Badger photos needed

[Words]

Originally Posted by muscardinus

It's hard to make a living as a photographer, or indeed as a writer. Still, mustn't moan...

I agree with the first two, but not the third. It's good to moan

[Rob Chace]

Originally Posted by paulthomas

Sounds like another go at ripping off naive amateurs. You give your time and photographs for free, you buy the gear and sit out night after night either getting frozen on cold nights or bitten to death by midges on the milder ones. Then you give them your photos and they make the money. That's know as a rip-off. If you have a picture which is worth money to them then it's worth money to you. Surely only a fool would give money away to a commercial enterprise?

I agree with Paul!
If the publisher is selling the book to make a profit, then the photographer should also be paid for all his (or her) hard work. Too many people are being ripped off by these publishers & they dont even realise. I myself have had images published & got paid for them. I have also supplied images free of charge to charities & good causes. This deal however does not seem right If they can afford to give you a copy of the book, then they can afford to pay you for the rights to use your image. For the record, i am an amature photographer (although not as naive as i once was!), not a pro.
Food for thought?
Regards
Rob.

[Words]

Ok, enough please! Academic books make small profits in general. Period. The economics of it are very strange. Authors tend to be funded from grant money or what's called QR-funding (money given to universities based on overall quality of research), not royalties. Aacdemics have to publish to keep their day job. No publications, no grant money, no job. I've known important books sell in dozens rather than hundreds. Still worth publishing though.

And as pointed out, agencies will get £20-£50 for a photo, with the photographer getting maybe half that (and then taxed). 100 images, say £3000 at that rate.

If 500 copies sell at say £50 retail, that's £25k gross. The publisher gets about half of that (on a good day... I used to give up to 70% discounts to large retailers when I was publishing). So that's £12,500 to pay for... print, origination, typesetting, editing, administration, editorial boards etc. Precious little left for authors or photographers. There really aren't any huge profits. And if a book does do well, it funds all the ones that are equally important but which don't sell in great numbers.

Yes, the sums don't add up. It's like anything else, one or two 'star' authors make everyone think all authors are rich. Most are lucky to make a fraction of the minimum wage for the time actually spent writing.

Ok, rant/response over (promise!). I really do appreciate those who have stepped forward.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Rob Chace

If they can afford to give you a copy of the book, then they can afford to pay you for the rights to use your image..

not so...a book is worth may be £25 notes - wheras i would normally be looking for more than that per picture if i was selling them comercially. Also many books will be remaindered so giving one as a goodwill gesture is far cheaper than paying for pics - which as has been explained most academic publications cannot afford (which is why a lot of pics in acamedic work suck imo).

The bottom line is that "words" has already outlined whats on offer and you either like it or you dont - if you dont , then dont get involved

[Words]

An update: I now have much more detailed information about the type of photos required and details of the project, which is by Professor Tim Roper and a direct successor to the Ernest Neal classic. The book will be part of the Collins New Naturalist series and is intended to be a serious review of what is known about badger biology and behaviour, but written in a style accessible to non-specialists. It will be profusely illustrated throughout, to some extent with graphs, charts and tables but to a large extent with colour photographs – up to about 150 in total.

I have a list of the range of images required and contact details for submissions.

Although there is no financial reward for individual pictures, if anyone is able to contribute a significant number of images then it should be possible to provide them with a free copy of the book and Professor Roper may be able to consider cash payment. This would be by negotiation.

I'll be PM'ing those who have already been in touch to get an email contact, and anyone else who is interested should also PM me with an email address.

[thunder]

Originally Posted by Words

Although there is no financial reward for individual pictures, if anyone is able to contribute a significant number of images then it should be possible to provide them with a free copy of the book and Professor Roper may be able to consider cash payment.

They must have got tighter recently. I did one black and white picture for a New Naturalist some years ago and got a free copy as a matter of course. (But they did get my initials wrong in the photo credits!)

henrya

[JonSadler]

I work as an academic and the issue is with the publishers. If we 'edit' books we seldom get any form of payment (this is not usually the case for popular titles or textbooks). In fact, it is usually something like £100 worth of books from the publishers catalogue (that was the case with my last one). We also transfer copyright for the diagrams etc that go into it. So bizarrely if I wish to reuse a figure I have created I have to ask for the publisher's permission! Shocking but true.

Publishers always claim expensive production, small print runs etc. And they are very hard-nosed. If there is payment it is usually a tiny % of the profits they make.

So I am not be surprised about the lack of payment for pictures. It is very wrong on all counts. However, for a book of this nature that has widespread popular appeal there maybe scope for some negotiation (?).

Cheers
Jon

[Words]

Jon, spot on!