8
Pricing Your Photos

MASTER YOUR MARKETING SYSTEM FIRST

Chapters two and three showed you how to set yourself apart from the hordes of stock photographers trying to sell the standard excellent picture (Track A) to photo editors who already have hundreds or even thousands of such pictures readily available to them. Chapter three explained how to analyze your Photographic Strength/Areas (PS/A) and, in so doing, immediately become a valuable resource to specific photo editors.

Be sure, then, to get chapters two and three under your belt before moving to this chapter on pricing. In other words, set up your marketing strategy before you attempt to sell. It will save you time and money otherwise spent on postage and packaging that bring only “nice work, but . . .” letters from photo editors, if they respond at all. Figuring prices need not be a mystery. The system I outline will help you keep your prices professional and acceptable to photo editors.

Sell and Re-Sell

There is a myth I will ask you to unlearn at this point: Selling a picture means selling it once—you can’t sell it again. This myth is perpetuated because it can be true in the field of service photography. It doesn’t apply to photo illustration stock photography.

You can sell your pictures over and over again because in selling a photo illustration—a stock photograph—you are selling (or, to be more accurate, licensing, which is like renting) one-time use of the picture, not the picture itself. Naturally you must use common sense and not simultaneously submit a picture to three sailing magazines that could have cross-readership. However, you can submit the same picture simultaneously to three diverse markets: a sailing magazine, an elementary school textbook publisher and a denominational publishing house. Photo editors license a photo for one-time use, whether for cover or inside-editorial use, to obtain quality pictures at fees lower than they would have to pay to purchase the picture outright. They do not attempt to exercise any control over where else you might market the same picture. It’s understood that you observe the ethics of the business by not sending the same pictures at the same time to competing publications.

Photo editors recognize that the risk of the same picture appearing simultaneously in another publication is minimal. It rarely happens. In the nearly three decades that I have been submitting pictures on a multiple basis, only one photo editor has been hesitant, and that was back in 1990 when the field was still somewhat young and editors weren’t always familiar with the risk of one-time-use licensing.

The Price Range

Should you set a fee for your pictures and stick with it? If you’re a service photographer, perhaps, yes. If you’re selling stock photographs, you’ll learn that the different photo editors on your Market List have different budgets. You generally go by the pay range of each different market. If you have three hundred potential markets on your list, you’re going to find a wide range of fees paid for your photos.

A low-circulation magazine will not have the budget of one with a high circulation. A high-circulation publication sponsored by a nonprofit organization might not have the budget of a low-circulation magazine sponsored by an oil company. Another consideration is advertising. Some trade magazines are heavily supported by advertising; other magazines with the same circulation figures have little or no advertising and are supported by subscriptions. You’ll find the latter category on the lower end of the payment range. You, of course, have the option to choose which markets and which price ranges you want to deal with.

Base Camp: Inside-Editorial Use

As a newcomer to the stock photography field, you deal basically with photo editors, designers and art buyers at publishing houses. Your pictures are usually bought (licensed) to illustrate the editorial content of periodicals or books. You’ll find that 90 percent of your pictures go to inside-editorial use in magazines, periodicals, websites, encyclopedias, textbooks and trade books. Payment for this type of use spreads across the six basic fee ranges shown in Table 8-1.

Table 8-1. Pricing Guide One. A photo buyer will fall into one of these sectors depending on budget, circulation, uniqueness and other factors.

TO APPLY TO PUBLISHERS AND PUBLISHING COMPANIES FOR ONE-TIME INSIDE-EDITORIAL USE.
RANGE NO.	BLACK AND WHITE	COLOR
1	$175 to $250	$300 to $500
2	$150 to $175	$250 to $300
3	$135 to $150	$225 to $250
4	$125 to $135	$200 to $225
5	$120 to $125	$175 to $200
6	$115 to $120	$150 to $175
7	$50 to $115	$75 to $150

The textbook market deserves special mention here. In general, you don’t have many options when quoting prices to textbook publishers. Their budgets are set and usually are low when compared to the world of commercial stock photography. Most textbook photo editors buy in volume and expect to pay lower fees per photo as a result. For example, they’ll often purchase ten or fifteen photos from the same photographer at one time and pay $75 or $125 for each, when the photos ordinarily would sell singly for $150 or $175. Payment ranges from $50 to between $150 and $250 for a quarter page. Fees depend on many factors: whether the picture is to be used for a chapter head or cover, the size of the print run, the prospect for electronic use (such as a website or instructional CD), the number of languages the book is to be printed in and so on.

