37. A Matter of Knowing Your Value
Latest crowdfunding updates and an essential tip for freelancers in the creative arts
Howdy Brave Being,
Welcome back, dear readers, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Growing up, my grandmother often celebrated this holiday in honor of her Irish heritage, decking out her house in all kinds of decor from sparkly shamrocks to leprechaun tchotchkes. Inspired by her endless enthusiasm over it, I’ll be having corned beef and cabbage for dinner with some family and will raise a pint of Guinness in her memory.
Things have been a little crazy over here, managing a full-time job and the Dead Dreams campaign on Zoop. Suffice it to say, things will hopefully be back to normal next month with creator interviews…though nothing is scheduled yet. For now, I’ve got some updates, tips and tricks about freelancing in the creative arts, and a few things I’m digging. Let’s hop to it!
What I’m Working On
As you may have noticed, I’ve been promoting the heck out of Dead Dreams! We’re just over 50% funded with about two weeks left of the campaign. With a little luck ☘️ and a lot of promotion😅, I have hope we’ll hit the goal.
Speaking of the goal, check out these awesome rewards and limited offers still available:
A Collector’s Dream—Get this irresistible bundle that includes both covers, the double-sided bookmark, the signed commemorative bookplate, and the glow-in-the-dark enamel pin!
Signed Limited Edition Kangas Print—Get Liana Kangas’ variant cover as a 5x7 print, signed and numbered. Only 25 will be printed and some are already gone!
Evil Doppelgänger Portrait Commissions by Rio Burton—Azza the Barbed artist Rio Burton will transform you into your evil doppelgänger. Only 4 left as of this writing!
Editorial Consultation—If you’re a comic book creator and would like some editorial feedback on your pitch and comic script, I’m offering my typical editing rates at a steep discount. Only 5 available!
Dead Dreams artist Dailen Ogden and I have been hitting the comics circuit, chatting up the book and having a blast. Here are some highlights:
Comic Book Club’s Pete LePage, Justin Tyler, and Alex Zalben hosted Dailen and me. Learn more about Dailen’s pet python, Dagger, and his contributions to Dead Dreams. Pete said, “All snakes aside, this is a really amazing book and I was really impressed with the idea, such an original, cool idea and the art’s unbelievable.”
Hypothetical Island Podcast’s Reilly Brown and George O’Connor hosted us as well, where we hopped aboard a fictional cruise and crashed on a deserted island…or was it…? We chatted about comics, cohabitating with your doppelgänger, and cannibalism...
And Here I Dreamt I Was A Drug Lord — Comic Book Yeti’s Byron O’Neal asked us all kinds of juicy questions about Dead Dreams. I revealed more about the dream tonics while Dailen shared how they developed the aesthetics of dreaming in the book.
Band of Bards Comics Chat — Writer and firefighter Tim Stolinski had me on to chat about Dead Dreams, of course, and we got deeply philosophical about Bob Ross and gardening.
Dead Dreams received an honorable mention in Kat Calamia’s Top 10 list and Comic Book Yeti’s Wells Thompson listed our book at #2 in his Top 5 list!
What’s next? Dailen and I will be guests on Bitches on Comics soon as well as Dead Dreams variant cover artist Liana Kangas’ Twitch stream on Tuesday, 3/22 at 12:30 PST.
As for work outside of my day job and campaign management, I was getting started with a new client but alas that fell through, which I’ll get to shortly. Not everything that I work on pans out and I wanted to share that reality because that’s the nature of freelance life. Which brings me to…
Tips & Tricks of the Trade
Freelancing! This month’s tip is for artists and arts professionals, especially freelancers. Here’s some unsolicited advice from an editor (me) who recently lost a gig and my takeaway:
Have your contracts reviewed by someone with a keen eye, especially a lawyer familiar with the creative arts. It's vital to protect yourself before signing a contract—I speak from experience...
I recently lost an editing gig before signing on the dotted line. After receiving a contract from a new client, I read it with a fine-tooth comb (and had my contracts-savvy husband read it too). I asked for a fair rate for the job offered—a job which kept changing after we agreed to a flat rate. When the client added 20% more work to the contract using language that left the workload too open-ended for my comfort level, I asked for more compensation. They were unwilling to raise the rate and then asked me to edit additional content. I again asked for more compensation, and by doing so, it lost me the gig. While I’m disappointed, this experience was an important reminder to read contracts carefully and be my own advocate.
[Related: Sequential Matters: Credit and Fair Compensation with ‘Harleen’ Letterer Gabriela Downie]
If you don’t know someone with a keen eye to review your contracts, here are several outlets where creative professionals can get contracts and general legal issues checked out:
Washington Lawyers for the Arts in Seattle, WA offers free legal clinics.
Lawyers for the Creative Arts in Chicago, IL offers workshops and seminars.
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in New York, NY offers free or low fee legal services.
National Directory of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts compiles a list that includes several states across the United States, Canada, and Australia.
If none of those apply to you, VLA recommends to check your local and state arts council and bar association, but please feel free to drop links to your volunteer lawyers for the arts in the comments below! I have no doubt it will help someone reading.
Creator Resource also has some awesome resources about contracts and copyright information to peruse.
Things I’m Digging
I’ve received my first commission from artist Kelly Brack! It’s Yennefer of Vengerberg from The Witcher, played by actress Anya Chalotra, and I can’t wait to frame it and hang it on my wall.
I picked up All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told by Douglas Wolk. Wolk read Marvel’s entire catalogue, all 27,000+ Marvel comics and summed up 60+ years of storylines. I’m super stoked to read through it. I personally haven’t read Marvel’s whole catalogue (though I might come close considering my day job, haha) and I’m intrigued to see what he has to say.
Speaking of marvels, did you see the trailer for Ms. Marvel? If you haven’t, here it is:
Last but not least, Dead Dreams letterer Gabriela Downie has been dancing up a storm on her Instagram @harmz_sh and I’m just enamored with her creativity and costumes. Give her a follow and enjoy Gabriela’s beautiful, expressive energy.
Merry Musings
I’ve been trying to take weekends off from work and be on my phone less. It turns out, it’s restorative. It allows me to think better, listen more closely to those around me, to have alone time away from expectations, and feel refreshed next time I hit the keyboard. So I suppose my merry musing is: take a real break from work, smell the roses, and make time for yourself. It’s possible it’s a repeat from another newsletter, but hey, I’m pooped, haha, and also I was inspired by comics writer Zac Thompson’s recent advice about freelancing and weekends:
Thanks for reading!
Mercy buckets,
Brittany