p.1 #1 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
I have a client who owns a pet grooming business She wants me to photograph as all of her clients pets and then let her clients vote on the best pictures to make a book with the same name as her pet grooming store. And then she wants to sell the book. I'm not sure how I should handle this because right now she is willing to help me get shoots with all her clients and that has the potential to be quite profitable but if I don't do the book I will probably not be getting access to her clients. I suggested a percent of book sales and she said ok but then asked if I really needed that since I would have all the money from the pictures they purchase. If this were you how would you handle it? If you asked for a percentage of sales what percent would you ask for?
p.1 #2 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
You are selling two products. The books and the prints. Don't let her make you think the CHANCE to sell prints is worth anything. You likely won't make much at all off the print sales.
The pricing for the book is usually based of how many photos, how many copies of the book etc. PhotoQUote was always a nice tool for this kind of job. You can charge her a flat fee based on print runs, or if you prefer to do a % of sales you can. But keep in mind. That could be $0.
I'd ask for set figure up front and the freedom to sell prints to the pet owners. I just don't see this being a very profitable book and its best to get the money.
p.1 #3 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
CTYankee wrote:
I'd ask for set figure up front and the freedom to sell prints to the pet owners..
Money up front is a good idea and she expects that since I will be selling prints to the owners that I should let her have the money from the book sales. "Selling Big" is a relative thing. It will not sell big nationally but it will probably sell big at her grooming shop and she does have quite a few clients.
p.1 #4 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
Keep in mind that a short run "print on demand" photo book is expensive to produce so the resale price, in order to be reasonable has to be very close to the wholesale price.
My photo book, 36 10" X 10" pages in a hard cover, cost about $26 in a run of 25 books. To sell that book to the public, or even friends, I'd have to keep the price in the $30 range, leaving only $4 profit per book.
Print on demand books aren't like conventional "press printed" books that have very low per unit costs. POD books cost more per copy because there are no/few up front costs, and you don't have to pay the pre-press charges. Press printed books have very high up-front costs, but low per copy costs. POD is the other way around.
Since the high per copy costs limit the profit potential, make sure you take it into account in any deal you agree to.
And don't count on pet owners buying prints. I've never sold a print to a pet owner, if anything they just want the JPEGs for FB.
p.1 #5 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
I would price the sessions as normal whether the business owner pays it or the pet owner. As for the percentage of profits, it has already been pointed out that there may only be a few dollars profit per book sold. The real question is will the images be used in Advertising or other promotional pieces. I would certainly charge for usage and let her take the risk on book sales.
p.1 #6 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
I have done some work for a groomer and have NEVER sold a print. Only made money on the sessions. You should get a flat license fee up to a certain number of printings, and then a small percentage, IMHO.
p.1 #7 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
This woman wants to make as much money as she can and the more she excludes you (or anyone else) the more she makes. Any time a person comes to me with "if you do this job, it'll turn into more jobs" I won't work with them. Either get paid for your pictures for the book or turn it down.
NorthernBuck wrote:
she said ok but then asked if I really needed that since I would have all the money from the pictures they purchase.
p.1 #8 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
You can make good money doing dog photos. I did some a few years ago for a large make-up line and still have clients from that event. They pay the same rate as my people portraits. A lot has to do with the income level of the clients. If they are high income then I would risk more to get the digital file or print sales. I charge the same for either. They pay for my 'work', not the media it is on. 99% of my clients want Cd for facebook and email. Any prints are just extra.Of course printing a sample on the spot brings in more sales because you make sales based on emotion. Got to get them when they first see and HOLD the image.
I would not count on making money off the book. Only the individual sessions.
Dec 14, 2011 at 03:13 PM
AmbientMike Offline • • • • • • [X]
p.1 #9 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
I don't know much about it but you need to look at rights managed pricing. Ideally you charge for the photos, then for whatever they are printed in. If it was used in a magazine, 10% of whatever the ad cost is supposed to be good, plus the cost to shoot photos. You need to get something from book sales.
Dec 15, 2011 at 12:29 PM
AmbientMike Offline • • • • • • [X]
p.1 #10 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
Honestly it sounds like a lot of work for little return. Pet photos can be good business, though.
Dec 15, 2011 at 12:30 PM
AmbientMike Offline • • • • • • [X]
p.1 #11 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
This sounds like a loser deal for you. What is the pet salon owner doing that they she has any claim on the royalties at all? Writing text? providing financing for self publishing? Most books sell less than 10,000 copies and the author gets about a buck a book. Who's going to do the book tour? How will you get this published?
p.1 #12 · Client wants to sell a book of my pictures.
NorthernBuck wrote:
I have a client who owns a pet grooming business She wants me to photograph as all of her clients pets and then let her clients vote on the best pictures to make a book with the same name as her pet grooming store. And then she wants to sell the book. I'm not sure how I should handle this because right now she is willing to help me get shoots with all her clients and that has the potential to be quite profitable but if I don't do the book I will probably not be getting access to her clients. I suggested a percent of book sales and she said ok but then asked if I really needed that since I would have all the money from the pictures they purchase. If this were you how would you handle it? If you asked for a percentage of sales what percent would you ask for?...Show more →
If I were in your place I would set it up so that I got paid a fixed amount for a certain amount of time I put in on the project and let your client take the risk, and any profits, of selling prints and publishing the book. She would be expected to know more about the buying habits of her customers than you do, and is therefore in a much better position to calculate the risk/return potential of the project.
Since she said that she wants ALL of her clients pets photographed I think the most efficient way to do that would be to set up in her shop and let her do the scheduling. For the book I would charge a flat fee for the work required, and a realistic percentage of sales to kick in after the the equivalent of a first printing just in case the sales take off. Make it so that you get paid for your time whether or not there are any print or book sales. This may sound like you are going to make less, but think of it as limiting your part in the project to being a photographer, and letting your client be the investor, the manager, the promoter and the salesperson.
Or, put more bluntly - get in, do your work, get paid for it, and get out. No fuss, no muss.
