Potential sale

Are any of you familiar with CATERSNEWS
out of England or Europe? They're showing
some interest in one of my images. Here's
from the their most recent email to me when
I inquired about payment if I sign up with
them.

"We don't necessarily pay for the image. We
write up an article to go with the picture,
and we send it out to the national and inter-
national press. Any money made from the picture
is split 60/40 in your favour. There is an
online system for handling fees. We syndicate
the picture on your behalf, and with Caters
proactively pushing it we hope to make some
sales.

Any more questions feel free to ask."

One factor that will cause me to drop the whole
thing is that I'm not giving up exclusive rights.

I would appreciate your opinion on this matter.

Thank you.

Cordially,

Robert Dayton

You're at the mercy of the article quality and their rep. Knowing what's paid to writers these days, I wouldn't expect much return on any single sale, but the magic word is syndication. Lots of small sales add up to good paychecks. I'd ask them for example of articles they've published using this scheme, then investigate pay rates with those pubs for a better idea.

But as a writer I have to tell you that more and more publications, especially online pubs, are expecting free articles. I've been approached at least a dozen times over the last year to contribute articles that turned out to be requests for free writing. When I asked to see their pay schedule for articles, they either got indignant or failed to respond entirely. The ones that responded all talk about "exposure" and how good it is for your business, so you shouldn't need to be paid. Perhaps they've learned that lesson from photographers that give away their photos for "exposure."

Thank you, Hank, for your prompt response. The information which you've
provided will help me to make a decision.

You're welcome Robert. They may be perfectly legit, and I have no way to tell one way or the other. But the opportunity exists both to check up on them and to "measure" the income potential of such an arrangement.

http://www.google.com/search?q=CATERSNEWS&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Stay away. A member of another photo forum site I frequent (Cater News thread on NikonCafé) posted a similar question. Further investigation shows that this is a microstock photo agency. They will want to syndicate your photos and offer you 50% of the commission.

Thank you, Walter. After reading all of the complaints and concerns from photograhers
regarding Cater News from the article that you referenced in your above post, I think that
I'll avoid them.

Thank you, Guy. Your sources were very revealing.

Sounds complicated. I like business that's simple: they buy the right to publish the photo, pay me, I send them the photo, and we're done. The way they set up the deal you can do just as well, if not better, writing the essay and submitting it.

Thank you, Alain.