Hello everybody. I am about to publish my own photo book and am negotiating my royalty percentage with the publisher. I created and provided the original design (in Word!)am providing all of the 200 images (70 digital or scanned and 130 slides)and all 20,000 words of text. I retain rights over the images and can lease them to other clients but not for an identical project.
Is there anyone out there who could give me an indication of what royalty I should ask for? This would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
Posted by Nelcha Cross on October 17, 2006 at 1:17 AM
First off...Congratulations!!!!
And let's get the grammar clear....
YOU are not publishing it..
you are having someone else publish it and they are paying you royalties...
There is a BIG difference...and many photogs DO publish their won for this reason!!
And some do it with a print to order company...
In your case...yes, you do need to know what royalties to ask...?
Once you figure that out...what I have heard many Pros "tell me"
that they do is ask for the equivalent dollar amount of thier actual books instead of payment.
You can get like twice the number of books for the money .....
What it costs to print the book vs. what the book would sell for...
This way they have extra books that
1) they can sell (and autograph) if they want to...(don't tell them this!!)
2) they can send to an important person or group that might be of import to them in the future...
3) numerous other reasons....
Just thought I should pass that idea on to you also as an option
after you figure out the monetary value...
The Pro I have spoken with said that the actual book was WAY worth more
to them than the actual cash in the doors that it opened for them in the future when they used it wisely.
BTW, this was true of Pro photogs and others that I have spoken to....
Good luck ....
Discussion
1 repliesIs there anyone out there who could give me an indication of what royalty I should ask for? This would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
And let's get the grammar clear....
YOU are not publishing it..
you are having someone else publish it and they are paying you royalties...
There is a BIG difference...and many photogs DO publish their won for this reason!!
And some do it with a print to order company...
In your case...yes, you do need to know what royalties to ask...?
Once you figure that out...what I have heard many Pros "tell me"
that they do is ask for the equivalent dollar amount of thier actual books instead of payment.
You can get like twice the number of books for the money .....
What it costs to print the book vs. what the book would sell for...
This way they have extra books that
1) they can sell (and autograph) if they want to...(don't tell them this!!)
2) they can send to an important person or group that might be of import to them in the future...
3) numerous other reasons....
Just thought I should pass that idea on to you also as an option
after you figure out the monetary value...
The Pro I have spoken with said that the actual book was WAY worth more
to them than the actual cash in the doors that it opened for them in the future when they used it wisely.
BTW, this was true of Pro photogs and others that I have spoken to....
Good luck ....
In gratitude,
Nelcha