#commissions advice

[monstersandmaw]

Some personal thoughts and observations on taking writing commissions...

Someone asked me in chat recently for some advice on taking writing commissions and I thought I’d share some of that here with you.

I’m not currently taking commissions, but I have a fair bit of experience with taking writing commissions on Tumblr, and also writing for Patreon which is a bit different, but still, people are paying to access my writing. This is all from my own experience, and other authors’ experiences may be very different, so please bear that in mind too. However, seeing how one person does things might be helpful for people thinking of opening their own commissions, so here goes.

Mostly for your own purposes and peace of mind, write yourself a ‘commissions info’ page. Here’s mine if you want to see how I’ve structured it and what’s on it.

Mine contains:

A link to my masterlist so that people can browse my existing works

What I will write (sfw, nsfw, fluffy, angsty, consenting and sapient non-human/interspecies romances, monster stories, etc.)

What I will not write (no fanfic, no vore, nothing offensive (homophobic, transphobic etc.), no underage, etc.) These are things which are non-negotiable.

How much my writing costs

How people get in touch with me about commissions

How people pay

How people view/access what they’ve paid for

Additional ways for people to support me if they’re not able to afford a commission right now, or if my commissions are full

I charge in my native currency, which is GBP (£), which may price me out of some people’s ranges, but I can’t under-sell myself otherwise I’ll end up working myself to the bone for not very much more money. I have been asked if I’ll take payment in dollars in the past, and I’ve said no, but I would be prepared to write a shorter story for them to accommodate a lower budget. I offer a range of story types, from very short drabbles for those with limited budgets, to (usually) a maximum of about 8k words for those able to fund something longer.

Here’s what the typical process of a commission looks like for me:

Client contacts me on Tumblr to see if I’m up for writing a commission for them.

I make sure they’ve read my commissions page and that they know what I’ll write and what I won’t, and how the process works.

We work out the details like - how long the story is, which characters are involved, what voice is the story told in, is it modern or historical fantasy etc. We also discuss what to include and what to avoid (so that they’re not taken off-guard by something that I’m fine with but they aren’t, and it can be something as simple as terms of endearment or a love of a particular food/place/etc.).

I’ll work on a very brief outline and I email it to them. I don’t use Tumblr chat for that - it’s unprofessional, clunky, and it’s really hard/laborious to search back for things down the line. If you want to keep it a bit more relaxed, Discord works well too, but I’d advise creating a special email for it if you’re serious.

Get them to OK the outline. This is the time for them to make changes and/or suggestions. After this, we both confirm that we’re happy with what we’ve discussed, and I remind them that after they’ve paid the invoice, and the money has gone through, I will not accept any more significant changes. Writers have been frustrated at best and burnt at worst by allowing clients to keep making hundreds of suggestions while they’re writing. Do not allow this. It’s good for no one.

I’ll wait for the payment to go through - and confirm with the client that it has - before I start writing anything.

Write the story. If I go over the agreed wordcount, that’s on me, not the client.

Leave the story overnight and edit it the next day. Don’t edit it lots. Chances are you’re not being paid enough to do three edits.

I make the story available to the client in PDF form if they don’t want it posted on your Tumblr, or post it. (Agree before hand if they’re ok with being tagged in it or would rather remain anonymous).

Some additional tips for opening commissions for the first time:

Make sure that your existing body of work is the best you can get it - no one wants to pay someone who has poor grammar and lots of errors in their existing work.

Write a commissions info sheet and stick to it - no exceptions, mates rates, or one-time deals.

Do not under-sell yourself. If you don’t value your time and effort, neither will the client, and they’re not worth having as clients if they don’t respect you. Trust. Me. It’s tempting to want to make some money rather than none, but the amount of extra and unforseen time and effort and stress is just not worth it. One good client is worth three shitty, cheaper ones. My rates on here are not high at all, and should go up, but I’ve found a good balance that works for me, and which values my time enough. It’s personal, but don’t sell yourself too short.

Be clear on your own commissions process before you open commissions up.

Be open to dialogue with the client about the story before you start, but be firm about changes once you’ve started.

Write a short storyline to send to them before you take payment, but don’t spend too long on it. At this point, you’re working for free. It’s a sign of trust, but don’t give them something that they can go away and take to another, cheaper writer. It happens in the jewellery world too - I’ve seen it done - and it happens to writers.

Send a PayPal invoice - make it professional. Don’t take money under the table, as it were. That way you’re secure, and so is the client. They know you’re serious if you make it professional. Invoice templates are really easy to set up on PayPal and are well worth it.

Don’t be afraid to say that you don’t think you’re the right person for that story if there’s something that doen’t feel right for whatever reason. Just be polite and say ‘you’re not the right person’ rather than ‘you’re not comfortable’ with it or whatever.

Have fun. If you don’t enjoy it, it’ll show in the finished work.

Ask other people who do this full time for advice too!

Hope that helps at least someone, and happy writing!

Love, Ghosti

[taetaesbaebaepsae]

Hi! I've been thinking a lot recently about opening commissions for fanfics and was wondering if you had any advice. I also have a couple questions if you don't mind answering? Like what do you do when there's a commission you cannot write for the life of you and do you request payment before writing them? Sorry if this is inconvenient, I just can't think of anyone else atm who does commissions and needed some advice <3

No worries baby I never mind giving advice!

The most important thing about commissions is to make a list of things you absolutely know you cannot write. I have a list of things I won't write on my commissions page.

Now if you think you can write it and take payment, and then you can't, I suggest offering a refund. Sometimes we aren't sure what our limitations are until we start.

I do request payment first, and that's because so much goes into planning, writing and editing a fic that if I finish it and then they end up not wanting it, I'm out a lot of time and effort.

