New Story World - A couple continents (for now! :) )

[Reylliam]

Greetings All,

I am about to set serious time aside in 2015 to write a story I have been thinking of doing for a few years now. For that story, I would like to pin down some geography. This is where, hopefully, one of you come in. While I do have major bits pinned down in my head, in order to write coherently and accurately within the setting, I will have to be absolutely sure of what is where.


Content Details
I have one major continent about the size (but not shape) of all of North America, and a second one slightly larger than the size (but not shape) of Australia, on which the story will be taking place. There is a third, unmentioned [in the story] continent, as well, (or could possibly come into play if my story takes off and needs a sequel!) and I may have to have that commissioned in the future. It would be the size of Africa. What I would be wanting charted for each continent is:

• Major Land & Terrrain Features (Lake, River, Forest, Mountain Range, Swamp, etc)
• Political boundaries of Countries (more of a dashed line thing, no colorization based on country)
• Major Cities (Capitals, Ducal seats)
• Individual, Specific Towns (additional few small towns that are major points in the story)
• Major Highways (intermittent; not all countries have developed major roads)
• Historic or Landmark Site Markers

I have generic, 'blobby' outlines in my head of what country or major land feature would go where, and as long as a few details such as position or size of various landmarks line up with my story, I would be pretty open to your free reign as to most everything else built around it. If you want me to make specifications, I can, for those who prefer to work under more direction; I just am equally happy letting you do your thing, too, if that's your preferred work mode. I do expect there to be close discussion about the positioning of those required elements in the beginning, however.


Quality
I guess I only need semi-professional for now as I would be using this first set myself for writing guide purposes. This would be more of an "outline & icon" style of depicting things, if that makes sense. I do not know what is a suitable scale and thus resulting map overall size with which to request maps of these sizes, but I do know I would want to ensure a person doesn't have to squint to figure things out, while I do not need to see every cobblestone of main street, either. I do not know the pros and cons of selecting raster vs vector, so perhaps that could be discussed with anyone who takes interest in the project.

NOTE: However, there may come a time when I may want these converted to a more professional, illustration type instead of just outlines for publication, and I would revisit that either with the original cartographer or with another post here.


Timeframe
The first map of the larger of the two continents is priority over the second, but I want to balance the time requirement against what is fair for such a project. I do not need a rush job necessarily, but I also do not want to be waiting forever for a result. Is a month fair? You tell me...

I expect there may be revisions, not necessarily out of any issue with the cartographer; it may be that after seeing something concrete, it may cause me to decide that something is actually closer or further than I would have thought, and I may want to have adjusted. This will add to the time, but of course, it would be my fault. Of course, I realize it may also add to the cost.


Copyright
My initial stance is that I am paying for all rights as a work-for-hire in the beginning, but as I do not know the standard fee range for this activity, I may have to grant concessions in order to afford the work being done. When it comes to the more professional, publishable maps, I would definitely be giving map credit at time of publication, and not claiming them as works of my own, even if I do hold the rights for commercial purposes.

NOTE: If anyone, even someone not taking up the project, would like to offer ballpark estimates as to the reasonable number of hours and suitable relevant cost for this project, in order to help me know what is fair when negotiating with someone who does take it up, I would definitely welcome the information. Any basic guidelines that are deemed "industry standard" if such exists would be great.


Contact Details
You may email me at my general delivery email address. The address is same as my handle here plus my host of: at Yahoo.com.

Thanks everyone for your time, and of course I am happy to revise this post if something critical was overlooked, just let me know!

Regards,
Jason / Rey

[Reylliam]

Hi all,

In process of an offer now - thanks anyone else who may have been interested!
(Could not figure out how to change prefix on subject line....)

Jason/Rey

[Reylliam]

Thanks everyone,

This has been taken on by someone.

Appreciate your interest!

Take care,
Jason/Rey