What a fantasy map costs in 2026

Most custom fantasy maps for a novel cost between $150 and $600. A black and white region or continent usually runs $150 to $350. Full color costs more, often $400 to $600 once the rights to publish it are included.

The range is wide mostly because of scope, how long you'll wait, and a detail that trips up a lot of authors: whether you're allowed to sell books with the map in them.

What cartographers charge

These are the prices cartographers who take novel work list on their own sites, checked on October 29, 2026. Prices change, so use this as a starting point and confirm before you budget.

Prices are for a world, continent or region map. City maps usually cost more.

As of that date, Dewi Hargreaves and K.R. Solberg were both closed to new commissions, and Cartographybird was booking up to six months ahead. A price you can't book doesn't help you much.

The cost that isn't in the price

Look at the right-hand column again. That's where budgets fall apart.

Some cartographers price the map and the right to publish it separately. A full-color continent from Mountain & Myth is $375. Add their 75% commercial license and putting it in a book you sell costs $656. Authors compare the headline numbers, pick the cheapest, and get a second invoice at the end.

There's nothing shady about it. Illustrators have licensed their work this way for a long time. It just means two quotes for "a map" can be quoting different things, so read what each one includes.

Three questions sort it out before you pay anything:

1. Can I sell books containing this map, in any format, without paying again?
2. Can I use it in marketing, on the cover, and on merchandise?
3. Does the price change if my book does well?

If the answer to the third one is yes, what you're buying is a license with conditions attached. That can still be a fair deal, as long as you know it going in.

What drives the price

Scope. Size matters less than you'd think. A big continent and a small island take about the same amount of thinking, which is why I charge one price for both. The real jump is from one landmass to a whole world, where every region has to line up with every other.

Label density. Twelve place names is a different job from ninety. Keeping ninety labels readable is mostly a typography problem, and it takes longer than drawing the mountains.

When revisions happen. Moving a coastline while the layout is rough costs nothing. Moving it after the detail pass costs a day. That's why most cartographers stage their reviews: big changes get caught while they're still cheap.

Rush work. Expect a 25 to 50 percent rush fee across the market. Mine is 35 percent, because a rush job bumps someone else's week.

Changes after delivery. Hardly anyone publishes a price for these, and they should. Manuscripts change. You rename a river in edits and suddenly the map and the text disagree. Ask what a post-delivery change costs before you need one.

How long you'll wait

Price tables leave this out, and it costs you as much as the price does.

Most cartographers who take novel work are booked two to three months out, and several of the best aren't taking commissions at all. If your launch date is fixed, a cheaper map that shows up after your cover reveal didn't save you anything.

When you compare quotes, look at three things: the price, the wait, and whether the person is actually open. A $200 map in twelve weeks and a $400 map in one week solve different problems.

Is a $25 map ever enough?

Sometimes, yes.

If you want a rough map to plan with while you draft, or something for a newsletter, the low end of the market is fine. You don't need a commissioned map to figure out how long the army takes to cross the pass.

Before you put a cheap map in a published book, check two things. Is the file big enough to print? People tend to find out when they format the book, long after they've paid. And are the rights spelled out? Unclear rights become a problem right when the book starts selling.

The same goes for drawing it yourself. Inkarnate runs about $25 a year and it's a good tool. It's the one I use. Every map I make is composed by hand in Inkarnate, coastline by coastline, with no generative AI. If you enjoy making maps, go for it. I wrote up my workflow for world maps in Inkarnate to help. Lots of published books have author-drawn maps and readers don't mind.

What you're paying a cartographer for is everything around the tool: where the mountains go and why the pass matters, how a river actually behaves, and which twelve of your forty place names earn a label.

What I charge

$400 for a map: one or two continents, full color or parchment, delivered in seven days. A whole world at full detail starts at $600, and we agree the price before I start.

I keep it to one price on purpose. Charging less for a small island would just mean doing it worse, and tiered pricing mostly exists to make the starting number look lower than what you'll actually pay.

Included, with no separate license:

• Full commercial rights: print, ebook, audiobook, cover, marketing, merchandise.
• No credit line required, no royalties, no expiry.
• A black-and-white version alongside the color one.
• Three rounds of changes while I work, plus one at the end.
• Delivery in seven days.

Extra maps in the same world are 25 percent off, since keeping a series consistent is much easier when one person draws all of it. Changes after delivery are a flat $50 against an agreed list. The rights are spelled out on the licensing page.

The short version

Budget $200 to $600 for a full-color novel map you're allowed to publish. Read the rights terms before you compare prices, because a cheaper map with a separate license usually ends up costing more. And ask when it will actually arrive. In this market, the wait is what's most likely to hurt you.