Some various tips I've learned:

- Lots of people won't give feedback after the commission is sent. Don't be discouraged, people get busy and forget to comment even if they loved it!

- Take your time. A commission that's well plotted and well thought out is worth waiting for and 99.9 % of people understand that.

- Market yourself with a goal in mind. You can tell people that goal or not but let's just say you'd like to make $50. People are more likely to get you to that goal by buying the last commission on a list than if you don't have a goal.

- This is a mistake I've made a lot...don't overwork yourself. Sell commissions in spurts, get a few of them then close commissions to work on them or you'll be drowning in no time.

Good luck, honey! I hope it goes well!

[clauwagart]

Guys, are you interest to do commissions from me?

[artiststoolbox]

I tried to open commission a while a go, but no one is commissioning me. First of all, how can I attract customers? And is fair/a good idea to make gift art and pretend it's a commission? (with a friend who agree) You know, like street artists, they have always some tips in their hat when they start.

At first I wasn’t sure what you meant by ‘pretending its a commission’. At first I thought you meant tell your friend it was a gift, but then ask them for a ‘tip’ after it’s completed. 

Now I know that’s not what you meant, but even so, FOR ANYONE STARTING OUT....DO NOT DO THIS. That is a dick move and I will personally come to your house and hit you upside the head. 

Now, onto what you actually meant... 

I see absolutely no reason to do this? You don’t need to pretend the art you make is a commission to garner exposure and attention. Your examples don’t need to be commissions, you just need to have examples in general. 

My suggestions would be: 

Make fanart. 

And tag that fanart!

 And post that fanart on it’s associated subreddit! 

“Now eggymod.” You might say, if you were Jasper from Steven Universe “Fanart is just a cheap tactic to make small time artists popular.”

To which I would say, I totally understand feeling that way. I’ve given up any hangups I have against ‘selling myself out’ by drawing fanart. Personally, I draw fanart because I love it, and I love connecting with other fans of what I love. 

If you don’t want to draw fanart, then JUST DRAW IN GENERAL. Draw a lot! Draw some relatable content! Draw some not-so-relateable content. Draw something you’ve always been wanting to draw, but have been too scared to. Just draw a lot, and pUT IT SOMEWHERE. Put it on your art blog, put it on reddit (/r/artcrit has a link in it’s sidebar of other art subreddits to check out, so you can look into posting on one of those), put it on twitter, whereever. Just basically make content and put it online. 

This isn’t a fool proof plan, of course. I talk this way but even I don’t have any customers. In my experience finding customers for commissions is actually very rare and very hard. But the first step is getting exposure, and the only way to do that is draw, and draw a lot. (And network and talk to people etc...but..you get the gist)

-Eggymod

[gilwing]

Hey! I have a friend who wants to start doing commissions for their art, do you have any suggestions for them?

hmm I think the biggest thing is to know your limits? Like if you've got a ton of irons in the fire with irl stuff, don't have a bunch of commission spots open and add to the pile, you'll get overwhelmed (which i unfortunately know from experience). Make your commissions post as clear (and pretty) as you can, and be specific about the services you're offering. Time yourself to see how long it takes you to draw certain things. Don't offer nsfw if you're underage. Know what you're ok with, and that you don't have to accept commissions that make you uncomfortable. Be patient! you'll be fine c:

[sarcasticbunnyqueen]

I'm thinking about doing cheap art commissions, but I need help figuring out pricing my wares. I also might need to do some practice with my tablet.

[monikermage]

Friendly advice to all the wonderful artists out there who need people to purchase their commissions so that they can survive/pay for college to survive/pay medical bills/etc.

So I've seen a lot of people who get promoted and ask people to purchase commissions cause they really need the money, and what they need it for is 99.99999% of the time extremely important things such as survival or paying for college or medical bills.

And it makes me want to support them. But being of the odd-jobs-for-family income group, I have little cash. And I'm sure I'm not alone. Now whether or not what I'm about to say goes unnoticed I can't say but hear me out if you are reading this.

(Rest of my opinion under the cut)

If your art is really high quality(Which is usually is) then you're going to usually charge a fair amount for it, which would be quite the sum for someone in a group like me. So basically you've got people who want to help, and you're really in need of the money, but the problem here is that despite how much people want to help, the only special circumstance is that you need the money NOW more often than not.

So while what I'm about to say may leave a bitter taste in the mouth of some of you, I still urge you to consider.

Don't just advertise for your commissions and have testimonials and whatnot. If you need the money, people will be more likely to purchase commissions if they are "marked down".

Does it leave you with more work and less money than the quality of your work is worth? Yes. But you're also more likely to get more commissions and thus get more money NOW rather than later when people like me can actually save up to afford the regular cost.

So basically with what I'm suggesting it's going to look something like this.

A prospective customer really really admires your art and would love to commission you. However usually they just don't have enough money. So in your time of need, they're even more likely to support with purchasing commissions because they don't want bad things to happen to you. However, they still do have the problem of money, and this still does turn some people away.

BUT if you come in and say that you'll do commissions at some price off(Or even, dare I suggest it, HALF PRICE) because you need the money, people are actually going to be more likely to help, because they are more able to help.

Now you may be saying "Well this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard haven't you ever heard of a business strategy before?"

To which I reply that regular businesses do this all the time. Why do you think they give out coupons and have sales or bundle deals for no apparent reason? It's because people are getting more for what they put out. It's not just equivalent exchange, people are getting even more.

If you have the choice of trading a pop tart for a pop tart OR trading a pop tart for 2 pop tarts, which are you more likely to choose?

This basically works because people are inherently self-centered. Not in a bad way, but in their own struggles through life for survival. People worry about not having this or that for later on and "planning ahead". So cutting your prices means they can still have money left for "planning ahead" and also support you/get some really great art.

This will probably be ignored but oh well I put it out there.