Hi all, Not 100% sure I’m in the right place as I’m a compete novice to all of this but hoping someone can help. My girlfriend has written a short children’s book (think Bif & Chip, Meg & Mog etc) which she has sent away to publishers. She’s already had a few come back interested but as she isn’t an illustrator, they’ve offered to source one for her but want £2-3k for it. We’ve looked into getting an illustrator independently but they’re looking for similar amounts. As it’s her first book, that feels like a lot of money to pump into it for what would be a fairly low retail price book. Does anyone here have any suggestions on another way?
Hi Matthew - You might get more responses to this very pertinent subject if you changed your thread title to something like : Children's books—illustration costs. Or something like that. I am one of the Moderators here. I don't think you are empowered to change your thread title, but I can do it for you, if you like. Just let me know in this thread? If you want the title changed at all, and, if so, what you'd like it changed to?
Are the publishers saying you're (or she's) expected to pay for the illustration? That sounds odd to me, but I've never published anything. I would think the publishers commission an illustration and don't ask the writer to pay for it. That sounds more like how it's done in self-publishing to me.
They’ve said she can use one of their illustrators if she contributes and have quoted £2-3k. It felt a little steep considering the kind of book it is would probably only retail at a couple of pounds, so an outlay of that amount would take a crazy amount of sales to make back
i'm slightly worried about who the publisher is... that feels like a vanity publishing move (the sort of thing you see from austin macauley, novum etc etc and so forth) ... i get that you don't want to name the publisher here but feel free to drop me a note by private message if you'd like it checked. its not unusual for a trad publisher to want to use their own illustrators, but generally they pay the illustrator and recoup the costs by taking the lions share of the royalties, much as they would with editors, coverdesign and so on
Yeah, we did some research on them and it seems that’s exactly what they are. All a learning experience! Thank you so much everyone
in trad the money should flow to the author, not away from them... every time a 'publisher' asks you for cash its your cue to walk away In self publishing it is usual for the author to pay for editting, cover design, illustrations, potentially a sales blurb and so on... but there are still 'service companies' who are basically vanity publishing in a dress
