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Work for Free!

sparkyfirepants | December 6th, 2008

Two things caught my eye recently and I had to share.

I’ve followed a few conversations lately on Twitter about spec work and working for free.

I can’t tell you how many times I hear artists who are trying to break into freelancing ask, “Should I work for free?” They’re understandably confused because they see others doing it and there’s no shortage of projects asking for free work – in exchange for massive publicity and future fame and fortune, of course.

Unfortunately, I can’t answer the question for someone else. No, it’s not some lame-ass dodge. I am of the strong opinion that every artist needs to decide this for themselves.

Personally, I don’t work for free. Anymore.

Early on I did my share of contests and free gigs just to get myself in the game. What I realized after a very short time was that I was keeping myself very busy with work that wasn’t even paying to keep my laptop running. The rent was coming due, I was getting burned out, and the checking account showed only debits. After having a long talk with myself (that was something), I decided to cancel my membership to the pro-bono club.

Karen J. Lloyd is a Storyboard Artist and teacher with a fascinating blog. She addressed this subject as it relates to storyboard artists, but I think that illustrators will find it chock full of stuff they can use.

If you decide that free is for thee, think very carefully about your reasons. If you think about yourself as a business, you’ll find it’s easier to make those kinds of calls.

###

The other thing that caught my eye was a comment on my holiday card post from Judy Dunn. She was told by a publisher not to submit illustrations with her children’s book manuscript. She’s paying attention and it’s awesome.

This is another question that I get more often than, “Daddy can I watch Gilligan’s Island?” Writers ask me if I will illustrate their book and artists ask me if they should illustrate their friend’s book.

Nope and nope.

Okay, I’m nicer than that, but that’s the stock answer. Here’s why:

Reputable publishing houses find their own illustrators for the manuscripts they buy.

Yes, Judy is absolutely right and she’s smart to hold off until the right publisher buys her book. Illustrating a picture book by an established professional can cost anywhere between $6,000 – $10,000, on average. It can be more.

Let’s say you have disposable cash and want to illustrate your children’s book to make it more easily acquirable by a publisher. Here’s what’s going to happen:

  1. You’re going to have some interesting artwork to hang on your wall and explain to guests.
  2. The publishers you submit to will become annoyed and may not even review your manuscript. In fact, they may even drive to your house and burn it on your doorstep. If that happens, stay inside.

Artists, have you been approached by someone to illustrate their picture book so they can submit it to a publisher? Congratulations! Make some tea and hug yourself for five minutes. Now explain to them what I just told you and ask them if they still want to spend the money.

When I do this, I usually get one of two reactions. The first is indignant anger and outrage at how much I charge for illustrating “just a simple little 58-page picture book.” And how I should be lucky to get the offer. It’s happened.

The thing is, I love illustrating books for kids. It’s what I do! Passing up an opportunity to do what I love sucks. But I can’t take someone’s money just because they don’t know any better.

The second is thanks for taking the time to explain how it works and not just taking their money (and there are people who will take their money).

I prefer the second reaction. The tea goes down easier.

However, I do get requests to illustrate books for very personal reasons, from people who understand the costs involved and just feel strongly about getting their book out into the world. I love it, great idea, let’s do it!

See how this relates back to the earlier topic of working for free? As an independent professional, it’s extremely important to respect your work, treat yourself as a business, and always be ethical. Some people won’t get it, but that’s okay. They don’t have to look at you every morning in the mirror.

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  • Bonjour David,
    it's great to know that you can speak french so well.
    How did you learn? And what is the main reason?

    =>In those instances, I still submit an invoice showing the value but deducted as a charitable donation.

    I had never thought of that.
    I'm working on a book for children, translated in a local dialect in Africa.
    This is a charity action.

    I previously had some troubles :
    Sponsors's participation is greatly appreciated because they bring xxxx $.
    When I work for free I often have the feeling that I bring no value because I'm not treated like other participants.

    That's ok, I'm not asking for the people to say 'thank you' but I don't want anybody to give me the impression that I'm useless.
    Anyway, c'est la vie :)

    I'll use your advice!
  • Ange, merci pour les commentaires. Je suis vraiment heureux de faire connaissance d'un autre pays sur l'un de mes posts. S'il vous plaît se sentent les bienvenus ici.

    Je pense que vous avez raison, il est nécessaire mai à souffrir un peu au début, mais vous présentant comme un professionnel rémunéré est toujours préférable à long terme pour votre carrière.

    Il s'agit d'un choix très personnel, mais parfois, je voudrais faire un don à un organisme de bienfaisance que je trouve intéressant. Je n'ai pas toujours l'argent, et je préfère donner mon temps. Si je peux donner mes services c'est génial pour moi, une longue que la valeur de ce que je donne est apprécié et compris autant que l'argent aurait été.

    Dans ces cas, je continue de présenter une facture indiquant la valeur, mais déduites comme un don de charité. Cela montre que:

    1. C'est mon choix d'être altruiste.
    2. Il ya une valeur tangible pour les travaux que j'ai fait.
    3. Dans l'avenir, c'est ce travail comme des coûts.

    Merci encore pour l'affichage. Comme vous pouvez le voir, je suis en train de travailler sur mon français aussi bien, alors je suis heureux de vous commenter.

    ####
    Ange, thanks for commenting. I'm really happy to be getting insight from another country on any of my posts. Please feel very welcome here.

    I think you're right; it may be necessary to suffer a bit in the beginning, but presenting yourself as a paid professional is always better for your long term career.

    It is a very personal choice, but sometimes I want to donate to a charity that i find worthwhile. I don't always have cash, and I would prefer to give my time. If I can donate my services it's great for me, a long as the value of what I'm giving is appreciated and understood as much as the money would have been.

