How Much?

[spearcarrier]

Disclaimer: Forgive me if this is a touchy or inappropriate topic. The question has been burning in my head for a few days now, and surfing the forum hasn't really brought an idea of an answer. I know that everyone is going to have a different idea of what the answer *should* be, but input is a grand thing.

So what I'm asking here is: how much is a typical rate to offer to pay someone if hired to help in visual novel production? I know a lot of artists have a rate of $20 per character but beyond that my knowledge gets murky. What about music? Help with coding? All the things?

Yes, I am planning to do a visual novel as I stated in my introduction. But I'm still in the research how to do this phase.

Thanks for your answers! (If any.)

[trooper6]

The rates are not standard between roles, heck they aren't even standard within roles. $20 per sprite is pretty cheap. I also see artists charging $80 a sprite...or nothing. Artists are more likely to get a decent wage than other creatives. People are loathe to pay for music when they can just use That royalty free guy. People don't want to pay coders unless it is for combat engines or mini games. People don't want to pay writers...ar all.

My advice would be to go through three recruitment sections and get a sense of the average of what people are charging for the quality of work you are interested in.

[SundownKid]

Depends on the amount of things you want, and their quality, and the art style. There are a lot of variables. Usually artists have their own rates, though, you don't have to offer a certain amount.

[spearcarrier]

Thank you both for replying. I'd come to ask because there is, especially at Deviantart, this growing opinion that potential project leaders who want you to state your rate (as opposed to making a really high offer) are not reasonable nor professional.

For myself with my art, I wouldn't be super cheap or anything. I do it for a living, after all, but this is with a completely different medium. If I were to need to hire artists, I already know what I'd offer.

Surfing through the recruitment area only showed me posts of "we're hiring" with no real idea of average rates at all. -_-

[SundownKid]

Thank you both for replying. I'd come to ask because there is, especially at Deviantart, this growing opinion that potential project leaders who want you to state your rate (as opposed to making a really high offer) are not reasonable nor professional.

IMO that's ridiculous. Because giving an offer is really just the same thing, since all artists will have a minimum rate. Giving your minimum rate upfront is just speeding along the process and removing the hassle of negotiation.

For myself with my art, I wouldn't be super cheap or anything. I do it for a living, after all, but this is with a completely different medium. If I were to need to hire artists, I already know what I'd offer.

Surfing through the recruitment area only showed me posts of "we're hiring" with no real idea of average rates at all. -_-

It makes more sense for a developer not to say what they're willing to pay, because sometimes they might not have the right baseline.

[lets_try_it]

@spearcarrier :

Yeah, I would be wary of Deviantart politics. While it is important to pay an artist a fare rate, I think that things have gotten a bit crazy. I have personal seen (and dealt with when I was younger and didn't know as much about the point-to-actually paypal money ratio system they had over there) people getting angry if someone does not make a good offer for an artist that they want, even if it's actually higher then the artist who agree to do the job usually takes and the person who is angry is not trying to get the job. Saying "you should certainly pay more" is great, but internet yelling at people, getting mad at an artist who accept the offer and blaming that specific commissioner for artists not getting good enough jobs is more then a bit much.

[spearcarrier]

Yes, I don't post job offers on DA hardly at all. Only when I'm desperate. I've been snarked at for posting a job and telling people to please tell me their rates without saying what I'm offering. It's pretty bad there. I think a lot of the people snarking aren't really interested in improving the pay lot for fellow artists. They just like to troll. I do get a lot of good offers when I post, but I dislike wading past the drama llamas. A lot.

Either way, without knowing what sort of rates I should consider I don't think I'll be considering hiring anyone anytime soon. I dislike not knowing what I' doing. It's stressful. Too stressful.