My cover artist has a policy
– she will never increase
her prices
from that first rate
she offered a client.
The issue is…
we’ve been working together
for years.
Her skills have vastly improved
and her rates have increased
to reflect this.
If I held her to
her generous offer,
I would eventually become
her least profitable client.
She might begin
to dread crafting my covers.
That isn’t the ideal environment
for her to do her best work in.
And I very much
want her best work.
So I pay,
at the minimum,
the rates
she posts on her website.
But…but,
I hear you say,
working with my covers
is one of the reasons
she CAN increase her rates.
I brought her clients.
She experimented
on some of my covers,
learning new skills.
That might be partially true
but if I looked for a new cover artist
with her skills,
I would be paying those higher rates
and this newer cover artist
wouldn’t have the knowledge
of my particular needs
like my current cover artist does.
It is…
“A pay gap.
They’re paying you
what you used to be worth,
but as your skills
and reputation have increased,
you’re worth more now.”
If you want to maintain
a long term relationship
with a freelancer or a partner,
pay them
what they are worth
TODAY,
not what they were worth
yesterday.