Photography Book Pricing

[Waleed_Alzuhair]

Hello everybody,

The deal is a photography book with a theme that requires traveling across the country. The book will be distributed nationally and internationally. They requested an exclusive license of the photos with no limit or time duration to restrict them from using the photos in the book or other usage like website, brochures, or banners.

I was thinking of two pricing methods:
<u>The 1st</u> would be as a turn-key project regardless of the number of photos and the amounts of prints or the hours spent until the project ends.

<u>The 2nd</u> would be to price it based on the number of photographs used, under my exclusive and unlimited licensing structure.

The difference here is comfort in negotiations, delivery and accounting, with the first one being more comfortable.

What do you all think? Which one would you choose?

Thank you for your feedback..

[Cecil_Thornhill]

Waleed,

Do I understand correctly? - either way, they are going to get unlimited rights to use the images?

The reason I ask is that if that is correct, no matter what option you take, they will only pay you once for the work.

The only difference I see in the two is that in the second instance the total you charge is based on what they use, not the work you do.

It sounds like you are more comfortable with option one. A few cautions:

1. No deal (contract) can or should ever be 'regardless of the time or effort it takes'. You must allways place some limits on the time and expense you will contribute to any venture, and those involved with you should know your limits of exposure. There are only so many hours in a day, and you only have so much money/time to devote to any one project. Say so up front to avoid confusion and anger later.

2.Regardless of the way you choose to go, do not allow them to transfer the use of images to any other party without re-negotiating with you. Make a deal with one group if you want to, but don't expose yourself to everyone they ever sell out to. You have to set bounds unless you actually plan on the work going to the public domain. Save yourself lots of pain and limit re-sale or re-use. You will hate yourself if you don't sooner or later.

3. What credits do you get? You may justify the open sounding use terms you list if the exposure is good for your marketing in the future. What assurances can you get about this? Who's book is it anyway?

4. To follow up on #4 - who's book is this? If you do all the work, and you put in all the time, why don't you get paid based on how it sells? This is only the normal way all books get made. Why would you not get to share in all monies made on the project? What is so special about printing and binding that you get cut out? In the end your efforts are the basis of the value of the book, and viewed from the outside you and the publisher just put up money or efforts and materials that can be translated to a value in money. Why are your contributions not equal to theirs (proportional actually - based on the value of the joint contributions of the parties)?

Bottom line - If you want to get paid only once, that is your decision, but I don't see why that should ever be the case with a book. I speak here as a person that did a modest book for a public cause and gave away all my work to the cause because I wanted to. I still own the images, but they get to use them to promote the cause as they need to. I did it because I wanted to help them, but I did not let them transfer the images to any other party for any reason. My book was for a non-profit. I would never suggest doing something like that for a profit making partner. I also just don't see why you would only get paid once, but that is just my take on it. Honestly, in the publishing world the norm is for you to get paid for the work, and then to share in the future profits. They normal fight is over the actual amount (if any) of the profits. Books are a lot like movies - the people who fund them are very good at hiding profits from those who collect royalties.

Please seek guidence from an actual intellectual property attorny in your country who knows your law and international laws on this subject. It will be well worth your time to get advice before accepting any contract on such a matter. Even if you choose the big up front payment at least you will know what you are risking if you retain counsle.

I know your work is very good - be sure you get a fair deal in this!

Good Luck,

Cecil Thornhill
RidgeLight Studio Inc.

[Waleed_Alzuhair]

Hi Cecil,

[ QUOTE ]
Do I understand correctly? - either way, they are going to get unlimited rights to use the images?

[/ QUOTE ]
That is correct.. They requested to be able to use the images on different media at different times for an unlimited number of times. That is mainly because they'll never know when they'll need them after the book is published and the website updated.

Ok, to answer your questions:

1) Done..

2) Done..

3) My name will be written on the book as the photographer with the name of the author of the textual information; the book will be owned by a government entity.

4) The book will not be sold, but will be distributed to different government entities, libraries, and schools nationally and internationally. The target is to show people what Saudi Arabia is really like from cultural and ecological points of view. So, the actual cause is more educational than commercial.

5) Will place it on my to do list.. I'll have a law firm look at all aspects of the project's intellectual property issues and give their recommendation.

What's good about this opportunity is them approaching me directly and not through a bid, as most government departments do. It would be an excellent reference for the studio and a chance to work in such a versatile project.

Thank you Cecil very much for your kind feedback..

[Cecil_Thornhill]

You are most welcome. Sounds like you have covered all the urgent points. The fact that the publisher is a governmental body makes a lot of difference to me. Other's might feel differently, but I understand some of the setting better knowing this. Since the publisher is in essesce a not for profit group, and since they are not transfering the work to other owners in future, for me the deal makes more sense. I would certainly have done this sort of thing for the non-profit I worked with if they had been able to fund it.

If you are dealing with a state body my guess is that the terms of the agreement will be set by them with not a lot of room to alter things. That makes a big difference from working with a private firm doing a book for profit.

I would think that this sort of project could be a very good one in establishing a much higher market value for your future work as well.

Good Luck with the project!

Yours,

Cecil