Someone wants Permission to use my photo in a book.. is this right?

So yeah ,, some one contacted me asking for permission to use one of my photos in a book..
this is a first for me .. and so i'm not familiar with this ..
below is the form i'm being asked to sign .. is this a standard thing ? is it Legit?( i mean the details in the release form)
or...
am i signing my first born over?

It does look legit. However, I'd ask (you don't have to tell us, but please do ask them) what kind of book is this. I'd also be quite leery about their definition of 'editing, adaptation, or otherwise alterations'; because of this, I'd make it clear that I am in no way waving the moral rights to my images. Likewise, I am to retain the copyright.

In a nutshell. What they sent you is legit, but I'd renegotiate and come to a contract that is satisfactory to both parties. I'd also ask for reasonable compensation. Credit don't pay the bills.

This is a rights grab. You're asked to give away everything about the photo except parts of its copyright, in exchange for a credit line. The photo can be distorted or written all over or used as an example of how not to take pictures. Copies of it can be sold a million times with no return to you.

I shouldn't need to add "Don't go for it."

My ? is just how much you want to be a "Published Photographer"?

My instinct would be to quote that last line of theirs & ask, "You'll give me credit? Keep it & tell me how much in dollars the image is worth to you?"

Then sit back & wait them out. ; )

Edit: What sort of image is it? A world shaker, or do you have dozens of them on your hard drive?

Thakns for the responses..

i do know what the book is about ..(new york)it is stated in the opening of the form , sorry should have included that as well

and have been told where in the book it would be used (as intro to a particular chapter)
and that it would be converted to black and white..

.. and that there would be no monitery compensation... credit , and a copy of the book would be sent to me

Well, that sux.

Up to you, I guess.

If you decide to contribute to the project I suggest making sure they have a good high res version of your image. Having your name associated with something you aren't proud of would be small payment. You might even insist on approval of the BW conversion as a condition.

Several reactions seem a bit over the top!

It sounds like

1. the author of the book wants to use one of your photos as content to illustrate some place/concept mentioned in the editorial text.
   
2. And he wants permission to do so, if the book is ever released in other languages and published in other countries.
   
3. In having the photo within one chapter, it may need to be cropped to fit the page appropriately, and they need to rights to do so.
   

• Author also wants to be able to use your photo as commercial material to publicize the book..."in advertising, publicity, and promotion"
  

This is in fact exactly what these forms tend to read like.

There is no rights grab involved, as you are not losing permission to do anything you want the the image otherwise. The details of the additional printings is standard, as they don't want to lose permission to use the image if second publishing comes up, so again, all standard.

The only concern here is if you decide you would rather be paid for your inclusion. However it is clear that payment woudl mean exclusion.. so that's a non starter. (again, this very often the case in publications that are more academic or editorial than profit making.)

The offer of a copy is also very standard in a case like those I mention above. I just filled one of these out about two years ago,. as did my father. It was my photo of his work. We both got copies of the book. Paul was a fantastic gentleman to work with. Many of our circle of letterers also contributed gratus.

https://www.amazon.com …ywords=the+eter​nal+letter

This is a book filled with images, in fact the vast majority were contributed by others. Without the contract, if it goes to 2nd printing, or softcover etc, all the permissions already granted would be lost, and he'd have to start over again. In this instance the photos and the work required two permissions for almost all of the photos.

I agree with Wilt re the marketing materials, at the same time, I am sure this is being applied to all images in the book, so they have every option open to them. This aspect may be bargained with, but my guess is it's just a boiler plate like the rest and that the publishers would not have much interest in bargaining. At the same time you'll note in my link that in addition to the image of the front cover, there are images of pages in the book. These would be part of the "marketing" that they want permission to use free of charge.

I guess I would want some sort of monetary contribution if they use my images to promote the sales of a book. For me it would be one thing that my photo was being viewed after the sale was complete (ie. content in the book), however if they are using my material to create revenue through marketing, I would definitely think it fair that there is some sort of monetary reimbursement for that. It is one thing to supply content to a book, it is another to supply marketing and commercial material to help sell a product, at least IMO.

martybugs.net/blog/blo​g.cgi/other/makingmone​y/HowMuchShouldYouChar​ge.html wrote:
=http://martybugs.net …MuchShouldYouCh​arge.html]
What Is A Photo Worth?

When determining the value of a photo, you need to consider the following aspects:

Intended Market - Markets include advertising, corporate, editorial, and others.
Media Type - What type of media is the photo going to be used in? Will it be used in a magazine, book, newspaper, or website?
Image Size - What size will the image be reproduced in the publication? Will it appear on the important front cover of book, will it be 1/4 page, or will it just be a small minor image?
Distribution - How many copies of the publication will be produced? Will it be 10,000 or less, or possibly up to multiple millions of copies?
Exclusive Use - Is exclusive use of a photo required (ie, you cannot re-sell it to anyone else), or will you still be able to re-sell the photo to any other clients? In most cases, explicitly specify that you're providing the photo for non-exclusive use.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18249450
There is no rights grab involved, as you are not losing permission to do anything you want the the image otherwise.

Here's where I differ: An important word is missing, "nonexclusive." Even with that word added, publication of the photo can lower its monetary value if someone else wants to use it in the future. First world rights will be gone.

The OP might want to do the B&W conversion himself. If so, this should be negotiated.

I have a simple rule, I won't donate images for free unless everyone else is also working for free. In most cases like this neither the author nor the publisher are working for free. I could be wrong but I assume the book will be for sale and that means they will be making money from your picture. If someone else is going to make money from my picture then I expect to as well.

Wow .. so confused..lol

really appreciate everyones input..

The picture i took .. was a pic i took during one of my street photography shoots..

i dont take those with any sort of "make money " mentality... im just there trying to capture human moments .. and then of course i share hoping that people will appreciate the pic

in a way if its a nice ego boost .. that someone would want to have my picture in there book . represenitng something that i was trying to capture..
but then theres that side that feels like.. damn not even $5 bucks !?!??!

somones making money off of this right .?

idk what to do

Not unlike its greater sibling Fame, Credit is an empty purse: count it, go broke; eat it, go hungry; seek it, go mad.

I also take images for the joy of it, but if someone other than somebody I care for wants to use them, then they are seeing value in them and must cough up $$, even if it's not a fortune.

If it's something that you never thought you'd make any money off of, nor have you invested any time trying to shop those images around...then I'd say go for it with the exception that they pay something, even if it's only enough to take your girl/guy/w.e. out to a nice dinner. Otherwise, what is the photo going to do other than sit on your harddrive or shared on social media. I would try to ensure that it's only used for that book, and the marketing of it but other than that why not? Assuming you can get like $100 of course.

If it were McDonald's or Ford Motor Co. that'd be a different story (friend of mine once got a random email from someone at Target that wanted to pay $1500 for a photo she shot years ago of a bicycle...coulda got more but it was so old and unexpected she said why not), but smaller things like this I'd consider it after combing through the contract carefully to make sure there's no hidden surprises.