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Mosa's Amazing Guide on How to Submit Your Price Sheet
14 years ago
Updated January 29th, 2012
I figured I'd write this up to help you guys out. This should be easy to follow, step by step, and tips on how to make your price sheet the best to your abilities.
D E S I G N
Designing a price sheet is not hard, per se, but there are some things you should definitely keep in mind while putting it together. Those of you who have been to college or technical school have probably had to take a portfolio class. Think of your price guide as a mini-portfolio. It reflects you as an artist, and you're trying to attract customers and get them to give you money. Half-assing your guide just looks unprofessional and leads potential commissioners to assume that you might half-ass your artwork as well. Treat your price guide as another piece of artwork.
1) Use harmonious colors. Pick ones that look good together, rather than ones that clash.
2) Organize samples of your work in a coherent manner, but don't be afraid to think outside the box and try something other than the rows or columns most everyone else is doing. You're a creative person, and now is the time to show it!
If you don't have a good idea for a layout, or just plain suck at layouts and want something relatively quick and easy to edit, check out the scraps here for templates that artists have kindly offered up for use.
3) Use a text type tool for important information, unless you are good at hand-drawn lettering. Make sure everything is readable. Don't make your information too small or cramped so that it is hard to read. Sloppy or crooked handwriting is not acceptable. Contrary to what you might think, it does not look good or remotely professional.
There are two basic types of fonts: copy font and display font. Using copy font in place of display font isn't bad, but it's rather bland. Using display font where you should be using copy font can make your information a nightmare to read.
What is copy font? Simple, easy to read fonts such as Times New Roman (ew), Arial (kinda ew), and Courier (also ew if not used creatively) are copy fonts. There are plenty of other fonts out there that are similar, yet differently designed enough to have a little bit of flair and are very easy to read. This is the sort of font you want to type your important information with.
A display font is a fancy font. Display fonts are great for titles and headers, but can be disastrous when used to type up information, oftentimes making it difficult to read.
And if you're trying to stand out from other artists, try to use fonts that did not come preinstalled on your computer, or fonts that you see lots of other artists using. Angelic War is a beautiful display font, certainly, but I see it being used by every other artist on SOMETHING, whether it's a price sheet, an auction submission, an ad banner, or a signature. If you really want to use a pretty font that everyone else is using, try warping or editing it in photoshop to make it a bit more unique on your page.
4) Check how your guide looks in gallery thumbnail form. Commissioners will most likely find your guide in the gallery, by picking out which sheets look the most promising from the thumbnail view.
I won't reject a price sheet if it doesn't follow the design guidelines (unless it looks absolutely terrible or I can't read it), but remember that you want to make a good impression.
What will I reject?
-Handwritten price sheets. Especially if it's not tidy. Bad handwriting on something that is supposed to be trying to make someone money is one of my pet peeves in advertisement. Handwriting, unless well-lettered, will be automatically rejected, and you'll be asked to fix it.
-A sheet with just an image(s) and no information on it. It's called a price guide for a reason. Sure, you might put all your prices in the description, but customers want to see your prices right there, next to your samples so they can see at a glance whether or not they want to commission you.
-Text and no image. Sorry, what am I supposed to do with this? All price guides are posted as submissions, so there's no way to post your prices without one. If you're a writer selling short story commissions, you can easily type your prices into a visually appealing sheet, along with bits of screenshots or copy/pasta of your work. If you're a musician, try making a flash guide and adding samples of your music to it.
-Flash sheets that automatically make sound without input or prompting by the viewer. Do you have any idea how annoying unexpected noises are?
-Artwork that is just plain bad. I don't have very high standards, and pretty much everything that is in the gallery right now passes those standards. If you send in your price guide and get rejected based on your artwork quality, please understand that it's nothing personal, and I simply feel that you should improve your work before attempting to sell it. Not everyone can make money by drawing, and those that can have worked long and hard to build their skill. You wouldn't let a toddler build your house, would you? I also do not have time to send critiques or reasons why your guide was rejected. If it has been more than a month, you've titled the note properly, and your guide isn't posted, then assume you need to improve.
