Friday, August 8, 2014

On Fees for Professional Storytellers

(c) 2014 Linda Goodman

I was happy to see Katie Knutson's article A Handful of beans or One Gold Coin: How to Price Your Work in the August/September issue of Storytelling Magazine. Lots of good advice there.When I first started telling professionally in 1989, NAPPS (The National Association for the Perpetuation and Preservation of Storytellinghad had just released a survey that stated that good beginning storytellers averaged $100 for a one hour show. Based on that info, I began using that rate and it worked well for me in those days.

The first storyteller I ever heard was "G", and she was beyond wonderful. To this day she remains one of my favorite tellers. But G was one of the fortunate few who worked for an organization that paid her a yearly salary (with benefits) to go to schools and libraries to tell stories. She retired a few years after I first heard her, but she decided to continue telling stories on her own with a less  strenuous schedule.

One day I received a phone call from an elementary school that wanted me to tell stories to its students. When I quoted my fee (by this time, in 1999, $150), the woman gasped. "But G charges only $50.00!" After a short period of silence, she added, "But she LOVES what she does."

I explained to her that I also loved telling stories, but, unlike G, storytelling was my only source of income. G, on the other hand, had a pension and medical insurance, which she received whether she told stories or not. I also mentioned that I could not with good conscience undercut my fellow tellers.  The two of us began dickering and finally agreed that I would tell for G's fee, but for only 30 minutes, on the condition that if I was ever asked back to the school, I would get paid my full fee. I could live with that. It was like I was getting paid to audition.  I was actually asked back to that school numerous times before I left New England, and even afterwards.

When I move to different areas of the country (I have done this four times since 1989), I enjoy working locally. I usually ask some of my fellow tellers what the range of fees is for the region. I ask only because I do not want to undercut another teller's rates; and, I admit, it saves me a lot of time and research.  Usually, however, other tellers are understandably reluctant to share. The stock answer is, "It depends." And so I do all the work that Katie Knutson so kindly details in her article. In the process, I usually am given contact information for possible venues, which nearly always results in work that leads to more work.

Whenever a fellow storyteller contacts me about fees, I share freely. I consider that part of my contribution to the storytelling community. As far as I know, that has never worked against me.

5 comments:

  1. I have gotten a few emails from people who have tried to leave comments here, but cannot do so. If you have this problem,please email me at happytales@aol.com.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Imagine how amazing it would be if people respected one another by sharing instead of being fearful of being taken over! It's definitely a rat race out there.... (((((HUGS))))) sandi

    ReplyDelete
  4. That would be amazing, Sandi. Still, I can understand why some would be hesitant. For myself, I had a lot of help getting my business started. Paying it forward feels good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for sharing. This is a very big topic, and it seems that venues; budgets; and persistence make a difference. And may I add that we are supposed to love what we do; think of the alternative!

    ReplyDelete