Services, Pricing, and Terms of Use:
Cover art ~ Banners/Graphics ~ Web design ~ Payment
I am a cover artist with Phaze, Renaissance, Torquere, Books We Love, and Awe Struck under the name Michelle Lee. If you're an author with one of those two, feel free to request me as your cover artist. I have a standard artist contract with them, so there is no fee from the author.
If you are a Phaze, Renaissance, Torquere, Books We Love, or Awe Struck author and want me to do a matching banner, I can do that, but the banner is not covered under my contract with the publisher. See info below regarding banners. You will need to contact me directly, not through the publisher about banners after the cover is finalized.
If you are not with either of those publishers and are publishing independently, and want to see about having me create a cover for you, we can certainly talk about it. Just email me and we'll see what we can work out. Costs will vary from $25-200, depending upon the authors needs, and the cost of images needed. Keep in mind, I do have terms for cover art creation ... they are listed below.
However, if you are with a publisher besides those listed, they have their own cover artists and I don't want to step on anyone's toes. Make sure, before you contact me, that they allow you to purchase your own cover art. I will need to know what specifics they have as to size and resolution.
If you are a publisher and want to contact me about joining your cover art staff, please feel free to do so. I am always looking for more opportunities to design covers.
When you purchase a cover, you agree to abide by certain terms, and the artists does as well. For any cover that I am creating where I am asked to sell all rights to the work, such as commissioned covers by an author, they are as follows:
1. I will certify that I am the sole creator of the work, as well as the sole rights owner to the work in its entirety. Obviously others have rights to individual elements, ie photos and graphics - because I use stock images. So I can only speak to the work that I created.
2. The author agrees that credit will be given for the work on the copyright page. This is simply the industry standard statement of: Cover art by Michelle Lee of Erotic Designs. Nothing more. Less is not acceptable.
3. The work is to remain in its entirety. No portion of the work may be used for any other purposes beyond the promotion and sales of the piece of writing it is attached to. Further, the work remains as is, without any additions or subtractions. If a change needs to be made at a latter date, contact me and I will be glad to assist. This includes, but is not limited to – changing the author name, the title, adding a series title, adding a series number, etc.
* Note here - you are commissioning ONE piece of work from me, so you may NOT use it on more than one piece of writing. Simple as that. If you want a "series" cover, you need to tell me that during negotiation of payment and creation stage, so that I know your expectations, and I can adjust my billing accordingly.
4. This work shall not be used in any medium, beyond that which it was intended for, ie ebook, audio and print books and the associated promotional material mediums, which include but are not limited to video, print and digital.
* This means that you can create a promo T-shirt, but you cannot create a T-shirt with a portion of the cover on it, taken out of context. Example: Using a western cover with a guy and a gun in his hand, an image that I layered together, and putting words such as "Die Whoever" on it.
5. You CANNOT turn around and SELL the rights to this cover to another party, for their use. This would violate my terms listed in #3. Only exception is if you are with a publisher that requires you to sell your cover to them, for the duration of your publication with them. Not sure this is ever going to happen, but I will allow for that. BUT you have to make clear to them that you cannot grant them any rights beyond using it for YOUR work of writing, since the terms of artist creation do not allow for that.
In turn:
6. Once I turn over a release to the work to you (after payment, and after you have stated that you agree to these terms - in writing), then I will agree not in any way seek to reclaim the cover from you, PROVIDED it is not being used in an manner than violates my terms or in any way that is defamatory towards me. IE, putting the cover on a T-shirt saying the cover artist sucks, or some such. You get the idea.
7. I also agree that I will not create another cover that could be mistaken for yours. Keep in mind, artists tend to have a certain style ... so all my covers do have elements that are similar. Also, if another author wants a certain image, I may purchase it and use it on another cover. What I am saying is that I will not create a cover for author XYZ that looks like the cover I sold to author ABC.
Any questions, feel free to email me.
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I am always open to banner/Graphic design, regardless of which publisher you are with. I generally charge around $5-15 for a static banner/Graphic, and depending upon what you're looking for, and the amount of time it takes. Rotating banners will be slightly more, depending upon how many images you want.
The larger the image you can provide, the better. And if you can get a copy of your cover art without text on it, that makes things a lot easier, but generally I can work around some text. I will also design banners for website looks, contest, etc.
And if you can provide font names used on the cover, that would be great. A lot of times I try my best to match fonts as close as possible, but knowing the font name helps a lot. Then it is just a matter of finding it and installing it.
I am also willing to create graphics for contest announcements, newsletters, or basically anything you might need. I charge the same rates as banners, unless we are talking something really large or very detailed.
With any of the banners or graphics, I do request a link back banner to me, on your links page is fine. However it isn't required. it's just a courtesy. If you like my work, and my prices, someone else might to.
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Website design. Email me, and we'll see what we can work out. It will depend upon your needs and my time. I won't b.s. you - if I can't do your site in a reasonable about of time, I will tell you.
The cheapest I have done a website for was $50. I haven't gone over $200 yet, although that doesn't mean it won't happen, so I do charge very reasonable rates. The cost will vary depending upon whether or not I have to create the graphics, how many pages you need, if images need to be purchased, how many bells and whistles you are wanting, etc.
I am also available to do continued website maintenance, if you want to have me design your site and update it for you.
Again, just email me and we can see what we can work out.
with web design, I do create a banner for you to link back to me that matches your website. I don't mind if it is just on a links page, or if you want to put it on every page, or the main page only. But I do request the courtesy of you placing it somewhere on your website. I keep costs inexpensive and don't charge what I could because I know what it is like to want a nice site but just not have that much money to spend. So in return, I do ask the courtesy of you putting a banner linking back to me somewhere on your site.
With sites I design and maintain, a small "website maintained by" will be on the bottom of the pages, with a link for people to report any problems.
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I accept payments via money order and paypal.
The way that I work things is, you contact me and I get what info I need to start on your project. Once I have it completed, I will show you the image/website/whatever with a watermark over it.
Then we work out payment. Once payment is received, I will send you a clean copy of the file without the watermark.
This is to protect both parties. You know that I have completed the project, and I know that I will get paid. I've tried doing this on faith before, and most times it has worked out well, but it just takes getting stiffed once to require a policy change.
Additional payment is requested in the form of a link back to this site. For graphic/Banner design, it is not required, just requested. For website design, it is required at least somewhere on your site, that a link back to this site exists. The reason for that is simple - I keep things as inexpensive as I can, because I know what it is like to not have a lot of cash to spend, but still want to have a nice site. So I ask the courtesy of a link back, because if you like my work, someone else in the same situation might to.
As for a link back with covers, it isn't requested that you link back to me if you are with any of the publishers I work with. for any titles that are self-published or with a publisher I don't normally work with, I do request a link back, or at least a "cover by Michelle Lee" notation on your website. There are also certain terms that must be met in regards to cover art. Read them HERE. Understand, that Information in the copyright page needs to state that the cover design/art is by Michelle Lee of erotic designs. This is non-negotiable.
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