Anyway more importantly:
Today I took the time to actually write out an e-mail to an royalty-based offer I got. This particular person seemed very professional and literate, so I felt like writing out my thoughts and the simple truth.
If you're a freelancer, I encourage you guys to write out and inform clients of why it's not going to happen - even if the deal is not on. Most of us will probably just ignore royalty based offers 100%, but if anything, write a standard reply like the one below and then send that off at least. Informing people helps.It does sound like a bit of a rant, because it actually is kind of one. But an informative rant at least, I hope.
Here it is:
[Hello X]
I don't take royalty based offers. It simply does not bring food on the table. This work would be work, and take time, even if it's in my "free time" (which I don't really have, and I wouldn't spend it working more, on another project, especially with an NDA) If I wanted to make portfolio work I could just pick something myself and make it actually an intelligent decision that steers the kind of work I get, which would be much more lucrative for me.
Fact of the matter is simply that royalty based offers almost never turn around any revenue at all; and if they do, it's probably not even close to the amount of work put in. I get offers like this very often, so I just have a simply policy for them, I hope you understand.
I really hope you can some day muster a budget (and advise you to) and then of course, I'd love to help out! I'm saying this obviously for myself but also as a tip for you - I've been in and seen numerous project crumble and fall, and the simple fact is that the people who claim to be freelancers and then take on royalty/non-pay jobs like this are probably not the people you want on your team anyway.
Anyway - My prices are really quite fair compared to what I should be asking, even if I say so myself, I encourage you to consider it! If not for preproduction, then definitely invest some money towards marketing illustration -- it's worth it when the time comes.