In all fairness to textbook publishers, they often need hundreds of photos for illustration in a single book. If “reasonable” market prices were insisted on for each picture, some textbooks would never be printed.

Textbook publishers also are known to hang on to your pictures for months (up to one year is not uncommon). Despite all this, they’re an excellent market for both the entry-level photographer and the seasoned professional. The publishers pay on time, they’re dependable, and they have a voracious need for photos. If you establish a working relationship with them, they’ll come to you again and again. (Review “The Total Net Worth of a Customer” in chapter three.)

The seven price categories in Table 8-1 reflect the circulations and budgets of the existing market areas, from local newspapers to major magazines, book publishers and website markets. If a picture is to be used for a purpose other than inside-editorial use (for example, as a cover, a chapter head or an informational brochure), you should charge a higher fee, and you can use the above standards to figure what that higher fee should be. (We’ll cover how to do this in “Using the Pricing System: What to Charge” on page 115.)

Which Range for You?

Depending on your Track B list and your Market List, you’ll probably deal primarily with photo editors in fee ranges 2 to 5. Why won’t you deal with range 1? Although I’ve covered this question in chapter three, it bears repeating. Range 1 is a closed market. Getting excellent pictures is no problem for them. Neither is the question of cost. For example, this is where the full-time professionals with a long track record are in command. The photo editors they are in contact with allow them to phone collect. The modus operandi of range 1 photo buyers is to deal with professionals whom they’ve bought from before and who have established themselves. If you’re listed in Literary Market Place, The Creative Black Book or the ASMP Directory (see the bibliography) you already have high visibility. This chapter may not apply to you.

Using the Pricing System: What to Charge

As I indicated earlier, the fee for a particular stock photograph will vary according to who is using it and how it is used. This presents the problem,

“How do I determine which range to charge a particular market?”

There are three standard answers: (1) guess, (2) ask, (3) research it. All three are viable alternatives.

Guessing—educated guessing, that is—will become an important tool for you as you progress. You’ll be able to judge a magazine by its cover (and its advertising and circulation). Once you know what comparable periodicals and books are paying, you’ll find it easier to be on target with your pricing. Figure on using guessing later in the game, after you’ve racked up some experience.

Asking would be easy if buyers readily gave the information, but photo editors are sometimes hesitant to reveal such information to unknowns. Most photo editors, however, provide photographer’s guidelines. Write to each photo buyer on your Market List, using professional stationery, and request a photo guideline sheet. (Be sure to include a business-sized no. 10 self-addressed, stamped envelope—SASE.) The photo guidelines often include price information. If you approach a photo buyer by phone or in person, phrase your question this way: “What is your payment range for color and for black and white?”

Since photo editors always work within a given range, you are saying two things to photo buyers: (1) You know something about pricing if you ask for a range rather than a set fee, and (2) you allow editors to save face and not have to commit themselves (which means you won’t be coming back later with “But you said such and such . . . ”). Photo editors will usually cooperate when your question is worded in this manner. However, before you embark on your quest for price-range information, review chapter seven for how to deal with photo editors by phone, by mail, by e-mail and in person.

Researching your answer might be easiest for you. Turn to the marketing directories and reference guides listed in Table 3-1 on pages 56-57. Turn also to publishing house websites. For example, Barnes & Noble Publishing often publishes the current pictures they are looking for and the prices they will pay. Remember that fees quoted on a website or in a national directory are probably going to be conservative; that is, they will be the lower figure (the minimum) on the pricing guide in Table 8-1.

As an example, let’s say in your research you find that the published fee for a black-and-white print for Golf Today magazine is $50. You can assume that this magazine will pay in range 3 ($135 to $150 for black and white, $225 to $250 for color, for inside one-time use).

