywriters, a strong distrust of the freelancer’s skills comes through time and again. After all, there’s no reliable third-party stamp of approval for copywriters. No degree in copywriting. No peer-reviewed portfolios. So until clients see proven, measured results, they don’t really believe that their new freelance copywriter knows how to, well, write copy.

(And even when the results are present, there’s still this strange sense that, somehow, it’s a fluke.)

Perhaps the biggest reason for this distrust is this:

There are just far too many people calling themselves copywriters.

Check out how many freelance copywriters are listed on one of the most popular spaces for finding freelancers, Upwork:

And how many of those copywriters have data or proof that they’re actually skilled at the job?

When you refine your search for job success (a form of proof), you see this:

So 2000+ freelance copywriters have “experience” getting the job done right.

Which doesn’t help a prospective client make a decision.

Because there’s still no PROOF that you can do what the client needs doing. Job success is not synonymous with proven results.

For a top marketer to pay you $5000 for a sales page project sans sticker shock, one of two things needs to be true.

You either need to have a great portfolio of results. Or you need to do pay-for-performance – as in, you get paid after the page performs well.

A few of the marketers who were NOT in a rush to invest $5K in sales page copy said they needed proof + results:

“It better make me at least 2x that amount or at least exponentially more than it was making before. If it does the job, I’m happy to pay it.” – Nadya Kohja

“Ouch! Unless I know they’re great.” – Oli Gardner

“You better be damn good at what you do! ROI matters more than cost, so you better be able to produce ROI at that cost.” – Barrett Brooks

Clearly your prospects need to KNOW that you’re gonna do great work. They can’t take on all the risk in hiring you; they need to feel confident that their investment will bring a return of, as Nadya said, at least 2x. I’d push that 2x further to something like 10x. Why? Because most people considering proposals for a page think exactly like Peep describes here:

“Some freelancers will quote 2k, 3k – and that’s the hard part: it’s often VERY difficult to see how the 5k quote would deliver a better result. As they say, if I can’t tell the difference, why pay more?” – Peep Laja

You’ve gotta answer this question: “Why should a client pay more for me than for the next freelance copywriter?”

Your results need to justify your rate. Period.

Your clients need to believe they’re going to get a 10x return on their investment. Period.

Of course, you don’t know how your page will perform until you put it out there. And that’s where pay for performance can be an appealing option for you and your prospective client. But let me be honest: P4P is super-tricky. I wouldn’t rush into it. And even clients who perk up at the idea of it lose interest when they realize how much work it’ll be to track it – to say nothing of the % of their revenues they’ll be sending your way.

Instead of pay for performance, bring a strong portfolio of results to those early convos with your prospects. Results sound tricky to collect. In fact, they are not. There’s data about your work all over the place – you just need to go grab it. Quickly assembling a list of your results over the course of, say, the last 6 months is actually pretty easy, and it doesn’t require that you start participating in complex A/B tests or funnel optimizations.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Start measuring your work immediately so you can reduce the risk for your clients and charge more. A few ideas for you:

Start asking for the before-and-after data (for traffic, conversions, etc) for the landing pages / websites you write for clients

Grab open and click rates from MailChimp, ConvertKit or whatever platform you and your clients use to send the emails you write

Set aside time each week to track week-over-week increases in shares, comments, traffic and more for the blog and social posts you’re responsible for writing

Run your own Facebook ad tests for your business

Run your own A/B tests for your landing pages inside Unbounce or your page platform

BTW, showing results is not optional.

No one would hire an SEO who couldn’t point to the traffic growth s/he had generated for clients. No one would hire a CRO consultancy without first reviewing highly persuasive, data-rich case studies. Possibly the only role that does get hired sans numbers is the role of the designer – but even that’s changing as marketers abandon gut reactions in favour of hard numbers.

Those who think $5000 is doable expect the same things as those who think it’s not: strong data going in, and strong ROI going out

Sorry, punkin, but there’s no escaping it: businesses dig numbers.

CFOs love numbers. They obsess over numbers like it’s their job.