-Price guides for writers who can't grasp proper spelling and grammar. Writing, like drawing, is hard to do well, but if you speak English and intend to write in English, then you have no business selling literature if your English grammar and spelling is terrible.
-Guides with no English. All guides in any other language must have an accompanying translation ON the sheet. If you cannot do this, find a bilingual who speaks your language to help you.
S U B M I T T I N G
This part is even easier than making the price guide.
Due to FA being FA, submissions won't be viewable in the gallery in alphabetical order, so since we are restricted to order of upload, pricemaps:
- can be updated once a month if you change the look or prices on your sheet. Send a link via note to your new sheet, and a link to the one here in this gallery. The image will be replaced. Make sure your note has the word "update" in the subject line.
- will be purged when they reach three months of age, regardless of whether you have updated that submission at any point. This keeps the gallery filled with only active artists.
As the artist, you are responsible for keeping track of when your guide is posted and when it is due to expire and submit it again.
1) Upload your price guide somewhere. To your own FA page, to photobucket or equivalent, to your own website. Just get it on the web! It's preferred to have it on FA so we can link directly to your original submission.
2) Write down whatever information you feel you need to put in the description that will better help customers hire you. Important things like how to contact you, or a link to your TOS. Make sure these things are in (or linked in) the description of your submission posted in your own gallery.
Since we include a link to your original submission, adding description to the note that is already in your own submission is redundant. The only reason we will include a separate description is if your price guide is hosted somewhere other than FA and has no accompanying information.
This account is a place of business, and so there is a "no baggage" policy. What this means is that any info given for commissions must be related to the commissions themselves, and nothing about your situation, or how you're poor or need the money for such n such thing, or even your reason for taking the commissions. You're taking them, and that is all anybody needs to know and all most customers care about. If customers are curious and wish to get to know you, they may do so on your own page. All shouts that contain personal baggage (even if the shout is otherwise legit) will be deleted. All priceguides that contain baggage in the image will be refused.
3) Send a NOTE to this account with a link to your price guide. Do not put your price guide in a shout, or as a comment on a journal or someone else's guide. If it's not in a note, it gets deleted. Please make sure that you have the words "price guide" or "prices" or something to do with your price sheet in the subject. Subjects "No subject", "Hi", and anything else equally as vague and non-relevant will be deleted automatically.
3a) If this is not your first time submitting a sheet, and your previous sheet is still in the gallery and is not expired, (please check first), then please add the word "update" in the subject. Be sure to send the link to your guide in this gallery so we can update it without spending too much time searching the gallery for it. Please do not resubmit your guide before it expires if you haven't changed your prices or your guide image, because we will just ignore it.
3b) If this is not your first time submitting a sheet, but yours has expired and been deleted, then proceed as though this is your first time. Do not add "update" in the subject. If you do, I will assume that you have a sheet in the gallery and I will write back asking you to link to it, thus delaying you further.
3c) If you have a question that needs answering, send it as a separate note, and title the subject "Question".
3d) DO NOT EVER send a price guide or question relating to this group to the moderator's personal accounts.
4) If you have a place where commissioners can submit a public review of their experience with you, please include a link to that in your original submission! Anybody can review you in this gallery, but after three months, your submission will be purged, and all comments with it too, so please encourage your customers to review you on your own page so that you get to keep everything.
5) Be patient. It might be up to a week or more before your price guide gets uploaded, or your note even looked at.
6) If your note has been read but your guide hasn't been posted after a week, it is because it was rejected. If you don't receive a reason, then please assume that you require more skill to be selling anything. If it is for any other reason, we'll let you know.
If it has been over two weeks but your note hasn't been read yet, then refer to #5. If your note title doesn't have anything to do with "price guide", "price sheet", "prices" or "question" in it, then it gets deleted.
7) Please only submit your OWN price guide. If your friend has a price guide and you want to help them advertise, then let them know about this account so they can submit it themselves.
That's about it. I hope this guide is informative.
