Interesting thing happened yesterday. I received an email from a friend, an author friend, who resides in the US of A. He let me know that a friend of his, also an author, needed to have some book covers redesigned. More specifically, EBOOK covers.

Wonderful! The middle of January and the work is starting to come in. Or so I thought. What follows is an account of how skewed things have become, especially when ‘creative’ endeavours are involved.  I’ll try to explain…

Living in South Africa presents one with certain challenges when dealing with overseas clients. Communication is an obvious one, but emails, BBM, Skype and the like manages to take care of that fairly painlessly. So to receive a brief need not be the worst headache one has to face.

Cost however, is another ball game altogether. Since the exchange rate, whether it be Rand to Dollar, or the Euro, or what have you, does not favour those of us living in this little muddy backwater.

As a result, one has to be ultra careful in how one quotes out a job. This is where, one would think, experience, ability, a good track record as a designer and the like would play a part. A positive part. To my horror, I now realise that this is not the case. I would like to think that the client would feel safe in the knowledge that I am going to give his/her cover design all the attention it deserves.

The only thing that matters, or so it seems, is the amount of cash involved. After I sent my rates off, I was told that I’m charging too much. Far too much it seems. This got me thinking.

Was I screwing myself out of work?

Am I charging unfairly?

Are my rates completely out of line with what other ‘designers’ are charging?

Time to do more research and investigate this matter further. Holy crap! Was I in for a surprise!

What I discovered online is truly shocking. Maybe not to some, but certainly to me. Because, as an avid reader, and a designer/artist with some thirty-plus years experience, I figure that given the right circumstances, I generally deliver a product that satisfies most. The publisher, the author, and ultimately the reader.

Books ARE judged by their covers people!

There are designers, artists, charlatans, bullshitters, call them what you will, who are charging a fraction of what I charge, for what I consider to be a vastly inferior product. Many might disagree. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing. Maybe I lack sufficient bad taste to go down this road. Something akin to someone’s aunt’s cousin’s kid who has just gotten their first PC and is now a digital artist. That’s like saying because I like watching Top Gear I’m the Stig!

I take time and care to do credit to a cover. I generally spend far more time than is quoted for to ensure some measure of success. I say some, since it’s unlikely that everyone will see things my way. Creative likes and dislikes are highly subjective, but so what?! It does-not-matter! The argument seems to be that an EBook cover needs to cost less than a cover for a paperback. Really?

For example. There are DESIGNERS, not hacks, who charge anywhere from $300 – $1000 for a cover. And there are others (the hacks) who charge between $30 and $90. I charge somewhere from the bottom to the middle of the former range, depending on the client’s needs. How on earth does one put in the necessary effort for $30?!

I accept the fact that while some EBooks sell for less than their paperback counterparts, it is certainly not always the case, but is this really my problem? While I can understand someone wanting to pay less for something that once done, might not even sell one copy, I cannot understand them being happy with an inferior product.

So what to do? Do I revise my quoting system and charge less, spend less time, make fewer changes, care less and basically toss my artistic integrity in the bin? Absolutely not. The only other possibility is to create cheaper pre designed covers that only need a title and the author’s name to be added. There you go, thirty bucks thanks, pay at the door!

Perhaps those people who have need of a creative service need to carefully consider why they are employing someone to create something unique, or perhaps they need to reconsider their options and get a day job.

So in sad conclusion, everything boils down to money. Paying too much is not good, but then neither is too little.

Here endeth the lesson.