Someone wants two of my of my photos for a book! Help!

[meister]

First the good news... someone sent me an email about a couple of my photos. They'd like to use them in a book. It's what I'd call a "low volume enthusiasts" book relating to cars. I'm not a pro photographer... I just do it for fun. The fact is that I'd love to see my pictures published in a book and I'm not all that concerned about getting paid for it. That said, it would be stupid of me to turn away money if there was some to be had.

How should I approach this? I was planning on just letting them have non-exclusive rights to the photos for this book only. I even wrote up some pseudo-legaleeze (as you may have guessed, IANAL)...

I'd be happy to let you use the photos in exchange for the following:
- 5 copies of the book when it is published.
- A photo credit in the book (which you mentioned).
- A guarantee that the photos will be used only in this book (and future revisions of this book) and are not to be used in other publications or promotional materials except with my permission.
- I retain rights and ownership of the photos. I am not granting you exclusive rights to the photos and as such I retain the right to sell or give them to other parties in the future.

Am I selling myself short? If I ask for payment, I wouldn't have a clue as to how much is reasonable. I don't want to scare them away by asking for payment as the reality is that I think it would be cool to be published in a book.

Thoughts?

[phototakeouter]

Pseudo-legalese sounds like a good start. Make sure that you get the confirmation of their acceptance in writing and not by email. Not too sure about the 'future revisions' part. I think if they want to publish a new version they should have to come back to you.

For example, suppose their first run is 50 books, but they get bought out by a big conglomerate who wants to publish a million copies. Shouldn't you be paid a commensurately higher licence fee?

Here's a good site to get some ballpark figures on what to charge - Stock Photo Price Calculator. Most probably your usage would fall under Editorial.

You definitely should ask for payment, and you should probably also ask that part of the payment is made up front, but that's a judgement call and may not be feasible depending on the final amount decided.

If you asking for payment scares them away, they're probably not worth doing business with in the first place.

[Driftwood]

Why not try asking them what terms they are prepared to offer first and go from there. They may already have an agreement drawn up.