Author Photos: Negotiate Costs and Terms Up Front
Posted on 30 June 2010 by Robert Mott
All serious authors need high-quality black-and-white and color portraits for several marketing purposes: to use on Web sites promoting them and their books, to put on the back of their books or book flaps, to include with press materials. Whether your non-fiction book will be published by Random House, some random small publisher, or you (self-publishing), you’ll need a professionally made author photo.
Realize there will be many choices, from paying a sitting fee for studio shots to half- and full-day location shoots, as well as wardrobe and make-up options, but my overarching point here is to help you understand two basic terms of usage, which in intellectual property law refers to the agreement between a copyright holder and someone licensed to reproduce the copyrighted material. No matter which option you choose, it’s important to remember that you’re contracting an artist to capture a favorable likeness of you, and that artist/photographer owns the copyrights to his or her creation (in this case, the photo of you) until he or she signs those rights away.
Here are a couple of ways you can structure the deal with a professional photographer.
Option 1. Purchase rights to a few images (or one “perfect” headshot) to use as you need for your book, media kits, Web site, magazine articles, etc. You might negotiate a “per frame” charge for these images, a package “sitting fee” with a portrait studio, or a “day rate” as explained below. The photographer may want to specify limited usage (how, where, and for what period of time you can use the images) based on what you’re willing to pay. Be ready to go back and forth to set fees and terms that work for both of you. The deliverable for limited usage would be the specific images you’ve contracted to use, either as JPEGs on a CD, or as transparencies or negatives—and a signed release like the one below.
Option 2. Purchase a “complete buyout” of all the images taken during a shoot. This is the best option if you’re a celebrity author or someone who’s building a brand/image based on your recognizability as an expert. Complete buyout gives you permission to use the photos for anything you want: future books, products, t-shirts, etc. with no additional monies owed to the photographer in the future. Typically you pay double for this, but then you never have to pay again. The deliverable for complete buyout would be all the shots taken, either the color transparencies or negatives if film was used, or a CD with the raw and full resolution JPEG images—and a signed release like the one below.
Most professional photographers base their fees on a half- or full-day rate plus expenses. Full day rates range from $1,000 to $3,000 and up. Expenses might include an assistant ($150 per day), makeup artist ($250-500 per day), and film or digital processing (downloading to a CD or uploading to a retrieval site). So an average day rate with assistant and make-up artist could easily amount to $2,000 with complete buyout at $4,000. Retouching is typically billed in addition to the day rate; however, some photographers (and most portrait studios) include this as part of their package, especially if they’re known for a certain look.
Why is it important to understand terms and prices, and to negotiate up front? Long before he met me, one of my author-clients hired a photographer to take his photo for a magazine article. The photographer charged a fee based on the intended usage; i.e., reprint with the article. A few years down the road (still before we met), the author wrote a book and decided he wanted that photo on the front cover. He had a color trasparency, so he assumed he could use it however he saw fit.
Wrong.
Possession of a reproduceable piece of art doesn’t mean you have the right to reproduce it. The photographer sued for copyright infringement and won a judgment against the author for more than $10,000. Ouch. From that point on, I helped the author hire photographers for half-day and full-day sittings, always with “complete buyout” negotiated up front. The full-day photo shoots I negotiated on his behalf were less than half the cost of the court settlement and yielded a binder’s worth of excellent photos shot against a variety of backgrounds with multiple wardrobe changes. All in all, a wise investment.
Whichever option you choose, make sure you have a signed release from the photographer, something like the one below.
Disclaimer: I’m not an attorney, so consult your own lawyer if you have questions about your specific situation, but here’s text for a simple release.
Photographer’s Release
Signature of [photographer’s name], “Photographer,” grants permission to [your name], “Client,” to reproduce the copyrighted images taken on [date].
The images will be reproduced on book covers, press materials, Web sites or other promotional material or products as the Client sees fit [or describe the other terms and conditions you have negotiated with your photographer].
Signature of Photographer releases Client from any copyright infringement.
Photographer, please circle one.
- Compete Buyout: The copyright is being released on all photos taken for customer on the above photo shoot date.
- Select Usage: The copyright is being released on these selected images (list the image numbers):
_________________________________________________________
Credit Line to Appear With Image [Example: Author Photo by Snappy McClick]
________________________________
Photographer’s Signature
________________________________
Date
(______) ___________________________
Business Phone
Tax ID Number:_________________________
* * * * *
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Robert Mott is an experienced graphic designer who has created commercial art for a number of bestselling books and counseled authors on the ins and outs of book production. Contact him through his Web site: http://www.RobertMottDesigns.com. Although he doesn’t recommend you do this for your author photo, he made this self-portrait using an old-model digital camera, timer, and tripod.
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1 Response to Author Photos: Negotiate Costs and Terms Up Front
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Readers, take note: I’m sure that since the author produced the photo, his publisher assumed he had the right to use it. The onus of clearance for usage is *always* on the author, whether we’re talking about photos or text. Permissions are your responsibility.
And in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that Robert is my husband, a talented and knowledgeable designer, indeed! Many thanks to him for giving us this important post.