Your skill with words will only get you so far as a freelance copywriter. Ultimately, you’re hired for the numbers, not the words. Here’s proof that measurable performance is everything when choosing a copywriter:

“Does this writer have evidence to support their claim that the copy will perform well? If yes, I’m ready to sign the quote. If it ranks and converts, $5K would be a bargain. ” – Andy Crestodina

“The biggest challenge would be to make the investment without knowing how the page would ultimately perform.” – Nate Turner

And let’s not forget the one marketer who said $5000 is too low

Lars Lofgren is the Senior Director of Growth at IWT. Unlike a lot of tech businesses and agencies, IWT uses long-form sales pages heavily – they’ve got a big ol’ team of copywriters – so Lars knows full well the power of a high-converting sales page. When I asked him the $5000 question, he said:

“If someone told me their salespage would cost $5000, I’d assume it would actually cause damage to the brand and not generate any tangible revenue. It’s going to hurt more than it helps.”

I couldn’t agree more.

When copywriters quote me $3000 to $5000 for a sales page, I know I’m going to have to do a lot of work on it. And truth be told: I’ve never had a freelance copywriter quote higher than $5K for a long-form sales page.

Now here’s a question.

Why is Lars the only one who said $5000 is too low for a sales page?

Is he just terrible with money? Has he got nothing but cash to burn? …Or is it something else? Is it that he’s not only written sales pages himself but also overseen the creation of some of the most profitable sales pages in online marketing?

That no one else reacted like Lars reveals one of the bigger issues underlying resistance to a $5000 invoice for a sales page: Not a lot of marketers have SEEN what a killer long-form sales page can do for their business.

And even worse?

Not a lot of COPYWRITERS have seen it, either.

The reality is that a long-form sales page is a one-page funnel. Imagine optimizing your funnel for just $5000. If someone quoted you $5000 to optimize your funnel, you’d have the same reaction Lars had: it’s not gonna work. Yet somehow a long-form sales page – which moves prospects from TOFU through MOFU to BOFU – isn’t obviously worth AT LEAST $5000 to many people hiring freelance copywriters. Do I blame those marketers and think they should all turn into Lars as soon as possible? (I’m actually pausing as I consider my answer.) …No. We copywriters just need to do a much better job of:

Writing strong long copy and

Telling the world about when it works and when it doesn’t so that

More marketers can stop wasting money on low-yield initiatives when they really need to put their copywriting budget toward expensive but high-converting long-form sales pages.

All that said, how can you get more clients to recognize your value and pay you like a champ?

To justify solid rates for writing sales copy, copywriters need to connect their work directly to two things: lead generation and revenue generation.

We asked this group of marketers:

What was the business objective you were trying to solve for when you recently hired a freelancer?

All answers fell into one of these 3 categories:

We wanted to generate more revenue

We wanted to generate more leads

We wanted someone to execute

The third category shows that, in some cases, businesses just want to hire you to do the execution work of writing copy. Four of the marketers we talked to simply wanted a freelance copywriter to execute without a direct success metric; for example, one freelance copywriter was hired to remove the jargon from a landing page.

But ten of the 14 marketers hired a copywriter for an outcome directly tied to growth: revenue or leads.

Nobody said they hired a freelancer to build their brand. Or to revamp their voice. Or to generate creative concepts. That doesn’t mean that other marketers on the planet won’t be looking for the creative side of copywriting… but 14 out of 14 marketers (in high-growth, profitable businesses, with a history of hiring copywriters) said absolutely nothing whatsoever about hiring a copywriter for creativity.

Get inside your prospect’s head! You know what they want. Now use their words in YOUR copy…

So you know you need results to woo clients.

But what else can you do, say and share to tip the scales in your favour?

You can use what marketers want and don’t want to write more persuasive sales copy for your services.

And what follows can help you with alluhthat…

So if you’re writing a sales page to sell your email copywriting services… or drumming up testimonials and wondering what to ask your past clients to focus on… or putting together a proposal and trying to figure out what to say under “About Me,” you should use the words your prospects would use / have used. Because you’re a copywriter. And that’s what copywriters do.

