Direct emailing...

[mzivtins]

to sell stock photography, do you guys find that this works?
im looking to sell a few pictures with theme park as the subject. i am thinking of emailing the theme park where the pictures where taken showing a watermarked images to see if the would like to buy the images.

is this a no-go or shall i just go for it?

cheers

[OdiN1701]

I won't buy anything from anyone that sends me junk mail.

[mzivtins]

i dont think it will be seen as junk mail as i was there on a business function last month so its not as random as you might think.

[mzivtins]

they have emailed back wishing to purchase one of the three pictures i had originally emailed. what would you guys sell the picture at? this is for complete ownership as they wish to use this for marketing purposes.

cheers guys

[aram535]

I add all unsolicated emails to my block list forever, so even if later one I did subscribe I would probably not see it.

If X (I think X=10, although I think it changes) people in gmail mark your mail as SPAM, your mail to everyone at gmail will be categorized as SPAM unless they specifically add you to their profile.

If you don't company with CANSPAM act you can get fined. You can get your internet account yanked by your ISP, etc.

What I am trying to tell you is that, its not worth it to get categorized as a spammer.

[mzivtins]

have you even read the posts? i appreciate the info on not spamming... but this was direct emailing to a single person whom i had had previous dealings with on a proffesional level... the person has now expressed interest in purchasing 1 of the three pictures emailed.

so i asked for advice on it, and no wmy advice is, do it, it does work providing it isnt cold emailing. now all i have to figure out is costs.

[aram535]

Spam is SPAM no matter how many people you send it to.

[amfoto1]

Hi,

First of all, personally I'd almost never sell full ownership (i.e., transfer of copyright).

There are some photographers who do, but most pros won't for very good reasons. A photo you sell today for $1000 may be worth $5000, $20,000 or even $100,000 or more over a lifetime. It's a fools game to give away your copyright cheap, especially since it's not really necessary most of the time.

This is often what photo buyers think they need, or what they tend to ask for as an extreme starting point when first opening negotiations. It's up to you to determine what rights they really need and negotiate back to a fairer agreement where you keep your copyright, ultimately.

I think a lot of more experienced photo buyers will throw out the "all rights" idea just to test photographers, to get some idea how savvy the photog is about copyright and usage licensing. If the photog accepts the idea quickly and doesn't flinch, a clever buyer might assume they are either relatively wet behind the ears or really desperate to make a sale, and step up their negotiating tactics accordingly.

Sure, there are exceptions when it might be sensible to agree to a complete buy out of rights. One would be if the images really didn't have much potential use anywhere else. Then it might be okay (But it can be very hard to predict potential future use... On the other hand, you might be able to closely re-create the image, if necessary).

Another scenario would be if they were really, really insistent about buying all rights. In that case, I'd consider it, but I'd multiply my rates 10X or 20X or maybe even as much as 100X or more depending upon the potential I see for the particular image and how difficult or impossible it might be to recreate.

There is no way to even suggest how much you might want to charge for the images. We haven't seen them and know very little about the parks planned uses for them. You say they want to use them for marketing purposes, but that's a very wide range of possibilities. Plus there are still those details to hammer out regarding just what rights will be sold.

Do yourself a very big favor... Get a copy of "Pricing Photography" by Michal Heron. It's about US$20 at Amazon.com last time I looked.

This book surveys photographers to try to come up with a range of typical prices, based upon many possible specific usages, as a starting point. It also walks you through a lot of the possible add-ons and modifications, and how they change pricing, such as a full rights buyout (which it strongly recommends against, in general).

Using that book as a guide, you will have a far better idea just what questions to ask, and be able to come up with a quote for them that fair price for the limited usage rights they probably need. It also includes generic sample usage licenses and other types of contracts for you to use, if you wish, and explanations of some of the terminology and why it's used.

Right now I'd just respond to them that you are very pleased they'd like to use your images and you'll be happy to work up a fair price quote, but need to know some specifics about how they plan to use the images in order to do so.

You might also start to explore the idea of keeping your copyright: "You want to buy out all rights? Wow! That's great, but is going to be a lot more expensive. Maybe if you tell me more about your intended usage, I can suggest some alternatives that would give you all the exclusivity you need, but would be less costly." Or, you could just wait to discuss this after they have given you a lot more details about their plans.

For commercial usage of the images, are there recognizable people in them? If so, do you have signed model releases from them?

[mzivtins]

That is brilliant advice!

any chance you could post that as a new thred and have a mod sticky it??

[mzivtins]

Spam is SPAM no matter how many people you send it to.

ONE email to ONE person who i have already had business contact with?

Your ideas of spam are very funny. do you put postage stamps on emails :lol:

[Paparazzo]

Don't sell them the copyright, but you can give them an unlimited usage licence. Just make sure you price is adequate.

[aram535]

ONE email to ONE person who i have already had business contact with?

Your ideas of spam are very funny. do you put postage stamps on emails :lol:

So regarding those viagra emails, if you were the only person on to the to line, it'd be ok?

I didn't say anything other than unwanted/unsolicated email is still considered SPAM. If you send it individually to 1 person, 100 or 10,000 its still SPAM. Its the content/method of sale, not the quantity that makes it SPAM.

[superstes]

Sounds like good marketing to me, you didn't get fined, you didn't get your Internet Account yanked, AND you got a sale ;)

Is this unsolicited mail,yes.

But why then have a email address publicly available to a few billion people if your gonna run around shouting SPAMMER every time you get an email.

If you sent your email 15 times a day for 3 months solid to try and get a sale, I would consider this spam.

Humans like to communicate :D

Steve