Obviously missed this the first time around. I agree: $10/pg should be the absolute floor. Push for $15 every time and maybe we can get this up. I’ve NEVER taken a paying gig for less than $10 and I was a terrible letterer when I started!
As Aditya says, there are well-established letterers doing work for big companies on $20/pg and that’s not right.
Also, back end deals: I’ll only do back end for people I know and trust. Additionally, if you’re getting cut in for say 5-10%, ask for the same cut of the IP.
You may not get it, but if the book you worked on is a huge success and you took a chance on a back end deal, why the hell shouldn’t you get a percentage on that Hollywood/Netflix/HBO deal?
To be clear: I’ve been doing this for nearly 12 years as a full-time professional. I’ve got well over 50,000 pages under my belt and a bunch of award nominations, and I still haven’t got my overall average page rate above $20.
I was away from desk and couldn't pull up the figures readily last night, but in the (belated) interests of full #PublishingPaidMe disclosure…
Current lowest rate: $15
Current highest rate: $35
Basic rate for new projects: $20*
Average rate in June: $22 (approx)**
*With some wiggle room for creator-owned with back-end, or indy/small press who I want to give a break to.
** Mixed currencies, so some slight vagaries on the exchange rate.
Final footnote, I promise: that average page rate is just a straight mean average of the rate on every book I did in June. If I weight it by volume, it falls sharply to under $18/pg.
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