We asked these 14 marketers how they’d describe their ideal freelance copywriter. These are the words and phrases they used, in alphabetical order:

Aware

Brings a process

Data-driven

Disciplined

Fluid

Has courage

Empathic

Intelligent

Nimble

Perceptive

Proactive

Shows initiative

Specialist

Subject matter expert

Succinct

Takes ownership

And a few more insights into what clients want when they’re hiring freelance copywriters:

“A “dual-threat” SEO/conversion copywriter!” – Andy Crestodina

“Someone who ‘goes deep.’” – Nathalie Lussier

“In the past when I was looking for some help increasing conversions on a pricing page, I was looking for the best pricing page copywriter there was, and my search queries followed suit. So my ideal copywriter knows who they are, their strengths, and as a result, knows how they can help me better than everyone else.” – John Bonini

“Committed to staying a freelancer, able to write in multiple “voices”, good on the phone so I can trust them to call clients.” – Dana DiTomaso

And while you’re at it, overcome their biggest objections when you’re pitching

If you’re wondering why your prospective clients are skeptical about your value, chances are insanely good that they’ve been burned before.

Here are some of the frustrations these marketers have felt when working with copywriters. They may be the very same frustrations your next client wants to avoid. So consider them all when writing copy for your freelance services and/or talking to your prospective client on the phone.

FRUSTRATION 1. It’s simply hard to tell the great freelance copywriters from the ones who talk a good game.

‘Member all that stuff above about results? Yup, lack of results / lack of expertise is the #1 frustration people have with copywriters.

Tara Robertson, head of agency partnerships at Sprout Social, put it this way:

“Copy tends to be the hardest function to outsource for multiple reasons. For one, while loads of freelancers state they are ‘data driven writers,’ my experience has been more so that finding writers who are also great marketers is generally very hard to come by. Couple that with the need to learn a potentially new niche, product, or industry, as well as find your brand’s tone, really means you’re looking for a unicorn.

“There aren’t a lot of people in the world that truly “get it,” which is why this process can be both hard and cumbersome. I look at my outsourced team the same way I do as my internal team, and therefore it’s almost more important that your freelancer is able to deliver quality work as they’ll already be working at a disadvantage (less internal training, ramping time, etc).”

Nadya Khoja, Head of Marketing at Venngage, said:

“It’s hard to find someone who not only knows how to write well, but to write in a way that engages audiences. Naturally this can be said for any job or industry, but many people looking for a job tend to over promise and under deliver. When people claim to be a “writer” and we take a look at the copy written, it’s either overly academic, or poorly written in general.”

Nate Turner of Sprout Social said:

“[The most frustrating thing is finding] the right expertise and fit. There are plenty of resources available to source freelancers but it usually takes more time and effort to find people that have some expertise in your industry and can fit your objectives/tone/style.”

And Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media said it like so:

“[The most frustrating thing is] finding someone who can back up their recommendations with data.”

Your portfolio can help showcase your expertise. So can a case study cleverly disguised as a blog post (and shared in multiple places, not just on your blog). But be careful not to rely only on showing your expertise! Most people have no idea what goes into the work you do to create high-converting copy. So take the time to talk about and describe your process. Do as your math teacher said in elementary school: show your work. Don’t let your client guess at your expertise… ‘cos they might just dramatically underestimate you.

FRUSTRATION 2. The learning curve with new freelancers can be too much.

Your competition isn’t necessarily another freelancer. When your prospective client is considering you, she may also be considering simply training someone in-house to write the copy. Or getting her niece the English major to do it. It’s not that she thinks anyone can do your job; it may simply be that she doesn’t want to deal with the hassle of training a person who may not even be a great copywriter (see #1 above). Think about everything you need to know deeply as a copywriter:

The market

Market segments

Specific personas and/or jobs to be done

The product / service

The company vision

The brand voice

The marketing ecosystem – how X plays with Y

Editorial standards

Where to find enablement stuff, like testimonials and research

Creation and iteration processes

Oh, and you’ll have to be introduced to the team and integrated into it. You’ll need to use the right meeting tools… get added to specific Slack channels and kept out of other channels… get added to the right Trello board… not get in the way… know when to get in the way…

All that for a sales page?

