Pricing and Ethical Standards

Did I mention I buy a lot of books?

So I pick up this one called the "Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines". The thing was surprisingly HUGE. It's a big thick book.

Boy I wish I had this 10 years ago. Not only is it like a bible for graphic artists and illustrators, it's a great reference for the general public as well. If you're looking to hire a graphic artist for a company marketing project -- buy this book. I highly recommend it.

It tells both parties what to expect, what questions to ask, how much a typical project might cost, how to handle contracts and disputes, etc etc. All this stuff I had to learn on my own through trial and error.

I've read more then one graphic artist tell every one of their clients to pick up this book before making a commitment on a designer. Now I'm joining that crowd too.

I kind of decided to pick this up in part to give me a base reference how much I should be charging for my print work. I'm pretty familiar with what the comfortable base rate is for web design, but for print work I really had no idea. What did I learn so far? I'm severely undercharging in fact. Of course I can't just use the rates in this book as written in stone, I still have to make my own judgment calls based off of my clients and the local market. But at least I'm not just making up my own prices willy nilly. I have a good client that always jokes I'm too expensive for him...I should go tell him to buy this book? hahah. Nah, he's cool. I'll just do what I can...I think he knows I'm giving him a good deal even though he doesn't say it.

It also gives me some point of reference to address those suckers that stiffed me for money a month back on that logo design I made. From what I could reference in this book...I think it confirms I'm in the right. Of course though, I think it recommends I may have been wiser to have drafted a more comprehensive termination policy. We'll see... I'll look into this more and tackle it after the wedding. This situation is not over yet.

Hard to believe in less then a month now I'll be a married man. Should I be freaked out? There's just too much stuff going on to think about it much. I'm in 2 bands right now, I may train for this year's Honolulu Marathon, I'm planning for the wedding, I got to keep up with my exercising, I have to keep my business running.... EEEP! Have I bitten off more then I can chew?