Hi,
Is there an approximate percentage of the overall fee to charge a client who wants the open files?
Thanks!
Im curious about this too if anyone knows!
Mee too! I’d love to hear from an experienced designer with an established business about this.
I think the first question is: what open file. If its for a once off campaign that they may use another time and just change the date, I wouldnt make a big deal on pricing extra.
If its a brochure or something that they would have kept coming back to you for changes than you can add a price, but I would make it clear from the beginning!
It’s for a children’s book design and layout. The author/publisher want to be able to make text changes or similar further down the line.
It’s a time-sensitive question as she already asked me about my fee for the open files and I have yet to respond…
Hot question!
I’m also in the same situation now!
For me, it’s an ad that they want to be able to change the dimensions, small changes to the wording, etc.
It is something that the client would have had come back to me for…
We actually originally decided on a fee that I’ll charge for this, but it’s easier for the client not to have to come back to me, instead the advertisers can make the changes for her.
Would love to hear how people work this!
What percentage of the original price would you charge?
I just charged 30%.
Here’s a nice article on this topic:
Personally, I’ve offered the open file for a book I did. I felt once they paid that kind of fee they should be able to reprint and make changes easily. It also removes any responsibility from me to keep the open file for the next 100 years. If they ever come back and I lost the file they would have repay for layout which isn’t fair. I’m sure that is not a business minded approach but it seems right to me. I would like to hear what others do for that.
Its kind of similar to working out the price you would charge them for the template design (when they are not intending to use you for the actual job). So it depends on how much design would have been involved in the original file (as opposed to layout of that particular book)
Just to update you all!
I quoted a percentage for the open file - 30%, as some people mentioned, and also after Googling the topic a little (though that would be a steal compared to what most graphic designers out there seem to be charging!!). Long story short… the client backed out 
Hard to tell if this was the reason, but maybe I should have forgone the fee?
I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. It’s not a template. Just an actual cookbook that involved a lot of design. If they want to reprint they might have a few corrections on the original file.
For an ad actually, I would be more likely to charge a percentage for the open file since I don’t make as much as on a book.
That’s upsetting!
I think that if you quoted a reasonable price for the job and an extra 30% for the open files, that’s a very reasonable, normal way of working.
Would you want to ask them why backed out?