Magazine wants to publish my photo

Hi

So, out of the blue I get an e-mail from a magazine saying they want to publish one of my pictures in their magazine. They found it doing an online search (I assume zenfolio). They want to pay me and have asked me to send them an invoice. They also want me to send them a full res shot which is reasonable. Is there anything else I should be asking or doing? Can someone point me to a basic invoice that is appropriate for this? I am pretty excited about this and my conversation with the art director seems to indicate that they may be interested in future pictures. So, I'd like to get this right.

Thanks,
Stefan

Please keep in mind, that I am fro Europe, but I guess it's the same everywhere... I used to be scared about making an invoice till I made one. Invoice over here needs mine and client's data on /reg.number if there is one, adress, account/ and the actual name of product and price. I made my one design, for that matter. If you drop an e-mail to contacts_at_olafsosh.c​om, I'll send you one as an example.

Just one thing - after they pay, this will go into big brother's records, so be sure to know, if you need to pay any taxes for it [depending are you just a person, or working as individual taxpayer, LTD. or anything.

Make sure to have a usage clause in there. You don't want them to keep using the image besides what they are paying you for.

FarmerTed1971 wrote in post #17956086
Make sure to have a usage clause in there. You don't want them to keep using the image besides what they are paying you for.

Isn't that completely different document rather than an invoice?

///not saying, that it's not needed, of course :]

It could be, but doesn't have to be.

Congratulations !!

FarmerTed1971 wrote in post #17956092
It could be, but doesn't have to be.

Yup, you can add terms to the invoice. A number of us do:

That's what I use. I've remarked in bold and red what is crucial your terms have.

Thanks for the advice. Alveric - so you just list these items on a sheet and ask for a signature? As far as the actual invoice, should anything special be included. I just need a way to request the money and make sure it covers everything that needs to be covered.

Also, I am note sure what I should put for Exclusivity and Media. What are those for?

Stefan A wrote in post #17956189
Also, I am note sure what I should put for Exclusivity and Media. What are those for?

Typically that's whether you are agreeing to not license the photos to anyone else for the duration of this license.

Stefan A wrote in post #17956184
Thanks for the advice. Alveric - so you just list these items on a sheet and ask for a signature? As far as the actual invoice, should anything special be included. I just need a way to request the money and make sure it covers everything that needs to be covered.

Stefan A wrote in post #17956189
Also, I am note sure what I should put for Exclusivity and Media. What are those for?

Take a look at this sample invoice (I just blurred my client's info):

Awesome - thanks.

I'll incorporate this into my invoice as well! Thanks, man!

Stefan A wrote in post #17956029
Hi
So, out of the blue I get an e-mail from a magazine saying they want to publish one of my pictures in their magazine. They found it doing an online search (I assume zenfolio). They want to pay me and have asked me to send them an invoice. They also want me to send them a full res shot which is reasonable. Is there anything else I should be asking or doing? Can someone point me to a basic invoice that is appropriate for this? I am pretty excited about this and my conversation with the art director seems to indicate that they may be interested in future pictures. So, I'd like to get this right.

If you want to have a continued working relationship with this magazine, then the best thing is to do things in a casual, easygoing manner. Act as if you do this all the time, and that it is no big deal.

The vast majority of my invoices are emails; just send an email reply that is personable and friendly, then say something like, ".......now for the fine print". And then have some fine print:

"This agreement is for nonexclusive one-time print use for the attached image to be used in (name of publication). This agreement does not allow for this image or the rights to reproduce it to be extended to any third party. This agreement does not include any internet usage, including use on social media or the publication's home site, or any other website. Publication of the image will signify an acceptance of this agreement."

I have always found that just an email reply is what works best, and have never had any editor ask for a printed hard copy to be mailed. Nor have I even had anyone ask for the invoice to be created in a word document. Just typing it into the body of an email reply has always been good enough, and I've worked with a lot of magazines.*. I have never found that an actual signature is necessary.*. Remember that to them this is no big deal; every month they have to use several, if not dozens, of photos, and they often allot only one day to photos for every issue. So to them it's just a bunch of red tape they have to crank out so they can move on to the other stuff that is demanding their attention.

*Really big magazines that operate under a much larger parent company often have a contract that they ask you to print, sign, and scan or fax back to them, but that is quite exceptional and always something that they, not you, would initiate.

You're tight - actual signature isn't required anymore, but almost every time I have worked for companies [not private persons] their accountant asked for an invoice, which I privided in a neat PDF. If not for yours, it's for their conveniance - they don't need somebody's saved e-mails in their documents folder; and you don't want to be THAT guy as well. I strongly suggest to create nice invoice docs instead of using just plain e-mail.