Ok, weird question. Someone has asked me to buy one digital copy of one of my maps...
Medio
Surveyor
Should i sell it to him? Not really doing this for money but heh, money is always welcomed (and one also feels good about it).
As they were made in cc3+ ... can i even sell them?
How much should i ask for a digital copy? He asked me for two maps exactly. How much is a fair price?
Thanks in advance!
Comments
That makes no sense at all.
Numbers of copies applies to printed maps, not digital maps. Is that what he means? A printed map, I mean?
Nope. He asked me for a digital copy... Dunno, I understand he could simply get it from the Facebook page. He just told me that. Not that he's going to use it for anything, I guess... It's weird, I know.
Sorry, I expressed myself badly. He wants two copies, one of each of two of my maps.
Oh, he's looking for a higher resolution copy? FB uploads are really low res.
I'm not able to help you with contracts, conditions and prices. It's a minefield I've managed to stay out of so far, so I don't have the experience to help you.
Yeah, that's what I think he wants. Yeah I guess here not many of us decide to sell their maps.
I think I will give them away and that's all.
Just make sure he's not intending to sell them on or add them to a commercial product of his own. Free stays free.
Unless, of course, you really don't mind him making money from a free gift you gave him.
Yeah. Well, I will see what I will do once he sends me the next message, will ask him about his goals.
I would put on one corner 'Not to be resold'.
I can see someone wanting a printed copy, but digital does seem odd.
Digital copies can be downloaded and printed. If you have an PDF 8.5 x 11 inch map, you could print it out on larger paper and tell the printer to make it fit and low, it will be magnified, but not anymore detailed.
I see no reason not to sell a digital map if asked. It's sort of a compliment. I sell paper copies of the maps for some of the game scenarios I sell because it takes a lot of time to make them, but all the rest of the scenario information is digital and I just let them download it.
There are many print and play wargames where all the components are digital, so you can print them out as many times as you want. You just should not resell them and many are watermarked. Digital products I get from the https://www.wargamevault.com/product/98585/The-Warehouse are watermarked with my name and purchase date.
Unfortunately those electronic watermarks can be removed by someone sufficiently knowledgeable. I've chanced upon pirated copies of a few RPG products from the OneBookShelf sites (Wargame Vault, et al.) where they've been taken off; obvious, as the digital products aren't available anywhere else.
Hi @Medio I do commission work, it helps subsidise my hobby...so I would advocate for selling them.
How much to charge is a challenging question, it depends on his intended use and what type of map and how big (more for the amount of work involved, not a physical size) it is. If he just wants them for personal use charge him what you would be willing to pay, if he wants them for commercial use, double or triple that.
Regardless, make sure you have a contract to protect yourself. Google "Art contracts" and you should get a variety of templates. It doesn't need to be anything elaborate just something stating who the parties are, what is actually being sold, what the purchasers rights are and what your rights are and so on.
OK, he answered me. He told me he wants a high resolution map so he can print it at Kinko, 36x36. I guess inches hehe.
Si I decided I will sell it, at least the map with good resolution, the old one unfortunately is not and the FCW is also old and incomplete so I won't be able to send it in such a big resolution.
Now I have to decide how much. Any suggestions?
BTW thanks @jmabbott it's a good advice. I will do it.
Really, the only suggestion is, what do you think it's worth? How much would you, as a consumer, be willing to pay?
I base my pricing for commissions on how long I think it would take a professional cartographer to create the map. What takes me 6-8 hours might only take @Ralf, @Lorelei or another proficient user, 2 hours or less, so in that case I would charge around $50 in the clients native currency.
Took me way more than 2 hours hehe but I include there the custom symbols and more. On the other point, it's not a commission so wouldn't charge as one.
I think 50 dollars should be a fair price. Will tell him. Thanks!
While $50 is dirt cheap for a commission, some people may find it a bit expensive for buying a digital copy of an existing map. I often back various kickstarters, and for that amount, you usually get 20-40 nice maps for that price.
Well, you could call Kinkos and see how much they charge for the map.
I recently bought a custom map from mytopo.com of the Little Bighorn area that was about 4x5 feet with grid lines and elevation shadows for 29.95. Satellite photographs are more, around 100. A combination contour map was 79.95 and was nice to look at, but hard to read.
Incredibly to me, the. Company lets you download a full size PDF and save it so you can print it yourself. So does the national geologic service and their maps run 9-15 bucks.
For physical objects, there is an informal rule of thumb of three times the cost of materials
One has to think of the amount of time you put into it.
My daughter charges people by the square inch for paintings. 0.50 for her friends and 1.00 for others. Larger paintings can be more.
You can go to the wargame vault. They printout digital maps and you can see what they charge.
I find it difficult to price my games because volume is low and I am not well known.
Hope this helps.
Ive been talking to him and we decide to him to pay me just a smaller quantity. It´s not a comission and just a better resolution image. Thanks everyone for your insight, ive learned alot about these issues.
I bumped into this topic as I was searching to see if there were any sites selling the digital version. In my case I want a large, multi level castle to be occupied by Giants, so am looking for the 'floorplan' and it needs to be digital so I can add a layers containing the traps, treasures etc.
I expect to pay a reasonable price but commissioning a one off map is probably out of my price range.
So I can see as need for the digital product, but I suspect that the software probably wasn't written with digital sales in mind, so won't have built in any form of DRM or unremovable watermark.
@UKgnome I'd recommend buying one of the annuals that focuses on castles. They come with .fcws and pdfs of example maps, which you could use if its just for personal use. There's also the possibility that someone has done a castle in the atlas, where again personal use is permitted.
You might check the search page on the Atlas.
Select Floorplan and click on Search. You will see lots of floor plans. Some of them castles.
Or select Floorplan and Overland map text is Daefadel fort and that will give you several maps I made of a ruined area, with a new inn where people are trying to survive and rebuild.
or just scroll down on the Mappers pull down and use JimP as I have 140 maps on the site, pick from there. Most are underground; however, you could say to your players they are in the hill and there is the entrance. There are shops and walled vilalges to.