Posted by David Schoen on November 17, 2009 at 9:56 PM
I was contacted by the New York agent of a German magazine, Hoerzu, in August 2009, after they saw one of my images on this site. Arrangements were made and the magazine agreed to pay for and publish the image. I submitted an invoice and the magazine published a 33 by 21.25 cm version of the image on pages 4 and 5 of the 18 September issue. I was given credit for the image. This magazine is the German equivalent of TV Guide. Unfortunately, I never received the agreed upon payment although they did send me a copy of the magazine.
According to one of my German friends, it is a quite well known publication and popular although I do not know the circulation. It seems quite comprehensive and there is a lot of advertising. I do not read or understand German.
Queries to the agent have gone unanswered.
There is certainly the possibility that they could publish more of my images so I am not sure I want to threaten them at this point.
Other than trying to directly contact the magazine in Germany, do you have any suggestions?
Mmmmm. The only thing missing in your initial contact with them is clarification of their usual payment schedule. We deal with a couple that chronically pay 5 to 7 months after publication. 30 to 60 days is more typical. You could just be caught up in their slow pay cycle.
Just be glad you aren't dealing with the federal government of old. They would sometimes pay as much as a year later. That all changed when they set up individuals and departments with credit cards. Now we just get an account number and are paid immediately.
On a similar note, we occasionally shoot for a stock agency that chronically waits over 6 months to pay us. I finally insisted on a credit card number before I started a shoot. I got it and of course was paid immediately, but come to think of it, we've not heard from them in quite a while!
No point in citing all those examples, other than to elaborate that there are lots of ways (and schedules) for getting paid.
I'd invoice them again with a notice that your company policy starts assessing late fees after 90 days or some such.
Posted by Mike Moats on November 18, 2009 at 4:52 AM
I agree with Hank, I've had many times I waited six months or more to see payment that was suppose to be sent out on publication of the image or article.
What was the publishing co. and actual name of the magazine? I was contacted by a German Magazine,Published and paid by wire transfer to my bank. Did they ask for wire transfer info? They do things a little differently there so maybe just taking a little longer?
Posted by Jorne de Bruin on December 19, 2009 at 9:05 AM
David, not sure if you have received payment yet, but I also was publishd in Hoerzu (in october) through the same agency (i guess) in New York (Barbette Media Services). Altough communication was slow (I sometimes had to inquire several times before receiving an answer) I did receive my payment (albeit late). I just kept pestering the agency until they finally replied. Did you send the invoice directly to Germany? They have billing cycles of about a month I think.
Posted by Rodney Ninow on February 6, 2010 at 9:47 PM
Discussion
5 repliesAccording to one of my German friends, it is a quite well known publication and popular although I do not know the circulation. It seems quite comprehensive and there is a lot of advertising. I do not read or understand German.
Queries to the agent have gone unanswered.
There is certainly the possibility that they could publish more of my images so I am not sure I want to threaten them at this point.
Other than trying to directly contact the magazine in Germany, do you have any suggestions?
Thanks
Just be glad you aren't dealing with the federal government of old. They would sometimes pay as much as a year later. That all changed when they set up individuals and departments with credit cards. Now we just get an account number and are paid immediately.
On a similar note, we occasionally shoot for a stock agency that chronically waits over 6 months to pay us. I finally insisted on a credit card number before I started a shoot. I got it and of course was paid immediately, but come to think of it, we've not heard from them in quite a while!
No point in citing all those examples, other than to elaborate that there are lots of ways (and schedules) for getting paid.
I'd invoice them again with a notice that your company policy starts assessing late fees after 90 days or some such.