Many market directories also will give circulation figures, which are invaluable in determining the price ranges of similar publications. For example, if Golf Today pays in range 3 and its circulation is 800,000, we can assume that another magazine with a circulation of 400,000 and with similar advertising accounts, might pay in range 4. If Golf Digest has a circulation of 1,000,000 and stronger advertising support than Golf Today, we can figure that they probably pay in range 2 ($250 to $300 per color, $150 to $175 per black and white, for inside one-time use.) These examples can give you a base from which to start. You often can find circulation figures on the publication’s website. You’ll probably find the circulation figures in the sections for advertisers.

Payment for Other Uses

Again, the fee ranges in Table 8-1 apply to inside-editorial use. As I mentioned, if the publisher uses your photograph for a different purpose as well, such as on a website, you should receive a higher fee.

Publications, of course, will be local, regional or national in scope. You should be compensated accordingly. National use carries the most generous compensation, but keep in mind that sometimes a national magazine will be limited to a highly specialized audience and thus yield a lower pay rate. For example, a skydiving magazine would be limited in its impact even though it might have national circulation. So would a national magazine directed to nurses or model railroad enthusiasts.

Table 8-2 provides a system for arriving at a fair price to charge for other than inside use of your photos, no matter what level publishing market you’re dealing with. Take the price you normally receive for one picture from that market, and multiply it by the factor that represents the purpose for which the photo will be used.

For example, if a photo buyer in range 3 (see Table 8-1), who normally pays $50 for a black and white (inside-editorial use), would like to use one of your photographs for local public relations use, multiply $50 by the factor 1.429 to come up with a round figure of $75 ($71.45). To figure the fee for the same black-and-white photograph to the same market for use in a national advertisement, multiply $50 by the factor 7.144 and you get $350 ($357.20). By the same token, if you’re working with range 1 buyers and the one-time-use fee is $450, national advertisement use would be $2,850. This system is applicable to the publishing (books and magazines) industry. For service photography and commercial stock, check out three excellent pricing techniques by Michal Heron, Jim Pickerell and Cradoc Bagshaw (see pages 123-125).

Table 8-2. Pricing Guide Two.

