What's an appropriate photo usage fee?

[kensimage]

One of the major publishers of travel guidebooks contacted me today about using one of my TE-posted shots in a guidebook. They are asking me what I would charge, and I have no clue how much to ask! It would be for a full page, 50,000 copies worldwide. Can someone with experience in such matters help me out here? Regards, Ken.

[vapours]

I sell my photos for $100AU ($70US) each if they are going to be used for small time promotion which seems to be a standard fee over here, and has been fine with the couple of people I have sold to.

However, I sold my two fireworks photos of Australia Day to the City of Perth for $500AU for both, which they were going to use for newspaper adverts and other widescale promotion. I asked for a higher amount with them as I knew they had lots of money, and also due to the amount of exposure the photos would receive, as they do some pretty serious promotion each year for Australia Day.

If its a full page photo in a major guidebook, I'd be asking for around $300US. Just make sure you provide them with reasoning for a price to justify your amount though. If they say its too much you can always go lower.

And make sure you get a free copy of the book too ;)

[vapours]

Also make sure you set the terms of the sale i.e. One time use for their publication

You dont want to sell your photo expecting it to only see it in a small community brochure, to then see it all over magazines and newspapers nationwide.

[postvikram]

Hello Brendan,
this is very good information. Thanks for providing us. I hope Ken would be benifited through this info.
All the best Ken.

Regards
Vikram

[Cormac]

First of all, congratulations! That's great news about being published. What I did in a similar circumstance was go to an online stock agency and request to purchase a photo for the same use (editorial, full page, 50,000 copies). I then used the real life quote that they gave me as the basis for pricing my photo. This way you can find out waht it would cost the publisher to go to an alternative source, so you don't price yourself too high. There are many stock agencies, I used Alamy. Also, don't forget to get a licence agreement setting out the terms of use of the photo. Hope this hleps you.

[lotis]

Hi Ken,
Congratulations. Try to find out how much other TE'ers got for their photos, and ask for a certain price, and back it with examples. The agency procedure also looks quite right. Can we know what photo it is?

Cheers
Louis

[DiaAzul]

A rule of thumb I would say about 300USD for what you have described.

Sign up to a couple of web based stock image agencies (no obligation), and use their pricing tools to see what other agencies are charging. After that it is down to agreement between you and the client.

[Flavia]

Congratulations Ken! I sold about a month ago one of my imges and at the time I had the same question you have. I went trhouth some old forums here on TE when people discussed prices and it gave me a good ideia for a start. As it was to be used be a privet event and printed on a small quantity I decided to charge by the number of prints. I new they were really interested in that particullar picture and that they would be able to pay, I charged around 245CAD with taxes. I hope it gives you a start to think abut your price.

Best Regards,

Flavia

[kensimage]

Thanks to everyone for the benefit of your experiences! It looks like I may finalize a deal soon, then I'll give details for those who asked. --Ken.

[kensimage]

I guess I never told those who asked what the photo was, for which I needed to negotiate a fee to charge for usage rights. It's <a href="http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/India/photo172599.htm">this one</a>, to appear in a Lonely Planet guidebook. Thanks again for those who helped me out. Regards, Ken.

[vapours]

Congrats, its a good shot. One I wish I took! :)

[dougie]

Have a look at http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm - might be of use..

Rgds
Dougie