My boss has asked me after seeing many samples of my work if I would be interested in taking the photos and doing the layout work and also taking care of the printing for a new company brochure and facilities list. He is looking at a (4) page full color brochure approx 8 1/2 x 11 page size. The company is a small business that does approx 4-5 million a year in sales. I don't have a problem in doing the work and I think I can handle it the problem is I have no idea what to charge for the photography work and the brochure design and layout. This will take quite a few hours work and I'm afraid that my employer will choke when he see's the cost. If any of you could throw some ballpark numbers at me I would appreciate it or any other advice.
Dave: I take it that the design and production of the brochure will be on your own time, not on work time? How much do you get paid at work (you don't need to answer that)? Computer design time should be $35-$50/hour if you know what you are doing, and you aren't learning the art of design as you go. The photo use fees depend on the placement of the photo in the brochure, and the number of brochures published. $100/image at the very lowest end, $250-$750 at the upper end (well, it could be much higher yet with a larger company).
Thanks for the reply Steve. I will be doing this on my own time as a vendor. I will take care of the whole project as well as subcontracting the printing. To start we will be looking at approx 1000 copies. I will have approx (6-10) photos in the brochures. Even though I would like the work, you have confirmed what I was thinking about pricing. I doubt that my employer would pay me what is a fair going rate. I guess I can give him a fair quote and let him than get outside pricing for comparison.
Dave: I guess what it boils down to is that your experience making the brochure (assuming this is the first one you've produced) may be a benefit to you both for the experience and for your relationship with your boss. I have produced brochures for friend's small businesses for much cheaper than what I quoted above. I did it as a friend, not as a business, and only charged them a minimal fee ($250 after expenses). While I hesitate to recommend printers, one that does a pretty good job on small orders is www.sharpdots.com, and their web site will give you directions on submitting the files to them. For those wanting photo business cards, I'd recommend this printer as well as a reasonable priced and fairly high quality product. Another one to look at is modernpostcard.com
You are correct this would be my first brochure of this type but I have done other publications for non-profit organizations. I would like the experience but I also do not want to give away my time. Thanks for all your input I really do appreciate it.