John Bonini of Databox breaks down his experience onboarding freelance copywriters like this:

“You’ll spend a good deal of time chopping the wood with a copywriter in order to get them up the learning curve as quickly as possible… Everyone sees the output of a copywriter, but what they don’t see is everything that goes into defining the market, understanding the customer, and solving then real challenges businesses are facing.

“For example, improving plan mix for a SaaS company isn’t just about making the premium plan sound better – it’s more about understanding the motivations of their current buyer, the aspirations of the buyers they don’t yet have, and how to best position their plans to influence both.”

And Laura Roeder of MeetEdgar said that the learning curve is one of the hardest parts of working with a freelancer:

“When you’re working with someone for the first time, there’s so much to learn about each other’s needs. A lot of the time, it’s easier to work with someone you’ve worked with in the past and with whom you already have even a little bit of a professional rapport. Working with someone new can be great, but even in a best-case scenario, there’s a learning process involved!”

If you have reason to believe that the client you want to land is worried about the learning curve, what could you message in your copy? Do you have a unique system for integrating yourself into their world? Do you offer incentives for repeat work, given that the hard learning-curve stuff is out of the way after the first few jobs?

FRUSTRATION 3. The freelance copywriter is not hardcore.

The really, really good clients you want are the ones who 100% respect the work copywriters do. They don’t think you’re a wordsmith, and they don’t think they could do your job if only they had more time. They are hiring copywriters because they value copywriters. They have actual line items in their budget for “Freelance conversion copywriter.”

These hiring managers want someone who cares at least as much about the art + science of copywriting as they do.

No, scratch that. They insist that you care 100x more than they do.

As in, they need you to be hardcore.

Lars Lofgren explains well his frustration with hiring non-hardcore copywriters:

1) They don’t talk to customers. You know how hard it is to really get inside the mindset of a target market? You have to talk to HUNDREDS of people. Not surveys, not dumb Reddit threads and Amazon reviews, you have to actually talk to them and really dig deep. Great copywriters take every chance they can to talk to as many people as they possibly can. They feed off it. Most copywriters don’t and their copy is terrible. It’s just a collection of random copywriting templates they learned from the popular books.

2) They’re not willing to eat a giant dose of humble pie. You may have read all the books and collected a swipe file. Who cares? You haven’t even started yet. Until you’ve built funnels from scratch to six and seven figures by relentlessly failing and iterating until you finally succeed, pay very close attention to the folks that have. Most copywriters think they’re rockstars. Only a few are.

(Side note: Lars added that you can refer to surveys, reviews, etc. His frustration is when that’s ALL you look at – when you don’t actually immerse yourself in the head and heart of the customer.)

How can you prove you’re hardcore? If I were you, I wouldn’t start by being particularly subtle…

Finally here are some additional frustrations your prospective clients may have felt:

“[It’s hard to find] samples of their work in the right format.” – Oli Gardner

“It’s important that anyone I work with understand the mission of my blog.” – Nir Eyal

“The hardest part is finding someone who can understand my market, and also ramp up to the technical aspects of our software. I’ve hired from referrals, after seeing someone’s work in a Facebook group, and these have generally panned out… but it’s hard to tell how someone will write in a totally different market than their previous work.” – Nathalie Lussier

“It’s difficult to evaluate whether someone is a good fit for a particular gig.” – Peep Laja

“[It’s frustrating when a copywriter] checks the box to get the work done, but they don’t treat the work like I think they would if it were their own. In other words, the quality of output is often underwhelming.” – Barrett Brooks

Of all the takeaways, here’s perhaps the most interesting one, IMHO…

The people who were most enthusiastic about spending $5000 on a sales page had this in common: they’d written long-form sales pages before. They know how hard it is to write a great sales page. And they know how well a well-done sales page can perform.

Which means that if you can, in early conversations, get a sense for who on the client’s team has been doing the writing, you may be able to pull those people deeper into your conversations. And nudge them to share the challenges of writing this kind of copy. So the person making the hiring decision doesn’t rely on assumptions and her calculator when it comes to signing the proposal or not.

Now I gotta wonder…

…would you balk at a $5000 sales page?

What would you need to know about a copywriter before you’d agree to a $5000 invoice?

