thread: 2012-03-04 : Anonymous Followup
On 2012-03-06, Joshua A.C. Newman wrote:
Hey, I just want to say, for the record, that I'm a small company. I pay 50% up front and 50% when the work is complete (usually just before press because that's how deadlines work out). I've worked with four illustrators and two editors. I've licensed a couple of small, indie things and will be doing bigger licenses in the future.
I don't have a staff, but no one is work-for-hire. If you work for me, you own your copyright and I license it from you, either for a royalty or for a flat fee. My contract just says to not use it in competing products for five years. If you write fiction for me, put it in your anthology. If you paint something for me, put it in your art book. Sell them. Sell them and I will write a blurb for the back. Because I want you to be able to eat so the next time I'm working on a project I can come to you again and you know that you can keep doing this instead of having to take more hours at Starbucks.
I don't run on debt to do this. I get my money up front from people who want what I make. The licenses are less glamorous than Marvel, but we all go away with our pants up (or down, or wherever we've all consented for them to be), and I've never missed a payment.
These aren't magic powers. They're just abilities that we all have when we pay attention to the facilities that we have at our disposal. Some of us have financial incentives to not work this way. I, for one, really like it. Especially today.
