Just a little lake effect snow can wreak havoc on a city, even one as snow savvy as Chicago. Going home tonight, I drove across a parking lot of virgin snow. The driveway to the lot has an incline, and I almost slid out into traffic on 69th street. I don't get in situations that make me have to use my anti-lock brakes, but fortunately they are still working in my old vehicle (my history with cars is to buy one new and drive it until it's done). I saw an SUV really spin out, 360 + degrees on the Dan Ryan expressway, which at most times of the day or night is a heavily used highway. Amazingly no other cars or trucks hit the SUV. I was almost in an accident when I braked just when the light turned to red, and the van behind me had decided to run the light. And, there's issues with setting up the photo shoot. So I'm tired, and cranky, and I'm going to write this, even though I may up editing this post later. This has been on my mind a lot. It's about the rash of books that have one author, but are the designs of many that have been cherry picked for the best ones. It's about the compensation for those designers, when the author will be collecting royalties in perpetuity. This is what I know based on my contract. I have an advance and a photo budget. The advance is just that, and will be backed out of the royalties that will be paid when books are sold. There is a photo budget. If I go over the budget, those costs will be paid by the anticipated royalties from the book. Nowhere in this contract is a fee schedule for submitted designs. I'm assuming that if I had others submit designs, I would pay them an agreed upon fee. Out of my advance. Or out of the funds I have set aside for added expenses. I asked one person to submit a design, which ended up not happening, and I would have paid her asking price. Out of my advance, not out of a "wee budget." So, if anybody out there is thinking about submitting a design, really consider what the compensation is. I've heard of a few out there where the designers didn't even get a copy of the published book. Is $100 or less a better deal? Oh, the scarf. It's a Grinda! Knit in Noro Iro #55, on size 10.5 needles. It's really long, kind of a Dr. Who type thing. I wore it to a job, and did an Isadora Duncan thing. I rolled a chair over it, and nearly choked. It's dramatic, but I have to be careful!
1 comment:
Thanks for bringing this up, Corrie. I think about it every time I see a "call for designs" from someone compiling a book. People get so excited at the thought of seeing their name on a design in a book that I doubt they realize that someone else is going to get the financial benefit, and to a certain extent the credit.
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