I figured I'd write this up to help you guys out. This should be easy to follow, step by step, and tips on how to make your price sheet the best to your abilities.
D E S I G N
Designing a price sheet is not hard, per se, but there are some things you should definitely keep in mind while putting it together. Those of you who have been to college or technical school have probably had to take a portfolio class. Think of your price guide as a mini-portfolio. It reflects you as an artist, and you're trying to attract customers and get them to give you money. Half-assing your guide just looks unprofessional and leads potential commissioners to assume that you might half-ass your artwork as well. Treat your price guide as another piece of artwork.
1) Use harmonious colors. Pick ones that look good together, rather than ones that clash.
2) Organize samples of your work in a coherent manner, but don't be afraid to think outside the box and try something other than the rows or columns most everyone else is doing. You're a creative person, and now is the time to show it!
If you don't have a good idea for a layout, or just plain suck at layouts and want something relatively quick and easy to edit, check out the scraps here for templates that artists have kindly offered up for use.
3) Use a text type tool for important information, unless you are good at hand-drawn lettering. Make sure everything is readable. Don't make your information too small or cramped so that it is hard to read. Sloppy or crooked handwriting is not acceptable. Contrary to what you might think, it does not look good or remotely professional.
There are two basic types of fonts: copy font and display font. Using copy font in place of display font isn't bad, but it's rather bland. Using display font where you should be using copy font can make your information a nightmare to read.
What is copy font? Simple, easy to read fonts such as Times New Roman (ew), Arial (kinda ew), and Courier (also ew if not used creatively) are copy fonts. There are plenty of other fonts out there that are similar, yet differently designed enough to have a little bit of flair and are very easy to read. This is the sort of font you want to type your important information with.
A display font is a fancy font. Display fonts are great for titles and headers, but can be disastrous when used to type up information, oftentimes making it difficult to read.
And if you're trying to stand out from other artists, try to use fonts that did not come preinstalled on your computer, or fonts that you see lots of other artists using. Angelic War is a beautiful display font, certainly, but I see it being used by every other artist on SOMETHING, whether it's a price sheet, an auction submission, an ad banner, or a signature. If you really want to use a pretty font that everyone else is using, try warping or editing it in photoshop to make it a bit more unique on your page.
4) Check how your guide looks in gallery thumbnail form. Commissioners will most likely find your guide in the gallery, by picking out which sheets look the most promising from the thumbnail view.
I won't reject a price sheet if it doesn't follow the design guidelines (unless it looks absolutely terrible or I can't read it), but remember that you want to make a good impression.
What will I reject?
-Handwritten price sheets. Especially if it's not tidy. Bad handwriting on something that is supposed to be trying to make someone money is one of my pet peeves in advertisement. Handwriting, unless well-lettered, will be automatically rejected, and you'll be asked to fix it.
-A sheet with just an image(s) and no information on it. It's called a price guide for a reason. Sure, you might put all your prices in the description, but customers want to see your prices right there, next to your samples so they can see at a glance whether or not they want to commission you.
-Text and no image. Sorry, what am I supposed to do with this? All price guides are posted as submissions, so there's no way to post your prices without one. If you're a writer selling short story commissions, you can easily type your prices into a visually appealing sheet, along with bits of screenshots or copy/pasta of your work. If you're a musician, try making a flash guide and adding samples of your music to it.
-Flash sheets that automatically make sound without input or prompting by the viewer. Do you have any idea how annoying unexpected noises are?
-Artwork that is just plain bad. I don't have very high standards, and pretty much everything that is in the gallery right now passes those standards. If you send in your price guide and get rejected based on your artwork quality, please understand that it's nothing personal, and I simply feel that you should improve your work before attempting to sell it. Not everyone can make money by drawing, and those that can have worked long and hard to build their skill. You wouldn't let a toddler build your house, would you? I also do not have time to send critiques or reasons why your guide was rejected. If it has been more than a month, you've titled the note properly, and your guide isn't posted, then assume you need to improve.
-Price guides for writers who can't grasp proper spelling and grammar. Writing, like drawing, is hard to do well, but if you speak English and intend to write in English, then you have no business selling literature if your English grammar and spelling is terrible.
