Selling publishing rights for old photos?

<p>I recently scanned 68 of my father's photographs, taken in 1974. I've been contacted, by a collector of these style of photos (snapshots of urban art), who is interested in purchasing the publishing rights to them as he will be releasing a book soon, documenting the urban art from this era. These will not be the only photos in his book, as he will be using a selection of photos from his collection of 3000. My father will be given the proper photo credits.<br>

At this point, we are at the stage of reaching a contractual agreement. My father agrees with the monetary offer, however, we are skeptical about the publishing rights, as this is our first time making this sort of deal. The individual interested in purchasing the rights has expressed that he will be going to an international publisher, who will most likely release the book in other countries.<br>

What sort of advice can you give us as far as stipulations and clauses in the contract which will give us the most reasonable deal? If you need more information to write an answer, feel free to ask.<br>

Thanks in advance guys.</p>

<p>Evan Browning</p>

<p>Evan, I don't have personal experience as a seller of images for this purpose, but I have been in the buyer's seat. If you go to Istockphoto.com, and begin the process of buying an image, you will be presented with two licensing options. Check out the extended licensing agreement. As I recall, one has language about international rights. You might take a look at the site while you await a more seasoned responder.</p>

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<p>he will be going to an international publisher, who will most likely release the book in other countries.</p>

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<p>Every publisher is "international" in the broadest sense. Some very high percent of American publishing houses are now owned by someone like Springer Verlag anyhow. Publishing is international these days for everything but the most tiny of local presses. Amazon et al. have only furthered what was already a trend even before the internet.</p>

<p>This doesn't sound to me like the person has an actual publishing <em>contract</em> yet. Get any money up front or you may never see a dime if it is contingent somehow.</p>

<p>I agree with JDM, absolutely get all money up front.<br /> <br /> What you want to license is one time publishing right for the specific publication (book). This means the images can be published once. You also want to find out print-run (how many copies they plan to print), distribution (where geographically the book will be distributed), languages (how many languages the book will be published in). All these details should be in your contract or on your invoice. I license images all the time to reputable publishers so I simply put the usage terms directly on my invoice. It typically looks something like this:<br /> <br /> Image #xxx-xxxx One-time rights in (name of book) by (author), edition #. 1/2 page Inside (size and placement of image). ISBN (whatever the ISBN is). North American, English, print-only, up to 200,000.<br /> <br /> That's pretty much all I do. Then again, I have had the privilege to work with the publishers I work with for many years. For a brand new (to me) publisher a simple standard contract would be drawn up. <br /> <br /> Hope that helps.</p>

<p>Hey guys-<br>

Thank you. Mikael, thank you for your details. <br>

The purchaser will be paying for the photos upfront. He hasn't published anything in the past. We have vaguely thrown around the phrase "publishing rights." He realizes this is a one time print run only, but there is a chance he may believe that the book can be printed in other languages. If the book was printed in more than one language, in this case, North American English, would that be more than the first print run, in legal terms?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Evan:<br /> <br /> Additional languages are typically called "additional languages". I generally add 25% per additional language to the original usage fee.<br /> <br /> Oh, and make sure the usage details are spelled out. He might seem to get it that you're licensing one-time rights but unless you specify it you might be up for a sad surprise if things turn sour.</p>

<p>Hey Mikael,<br>

I am a bit unclear about the details of there being only 1 print run. Does this mean they can or cannot make a second edition of the same book? <br>

Also, should I have any say in the amount of books to be published in that first run?</p>

<p>Thanks again<br>

Evan</p>

<p>Evan:<br /> <br /> Yes, the print-run determines two things. The number of copies they/he can print and the print-run plays a big role in determining the usage fee.<br /> <br /> Let's look at two images I licensed last week. Same image, used same size in two different books:<br /> 1. One-time inside use, 1/2 page, English, North-American rights (meaning US and Canada). 40,000 print run = $250.00<br /> 2. One-time inside use, 1/2 page, English, North-American rights (meaning US and Canada). 200,000 print run = $389.00<br /> <br /> Say that they want to license your photo for an initial print-run of 10,000. The book rockets off the shelves and they come back to you for an additional usage, this time with a 40,000 print-run. That is basically how print-run works. For a second edition or an extended print-run they need to pay you an additional fee.<br /> <br /> Licensing images rather than simply selling them as Royalty Free is a bit more cumbersome and takes some learning but I think, at least for me, it works better and brings in more money to the photographer in the long run.</p>