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Lorraine Williams: Is it Time for a Reevaluation?
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<blockquote data-quote="Sacrosanct" data-source="post: 8434424" data-attributes="member: 15700"><p>Also of note, early TSR had a windfall of good luck. Artists and writers were sending them stuff left and right. For free. For the chance to be officially published. Tim Kask (editor for Dragon) said he was extremely lucky he would have his pick of any art he wanted, because so much of it was coming in.</p><p></p><p>As an indie publisher, I'm here to tell you that outside of production run costs, art is probably the biggest expense***. For a modern book with color art, the typical rate to expect to pay for an established studio is $500-$1000 per page, depending on complexity. $150-$200 for a single figure like a full body portrait, no background. Go pick up the MM and count how many illustrations are there, and do the math. So for a young company to essentially get a lot of that for free? Not an insignificant advantage to help grow the game.</p><p></p><p>***I spent roughly $10,000 on Chromatic Dungeons for freelancers alone, and I'm looking at spending $25,000 for the upcoming Twilight Fables book, and these are small indie books. Not counting production costs. I've got a rough idea how much LevelUP has for an art/writer budget (based on industry averages, what they pay for writing, etc), and it's no small amount to make that project come together and look as good as it does, as I'm sure Morrus can attest. I don't want to speak for him, but if he or I had the luxury TSR had in the early 80s, it would be pretty big to our overall profit margins (note: I fully support paying artists and freelancers a fair wage, don't get me wrong, and am not saying I am complaining about those costs, because they are worth it. Just making a comparison, that's all).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sacrosanct, post: 8434424, member: 15700"] Also of note, early TSR had a windfall of good luck. Artists and writers were sending them stuff left and right. For free. For the chance to be officially published. Tim Kask (editor for Dragon) said he was extremely lucky he would have his pick of any art he wanted, because so much of it was coming in. As an indie publisher, I'm here to tell you that outside of production run costs, art is probably the biggest expense***. For a modern book with color art, the typical rate to expect to pay for an established studio is $500-$1000 per page, depending on complexity. $150-$200 for a single figure like a full body portrait, no background. Go pick up the MM and count how many illustrations are there, and do the math. So for a young company to essentially get a lot of that for free? Not an insignificant advantage to help grow the game. ***I spent roughly $10,000 on Chromatic Dungeons for freelancers alone, and I'm looking at spending $25,000 for the upcoming Twilight Fables book, and these are small indie books. Not counting production costs. I've got a rough idea how much LevelUP has for an art/writer budget (based on industry averages, what they pay for writing, etc), and it's no small amount to make that project come together and look as good as it does, as I'm sure Morrus can attest. I don't want to speak for him, but if he or I had the luxury TSR had in the early 80s, it would be pretty big to our overall profit margins (note: I fully support paying artists and freelancers a fair wage, don't get me wrong, and am not saying I am complaining about those costs, because they are worth it. Just making a comparison, that's all). [/QUOTE]
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