… and how not to have your life consumed by this concern. 🙂
I’ve been licensing my art for 10 years now and I’d like to share a little secret – I’m still not always sure if I’m getting “a good deal”. Â Royalty rates and the ways companies work can vary by industry, by company and even by the artist a company is working with. Â I’m pretty sure Mary Engelbreit gets a better royalty rate than I do…
The way I see it, “A good deal” all depends on who you are and what you want for yourself, your lifestyle and your business.
A good deal for one artist will look like a horrible deal to another. Â But there have to be ways to quantify what “a good deal” is.
Attorney Kyle-Beth Hilfer just did a post entitled: Evaluating Art Licenses: How to Tell if You Have a Good Deal. She gives some great advice about what to look at and look for from a legal / contract perspective.
Maria Brophy blogs a lot about lifestyle – her recent post: How Taking an Adventure can grow your Business is a great example of what a “good deal” looks like to them.  A job where they got 2 weeks of vacation a year and were expected to report to a cubicle the rest of the time would be a horrible deal for both Drew and Maria.  But for others – it gives them the structure and consistency they need and they have no desire to go on 5 month adventures and work out of a black box. 🙂
A friend of mine – Steve Strauss, attorney turned entrepreneur and owner of TheSelfEmployed.com – recently went to Istanbul for a week with his wife.  He was hired to speak and MC for 2 days at an event for entrepreneurs.  In return, he and his wife were able to take an amazing trip!  To me that’s a great deal (anyone want to fly me somewhere interesting???) but when I told another friend about it, she cringed and said the flight alone would make it pure torture.
Basically – there are parts of each deal that are subjective. Â At the same time, it’s important that you fully UNDERSTAND any deal you do – in terms of what it will mean to your business financially and from an art copyright standpoint, if nothing else.
Just some food for thought about deals. Â Back to your creative work!
– Tara Reed
Call for submissions of origami artwork. FunFoldables is a small origami design business in Kent, WA. We market unique greeting cards, gift card carriers, gift tags and origami craft kits to toy, craft and gift shops. We are building a bigger library of artwork for more diversity. Royalty rate of 5% plus extra 20% on sales generated through link-sharing. We are dedicated to employing disabled crafters and partner with CenterForce in Lakewood, WA, to provide satisfying work opportunities. Please contact Lindy at 808-489-3848 or lindy@funfoldables.com for project guidelines.