Author photo shoot pricing

<p>I'm a writer and professor and I make my living that way. I also take photographs and I particularly love making portraits. My work brings me into contact with a lot of writers and artists. Sometimes people say, "Hey, could you take an author photo for me that I can use on my book jacket/website/Facebook?" Other times, I'm the initiator -- I say, "Hey, can I make your portrait?", and then after I make the picture, people say, "Hey, that's great, can I have a copy of that to use for my book jacket/website/Facebook page?"</p>

<p>I don't necessarily need to make money doing this, but my dear spouse points out that I have spent a lot of money on equipment and a lot of time on education, and I probably should be charging what I'm worth. Also, I am aware that if I am giving images away for free, that may be somewhere cutting into the livelihood of the professional the subject might otherwise have hired. Also, I think having a set fee will discourage people who ask for an author photo casually without really thinking about the work that it entails for me. If I can say, "Sure, I'd be glad to, I charge X for Y service," that will cut down on the number of people looking to occupy my Saturday afternoon just for the hell of it. </p>

<p>So -- strange as it sounds to put it this way -- I'm resigned to the fact that I really should be charging people. But this conclusion generates more questions, which is why I've come to you today. </p>

<p>1. What's a reasonable rate to ask for spending an hour with someone and providing him/her with 5-7 edited full-size jpgs with a royalty-free unlimited use license? Figuring in my two hours of setup and two hours of editing on either side of that one hour shoot. </p>

<p>2. Am I crazy to sell the images with a royalty-free unlimited use license? I'm thinking of going that way -- rather than licensing for particular uses -- because it creates the least amount of hassle for me. Also, I've done many shoots now for friends and family where I put the images up on my Zenfolio site and told the subjects, you can download small jpgs for free, but if you want prints, please buy them through my site. Guess what happens. That's right -- everyone downloads the little jpgs and no one buys prints. Are they making crap prints at CVS with the little jpgs? I have no idea; if they are, that's even worse. I'm thinking maybe it's least painful to just sell them the digital hi-rez jpgs and let them do whatever they want with them -- print, social media, whatever. </p>

<p>3. Where can I find a simple boilerplate contract to sign with the person? </p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your counsel. </p>

<p>Joel<br>

</p>

<p>The best way to find out what to charge would be to contact some portrait photographers in your city and ask them what their rates would be. You might have to pose as a customer to find out, but many people post their rates on their web pages. <br>

If you are going to give people full-size jpegs, then resign yourself to the fact that they will not only make prints off them, they will give copies to every newspaper or website that wants a photo to use with an article about their new book or artwork. So you might as well offer an unlimited use license with the photos. <br>

As for a contract, I would suggest you look to the ASMP for guidelines. </p>

<p>Two hours setup and two hours to edit a head shot? If you are at that level just get something for it, don't sweat the business end of it so much. Put your effort into doing an awesome job, and getting your pre and post times down to something reasonable. You can't expect someone to pay for you to learn on the job.<br>

And don't worry so much about the licensing etc. What can they do with the photo? This is everyday stuff for a working photographer, maybe a few hundred bucks if the author is not a big name and the print run is small. <br>

Put your efforts into the image.<br>

For comparison, a friend of mine does head shots for int'l companies here in Hong Kong. He charges USD1250 for six subjects, which takes an hour including setting up three lights and softboxes. The company can do whatever they want with the images.</p>

<p>Last year I licensed an image to be used for the cover of a book, "Outing The Mermaid", by Ann Medlock. I clicked around on the net and found a few examples of licensing contracts, then selected one that seemed to be appropriate. The author and I negotiated a bit and settled on a figure that we both could live with and emailed the contract back and forth till it seemed right. She mailed me a check—I sent off a high resolution file. Its on amazon.</p>

<p>The agreement is that the image may be used to brand the book in any manner for advertising as long as it includes the book title and my credit line. </p>

<p>I would think that a similar licensing arrangement would work for the author's portrait.</p>

<p>Joel, just to jump in:<br>

1. What's an hour of your time worth? It's almost an existential question, but it's the best way to get at what you should charge for the time you're investing in these shoots. A young single artist hustling to get dinner money may be thrilled with $10 an hour. If that time you're investing in each shoot is taking away from your writing or family time, what's that worth? Like Jerry said, look around at other photographers in the area to get an idea, but adjust according to your needs. If your time is better spent writing or with the important people in your life, then you have every right and reason to charge more than others and reduce the number of shoots you're doing. It's more about lifestyle design than business.<br>

2. Hardcore folks will say you're giving away the farm, but easygoing photogs like me will tell you an unlimited license makes life simple. If you were wanting to grow to full time, you'd maybe want to think harder on it because hitting your revenue goals and maximizing profits becomes much more important. But if you're doing this because you enjoy it, and you just want to get fair pay for your time (while weeding out the freeloaders), there's no need to get too precious with licensing.<br>

3. Google away, lots of examples of commercial licensing contracts out there. Keep it simple, keep it friendly.<br>

Congratulations on stepping up to fair pay for your work Joel! Never feel bad for allowing your fellow authors to show their appreciation for the value you offer by taking fair pay in exchange for it. Shoot by shoot, that money will add up, and you can use that money to grow your artistic or business skills (books, workshops, courses), fund great life experiences for you and your family, donate it all to a local charity and bless dozens or hundreds because you were brave enough to step up and charge fairly, or whatever you see fit.<br>

I'm excited for you Joel!</p>