You're sitting along at your drawing table working on a new piece for your portfolio. The phone rings. It's an art buyer for a studio working for one of the BIG educational publishers and their interested in hiring you for a 16 page, grade 2 reading book for their Reading 2003 program. Wonderful news, and you're interested and available to start right away! But then the two of you get into the specifics and it seems that they want "Work for Hire" rights, which means ALL of them, forever, they won't give you your original art back, the time frame is VERY tight and you'll have to work 10 hour days AND the weekends to make it, and the pay, while ok, doesn't really cover all these WANTS from them. What can you do?

Most freelance illustrators don't think there is much of anything they can do. But they're wrong. For one thing you can NEGOTIATE. Open the conversation by asking for what YOU'D like...more $, more time, original art returned, and how about School Rights Only, instead of WFH. You're happy to give them all of the rights they ACTUALLY NEED, and you'll hold onto the rest. (in reality you're unlikely to ever use this art again, but you ought to have the RIGHT to.) The educational publishers NEED the school rights, without having to pay secondary usage rights for each edition, or they wouldn't be able to afford to print the books that teach our children in school.

You've asked for what you want, but suppose they can't give you all of this. It's ok if they can't give you ANY of this...at least you asked, negotiated. They expect you to do that as a professional. Perhaps you CAN get "SRO", or more time for the finish stage. Or perhaps you have to accept the job as is, or walk away from it. You have exercised your Market Clout and probably impressed the buyer at the studio. Rather than never call you again, they may feel you are worth more next time. Remember the buyer has sought you out...invested time in matching your style with their editorial need. They want you to say yes and save them having to find another artist.