Photographers should be alert to any requests from textbook publishers for a new license to extend the print run on books already published. In many cases they may be entitled to high retroactive usage fees for copies already printed and distributed as well as a fee for the new books the publisher intends to publish.

One of the first things to do if you want to sell your still photographs is to understand who the individuals and organizations are that might want to buy your images. You also need to be aware of the changing trends taking place in each market.

Stock image producers often have two misconceptions about subscription licensing services: They believe subscription licensing is simple and that for a very low monthly fee customers are allowed to use any image for any purpose. Neither is true.This story compares the subscription offering of Shutterstock and Britannica Image Explorer to drive home the point that two services can both be justifiably called subscription, but offer very benefits for both the customer and the image creator.

Universal Images Group, the distribution business unit of the Virtual Picture Desk (VPD), in conjunction with Encyclopaedia Britannica has launched a new photo service called "Britannica Image Explorer." This library of imagery launched with over 1 million images specifically edited for the needs of educational users. School systems will subscriber to this service and members of these organizations will have unlimited access to low resolution (150 dpi) versions of these images for the duration of the license. The license is for non-commercial educational use only. Any uses not covered by the subscription license must be licensed separately directly from the image provider.

U.S. educational publishers are admitting to more and more unauthorized uses during the past decade and quietly entering into out-of-court settlements with an increasing number of image suppliers for large numbers of uses. In cases where the original license fee was well under $1,000, publishers are now paying multiple thousands of dollars to settle claims.

U.S. educational publishers are admitting to more and more unauthorized uses during the past decade and quietly entering into out-of-court settlements with an increasing number of image suppliers for large numbers of uses. In cases where the original license fee was well under $1,000 the publishers are now paying multi-thousands of dollars to settle these claims.

In light of pricing declines for textbook use and publisher attempts to avoid paying for future electronic uses, some image producers ask: "Why don't all the sellers just say 'no'? Shouldn't the producer be setting product prices?"

If you license rights to your photos for textbook use then here are a few articles you should read.

One of the leading producers of short form business profiles (videos of 45 to 75 seconds) is TurnHere.com. The company has a network of over 8,000 freelance videographers working in over 70 countries. It has produced more than 27,000 short videos (7,000 within the last 6 months) for local business around the world.

In addition to raising print quantities and extending license durations, textbook publishers are increasingly asking for the rights to publish the same information for the same time period on password-protected Web sites. While publishers intends to charge for those passwords, they expect content producers not to count such uses as part of the circulation.

From a stock photography point of view, the future is bleak for those trying to sell images for textbook use. This segment of the stock photography business is on what appears to be an irreversible downward spiral.

Is it time to institute a system of floor prices for the use of rights-managed images for editorial purposes? Is there any price so low—$50, $30 or $20—that the image creator would prefer not to make the sale? This article explores this issue and suggests a strategy that could benefit rights managed photographers and agencies alike.

Twenty questions to test your knowledge of the photo licensing industry and its future potential.

Textbook publishers now have total control when it comes to setting prices and have no reason to want a dialogue with sellers on the subject of pricing. However, past uses is one area where publishers might want to open a discussion, seeing the outcomes of several recent court cases.

The following is a list of general categories of imagery that are often used by educational publishers. This list is used by the Universal Images Groups and by Encyclopaedia Britannica in categorizing images for their purposes. In one sense the list might be viewed as covering all types of imagery, but if you think of each category in terms of images that might have an educational application you see that many images that might broadly fit into the category will have little or no education value. 

The business of licensing rights for textbook and educational use has been changing dramatically in the last year or so. Photographers and distributors need to make some major adjustments in the ways they calculate prices for uses compared to what they were doing a few years ago. This article outlines some new pricing strategies and explores some of the options. Those who continue to use the old strategies are leaving huge amounts of money on the table.