Help with Charging Design Work/Quantity

I recently agreed to do work for a man who sells sports stat books and I will be designing the covers for them, illustrating their mascot and such. I'm not sure what or how to charge for this service. I charged him a low flat rate last year when I did it but didn't know he was selling multiple copies of the same book at times. I charged a low rate b/c I knew he needed a profit also and assumed I was charging for ONE book cover. I'll also be designing mock-ups for uniforms to make it easier for coaches to visualize what they'll look like and is also helpful for the vender so they know placement of the artwork. On some covers I'm able to pickup the art from the previous year, like their logo, but on others, the logo/mascot has to be recreated in Illustrator. Any guidelines on how to go about charging? Should I do a flat rate per design or should there also be a percentage per item sold? THANK YOU!

It all depends on what you want. Do you want your profits to be contingent on theirs and have to wait until they make a profit (if they do at all)? Furthermore are they going to be willing to share a percentage of their profits? In general it is best for contractors not to get involved in profits and just make their fee and let the business do what they will.

KK0419

You might start by taking a look at other agreements for the same or similar projects. (This is not the first time in the history of publishing that someone has been asked to design a cover.) Alternatively, if this client sells advertising in his books, take a look at that pricing. Don't adopt it outright but use it to give you some clues.

My experience in book publishing and similar ventures has been that you have two prices: one for the creation or purchase of the design and the other for licensing rights. The first is usually a constant number--I'm used to paying $150/image for access to existing work, even when I'm working for non-profits.

The second number depends on where and how the image will appear and how many copies will be printed. A color image on the cover of a book that will have a print run of 100,000 copies will command a higher fee than a color plate on the inside of same. A 1/4 page BW image bled onto a text page would be less. Same parameters for 500,000 will be higher; 500 copies would be lower. Other variables have to do with distribution (will this be used in promotional videos or on the Web? Will the edition be international or translated into other languages?)

The use of your design as a team logo should almost certainly raise the licensing fee. I don't know anything about that, though.

Good luck. Please note that I haven't commented on the concept that you should lower your fee so that your client can make a profit. ;^)