-Guides with no English. All guides in any other language must have an accompanying translation ON the sheet. If you cannot do this, find a bilingual who speaks your language to help you.
S U B M I T T I N G
This part is even easier than making the price guide.
Due to FA being FA, submissions won't be viewable in the gallery in alphabetical order, so since we are restricted to order of upload, pricemaps:
- can be updated once a month if you change the look or prices on your sheet. Send a link via note to your new sheet, and a link to the one here in this gallery. The image will be replaced. Make sure your note has the word "update" in the subject line.
- will be purged when they reach three months of age, regardless of whether you have updated that submission at any point. This keeps the gallery filled with only active artists.
As the artist, you are responsible for keeping track of when your guide is posted and when it is due to expire and submit it again.
1) Upload your price guide somewhere. To your own FA page, to photobucket or equivalent, to your own website. Just get it on the web! It's preferred to have it on FA so we can link directly to your original submission.
2) Write down whatever information you feel you need to put in the description that will better help customers hire you. Important things like how to contact you, or a link to your TOS. Make sure these things are in (or linked in) the description of your submission posted in your own gallery.
Since we include a link to your original submission, adding description to the note that is already in your own submission is redundant. The only reason we will include a separate description is if your price guide is hosted somewhere other than FA and has no accompanying information.
This account is a place of business, and so there is a "no baggage" policy. What this means is that any info given for commissions must be related to the commissions themselves, and nothing about your situation, or how you're poor or need the money for such n such thing, or even your reason for taking the commissions. You're taking them, and that is all anybody needs to know and all most customers care about. If customers are curious and wish to get to know you, they may do so on your own page. All shouts that contain personal baggage (even if the shout is otherwise legit) will be deleted. All priceguides that contain baggage in the image will be refused.
3) Send a NOTE to this account with a link to your price guide. Do not put your price guide in a shout, or as a comment on a journal or someone else's guide. If it's not in a note, it gets deleted. Please make sure that you have the words "price guide" or "prices" or something to do with your price sheet in the subject. Subjects "No subject", "Hi", and anything else equally as vague and non-relevant will be deleted automatically.
3a) If this is not your first time submitting a sheet, and your previous sheet is still in the gallery and is not expired, (please check first), then please add the word "update" in the subject. Be sure to send the link to your guide in this gallery so we can update it without spending too much time searching the gallery for it. Please do not resubmit your guide before it expires if you haven't changed your prices or your guide image, because we will just ignore it.
3b) If this is not your first time submitting a sheet, but yours has expired and been deleted, then proceed as though this is your first time. Do not add "update" in the subject. If you do, I will assume that you have a sheet in the gallery and I will write back asking you to link to it, thus delaying you further.
3c) If you have a question that needs answering, send it as a separate note, and title the subject "Question".
3d) DO NOT EVER send a price guide or question relating to this group to the moderator's personal accounts.
4) If you have a place where commissioners can submit a public review of their experience with you, please include a link to that in your original submission! Anybody can review you in this gallery, but after three months, your submission will be purged, and all comments with it too, so please encourage your customers to review you on your own page so that you get to keep everything.
5) Be patient. It might be up to a week or more before your price guide gets uploaded, or your note even looked at.
6) If your note has been read but your guide hasn't been posted after a week, it is because it was rejected. If you don't receive a reason, then please assume that you require more skill to be selling anything. If it is for any other reason, we'll let you know.
If it has been over two weeks but your note hasn't been read yet, then refer to #5. If your note title doesn't have anything to do with "price guide", "price sheet", "prices" or "question" in it, then it gets deleted.
7) Please only submit your OWN price guide. If your friend has a price guide and you want to help them advertise, then let them know about this account so they can submit it themselves.
That's about it. I hope this guide is informative.
I'd give an exception to those who show the different stages of multiple pieces, though. If laid out right, it can work.
As soon as I get a few examples on my art (that I like, I tend to hate everything I draw) I´ll make one and submit it here ^^