Typical Page Rates
Carl Henderson
>What's a fairly typical page rate in the industry for writers and artists?
From the RAC/RACM FAQ:
3-18: HOW MUCH DO COMIC CREATORS GET PAID?
The vast majority of comic book creators work freelance (though a number of
colorists and letterers work as salaried employees for studios, and one newer
comic book company--CrossGen--directly employees most of their artists and
writers, as well.) Freelance creators are almost always paid by the page for
their work, and their pay scale is stated as a "page rate."
The pay rates listed below assume a major work-for-hire publisher (i.e.,
Marvel, DC, Top Cow, TMP, Dark Horse). Smaller publishers often offer
substantially lower rates.
SCRIPT (per page)
Beginning Rates: $40 to $60
High End Rates: $80 to $100
PENCILS (per page)
Beginning Rates: $80 to $120
High End Rates: $180 to $200
INKS (per page)
Beginning Rates: $40 to $60
High End Rates: $100 to $140
COLORING (per page)
Beginning Rates: $20 to $25
High End Rates: $35 to $40
LETTERS (per page)
Beginning Rates: $20 to $25
High End Rates: $35 to $40
Some page rate notes:
BREAKDOWNS VS. FULL PENCILS: Artists who do breakdowns/layouts (loose, less
complete pencil art) are generally paid from $20-$25 dollars less than their
normal page rate. Inkers who "finish" such artwork (doing substantial more
drawing work than normal) are paid correspondingly more.
COVERS (STANDARD): Artists are normally paid more for covers than for interior
pages--anywhere from 20% to 50% higher. Covers normally take more time,
receive more editorial attention, and require more changes. Exact cover rates
are impacted by a number of factors, and are harder to pin down than interior
page rates.
COVERS (PAINTED): Depending on the popularity and skill of the artist, rates
for painted covers can run from the several hundred dollars on up into the low
four figures.
CONTINUITY BONUSES: In the past--when money was less tight--many of the major
publishers offered "continuity bonuses" to artists. These were bonus payments
for completing a run of issues (anywhere from eight to fourteen) without
requiring a fill-in. In the current market, this practice has almost
disappeared.
SALE OF ORIGINAL ART: Pencillers and inkers have an additional source of
income open to them. Publishers normally only buy reproduction rights to the
art. They almost never buy the physical artwork. Thus, once a publisher has
finished scanning their art boards, the art is returned to the creators.
Original art is normally split 2/3rds to the penciller and 1/3rd to the inker
(although the exact percentages can vary depending upon contractual
relationships and/or upon the relative contributions of the penciller vs.
inker to the finished art). Writers do not receive a share of the original
art.
Once an artist has their art back, they may choose to sell it to collectors in
the secondary art market. If the artist is popular, he or she may be able to
sell originals for as much--or more--than his or her page rate. On the other
hand, many originals go for $10 to $20 a page. And some never sell...
A few important caveats about page rates and creator incomes:
1) Royalites (AKA "incentive") levels are almost never reached in the current
market.
2) You can't just multiply a page rate by 22 pages per month and get a
realistic approximation of your potential salary as a comic professional.
A number of factors make such calculations questionable: fill-in issues being
scheduled, getting work on non-monthly special projects, sickness (no sick
days for freelancers), being fired off a title, having a comic cancelled out
from under you, sale of original art, cover work, etc. Furthermore,
freelancers also have to cover self-employment taxes and health insurance out
of their earnings.
3) All this goes out the window for smaller publishers. Rates are usually much
lower: $5, $10, or $20 a page--or even nothing. On the other hand, with
small-press publishers, royalties are often higher, and royalty thresholds are
much lower. A breakout hit in the small press arena (rare--but it happens) can
net artists effective page rates of hundreds of dollars per page.
4) Self-publishing is different. No one pays you anything. There are no page
rates. You live off (or fail to live off) of your profits.
Rich Johnston (who's had some experience as self-publisher through his Twist
and Shout Comics label) explains some of the economics:
If you can sell 3000 copies a month, you can make a living. A
3000 print run will cost between $1000 and $1500 (black and
white). Print at somewhere that Diamond pick up from and
there's no extra shipping cost. Retail at $2.95, you sell to
Diamond for $1.18. Profit of about 70c an issue. Multiplied by
3000, that's $2100 a month. Or $25,200 a year. Mind you, then
there's materials, inventory copies, conventions, promotion,
everything else to figure in. Plus the fact that you won't
sell 3000 a month. Few self-publishers do.
Don't quit your day job...
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Carl Henderson rec.arts.comics/rec.arts.comics.misc FAQ
carl.he...@airmail.net http://www.enteract.com/~katew/faqs/miscfaq.htm
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Justin Bacon
Justin Bacon
tria...@aol.com
Justin Bacon
carl.he...@airmail.net (Carl Henderson) writes:
>In article <20001025200903...@nso-fa.aol.com>, tria...@aol.com
>(Justin Bacon) wrote:
>>What's a fairly typical page rate in the industry for writers and artists?
>
>From the RAC/RACM FAQ:
Why is it whenever I search for things in the FAQ I always use all the wrong
keywords?
It's a conspiracy I tell you! A conspiracy!
Thank you for posting this for me, Carl. Sorry for the hassle.
Justin Bacon
tria...@aol.com
Duke Harrington
"Carl Henderson" <carl.he...@airmail.net> wrote in message
news:1E07BABFC12231DC.5F93EEC8...@lp.airnews.net...
> In article <20001025200903...@nso-fa.aol.com>,
tria...@aol.com (Justin Bacon) wrote:
> >What's a fairly typical page rate in the industry for writers and
artists?
>
Twist
> and Shout Comics label) explains some of the economics:
>
> If you can sell 3000 copies a month, you can make a living. A
> 3000 print run will cost between $1000 and $1500 (black and
> white). Print at somewhere that Diamond pick up from and
> there's no extra shipping cost. Retail at $2.95, you sell to
> Diamond for $1.18. Profit of about 70c an issue. Multiplied by
> 3000, that's $2100 a month. Or $25,200 a year. Mind you, then
> there's materials, inventory copies, conventions, promotion,
> everything else to figure in. Plus the fact that you won't
> sell 3000 a month. Few self-publishers do.
>
> Don't quit your day job...
Does anyone have sales figures from some of the current crop of self
published books? What are the average sales?
--
______________________________________________
Duke Harrington | The Encyclopedia Galactica
Lewiston, Maine | http://www.exploremaine.com/~duke
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Matthew High
>published books? What are the average sales?
Yeah, I have 'em, but I'll have to format the list to make it presentable.
The majority of the self-published books out there sell too few copies to rank
on the top-300 chart (which usually cuts off between 1700-2100 copies).
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"Matt! Come into the light" "No! I like the darkness!"
Distributor/Retailer Liaison Radio Comix http://www.radiocomix.com
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