Question about charging.

I've been taking motorsport pictures for about a year now and this week decided to try emailing some magazines etc and ask about getting pictures published.

So far ive had a couple of replies so am sending out some cds with full res versions of the pictures.

One of the replies also asked what kind of price per shot i would be charging if they were to use them.

I've never really charged anyone for my pictures(never really had to) so have no idea what you can charge for these type of things.

The magazine in question is the official programme for the isle of man tt races. I dont know how many they make but basically its a high quality glossy magazine and the last two years ive been there theyve been charging £10 for it if that helps to give an idea of the rates.

Its still a year away till the next one but so will be ages before i know if they will actually use them but they asked for a rough price so i better give them one.

Thanks in advance for any help

Alan

Nobody?

It's really impossible to answer your question based upon the information given (I'm not any kind of expert on editorial usage, anyway).

Look for the stickies here on pricing and read them. Do a search, this sort of question comes up a lot. Buy the book "Pricing Photographs" which will also give you a leg up on the terminology, help you understand various usage rights, provide sample usage agreements that you can adapt, as well as provide some starting point for your price negotiations. There are also some online calculators for image usage pricing. And, why not go to some of the stock agency websites to see what they charge.

It's a bit putting the cart before the horse, submitting sample images without any idea of pricing, isn't it?

It's often the other way around... Many publications will have a set payment schedule that they'll provide on request, rather than asking the photographer to name his price.

You'll need to know a lot more to come up with an accurate price quote. First is how large is their circulation or press run? Then exactly how will they use the image - front cover? A prominent lead illustration for a feature story? Or just a small image buried somewhere inside? How much exclusivity do they expect and for how long? Will they have resale rights, to offer it out on their wire services (watch out for this one!)?

These are all things you really need to know before you can quote a price. There may be some others, as I mentioned above, I'm not an expert on editorial image usage!