Pricing for a small limited run poetry book cover

[evangelos_koutsavdis]

Hello:

 

I have just quoted a customer for a small 4.5x6, 50 page, self-published poetry

book cover image. The circulation will be 500. According to

http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm

the fee is $650. I quoted him $600. He is a student and he is not willing to

pay that much. What do you think a fair price would be for something like that?

Was my quote too high? There are no quotes for such low circulation.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Evangelos

www.vankou.com

[leicaglow]

I think it sounds reasonable, but you could offer to price it according to printed copies on a quarterly basis or something. It sounds like over a $1 per copy for the shot is just too much margin. Get some money up front if you can. Then again, I'd be sure he's got the capability to make a go of the business end of things.

[evangelos_koutsavdis]

Thank you for your answer Alex, but could you elaborate a bit on what do you mean with the quarterly arrangement? Had he printed 10,000 copies, the margin would be 6c, but I cannot work that low.

Thanks

Evangelos

[evangelos_koutsavdis]

I am sorry, I meant Michael, not Alex.

[hakon_soreide]

I think $600 normally sounds like a reasonable price for a limited print run, but with just 500 copies, it's a lot per copy. Since it's self-published, is he doing print-on-demand or are all books printed in one go? If he's paying for an entire 500 copy print-run, he'll be lucky to break even, even without an extra $600 for a cover. <p>There is probably no way he'll afford the $600, and that also means that you'll make more money from this if you go down in price. You are after all also advertising your photography in a way, by having it on a book cover, which makes a lower sum not entirely unreasonable. If he can agree to, say $300, then you're also making $300 more than you will be if you stick to your $600 quote.