I've been approached by a writer about a possible collaboration on a book. It is to be nature oriented and about a local river. It would not be a coffee table photo book but rather a book of mostly prose but still with a substantial amount of photographs of the area. It will not use any photographs I've already taken because I have none of this area. I will have to go shoot based on her requests.
Seems to me that I could either handle this as a commission and generate a fee or instead accept a portion of proceeds from the book. I think I would prefer the latter but know nothing about this type collaboration having never done it before. The question then is, what is the split on proceeds between author and photograper? It seems only proper that more should go to the author. It is after all her idea and the book will be more her work than mine.
I suspect the total answer will depend on how much prose vs how much photography but I'm wondering if anybody can advise on any "traditional" or accepted guidelines on splitting the profits from such a collaboration. As I said, it is totally a new venture for me and I have no idea what is fair or normal.
Thanks,
John
I suspect it's as variable as the people and ambitions involved. All will be negotiated, and much will be learned in the process. Since there's no way to tell beforehand how many photos will be used relative to the prose, and since it will be original work for both of you, I'd consider those key factors to resolve.
I'm in the long, slow (very slow) process of working on a book with a friend about a specific location- his poetry and my photos. Liek yours, it's original work for both of us, and not coincidentally decisions were not made beforehand about the relative mix of poems and photos. Our mix from the first day of discussions has been a 50-50 split on proceeds. And he approached me with the idea.
Posted by Lydia Dotto on August 2, 2009 at 1:46 PM
I'm a published author as a well as a photographer, although so far I haven't done both in a book. If you decide you want a share in the proceeds of the sale of the book, rather than taking a straight commission for the photos, you need to ask some questions about who will publish the book, how many copies will be printed, where and how they'll be distributed, what kind of marketing will be done, etc.
It's just as difficult to sell books these days as it is to sell photos. Although there are no guarantees on either, you should go into any agreement with your eyes open about the realistic potential of this book selling enough to make it worth your time and effort -- unless you want to do it for the challenge, regardless of the financial return.
Discussion
2 repliesSeems to me that I could either handle this as a commission and generate a fee or instead accept a portion of proceeds from the book. I think I would prefer the latter but know nothing about this type collaboration having never done it before. The question then is, what is the split on proceeds between author and photograper? It seems only proper that more should go to the author. It is after all her idea and the book will be more her work than mine.
I suspect the total answer will depend on how much prose vs how much photography but I'm wondering if anybody can advise on any "traditional" or accepted guidelines on splitting the profits from such a collaboration. As I said, it is totally a new venture for me and I have no idea what is fair or normal.
Thanks,
John
I'm in the long, slow (very slow) process of working on a book with a friend about a specific location- his poetry and my photos. Liek yours, it's original work for both of us, and not coincidentally decisions were not made beforehand about the relative mix of poems and photos. Our mix from the first day of discussions has been a 50-50 split on proceeds. And he approached me with the idea.
It's just as difficult to sell books these days as it is to sell photos. Although there are no guarantees on either, you should go into any agreement with your eyes open about the realistic potential of this book selling enough to make it worth your time and effort -- unless you want to do it for the challenge, regardless of the financial return.