More good news!

[mjs1973]

One of the copywriters at work is doing an editorial on the Great Grey Owls as a back up story for an e-newsletter, and he want's some pictures. I spoke to him this afternoon about it and I will be sending him some photos tomorrow. The newsletter will be emailed to 650,000 of our customers. The owl story is just a backup, so there is no guarantee that it will make the newsletter, but they need a backup just in case. No money involved again, but I'm ok with that. He told me I might be able to get credit for the photos in the article, but he would have to check with the legal dept. to find out for sure.

What are your thought's on this? Is this something a photographer should get paid for? After all, they must be worth something, if someone wants them. And if so, how do you go about it? I would be happy to get a hard copy of the newsletter to frame or add to a portfolio.

Oh, and I bought another lottery ticket tonight. ;)

[Photo-John]

I would not allow them to use the photos without a photo credit - unless I was getting paid really well. What does your company do? What is the purpose of the newsletter? 650,000 is a lot of newsletters.

[another view]

Good for you! Personally, I'd settle for the portfolio piece in this case. The main reason I say this is that it sounds pretty unlikely that they would contact a stock photo agency (Getty/Corbis or others) and buy photography to put with this article. It's also your employer so you probably don't want to get pushy over a few bucks... They knew you had shots and presented an opportunity to you. If you're not interested then they'll probably just run it (if they do) without photography.

Enjoy the moment, have the shot published (if they use the article) and put it in your portfolio.

[mjs1973]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm pretty excited about it and I would be more than happy to have a portfolio piece out of the deal. It would give me a lot of incentive to actually start a portfolio.

PJ- I work for Lands' End. We are a catalog/internet/retail company. We were purchased by Sears a couple years ago, and after this month will be owned by Sears Holding Co. after the Sears Kmart merger goes thru. The news letter is a tool we use to help drive sales. It's consists of about 75% product, and 25% editorial. Basically a little article that has nothing to do with the company, or our products. Just something interesting for the customers to read. Designed as a customer retention tool.

Thanks again for the advice.

[Photo-John]

It's easy for beginning photographers to devalue what they do. And big companies will take advantage of that and offer you the "opportunity" to get some exposure. There is some value to the exposure, but don't allow them to take advantage of you. They have money and if they are considering using your photo, then it has value. They're using the newsletter as a marketing tool. Don't subsidize it for them.

Of course, the opportunity is real and valuable to you - but only if you get credit. I can't imagine any legal reason why they wouldn't be able to give you credit. My advice is to offer it for use with the stipulation that you must get a photo credit, and maybe a link to your Web site, if you have one.

[Sebastian]

650 THOUSAND newsletters is a huge run, do NOT let this go for free, if they can afford that, they can afford to pay you, end of story. Your name next to will likely mean nothing for you in the short term, the credit doesn nothing to promote you, your experience and portfolio do. John is being kind when he says beginners devalue their work. Credits don't put food on the table and they don't get you experience, especially in a corporate newsletter.

Cut them a deal, but if you're just happy to get published they will keep taking advantage of it. Ask for something, just make it fair to yourself. A lot of time went into getting those shots, not even counting the money spent on elarning and equipment.

[paulnj]

LENDING for AWARENESS or CONSERVATION is one thing, but SEAR's HOLDING will generate REVINUE from said newsletter .

SHOW ME THE $

But be aware that I have personally seen 1000+ GGOW images from this winter. With well over 1200 GGOW in Minnesota alone, their are plenty of "let you use it" image makers out there.

[mjs1973]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I made some phone calls this morning and talked to a woman who has had 5 of her photos used as covers for our catalogs. She said to be up front about it and get paid for the photos. If you give them away now, they will expect it in the future. Where have I heard that before? ;) I made some more calls to find out who I need to deal with, and finally got a hold of the Web Content Manager. I just met him a couple weeks ago, and he remembered me, so that's good. He said he would check into it, and get back to me. I have heard that before, and around here it usually means, "go away, I have more important things to deal with". A $ amount never came up so I still have know idea what to expect, if I do hear back from him. The woman I talked to about the covers said she gets paid based on circulation. More magazines go out, more money goes in her pocket, but again, an amount didn't come up.

So if I do hear back from this guy, what do you think would be a fair price? I'm not looking to get rich, but a tank of gas would be nice.

[Sebastian]

It doesn't matter what sort of money you expect, this is not something that the buyer (the mag) sets prices for, it's your work and you tell them how much you want, and negotiations start there. Do not let them feel like they are in control, they aren't, in ANY way. Granted, you don't have much experience and the article might be small, so you can't ask for much, but that's market economics, not something either you or the mag has control over. Do not ask how much they would give you, treat it like a stock sale, that's pretty much what it is. Tell them a fair amount and let them respond. And be prepared to send them a contract specifying what usage license you are granting them, and make sure you get it signed. And make sure to register your images with the copyright office, if they use them without payment, or if they give them to another division and they use it without your permission, there is nothing you can do legally unless the image is registered. This is a business transaction and it needs to be treated like one, in every way. You may not think your image is worth much, or you may think you're just getting your foot in the door or whatever, none of it justifies being careless. Once you hand a high-res CD to someone you never know where it will end up, so protect yourself properly from the start.

[Sebastian]

Michael,

You have a private message.

[mjs1973]

Hey Seb, Thanks a bunch for the info!! I will check it out when I get home tonight.