Author Topic: Sold another image license from Flickr (Read 9126 times)

dnavarrojr · « **on:** April 09, 2010, 21:15 »

I know someone's gonna tell me I sold it for too little, but the final paperwork is done for the license of an illustration I did:

A book author for a science textbook saw this image on Flickr and contacted me about licensing for his book. I'm getting $2,500 for the first print run (50,000 books) and $750 for each 25,000 books printed afterward. And it's going on the cover of the book. I should be getting my first check next week.

This is the third time I've licensed an image directly from Flickr (and the second time for this image).

Dreamframer · « **Reply #1 on:** April 09, 2010, 21:26 »

Congrats!

Sorry for asking, but if it's not a secret, did you use application called "Universe" to draw this galaxy?

Phil · « **Reply #2 on:** April 09, 2010, 23:53 »

congrats!

nice image and nice price

makes you wonder what we are doing in micro

dnavarrojr · « **Reply #3 on:** April 10, 2010, 00:02 »

The author had never heard of microstock before and a friend suggested that he search Flickr for images to use in his book. I actually have that image on both Dreamstime and ShutterStock. The acquisitions editor asked me if the image was exclusive at a microstock site and when I told her "no", she asked if I would be willing to negotiate directly for licensing instead of going through one of the sites.

sharply_done · « **Reply #4 on:** April 10, 2010, 00:33 »

Nice price!

I'm completely confounded as to why she preferred to license it from you for $2500+ when she could have more easily licensed it through Dreamstime for 1/500 the price - given that she asked you about microstock, she obviously knew she could. I can only guess that spending other people's money responsibly just isn't a priority with some people/businesses. I'd be willing to bet that if her boss or the author finds out about this, she will be in very hot water - why did she make a completely unnecessary $2500 purchase?

I wonder, too, how you feel about this. I don't know if I'd be able to sell someone an image for 500 times its normal price. Not without feeling (at least a little) self-conscious about it anyway.

gostwyck · « **Reply #5 on:** April 10, 2010, 05:10 »

Quote from: sharply_done on April 10, 2010, 00:33

I'm completely confounded as to why she preferred to license it from you for $2500+ when she could have more easily licensed it through Dreamstime for 1/500 the price - given that she asked you about microstock, she obviously knew she could. I can only guess that spending other people's money responsibly just isn't a priority with some people/businesses. I'd be willing to bet that if her boss or the author finds out about this, she will be in very hot water - why did she make a completely unnecessary $2500 purchase?

Hmm __ I'll believe it when the money is actually paid.

cathyslife · « **Reply #6 on:** April 10, 2010, 08:26 »

Quote from: dnavarrojr on April 10, 2010, 00:02

The author had never heard of microstock before and a friend suggested that he search Flickr for images to use in his book. I actually have that image on both Dreamstime and ShutterStock. The acquisitions editor asked me if the image was exclusive at a microstock site and when I told her "no", she asked if I would be willing to negotiate directly for licensing instead of going through one of the sites.

It does seem strange but I have had the same thing happen. A company emailed me and wanted to use just a small part of one of my images. They had already downloaded it from micro to use, but preferred to have the license paperwork and transaction take place between the two of us. They paid me a bunch more money, on top of the small royalty I got from them downloading from a micro site. I also told them it was not an exclusive image, but they didn't care.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #7 on:** April 10, 2010, 08:46 »

In 2005, I licensed an iStock image to a book company for a cover for $250. So, you beat me.

cathyslife · « **Reply #8 on:** April 10, 2010, 09:15 »

Quote from: sharply_done on April 10, 2010, 00:33

I'd be willing to bet that if her boss or the author finds out about this, she will be in very hot water - why did she make a completely unnecessary $2500 purchase?

I wonder, too, how you feel about this. I don't know if I'd be able to sell someone an image for 500 times its normal price. Not without feeling (at least a little) self-conscious about it anyway.

I don't think anyone will be in hot water and I don't think it was an unnecessary purchase. The OP didn't hide anything.

Companies can't afford to buy an image from microstock that is going to be used in a major campaign and not have exact licensing terms in writing. The microstock sites use very loose language when it comes to the licenses, IMHO. The paperwork I signed for the deal I did had way more detail in it, and that was ok with me.

I don't know about you, but I am happy to use my microstock images as a stepping stone into something more lucrative. I pretty much think that's one of the major reasons I keep my images online. One deal like the OPs could make all the piddly .20 royalties pay off and turn into something better.

lisafx · « **Reply #9 on:** April 10, 2010, 10:36 »

Congratulations! I think this is every exciting! I would be thrilled to be able to non-exclusively license an image for that kind of money!

And IMO you have nothing to worry about. Having been honest with the buyer, there is nothing wrong with accepting such a fee for an image that is also on micro. If the licensing terms are agreeable to both the buyer and seller, that's all that's important.

Dreamframer · « **Reply #10 on:** April 10, 2010, 12:17 »

I agree with both Cclaper and Lisa. Enjoy!

madelaide · « **Reply #11 on:** April 10, 2010, 12:47 »

Congratulations! It adds to my intention of putting images at Flickr that may allow future direct negotiations.

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #12 on:** April 10, 2010, 14:38 »

Excellent news and you deserve it. The image is out of this world by the way

dnavarrojr · « **Reply #13 on:** April 10, 2010, 21:50 »

Quote from: cclapper on April 10, 2010, 09:15

Companies can't afford to buy an image from microstock that is going to be used in a major campaign and not have exact licensing terms in writing. The microstock sites use very loose language when it comes to the licenses, IMHO. The paperwork I signed for the deal I did had way more detail in it, and that was ok with me.

Precisely, it was a VERY big contract (19 pages) and I had to pay a local attorney to review it with me. The contract does max out at $10,000 after which they can continue to use it for that book or any subsequent editions of that book for no additional charge. If the image is selected for another book, they will pay me for its use in the additional book(s) but the discount gets deeper. I'm sure there is some agenda where it's gonna get used a lot more so they get more than their money's worth. But I'm happy with the deal. Apparently that's why they prefer to license directly from the author.

I went through something similar when I licensed some video clips to Discovery Networks they originally bought on Pond5. They paid an up front license fee to avoid having to pay any royalties on video sales. I'm pretty sure I got screwed on that deal...

CCK · « **Reply #14 on:** April 11, 2010, 01:07 »

I would have been very pleased if it happened to me. I know a guy whose photo was used for a book cover, the publisher bought it from SS for 25 cent. He wasn't pleased.

Phil · « **Reply #15 on:** April 11, 2010, 01:40 »

Quote from: CCK on April 11, 2010, 01:07

I would have been very pleased if it happened to me. I know a guy whose photo was used for a book cover, the publisher bought it from SS for 25 cent. He wasn't pleased.

One of my images is up to 17 book covers that I have found over time through tineye. I'd expect some of them were subs sales

Microbius · « **Reply #16 on:** April 11, 2010, 07:25 »

Good job. That's a great deal by anyone's standard for non exclusive use. I've had two book covers in the last six months, both just bought through sites for extended license prices nothing like that high.
I would even consider licensing the image exclusively for that kind of money. 99% of individual images will never generate that level of income on stock sites.

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Author Topic: Sold another image license from Flickr (Read 9126 times)

dnavarrojr

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Phil

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gostwyck

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