    In those instances, I still submit an invoice showing the value but deducted as a charitable donation. This shows that:

    1. It's my choice to be altruistic.
    2. There is tangible value to the work I've done.
    3. In the future, this is what work like this costs.

    Thanks again for posting. As you can see I'm working on my French as well, so I'm glad to have you comment.
  • Hi,
    this is interesting :)
    I'm a published illustrator & writer (children's books).
    In my career, i had to face two steps :

    1. Should I work for free so that I can get experienced, grow my contact list and actually have some professional work inside my portfolio?
    or
    Should I keep on trying to believe that my work's value is more than 0?

    I think that nobody should ever work for free.

    I noticed that I got more attention when I had a "business" attitude, as soon as I decided to talk about money before publishers did.
    Some of them said "we are making books for children, it's strange that you talk about money" and i had this easy answer "We both want to make a great book. I make a good story/illustrations, I spend time for this, and you pay me if you want this to happen."

    Nobody else than the artist himself should decide if he wants to work for free. Don't even suggest me to work for free. If I'm passionated enough by the project, and I have enough money to pay the rent, I'll talk about it by myself (personal project, charities?).

    If you work once for a nice price with a nice publisher, you get more money and attention in the future. You 'build' your career. At the beginning it's difficult to pay your everyday rent, but I think that it's a clever move.

    2. Even if a publisher pays well, he actually gets much more money than what you get.
    In France, we are paid with royalties but finally it's like a fixed price if your book is not well-sold. I don't know if illustrators are paid the same way in Usa, or england.
    Ex :
    book price = 5€
    royalties = 10%
    advance (?) = 2000€

    You get 2000€ when your book is published (1000€ when you start working on the book, 1000€ when it's published).

    10% of 5€ = 50cts
    2000/50cts = 4000

    The illustrator doesn't get money until 4000 books are sold.
    If sales are under this level, 2000€ can be considered as a fixed price because you'll never get more.
    That's what happen mainly.

    I actively try to dig into self-publishing. I can't speak english so well, and it's a bit difficult for me to share my thoughts, join discussions and develop new solutions 'together' (illustrators, artists, etc...) but I've decided that I will concentrate my efforts on making connections in 2009.
    So came my site, my Twitter, etc..
    Still new for me.

    I'll be following your blog, and sorry for my poor english.
  • Sharky, I often make the same type of analogies and connections in my head. For example, I need new tires on my Volvo.

    I could pay for them with money, but golly, that's almost $400.

    It would be much cheaper if I could get Les Schwab to put four new all-weather Dunlops on my car for free. They could write "Les Schwab" on the side of the tire (as small as possible so it doesn't distract from the beauty of the tire). I could also carry Les Schwab business cards in my glove compartment.

    Whenever I'm driving around town and someone says, "Hey them are some mighty nice tires ya'll got there" I can tell them that Les Schwab did it.

    Imagine how much business they'll get from me just going to pick up beer every third Saturday.

    Really, they should pay *me* to put new tires on my car because they have all those mechanics and tires sitting around anyway. I know they need the work.
  • Sharky
    Ask 'em how many plumbers they know that can fix a leak, or electricians who can wire a lamp, or lawyers or doctors. Then ask 'em how many artists they know who can illustrate a book.

    Artists are much rarer creatures than lawyers and doctors and plumbers and electricians, all of whom consider themselves professionals and charge respectable fees for their services.

    Art is a skill that takes practice and perseverence to perfect. I find the people that want work for free are the ones who say, "Oh, I can't draw a straight line." Well, they probably can't remove an appendix either, but I bet they wouldn't expect their doctor to do that for free.

    How many plumbers take on free work because it'll look good on their resume, or they can show people their portfolio?

    Value your work, or nobody else will. Stand together and do NOT do spec work - it's a way for cheap bastards to get a lot of free ideas, so they can choose the best one and then go to the boss's nephew who "does art" to "clean it up."
  • @Karen JL Anytime, Lady. :)

    @Robyn Yeah, I have to be careful talking about how much fun illustration is for me. Kidding, of course - I love telling people how much fun I have with what I do, even if they end up thinking that I shouldn't charge for it. Kind of like how I think of major league baseball players. ;)

    I also wanted to add something to this post. When I say I don't work for free, it's true.

    However.

    There are causes I believe in and situations where I'll provide limited services for no *money.* However, I do make sure I'm getting something tangible out of the relationship. So even if I'm not getting cash, I'm getting something that has value to me.

    The main thing is, I get to decide if it works or not.

    Any others with experience like this?
  • Robyn McIntyre
    One of the things I learned is that a lot of people think artistic talent is a talent you're just born with and don't have to work at improving. So why shouldn't you just knock off some illustrations for friends and family - after all, it's not like that it takes that much time or real effort, right?

    About working for free - after so many years of volunteering to do freebies for nonprofits and friends, I have struggled with this one. But I'm learning, I'm learning. And even more importantly for me, I'm learning how to spot those potential clients who want to get as much as they can before you ask where the money is, and then they take what you've done and run. I still think people are basically good, but some people suck and I wish them very bad karma.
  • Thanks for the link buddy! :)

    We certainly seem to be on the same page with this one. And my thoughts on it can definitely be applied to any artist. We're always the ones being asked to perform our skills for free! Why not accountants? Or doctors?

    And you're bang on about the children's books too. I found out that fact after taking a children's book writing class. It can be pretty disillusioning if you want to write and illustrate it yourself. What's the alternative? Self-publishing, I guess.

    Thanks again and great info. I love that you're trying to educate with your blog too. Yay!
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