Lost out on my first sale.

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Harold56

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I was just approached by a large UK mobile phone company for the use of one of my images in their customer magazine, it's a decent shot nothing special.
The magazine circulation would have been over 500,000, but as I had no idea on pricing (I've never sold an image before) I decided on £250, they offered £20
I turned it down hoping for a counter offer which never came, now £20 is not going to make a difference in my life but loosing out on the chance of seeing one of my shots potentially reach over a million people sticks in the throat a bit, esp as this would have been my first sale.
 
I would of settled for £20 with a credit to my website for the photograph. Thats a lot of advertising for nothing. But that applies to them aswell, they cant expect to pay nothing to advertise on such a scale. They were trying to skank you out.

Unlucky bud.

King.
 
thats bit crap but £20 for mass-print run is an utter joke.
don't blame you for wanting more. their loss. and who ever goes for the £20 does nothing but propagate this kind of expectation on the part of the company. mobile phone companies are hardly national - they're international. and they absolutely rake it in. for example Orange is owned by FSR (french - service gone down hill IMHO since this, nothing against france but company changed enough to warrent me wanting to leave asap...), Vodaphone is setting up in india (I think?) - I digress...my point being £20 for a picture to go - potentially - international is a joke.
£250 is actually not too bad a stab but given circulation I'd maybe asked for more. they're idiots. they'll get it for £20 from some desperate amateur who knows no better...which is really sad actually. and I'd have asked for credit AND website details/URL

edit: no matter. get stuck back into it and you'll have your first sale. Don't give up!
 
shiato storm said:
thats bit crap but £20 for mass-print run is an utter joke.
don't blame you for wanting more. their loss. and who ever goes for the £20 does nothing but propagate this kind of expectation on the part of the company. mobile phone companies are hardly national - they're international. and they absolutely rake it in. for example Orange is owned by FSR (french - service gone down hill IMHO since this, nothing against france but company changed enough to warrent me wanting to leave asap...), Vodaphone is setting up in india (I think?) - I digress...my point being £20 for a picture to go - potentially - international is a joke.
£250 is actually not too bad a stab but given circulation I'd maybe asked for more. they're idiots. they'll get it for £20 from some desperate amateur who knows no better...which is really sad actually.
Click to expand...

Disagree with you a little. 'Some desperate amateaur' is a broad generilization and very elitist. The dawn of digital has brought high quality photography to everybody. This in turn has changed the way photographs are sold and bought. With the mass amount of 'amateurs' and beginners trying to get that first published photograph the competition is fierce. Many of them would of jumped at the chance to have a mass print with a credit to their name/website. It isnt just about the money, its about the advertising you recieve, free.

I can ramble for months about this topic,... but I am tired, its been a long, tough day and I want to browse in harmony.

King.
 
Another company with a big(gish) budget chancing their arm and trying to get something for basically nothing. :annoyed:

If they want cheap they should go to a microstock site and buy there instead of insulting you with a measly offer like that. In fact I'd bet that the chances of a meaningful credit would have been slim as well. :thumbsdown:

And yes, some jobs might well be worth doing cheap, but this one doesn't feel like it. Bl#@dy chancers they are. If they'd been serious they should have come back with an offer of at least £80 to get things rolling. :suspect:

Good on you yodasarmpit, and whatever you do don't ring them back.
 
Sorry you missed out on the circulation.
Maybe a lateral solution could have been found such as £250 cash or £500 worth of airtime or data exchange etc. The airtime is costs nothing to them but really is worth its value to you, I’m guessing you have a cell ‘phone here?

Just one more thing, King Boru suggests digital imaging has made high quality photography available to everyone. The truth is High quality photography has always been available to everyone; people choose not to engage in it thou. I saw some real rubbish on film and guess what? I’ve seen some real rubbish on digital as well. It’s all down to the type and quality of the person not the camera.
 
ilikebowens said:
Maybe a lateral solution could have been found such as £250 cash or £500 worth of airtime or data exchange etc. The airtime is costs nothing to them but really is worth its value to you, I’m guessing you have a cell ‘phone here?
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I never actually thought of that, good point, hopefully the situation will arise again in the future, if not then at least I know someone liked my stuff.
 
ilikebowens said:
The truth is High quality photography has always been available to everyone; people choose not to engage in it thou.
Click to expand...

Right,...people do choose to engange it, the onset of digital has brought this. The days of 35mm film was totally different. A beginner picking up a manual/semi auto SLR camera (film) will waste hundreds of pounds test shooting, practicing etc. If a beginner picks up a DSLR he/she can shoot away without worrying about going through hundreds of pounds of film. This reassurance has increased the number of, as the upper posts put it, "desperate amateaurs". As I previously stated, this increase in "desperate amateurs" has driven the competition to new heights in getting things published/sold.

Just my 2p's really.

King.
 
King_Boru said:
Disagree with you a little. 'Some desperate amateaur' is a broad generilization and very elitist. The dawn of digital has brought high quality photography to everybody. This in turn has changed the way photographs are sold and bought. With the mass amount of 'amateurs' and beginners trying to get that first published photograph the competition is fierce. Many of them would of jumped at the chance to have a mass print with a credit to their name/website. It isnt just about the money, its about the advertising you recieve, free.

I can ramble for months about this topic,... but I am tired, its been a long, tough day and I want to browse in harmony.

King.
Click to expand...
I apologise if my remark appeared condescending in anyway...I was merely making the distinction that someone without the knowledge of how photographs might be used would quite happily say yes to £20. My further points attempted to explain that with this sort of thing going on it only propagates the assumption within businesses (that require photographs for promotion of their products) that photographs can be had for virtually nothing...which leaves professional photographers out of pocket, out of food and out on the streets looking for another job!
It wasn't my intention to appear elitist either. As you will see from the handy link from Pete, £75 at the very least s suggested...and in this instance probably a bit more.

at the end of the day its the quality of photograph that determines a sale, this means composition, subject matter and so on. The ability for someone to pick up a camera has not really changed in the past few years other than the onset of digital - in fact the prices of digitals are still a fair bit higher than 35mm counterparts. You could always slap velvia into any film loading camera and snap away if thats the quality you believe you're after, unfortunately - and as I have mentioned many times in other threads - its not about having the latest and greatest camera but what you do with it. dozens of megapixels is not going to rescue a poorly thought out shot, likewise I've seen some incredible images shot by someone with 'just' a phone camera...

...back on topic though, its quite unreasonable for a mobile phone company (i.e. rolling in it!!) to offer a meager £20 for such wide distribution and that yodasarmpit [what a pleasant thought!] was right to expect more yet should not give up and will achieve a sale in due course that befits his abilities with a camera, rather more than just what a company thinks it can get away with...
 
I think we all want to see the picture now! :D

Kudos for the principles by the way, £20 is a very small amount. I must admit, I probably would have gone back with a counter offer.
Definately bookmark that link from Pete by the way, it's invaluable!
 
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