What’s the most you’ve paid for copy, and would you pay the same copywriter that amount again?

Featured image by: Bryan Apen

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nathandgibsca · 7 years ago

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Is $5000 a lot to charge for a sales page? We asked 14 marketers who hire freelancers. What they revealed could help you land your next project.

I spent the last 4 days writing a long-form sales page for one of our Copy Hackers programs.

At my day rate of $5000, that’s a $20,000 investment.

Given what a long-form sales page can do for revenue generation, $20K is money well-spent.

But forget $20,000, which is a lot for almost anyone to pay for a single deliverable.

What about a $5000 invoice?

Is $5000 a lot to charge – or to pay – for a sales page?

I decided to ask a few top marketers. Here’s what they revealed.

These are the 14 marketers we asked

We reached out to some of the thought-leaders, marketers and general powerhouses growing today’s coolest (and most profitable [read: they can afford $5K invoices]) businesses online.

Among the handful of questions we asked them was this one:

If a freelance copywriter quoted you $5000 to write a sales page, what do you think your reaction would be?

Although two declined to answer (because the question was optional), the other 12 reacted like so:

The surface reactions aren’t the point.

The stuff BEHIND those reactions – that’s the point.

What does “$5000 is too expensive” really mean?

Surprise! Most people aren’t in the top 1% of expertise in their field.

Bigger surprise! Most copywriters aren’t in the top 1% of expertise in their field.

Biggest surprise! Marketers and founders are wise to the random guesswork that happens too often in the copywriting world.

(And even when the results are present, there’s still this strange sense that, somehow, it’s a fluke.)

Perhaps the biggest reason for this distrust is this:

There are just far too many people calling themselves copywriters.

Check out how many freelance copywriters are listed on one of the most popular spaces for finding freelancers, Upwork:

And how many of those copywriters have data or proof that they’re actually skilled at the job?

When you refine your search for job success (a form of proof), you see this:

So 2000+ freelance copywriters have “experience” getting the job done right.

Which doesn’t help a prospective client make a decision.

Because there’s still no PROOF that you can do what the client needs doing. Job success is not synonymous with proven results.

For a top marketer to pay you $5000 for a sales page project sans sticker shock, one of two things needs to be true.

You either need to have a great portfolio of results. Or you need to do pay-for-performance – as in, you get paid after the page performs well.

A few of the marketers who were NOT in a rush to invest $5K in sales page copy said they needed proof + results:

“It better make me at least 2x that amount or at least exponentially more than it was making before. If it does the job, I’m happy to pay it.” – Nadya Kohja

“Ouch! Unless I know they’re great.” – Oli Gardner

“You better be damn good at what you do! ROI matters more than cost, so you better be able to produce ROI at that cost.” – Barrett Brooks

You’ve gotta answer this question: “Why should a client pay more for me than for the next freelance copywriter?”

Your results need to justify your rate. Period.

Your clients need to believe they’re going to get a 10x return on their investment. Period.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Start measuring your work immediately so you can reduce the risk for your clients and charge more. A few ideas for you:

Start asking for the before-and-after data (for traffic, conversions, etc) for the landing pages / websites you write for clients

Grab open and click rates from MailChimp, ConvertKit or whatever platform you and your clients use to send the emails you write

Set aside time each week to track week-over-week increases in shares, comments, traffic and more for the blog and social posts you’re responsible for writing

Run your own Facebook ad tests for your business

Run your own A/B tests for your landing pages inside Unbounce or your page platform

BTW, showing results is not optional.

Those who think $5000 is doable expect the same things as those who think it’s not: strong data going in, and strong ROI going out

Sorry, punkin, but there’s no escaping it: businesses dig numbers.

CFOs love numbers. They obsess over numbers like it’s their job.

“The biggest challenge would be to make the investment without knowing how the page would ultimately perform.” – Nate Turner

And let’s not forget the one marketer who said $5000 is too low

“If someone told me their salespage would cost $5000, I’d assume it would actually cause damage to the brand and not generate any tangible revenue. It’s going to hurt more than it helps.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Now here’s a question.

Why is Lars the only one who said $5000 is too low for a sales page?

And even worse?

