[NEED ADVICE] What is the ballpark price range for getting a map designed?

[Wingshaw]

I'm glad that this idea has gained traction, but I think it may be getting over-complicated and over-analysed (imo, that is). Below is my proposal, which tries to include all of the ideas that have been floating around this thread:

--A new sticky thread in the map-making requests forum called "Price guide and mappers for hire" or something like that. I think that any potential clients who are looking in the requests forum will be attracted to a thread that states 'price guide' in the name.

--The first post could contain some introductory text, very similar to what Mouse wrote, with perhaps a general warning on prices and an additional line stating that some professional cartographers prefer not to publicly disclose their rates, but will provide quotes if contacted/interested in a project.

--After the first post, the thread is reserved for artists interested in finding commissions. The artist could then provide links to samples of work, contact information, types of maps they'll work on, price guide (if they choose), whatever other information they consider useful to include about the service/services that they offer.

How does this idea sound? I personally would like to have something like this, and I have no objections to posting my price range - I think I should actually amend my prices, based on what some of you have said above...

Poor hasdaddy's thread has been completely hijacked!! Should this be moved to a new thread, perhaps?...

Wingshaw

[Mouse]

Yes! Sorry hasdaddy!

@ Voolf and Wingshaw - glad you like it. I'm not precious about my text stuff, so edit at will. I can already see a missing paragraph break, and a comma that should be a semi-colon, but if I start messing around with it I will invariably make it worse.

So go head and modify it till its right...

EDIT: All entirely provisional, of course - dependent on what the general consensus of opinion turns out to be.

[Voolf]

Hmm, sorry Wingshaw, but i feel that you make it way too complicated.

I was thinking about adding one more paragraph to to existing thread, and you want to create a new one and then everyone would post there more advertising themselfs.
I mean i am not against it, but all i wanted to do is to give the clinets some actual informations about prices so they know what to expect. This will stop commission requests with 10-50$ budget and also some questions like "how much should i pay/charge for a map".

[DanielHasenbos]

The only reason why I would object to giving estimates for prices is that there may be people that charge way more, and maybe even what they are worth (in my mind that would be people like J.Edward, Sapiento, - Max -, etc, though that is just a gut feeling, and not based on actual knowledge). By giving an estimate for say $300 as reasonable, we may actually be taking down the big boys. That is something that should be considered too, I think.

[ThomasR]

The only reason why I would object to giving estimates for prices is that there may be people that charge way more, and maybe even what they are worth (in my mind that would be people like J.Edward, Sapiento, - Max -, etc, though that is just a gut feeling, and not based on actual knowledge). By giving an estimate for say $300 as reasonable, we may actually be taking down the big boys. That is something that should be considered too, I think.

And also this !

[ThomasR]

Maybe just a mention of the fact that cartography is a time consuming activity, hence the price ?

Once again, I'm not a partisan of the idea of displaying prices as everybody is entitled to it's own pricing, depending on lots of different personal, regional ... parameters. Were the hourly rate even in all the countries, this would not be that much of a problem but economic geopolitics being what they are ... It doesn't seem fair. Setting a price in stone (and I know it would not be the case per se) would be a bit ... I dunno, "first-worldy" ? (tough subject, sorry if my thoughts are expressed so badly)

[tainotim]

Jumping in on the conversation. Read through everything but might have missed something.

I think what Daniel mentioned with a 300 USD baseline is a good point. It’s simple, it’s fair and it’s a good starting point.

However, I do think it’s important that people become better at charging and informing about usage rights as something else than the map. So often potential clients have no clue that this is something they have to pay for, which makes sense, because who wouldn’t want to drive the car they buy. But, they don’t buy the right to use the car, they buy a picture of the car, and pictures have pretty clear usage functions. Some functions have monetary revenue, some don’t. I wanted to make this point because too often when it comes to art specifically, clients often claim that they haven’t had to pay for usage rights before. And that is a culture that is pretty bad for the industry; which makes this topic so important, and I would say even more important than almost all other questions regarding how to earn money from illustrations.

That is my two cents.

Regards,
Karl

[DanielHasenbos]

Maybe simple state that the price for a map usually is somewhere in the hundreds, rather than the dozens? This way the point we're discussing here is made clear, while still allowing everyone to maintain their own rates and not undermining anyones work?

[Wired]

I'm against displaying prices, simply because of the wide range they can have and the wildly different circumstances they may stem from. Simply stating that map-making is a time-intensive business, with maps easily taking twenty-five or more hours of work, and maybe linking to one or two example of hourly rates for Illustration etc. should be more than enough.

[tainotim]

Also, regarding the topic just raised, I don’t see it as a problem for the elite. They should charge just like everyone else; based on the time they put in to making the map, and a reasonable hourly wage according to that. If you take 20 hours to make a A4 map, 100 USD per hour is too much honestly (unless you are Picasso or something). If you take three hours to make a a4 map, then perhaps 100 USD per hour is a good wage, which ofcourse is something you can only achieve with great artistic skill. And professional artistic skill, as I see it in the economy of the digital age, is those that can produce the BEST artwork in the FASTEST time. That is the way to survive.

Regards,
Karl