Posted by Ralph Kerr on September 10, 2009 at 9:53 PM
Yet another how to charge quesiton. I have had gift calendars of my photos printed at a local printer. The printer now has a request from a local business to print some calendars, and the printer is to choose the photos. They called me wondering if I would want to have some of mine used. It will only be 50 to 100 calendars. The printer would buy and add the cost when quoting the job. Any help on what to charge would be greatly appreciated.
On a small run like that, it would be easy for the cost to drive the customer away from both you and the printer. My impulse would be to come up with a % of the sale price for each photo that's acceptable to both you and the printer. It probably wouldn't add up to much money, but it would cement you're position as a source of photos with this printer. He would be able to easily anticipate the cost of your photos in future projects and factor that into his quotes, and meanwhile as the print runs enlarged in the future, your income would automatically go up with it by a multiplier applied to the size of the run, if you follow that.
I sold photos for the covers for a bunch of locally produced videos and DVDs using this technique, and it worked out to my advantage. The first runs were small, but I still earned a few cents each. But they proved popular and sold well, so lots of sales at pennies ultimately added up to a very nice paycheck. I "shared" the risk of initial sales, but also shared the benefits when they became popular.
Posted by Ralph Kerr on September 12, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Hank, thanks for that idea. It sounds like a good way to approach it to me
You're welcome, Ralph. There's another benefit to establishing good working relations with a local printer.
They will remember and recommend you to other clients who need photos. In our long experience, there's a huge and largely overlooked local market in most places. Photographers get all wrapped up in chasing the national pubs and large markets (and usually their own tails), while completely overlooking those right under their noses. Your local printer is one of many entry points into your homegrown market, and the cumulative income easily outstrips that from larger sources.
Discussion
3 repliesI sold photos for the covers for a bunch of locally produced videos and DVDs using this technique, and it worked out to my advantage. The first runs were small, but I still earned a few cents each. But they proved popular and sold well, so lots of sales at pennies ultimately added up to a very nice paycheck. I "shared" the risk of initial sales, but also shared the benefits when they became popular.
They will remember and recommend you to other clients who need photos. In our long experience, there's a huge and largely overlooked local market in most places. Photographers get all wrapped up in chasing the national pubs and large markets (and usually their own tails), while completely overlooking those right under their noses. Your local printer is one of many entry points into your homegrown market, and the cumulative income easily outstrips that from larger sources.