Not a lot of COPYWRITERS have seen it, either.

Writing strong long copy and

Telling the world about when it works and when it doesn’t so that

More marketers can stop wasting money on low-yield initiatives when they really need to put their copywriting budget toward expensive but high-converting long-form sales pages.

All that said, how can you get more clients to recognize your value and pay you like a champ?

To justify solid rates for writing sales copy, copywriters need to connect their work directly to two things: lead generation and revenue generation.

We asked this group of marketers:

What was the business objective you were trying to solve for when you recently hired a freelancer?

All answers fell into one of these 3 categories:

We wanted to generate more revenue

We wanted to generate more leads

We wanted someone to execute

But ten of the 14 marketers hired a copywriter for an outcome directly tied to growth: revenue or leads.

Get inside your prospect’s head! You know what they want. Now use their words in YOUR copy…

So you know you need results to woo clients.

But what else can you do, say and share to tip the scales in your favour?

You can use what marketers want and don’t want to write more persuasive sales copy for your services.

And what follows can help you with alluhthat…

We asked these 14 marketers how they’d describe their ideal freelance copywriter. These are the words and phrases they used, in alphabetical order:

Aware

Brings a process

Data-driven

Disciplined

Fluid

Has courage

Empathic

Intelligent

Nimble

Perceptive

Proactive

Shows initiative

Specialist

Subject matter expert

Succinct

Takes ownership

And a few more insights into what clients want when they’re hiring freelance copywriters:

“A “dual-threat” SEO/conversion copywriter!” – Andy Crestodina

“Someone who ‘goes deep.'” – Nathalie Lussier

“Committed to staying a freelancer, able to write in multiple “voices”, good on the phone so I can trust them to call clients.” – Dana DiTomaso

And while you’re at it, overcome their biggest objections when you’re pitching

If you’re wondering why your prospective clients are skeptical about your value, chances are insanely good that they’ve been burned before.

FRUSTRATION 1. It’s simply hard to tell the great freelance copywriters from the ones who talk a good game.

‘Member all that stuff above about results? Yup, lack of results / lack of expertise is the #1 frustration people have with copywriters.

Tara Robertson, head of agency partnerships at Sprout Social, put it this way:

Nadya Khoja, Head of Marketing at Venngage, said:

Nate Turner of Sprout Social said:

And Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media said it like so:

“[The most frustrating thing is] finding someone who can back up their recommendations with data.”

FRUSTRATION 2. The learning curve with new freelancers can be too much.

The market

Market segments

Specific personas and/or jobs to be done

The product / service

The company vision

The brand voice

The marketing ecosystem – how X plays with Y

Editorial standards

Where to find enablement stuff, like testimonials and research

Creation and iteration processes

All that for a sales page?

John Bonini of Databox breaks down his experience onboarding freelance copywriters like this:

And Laura Roeder of MeetEdgar said that the learning curve is one of the hardest parts of working with a freelancer:

FRUSTRATION 3. The freelance copywriter is not hardcore.

These hiring managers want someone who cares at least as much about the art + science of copywriting as they do.

No, scratch that. They insist that you care 100x more than they do.

As in, they need you to be hardcore.

Lars Lofgren explains well his frustration with hiring non-hardcore copywriters:

How can you prove you’re hardcore? If I were you, I wouldn’t start by being particularly subtle…

Finally here are some additional frustrations your prospective clients may have felt:

“[It’s hard to find] samples of their work in the right format.” – Oli Gardner

“It’s important that anyone I work with understand the mission of my blog.” – Nir Eyal

“It’s difficult to evaluate whether someone is a good fit for a particular gig.” – Peep Laja

Of all the takeaways, here’s perhaps the most interesting one, IMHO…

Now I gotta wonder…

…would you balk at a $5000 sales page?

What would you need to know about a copywriter before you’d agree to a $5000 invoice?

What’s the most you’ve paid for copy, and would you pay the same copywriter that amount again?

Featured image by: Bryan Apen

The post Is $5000 a lot to charge for a sales page? We asked 14 marketers who hire freelancers. What they revealed could help you land your next project. appeared first on Copywriting For Start-ups And Marketers.

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