What to consider when selling 'rights' to a photograph

[ottor]

Took it upon myself to go over to a new hospital just before it opened, and took some night shots.... approached them to see if they wanted any prints, and at first they were interested... Now, it turns out that they are interested in purchasing the rights to one of them for future brochures, flyers, ads and billboards - essentually to use as they see fit..

I've charged for a shoot before, I've charged for pictures before, but I've never priced something like this before...

where do I start, and what would be a reasonable charge?

tks,

r

[griptape]

Some of the things to consider is if that picture could ever make you any money from any other possible sources in the future. If there is any possibility it could (which these days stock photography doesn't pay what it used to, but there is still a market), you would set a price for the picture itself, and then a price for the usage based on how long they want exclusive rights (meaning you can't sell the rights to anyone else during the time they're using the picture). I'm pulling a number out of thin air here, but let's say they want a year of exclusive rights. You would charge them $1,000, with the option to extend to 5 years for a total of $3,000, or the option to renew at a cost of $1,000 after the end of the first year. That gives them the option to not have to worry about rights if it turns out they want to use the picture for longer than a year, and it's a better bargain for them than paying $1,000 every year if they simply buy rights for 5 years.

As for what a reasonable charge is... how bad do they want the pictures, and how difficult would it be to get them from a cheaper source?