need pricing advice

Hi Melanie,

Do you know exactly what their circulation is? Are they national? The more they circulate the more they should pay you. $100 is not bad considering the measly amounts that newspapers pay photographers these days, but again it depends on their circulation. Now if they absolutely can’t do without any other photo, then you can bump it up a bit.

Well Melanie, the market here is total dogshit, with a certain newspaper chain that owns everything paying a $115 day rate (up to 5 assignments) to professionals that are fighting for scraps.

So, what I have found is that even though one would like to think that we can charge according to what we SHOULD be getting paid, the market here in the good old bay simply doesnt allow for it.

That being said, i wouldnt take less than another $100 for the other photo.

Hope this helped, and congrats on having your research project covered!

If you want a number, I’d say $150 for 1/4 page and $200 for 1/2 page.

Fotoquote—well, given that I really only do this for sh*ts and giggles I doubt the software would end up paying for itself, but it looks like a useful tool.

The publication in question is a national full-color magazine with a circulation of 100,000+. The photo would run at 2.5 inches square.

After my first “what, you want the photo for free???” email they offered me $20 which is what they pay for stock. I have no vested interest in getting this photo published (I am not a professional) so as far as I’m concerned if they want to go with a stock photo instead that’s fine by me. Now I’m thinking something between $50 and $100 would be fair since I agreed to the $100 for the other photo in advance.

I’m really glad that they’re covering the project but it would be cool to be able to put some cash into the dog food fund, know what I’m saying?

Thanks very, very much for the advice guys!

I didn’t mean that I don’t take photography seriously, because I do. But for me it is a hobby. I do not make a living taking photographs, nor do I sell enough photographs (these would be the first, actually) to justify the purchase of specialty pricing software. That’s all I was saying.

I didn’t inherit the photo in question - it isn’t a snapshot - I took it, and I had a specific vision in mind when I took it, and I’m proud of it. At the time I took it simply for my own pleasure, but it represents my own original effort and I wasn’t of a mind to simply give it away to a magazine that will make money partly through its publication.

Not to mention that being an academic and correspondingly poorly paid, I could use the money!

I have read enough of the discussions here to be cognizant of the problem that “citizen journalists” cause for professional photographers, in that they depress the market by giving away their work for free. I didn’t want to contribute to that problem either. So I gave them a figure and we’ll see what they say.

Thanks for the advice.

Right on Melanie….

Thanks for being aware of the shitty state of things and not contributing to it.

Not necessary, Michal. No hard feelings!

Haven’t heard back from the magazine, by the way.