To determine a ballpark fee for other than inside-editorial use of your picture, multiply these factors by the figures in Table 8-1.
**Advertising
***National	7.411
Regional	3.155
Limited	2.867
Local	1.621
**Annual Reports
Local	1.429
Regional	2.867
National	3.155
Cover	7.144
**Audiovisual Packages
***National	1.621
Limited	1.429
Cover	5.859
Advertising	3.155
**Brochures
Inside
Limited	1.429
***National	4.867
Cover
Limited	3.621
National	6.859
**Calendar
Exclusive (limited)
three-year rights)	2.143
One time	1.429
World rights	50 percent additional
Advertising	3.155
**CD-ROM
Limited	1.429
**National	1.621
Cover	5.859
(Note: Some CD-ROM companies may ask you to take part of the risk by receiving royalties only.)
**Coffee-Table Books (see Table 8-1)
Chapter head	1.621
Cover	2.859
Advertising	3.155
Contests (Payment based on contest rules. Allow only limited rights to your winning entry, never all rights.)
**Curriculum
Inside**	(see Table 8-1)
Chapter head	1.429
Cover	1.621
Advertising	2.143
Montage	Negotiable
**Decor Photography
Sold by an agency Framed Prints	(Find out what royalties the competition is paying.)
Limited editions Sold by yourself	Negotiate
Framed prints	(Sell to a distributor in volume at one-third his retail fee.)
Limited editions	Negotiate, but expect a wide range depending on client, use and your “name.”
**Electronic (see Internet; Web)
**Encyclopedias
Inside***	(see Table 8-1)
Chapter head	1.621
Cover	2.143
Advertising	3.155
**Gift Wrap	2.859
**Greeting Cards
Exclusive (limited three-year rights)	2.143
One time	1.429
World rights	50 percent additional
Advertising	3.155
**Hardcover Books (see also Paperback, Coffee-Table Books, Textbooks, Encyclopedias)
Inside Jacket or cover	(see Table 8-1)
Limited	2.621
National	3.859
Chapter head	1.429
World rights	50 percent additional
Advertising	3.155
**House Magazines
Cover
Limited	2.429
National	3.143
**Internet
(Electronic House Magazines)
Limited	2.867
National	3.155
Cover (entry point)	7.144
Banner or design element	4.100
**Magazines
Cover
Limited	3.429
Regional	5.621
***National	7.716
**Magazines
Cover
Limited	3.429
Regional	5.621
***National	7.716
**Newspapers, News Services
Cover
Limited	1.429
Regional	1.621
National	2.143
Spectacular exceptions (disasters, etc.): Consult your directories (or the library) to determine competing national news agencies or periodicals and then put the picture up for bids on a limited-rights basis. An agent might be your best bet.
**Nonprofit Organizations
Regional	1.429
***National	2.143
Poster	3.155
**On-Demand Printing
Short-run print runs usually will be local or regional. Fees can range from 30 to 50 percent lower than a standard brochure run.
**Paperback Books—Editorial (see also Hardcover Books)
Cover
***National	2.859
Limited	1.621
World rights	50 percent additional
**Place Mats
Exclusive (limited	three-year rights) 2.143
One time	1.429
World rights	50 percent additional
Advertising	3.155
**Playing Cards
Exclusive (limited three-year rights)	2.143
One time	1.439
World rights	50 percent additional
Advertising	3.155
**Postcards
Exclusive (limited three-year rights)	2.143
One time (national)	1.621
One time (regional)	1.429
One time (local)	1.077
Advertising	2.188
World rights	50 percent additional
**Posters
Exclusive (limited three-year rights)	2.143
One time	1.429
World rights	50 percent additional
Advertising	3.155
**Product Packages
Regional	1.621
***National	5.716
**Public Relations
Limited	1.429
Local	1.429
Regional	1.621
***National	3.155
**Puzzles
Exclusive (limited three-year rights)	2.143
One time	1.429
World rights	50 percent additional
Advertising	3.155
**Music CD Covers
Limited	1.621
***National
Front	3.143
Back	2.521
Wraparound	5.211
Advertising	6.155
Promotion	5.429
*Television
Editorial
Local	1.429
Regional	2.859
***National	3.155
Advertising
Local	3.155
Regional	5.333
***National	7.144
(Note: Expect to negotiate with major advertisers.)
*Textbooks (See also Harcover Books)
***Inside	(see Table 8-1)
Chapter head	1.429
Cover	2.143
Advertising	3.155
*Trade Publications
Cover
Limited	1.129
Regional	3.621
***National	5.155
**Video Commercial
Nonprofit	1.621
Limited	2.444
***National	6.152
***CD/DVD
Educational	1.429
Industry	3.621
Advertising	5.155
Cover	5.859
Web Usage
Fees for Web usage are most often negotiated separately from other usage fees. Typically, fees for Web usage range from 25 percent of the original fee and up, depending on the usage.
* For inside-editorial use, see Table 8-1.
**Note: A general rule for photographs used in a publisher’s advertising campaign: Charge 50 percent of the space rate that the publisher is paying. Space rates are available by phoning the organization (newspaper, magazine and so on). Use Table 8-1 as a guide for websites.
***These fees are based on domestic rates. For world rights, charge 25 percent more for one language, 50 percent more for two languages; negotiate thereafter.

For the sake of completeness, Table 8-2 includes uses such as advertising, calendars, record covers, postcards and CD-ROMs; these are all commercial areas that publishers sometimes delve into. (Table 8-2 applies to projects by publishers or publishing companies, not to commercial uses by ad agencies, calendar companies and the like.) Most often, however, you will use Table 8-2 to calculate fees for book or magazine covers, catalog promotions of a periodical or book, chapter heads, informational brochures, and similar editorially connected uses.

Pricing your photographs for covers or other special uses is easy if you follow the pricing guidelines in Table 8-2. The key is to determine the photo buyer’s basic budget range. Once you have that, all other prices will fall into line when you use this factor system, no matter which month or year you’re reading this book. Considerations such as inflation or a drop or raise in the photo buyer’s fee structure will not be a problem. The factors still work, based on the buyer’s basic fee paid for inside-editorial use.

