These rates can be used by publishers, organisations such as teaching institutions, the corporate sector and individuals wanting to commission comics creators to produce comics work, including comic books, web comics, and cartoons/comic strips. The rates are not applicable to graphic novels, for which alternative payment structures may be more typical – for example, a creator is paid an advance and royalties for their graphic novel. For more information, please consult our Royalty and Book Illustration rates of pay.

Copyright

The ASA recommends that comic creators who create original work do so under an exclusive licence whereby they retain the copyright. However, if the work is produced for a pre-owned project, brand, or character where the copyright resides with another person or entity, then the comics creator may need to assign copyright in the developed work.

General guidance for payments

You may be offered two payments for the one work: (1) pages rates; plus (2) royalties for copies sold over a certain threshold. It will be up to you to negotiate the best offer you can achieve in your experience and circumstances. 

For example, assume that a publisher releases 10,000 copies of a comic book containing 24 pages of art and story with a recommended retail price (RRP) of $20. The writer will receive a page rate of $100 per page, totalling $2,400; and the artist will receive a rate of $115 per page for pencilling and also $100 per page for inking, totalling $5,160. Once sales exceed 7,500 copies, for example, then the writer and artist could ask for up to 5% each of RRP; that is, 90 cents (ex. GST) each per copy sold over 7,500 copies.

Where publishers or other commissioners want to bundle jobs with one particular artist (e.g. pencilling, colouring, and lettering), then the ASA recommends the commissioner to pay out the rates for each individual job component or negotiate a reasonable package rate with the artist that does not undercut the total of all job components by more than 15%.

Please note the ASA recommends these rates apply as minimum Australian rates. Larger corporate businesses and overseas companies may pay different rates. There will also be variations in pay scales for emerging talent as opposed to established brand-name creators – creators who have amassed a large backlist of titles and many credits may command higher fees than those listed below. Creators are encouraged to negotiate the best deal that can be achieved – inevitably these rates will need to be tailored to your individual circumstances.

NB: This is a general summary only and not intended as financial advice.