MicrostockGroup

A publisher contacted me to ask for permission to use a photo (of my son) on a controversial book cover.   I'll permit it, but I'm wondering about BigStock licensing:  it's a limited run 5,000-10,000 copies.  The photo has not been sold with special licensing on BigStock.

On their purchasing agreement it states:  Without a BigStockPhoto Special License, you may not:
a. print the photo or image as a poster, postcard, greeting card, on a mug, shirt, hat, mouse pad, art print, painting, calendar, book, or gallery or use the image in screensavers, e-card software, web page builders or other systems where the image is shared or distributed to a number of users. With a BigStockPhoto Special License these uses can be allowable.

But if you go to the special licensing area, it states

1. Using a photo as part of a brochure, advertisement, demonstration, book cover, packaging, marketing material, newsletter, promotional or scholastic materials, presentations, within films or videos, website design etc. is generally OK. As long as the photo is an integrated supportive part of your project or product, and not a main definitive part of the actual product you are generally fine.

I assume I should be happy with the $1 sale and be excited that my kid is on a book cover?   

I thought I should run this one past those with more experience here before I respond.  THANKX

why don't you contact BigStock  ?  They should know the answer

But I see no problems with a book cover.

Thanks Perrush, I did ask on their forum and one of the admins confirmed.  So, yes, they got the photo for a buck.  Now, I don't think this title is going to sell a million copies, but wow - imagine if your photo was purchased for a buck and was on the latest Harry Potter cover?

I find it more bizarre that you have to buy a special license to put the same photo on a single coffee mug, but oh well. 

The other stab - get this - the subject matter could be defamatory so they asked special permission to use the photo and that I sign a minor model release (my kid) and mail it back to them.  Here's the stab.... it costs .93 cents plus .06 gst to mail a letter to the U.S. from here.     With currency exchange I will have made about 3 cents.

The agent is really nice though, I made a comment that I liked their catalogue - is it available in Canada and he said to send him a list of titles, they likely have publicity copies they can send.

I have a digital file that I'll post if/when it actually goes to print.

A book cover for a dollar. Great job. I just sold a image for a book cover last month at a print run of 6000 and got $2500. In January sold another image again for a print run of 6000 and got $1800 (6000 is typically a minimun print run with most book publishers). If I go through all my sales which I know I have sold several book covers I am sure I have never sold one for a dollar. Hey folks you gotta ask a whole lot more. By the way, I was just in New York at a conference on the state of the industry, got some food for thought. The image you sold for a dollar, what if that publisher decides they want to use it on future book covers, on a web site, a major ad campaign and on lots of postcards and coffee mugs and they decide not to pay you any additional money, what are you going to do about it? The answer is probably nothing. If you take them to court for copy right infringement, the judge will probably award you $1 for each use because have already indicted the worth of that image to be $1. Another thought, You won't even get an appointment in front of the judge if that image isn't registered with the copyright office in Washington DC. If your outside of the United States, I have no idea how your laws look at copy right infringements.

Wonder if the book publisher paid the author a buck for his or her writing?

Good luck folks with your sales but please be reasonable in your prices.

I'll be posting in the very near future some thoughts on the industry as a whole when I get caught up from my travels. Got some items I think might be helpful to some. Just a quick note, I have traveled to New York, Seattle and Montreal talking to major players in the stock industry and will share some of their comments with you. These folks are very much important players in the industry, including microstock.

Traveler