Requesting Quotes
As a freelance illustrator, I often receive emails from people asking for quotes. 99% of them have one thing in common - they don’t give me any information at all.
“Hi. I am looking for an illustrator for my children’s book. Please tell me what you charge.”
Apart from the fact that this made-up email positively screams ‘I am sending the same email to ten different people and I couldn’t be bothered to put your name in it’, I just don’t have enough information to provide any sort of quote at all.
One thing I should point out is that unless you are self-publishing, you do not need to find an illustrator yourself. If you want to submit your manuscript to publishers, that’s all you need to do - submit the manuscript. You can leave the bother of finding an illustrator to other people.
Still with me?
Imagine you walk into a travel agent’s, and say ‘How much does it cost for a holiday?’ - what sort of answer do you think you’re going to get? The travel agent is going to look at you blankly, and request more information. What sort of a holiday are we talking here? Do you want to backpack around South East Asia, or have first-class flights and a luxury cruise through Europe? Or maybe you want to take a weekend road trip and stay overnight in a country motel. All those options are going to have wildly different price tags.
As an illustrator, I too need more information. When you say ‘children’s book’, I don’t know if you mean a fully-illustrated picture book, or a chapter book with a black and white illustration for each chapter. Or maybe you’ve written a novel and just want a cover. I don’t know the genre you are writing in, or the style of illustrations you are looking for. I can’t even begin to give you an accurate price.
At a minimum, I need to know:
What type of book it is
How many illustrations you think you need
What style of illustrations you want
What your story is about
The genre you are writing in
Your budget
Your deadline
Here is a sample email to an illustrator:
Hi (name),
I found your work through Instagram, and I would like to ask what you would charge for a 32-page illustrated children’s picture book about a girl and a magical dragon learning to ride a bicycle. Please see the attached manuscript. I will need 12 illustrated double-spread pages and a cover, and I am interested in illustrations like your (mention specific illustration here) and plan to self-publish the book using print-on-demand services around (mention your deadline).
If this is a project you would be interested in, please let me know a ballpark figure and your availability.
Thanking you in advance,
(Your Name)
or maybe
Hi (name),
I saw your work on childrensillustrators.com and I think you would be perfect for my middle-grade novel. I need someone to illustrate a cover and 11 black and white full-page illustrations, one for each chapter, in a fun cartoon style. I like your illustrations for (mention specific project here). I will be self-publishing the novel through Amazon KDP in both print and ebook formats.
My novel is about three friends who stumble across an abandoned theme park while on holiday, and discover it has been overrun by hundreds of ghost rabbits. Can the rabbits help them to solve the mystery of the suspicious men the kids have seen meeting in the town?
Please let me know if you are able to take this project on. I have budgeted $3500 for the illustrations in my book, and would be interested in a detailed quote. I can send you the manuscript if you would like to look it over before quoting.
Thanking you in advance,
(Your name)
These scenarios give me the type of information I need to give you at least a ballpark quote for your project. It saves time all round; I’m always very busy and the less time I spend emailing back and forth with you, trying to pin down the specifics of your project, the better for me - and the better for you too. You’ll save a lot of time not having to reply to all my emails!
The same goes for requesting illustrations for any other type of project - Christmas cards, family portraits, pet portraits, posters, commercial illustrations… please give me some information, I’m begging you! Or, if you know of a shop that will supply illustrators with accurate crystal balls, do tell!
Keeping things simple and snappy is all the more important to me as about 80% of the time, I never hear back when I do reply to emails like the one at the top of this blog post. I always reply, I always ask for more information, and I always provide some helpful information for the querier as well… but most of the time, there is no payoff, not even a thank you, for the time I spent crafting that thoughtful reply. Send me an email that has the information in to start with, that shows me you are looking into hiring an illustrator on more than a sudden whim, that you’ve gone your research, and you are already gaining a lot of points with me; I might even quote you a lower price because I know you’ll be easy to work with!
And no, I won’t steal your manuscript or your story idea, I promise! If you want to have it published, people are going to read it some time or another, so let me know what it is, don’t keep it locked away! Let it see the light!