One final word regarding the use of Table 8-2: Whether you multiply the appropriate factor by the lower or higher figure of a fee range or pick a figure in the middle depends solely on your own experience and/or judgment with regard to that particular market or photo buyer. If your reliability factor has been high with the client and you’re confident of the quality of your pictures, aggressively market them. Aim for the highest fee practical (check out “Negotiating Your Fee” on page 181 in chapter eleven) that still keeps the door open for future assignments from the same people.

In the end, the buck stops with you. You will have to be the final judge in setting the price. As you gain experience, you will come to know each magazine or publishing house that you have a track record with; you will know their photo editors and the temper and tone of your relationships with them. All of these factors will help you fine-tune your pricing.

Within the Price Range, Should You Charge the High End or the Low End?

There’s an adage in the business world, “You can always come down in your fee, but you can’t go up.” As a newcomer to the field of stock photography, however, initially you will want to charge the lower figure of the price range. Why? Because you are an unknown to the photo buyer. She has little to gain if you charge the maximum fee within the range. She already has a roster of high-priced but familiar photographers who would require less time to deal with. However, if your pictures are on target and your fee is at the lower end of the range, she can justify the time taken out from her busy day to instruct you in the submission procedures, holding requirements, electronic-use policy, payment policies and so on, unique to her publishing house. Once you have made two or three sales to the photo buyer, test the waters by raising your fee on your next statement. Think in terms of long-range goals. By progressing patiently up the pay range scale, you’ll gain experience and eventually become a top-notch contributor to each of the outlets on your Market List.

Unique Pictures—What Are They?

As antique dealers and baseball card traders know, the word unique has to do with the buyer, not the seller. With the arrival of CD-ROM “click art” and “royalty free,” exquisite clichés began to lose their appeal with photo editors. It’ll be a rare occasion when one of your Track A pictures is considered unique.

To make their publications unique, many photo editors will shy away from using click art and will seek out unique pictures. Translated into real terms, that means editorial photo buyers will look for highly specialized pictures that match their editorial needs. A generic picture won’t do. If your specialization (PS/A) matches the photo editor’s theme or special interest, your pictures are unique to that photo buyer.

Second Use of Your Pictures

As an editorial stock photographer, you price your pictures on a one-time-use basis. In effect, you are renting your pictures to the photo buyer. What happens if the photo buyer wants to rent the same picture a second time? Should he use it free, at a discount or at the same fee? Many publishing houses have set policies on photo reuse, but you can set policies also. For a starting point, you can use the guide in Table 8-3.

Here is an exception to these reuse guidelines: If a publishing house has retained your picture in its central art library and reuses it in a new format, you should expect 75 percent and not 100 percent. The 25 percent in such a case is understood as a privilege fee for holding your pictures in the library; it goes toward the library’s operating costs and services.

The fees discussed in this chapter are for domestic use of your picture. You may have the occasion to sell world rights to your photo. A generally accepted fee structure is to charge 25 percent per language. For two languages, charge 50 percent additional; for three or more languages, negotiate. If the photo editor asks, “What would you charge for world rights in all languages?” a generally accepted answer is 200 percent. By the way, if your picture appears in a Chinese book, be sure to find a way to get the book for display on your living room coffee table!

State Your Fee

Always state your fee when you submit pictures to a photo buyer (assuming you’ve done your homework and can quote a fee you know is within the photo buyer’s range). This practice will increase your chances for sales. Why? Photo editors tell me that one of the main deterrents to purchasing a picture from a submission is that the photographer failed to state a fee in the cover letter.

When I first began submitting photographs, I fell into the “hesitancy trap.” I hesitated to put down a fee. I believed that the photo buyer would want my picture so much that he would phone me, write and ask for the fee, or better still, tell me what he would pay.

It didn’t work out that way. Yes, the photo buyer wanted my picture. However, he would have to go through the busywork of getting in touch with me (and what if I were out of town), perhaps negotiate with me, and at minimum endure time-consuming back-and-forth communication with someone he wasn’t even familiar with. And he had a deadline to meet. To avoid those problems, he chose a second-best picture that was available and had a price on it. (Have you ever wondered why some pictures that are not as good as yours are published? This may be one reason.)

