To charge or not to charge?

sarkozy

I've been approached via Flickr by an international educational publisher to permit use of one of my photos for a geography textbook.

I don't want to give a photo away to for commercial use for free.

What do I do? Regarding licensing, shouldn't I t least ask more specifics about print run, distribution, intended image size, etc? Charging is an entirely different thing what and how?

Borderfox

Have a look on Alamy at the relevant price and since they are dealing direct with you drop by a small amount, check all the relevant details about the run, distro and so on

http://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid={A03CE057-28E8-41A2-97F3-00EC42908546}&p=66004&n=7&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&srch=foo%3dbar%26st%3d0%26sortby%3d2%26qt%3dChristmas%26qt_raw%3dChristmas%26qn%3d%26lic%3d3%26mr%3d0%26pr%3d0%26aoa%3d1%26creative%3d%26videos%3d%26nu%3d%26ccc%3d%26bespoke%3d%26apalib%3d%26ag%3d0%26hc%3d0%26et%3d0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3d0%26loc%3d0%26ot%3d0%26imgt%3d0%26dtfr%3d%26dtto%3d%26size%3d0x0%26archive%3d1%26name%3d%26groupid%3d%26pseudoid%3d%26userid%3d%26id%3d%26a%3d-1%26xstx%3d0%26cbstore%3d1%26lightbox%3d1027320%26resultview%3dsortbyGallery%26gname%3dChristmas%26gtype%3d1%26saveQry%3d%26editorial%3d%26nasty%3d%26t%3d0%26edoptin%3d%26customgeoip%3d&IsFromSearch=1

Corkbah

sarkozy wrote: »

I've been approached via Flickr by an international educational publisher to permit use of one of my photos for a geography textbook.

I don't want to give a photo away to for commercial use for free.

What do I do? Regarding licensing, shouldn't I t least ask more specifics about print run, distribution, intended image size, etc? Charging is an entirely different thing what and how?

any update on this ? businesses are doing this in recent years to save themselves thousands ….. if you price anywhere near alamy you'll more than likely get told we'll find another image, pick a price you are happy to accept - if you are not professional you shouldn't be charging professional rates - but should get some payment for your image.

Kenny Logins

sarkozy wrote: »

I've been approached via Flickr by an international educational publisher to permit use of one of my photos for a geography textbook.

I don't want to give a photo away to for commercial use for free.

What do I do? Regarding licensing, shouldn't I t least ask more specifics about print run, distribution, intended image size, etc? Charging is an entirely different thing what and how?

Isn't there a different rule regarding copyright when photos are used for the purpose of education? I'd look into that.

brightspark

Corkbah wrote: »

if you are not professional you shouldn't be charging professional rates

Why not? Surely it protects the professionals income if everyone got the professional rates?

Corkbah

brightspark wrote: »

Why not? Surely it protects the professionals income if everyone got the professional rates?

because in general amateurs don't have the same expenses as a professional and therefore do not require the same amount of remuneration in my opinion.

if everyone gets professional rates then …would you apply the same to other careers ?

not all amateurs pay or have to pay for
-insurance
-years of training
-top level equipment (cameras, flashes, lighting gear etc etc)
-rent/purchase of premises
-various premises related bills
-commercial rates
-union fees
-advertising
etc etc …the list is endless (granted some amateurs will have the same expenses and if selling should seek to include those expenses when pricing an image)

if we had equal pricing (for example in the wedding industry) - then full-time wedding photographers wouldn't be able to drop below a certain point and would have to take on more work in order to make ends meet while amateurs/new to the game wedding photographers would be on the gravy train being paid well above what they charge currently. we've all seen the many adverts offering "full wedding photography packages" for €400 …no professional could entertain these prices - and its a very big "day's" pay for an amateur !!

brightspark

Corkbah wrote: »

because in general amateurs don't have the same expenses as a professional and therefore do not require the same amount of remuneration in my opinion.

if everyone gets professional rates then …would you apply the same to other careers ?

not all amateurs pay or have to pay for
-insurance
-years of training
-top level equipment (cameras, flashes, lighting gear etc etc)
-rent/purchase of premises
-various premises related bills
-commercial rates
-union fees
-advertising
etc etc …the list is endless (granted some amateurs will have the same expenses and if selling should seek to include those expenses when pricing an image)

if we had equal pricing (for example in the wedding industry) - then full-time wedding photographers wouldn't be able to drop below a certain point and would have to take on more work in order to make ends meet while amateurs/new to the game wedding photographers would be on the gravy train being paid well above what they charge currently. we've all seen the many adverts offering "full wedding photography packages" for €400 …no professional could entertain these prices - and its a very big "day's" pay for an amateur !!

So you want amateurs to charge less, simply because they make a bigger profit on the work?

The price of goods or services isn't how much they cost to produce...it's how much the customer is willing to pay!

Now some people are willing to a premium for a premium product (or at least a perceived premium product, take Apple products as an example), but many more are price conscious and will buy a cheaper product, especially if they think it will be good enough for their needs. And many of those willing to pay more, won't if the difference is too much.

The less an amateur charges, the harder it becomes to sell the premium product except to those to whom price is no object. If you can get something for free that will be as good, then why pay at all?


In short, the amateurs should charge more..not professionals charge less.

Corkbah

brightspark wrote: »

So you want amateurs to charge less, simply because they make a bigger profit on the work?

The price of goods or services isn't how much they cost to produce...it's how much the customer is willing to pay!

Now some people are willing to a premium for a premium product (or at least a perceived premium product, take Apple products as an example), but many more are price conscious and will buy a cheaper product, especially if they think it will be good enough for their needs. And many of those willing to pay more, won't if the difference is too much.

The less an amateur charges, the harder it becomes to sell the premium product except to those to whom price is no object. If you can get something for free that will be as good, then why pay at all?


In short, the amateurs should charge more..not professionals charge less.

but thats exactly whats happening in society today …amateurs are trying to get into the industry by undercutting/offering a cheaper "alternative" and often offering the same product for free ….but the vast majority offering the cheaper service do not have years of experience and are trying to "make a name" for themselves.

if amateurs charge more then you'd have lots of people complaining that they paid so much money only to get less than great results. (Granted plenty of amateurs are capable of doing better work than some professionals…but thats another days argument)

Are you saying that someone working in (for arguments sake) wedding photography - a person just out of secondary school with a DSLR and kit lens that they got for christmas should charge the same as someone who has been doing wedding photography for the last 30yrs covering thousands of weddings.

in the OP's case - government depts can and will use an image if they wish without remuneration and often without credit ! …. if it is not a government dept (educational purposes - exam papers etc etc), you should seek payment - but if you price yourself too high they might very well just seek a similar image.

(is it likely that you are the only person in the country/world who has this image ? or that there might be a similar image available to the person/company if they bother to search)