Picture For A Book!

[becandcharch]

Oh my gosh, I just got a reply!!

She said they're trying out some different images for the cover so a fee to guide them would be helpful.

She also said "the usage would be for a first edition trade fiction title (either HB or PB). UK and Commonwealth only. Initially we would only ask for rights for the first edition and then contact you for any further usage (e.g. mass market paperback edition). As standard we would also want the right to advertise the book using the cover. We would not be seeking exclusive rights. We would certainly credit you on the cover of the book."

I know it might not happen if they're looking at other photos as well but any idea what I should say my fee is based on the conditions???? I don't want to go too high and don't want to look like total idiot by going too low either. I've googled the author and he's a published poet and this is his first novel. Is $500 AUS and a copy of the book too much to ask?

Nice one!!!

PM KnucklesDutchnUs. This is what she does

[becandcharch]

Thanks Bec! I've been in touch with KnucklesDutchnUs and she was amazingly helpful. :D She's given me a price to go with (I wasn't too far off in that department at least) and also a list of terms to accompany the fee. I'm going to put together a reply to the editor later today and see how I go!

Great! She's a clever cookie than one

Very exciting!! Let us know how you go!

OT - I started to write my response but had to go back and check the thread as I didnt know why I was replying to someone called snook!

[rubiton]

Here is a handy link for trying to work out a price for stock photography stock price calculator

First time I was asked about photos it was from a publisher in the UK and they nearly sounded apologetic that they could only offer x amount per image. Only it turned out to be quite a good sum as the australian dollar was still around 35-40c per pound so yes I just times by three. Since then I've had one book written by a friend so that was a photo for book and credit but they did me some huge favours years before so thats ok (not some stranger) and another was by a womens publishing house who initially asked for stories from women for the book and I helped them with two other photos for that I got a credit and quite a few copies of said book but again We were invited to contribute stories so they didnt ask for free photos straight out and I think there was charity of some sort involved. More recently I had two photos in another coffee table type history book and for that they asked me to quote a price then when that was ok they just asked for the high res image and to send an invoice (there was a agreement to sign too - this was bascially the rights of usage).

AS for the other question from teh OP - high res jpeg is fine for publishing. 3mb looks better than 1.5mb but it doesnt have to be huge to come out well in a magazine or book.

[KnucklesDutchnUs]

Lol. I've sent the email off so now it's just a matter of waiting to see if they agree with the terms and decide to use my photo. I'm trying not to get excited since I know they're considering other images as well. So odd that something like this can come about just from posting a photo on Flickr.

It's not that uncommon now.

A lot of designers, like me, are looking away from stock libraries and at places like Flickr, ffffound and Pinterest for inspiration and images. For example I just negotiated the rights for an image from Deviant Art to use on a Random House book cover I designed.

Sourcing images from random places helps provide difference to a book, because sometimes you can see the same stock library image on a few different covers in a store and it's very embarrassing!

The other option is to commission your own photo shoot, but that is very rare in book publishing as budgets are always tight.

But that doesn't usually stop me - I've been working with photographers for years and have a lot of contacts in the Sydney photography community, since I used to work on PHOTOFILE the magazine for the Australian Centre for Photography. As well as being a (retired) pin up model, I have a lot of favours to call