Table 8-3. Pricing guide for photo reuse.

	PERCENT OF ORIGINAL FEE
For use in same format as original use (e.g., in a revision, new printing)	75 percent
For use in an anthology	75 percent
For use in a new format (a new or different project)	100 percent
For use as a cover, in advertising, public relations, filmstrip and so on.	See Table 8-2

The fee you’re charging is the most important element in your cover letter (except for spelling the photo buyer’s name correctly). If you can’t come up with a price that you know is within the buyer’s range, make an educated guess based on your research. Even a guess too high or too low can result in a sale that you might not have made if you had not quoted a fee at all. When all else fails, simply state “for publication at your usual rates.” By telling you this, however, I hope I haven’t given you license not to do your homework.

Pricing the Service Photo

Six excellent guides exist for the person who sells photography in the following assignment areas: advertising illustration, architectural, general commercial (studio and/or location), photojournalism, photo reporting, public relations and publicity.

These are the price guides:

ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography and ASMP Stock Photography Handbook, 150 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19106, www.asmp.org

FotoBiz X (software), Cradoc Bagshaw, Cradoc Corporation, P.O. Box 1310, Point Roberts, WA 98281, www.cradocphoto.com

Negotiating Stock Photo Prices, by Jim Pickerell and Cheryl Pickerell DiFrank, 110 E. Frederick Ave., Suite A, Rockville, MD 20850, (301) 251-0720

Graphic Artist’s Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, Graphic Artists Guild, 34 West 34th St., 8th floor, New York, NY 10001, (212) 791-3400, www.graphicartistsguild.org

Pricing Photography: The Complete Guide to Assignment and Stock Prices by Michal Heron and David MacTavish, 10 E. 23rd St., Suite 510, New York, NY, 10010, www.allworth.com

ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography is a compilation of rate surveys made among the highest paid photographers in the country. If some of the markets on your Market List are over a quarter-million in circulation, this book could be worth the investment (around $35). The ASMP is an organization of more than three thousand media photographers. (I was a member in the 1960s but dropped my membership when I changed my focus from service photography to editorial photo illustration.)

Service photography, because of the complexities and the high fees often involved, requires extra attention to precision when you negotiate a picture sale or an assignment. The ASMP book will inform you about book-publishing contracts, settlement of disputes, trade definitions, photographer/agency relationships, copyright, commercial stock photo sales, online sales and insurance. It also contains forms (which you can adapt to your own needs) for assignment confirmations, delivery memos and model releases. Remember, though, that the mission of the ASMP book is to guide the photographer who operates in a city of at least one million population, or who deals with publications of 250,000 circulation or higher. If you employ the ASMP guidelines or forms with smaller publications outside those parameters, you and your photo buyers might find the experience less than satisfactory. Keep in mind that it is the photo buyer who approves the assignment, initials the proposal or forwards a statement for reimbursement.

So use the ASMP book wisely. It was conceived and produced for top professionals in the big leagues of Madison Avenue and parts west. A book is always the extended shadow of its author; in this case, the book was written by a committee. Unless you have lucked into a top-paying, range 1 assignment, modify the ASMP guidelines accordingly. (Incidentally, the ASMP underscores that fees mentioned in the guide are only guidelines by stating in their introduction, “ASMP does not set rates.”)

The ASMP is a group of hardworking photographers who devote their energy and time to setting and maintaining high standards for the industry. As a group, they are in a position to exert pressure for the betterment of working policies for service photographers.

Negotiating Stock Photo Prices is an excellent guide for the experienced commercial stock photographer. Although the suggested fees are not in the entry-level range where you might realistically enter the market (the range in the guide is number 1), this guide by photographers Jim Pickerell and Cheryl Pickerell DiFrank shows you the opportunities available if you choose to enter the field of commercial stock photography.

