Pricing quote for book portrait

I have just been contacted by a local author who has requested a portrait shoot to supply an image for the bio inside her book cover. You know the deal, simple head and shoulders shot for the inside cover. This is her second publication, her first was very successful in the UK and topped the Times best seller list for a while.

It seems this is a fairly small publication and only in the UK, but I don’t know how many copies of the book are likely to be printed.

Having never shot a portrait for a book before (only magazines) I have no idea how much to charge. If anybody has any sage advise I would be very grateful. (Yes, I really should buy FotoQuote!).

Many thanks,

James

by James Chance at Wed Mar 12 21:22:23 UTC 2008 (ed. Mar 13 2008) columbus, United States | Bookmark this | Digg this |

Publishers don’t really buy author shots anymore—they ask the authors to supply them. Even if the author manages to squeeze a few hundred dollars out of the publisher’s PR budget, that will be all the money you see. You have no leverage, alas.

by Preston Merchant | 13 Mar 2008 01:03 | New York, United States |