FotoBiz X software is another way to determine fees for just about any kind of stock photography usage—editorial, advertising, record covers, television, CD-ROM or Web pages. The program takes your costs into consideration. When you input various information elements concerning the sale of the photo, it adjusts all factors and comes up with a suggested fee. There’s even a special coaching section that suggests negotiating tactics for commercial stock photography.

If you don’t wish to invest in any of these service-photography pricing guides, you can determine the going rate in your area by a somewhat roundabout route. It’s sometimes difficult to get the information from other photographers or the photo editors themselves. (Unlike editorial stock photographers, who work in their own market and subject areas, and therefore don’t compete with many other editorial stock photographers for the same dollar, service photographers often compete with each other for specific assignments and are not eager to give information to newcomers.) Do ask other photographers and photo editors, but do it long-distance; go to the Web or a large library and find the yellow pages of several cities around the country that are comparable in size to your own. Pick out several photographers and photo editors, and phone them to find out what they consider fair fees for service photographers. Be sure to establish early in the conversation that you are calling long-distance. The time and money spent in such research will save you hundreds of dollars in either underpricing or accounts lost (assignments missed) because of overpricing. You could do the same via e-mail, but you’ll probably get better results using a personal telephone call.

Royalty Free

Royalty-free (RF) use is something photographers either love or hate. There are those who say royalty free is just like work-for-hire but with lower fees, and those who say that royalty free is a great moneymaker.

Royalty free is often produced by a stock agency. The agency produces a CD with photographs from a selection of photographers, and the CD is sold outright to photo buyers and graphic artists. The photo buyers do not pay per image usage. Instead, the price they pay for the CD includes all usage fees. Some restrictions on the use of the photos often apply. The prices on RF CDs can range from $25 up to $1,000 or more. Participating photographers agree to a set fee per CD that’s sold, much like royalty payments of yesteryear.

Those who like RF say that it’s often used by photo buyers who would never be able to afford standard licensing fees, thus opening up a brand-new market for photographers.

Those who do not like RF say that it’s an enormous loss for photographers to put their images out as RF since it destroys all future sales for those images to higher-paying clients.

Can RF be good for you? If you’re just starting out, chances are that RF isn’t going to be your best bet. Why? RF is best suited for photographers who have a lot of generic—very generic—images that are difficult to market individually.

Since RF appeals to photo buyers outside the realm of editorial stock photography, be prepared to produce ironclad model releases (check out www.editorialphotographers.com) for situations where your RF image might be employed for a highly sensitive use.

If you feel tempted by RF, do your homework. Carefully research before you sign a contract. Check the specialized chat groups such as www.stockphoto.com, and ask veteran photographers their opinion about this stock photo-marketing area.

The Lowest Fee Possible: Nothing

I can’t close this chapter without a word about zero-price marketing.

Some publishing houses have no budget for photography. They have budgets for carpenters, secretaries, printers and the IRS, but they don’t budget for you, the stock photographer.

If you discover some of these nonpaying markets on your Market List, chalk it up to the research and refinement inherent in hammering out a strong Market List. Delete these markets or let them sink to the bottom.

You may wish to let one or two no-pay markets stay in at the bottom because you feel they can serve as a showcase for your photography. As a newcomer, you want to build your published-pictures file as quickly as possible. Your credit line next to your pictures will establish your credibility and lead to other sales. Aside from the free advertising benefit you reap from such publications, you can request copies (tearsheets) of your published picture(s) as payment. The usual method is to request three copies after publication. If you’re interested in several dozen copies, contact the photo buyer a month before publication and ask the publishing house to give you or sell you overrun pages. (They’ll let the press run a little longer for your order, generally for slightly more than a dime a page.) Request a number of these copies, and use them as stuffers in your mailings to other prospective photo buyers (see “Credit Lines and Tear sheets—Part of the Sale” in chapter ten). There’s also a chance that some no-pay markets may be ground-floor businesses with promise, i.e., markets that eventually will grow to healthy budgets for photography, and that will remember and appreciate you when they do, if you keep reminding them of your existence. (It’s always up to you to keep the communications alive.)

Once you have attained whatever benefits you sought in allowing your pictures to be published free, begin working up toward the top of your Market List, where pricing is healthy and lucrative.