I recieved an email from someone wanting to buy the rights to one of my pictures :) Hopefully it is legit. Anyway, has anyone done this before? I am not sure what a resonable price would be. I think this guy is in a small business that wants to use the picture as part of their promotional or logo activities. If it were Microsoft I am sure I would charge a lot more! So what is a resonable price? Any information would be appreciated.

heya; you can try www.gag.org, the graphics artists guild. they publish yearly standard fees for various graphics projects. be sure you know what rights you are selling. if you give them permission to use the artwork once, but you still OWN the rights, that should be one price, but if they want to buy the rights, then it should be much higher. as an example, let's say you charge 200$ for one use of the picture. now, the next time they want to print your picture, they owe you another $200. if you sell them all the rights to the picture for $200, they can print that as many times as they want, and you don't get any more compensation. logos, on their letter head, on their business cards, on their trucks, t shirts, mouse pads, coffee mugs, hats, pennants, billboards.... they get all that for one price. generally, it is best not to sell the copyrights to your art, but to sell permission for limited use of the art. so just keep in mind not only what the picture is worth, but what use they will get out of it. (as well as how much you need to make, what is reasonable for their size of business, etc.)

Besides what Bloodsong said, if you sell over all your rights to it, you'll never be able to use it yourself for anything again. It's sort of like selling your soul. You can't get it back. Be very careful and ask a lot of questions of this person before making a decision. I agree that you could sell the use of the image, but don't give up your copyright to it. You created it, it's yours. If someone wants to use it, they can pay for the use. Melanie

I've sold plenty of stuff. I give the customer the option to buy the rights per use or to buy the rights to the image. I prefer to have them buy the rights and I charge a much higher price. I have received as much as $500.00 for single use piece of art from a small company under 50 empoyees. If I sold the rights to the image I would have asked for $1000.00 to $2500.00 total. They then have unlimited use. Sometimes you can contract with the client to do more work down the road. In that case you might give them a price break on the image. You gotta kinda get a feel for your customer. Like you said MS you could charge more since they are such a large company. Also, If you price it right they will come back for repeat business. I usually find out if they want a single use license or if they want to buy the rights to the image. Then start off with a price that you think the work is worth and take into account the purchasing power of the company. Give them a starting price and then you can work with them from there. You can also tell them if they want more work down the road you can give them a price break on this purchase. Oh heck, I could go on and on. You gotta kinda feel the client out. Also, Get a contract signed with the terms before making the final deal. Final deal = Money changing hands. You get a copy and they get a copy. It should be signed by both parties. I have a sample contract I can E-Mail to you if you like. It just protects both you and the client from any misunderstanding which do happen. Good luck and congrats! Thats really exciting news! regards, Clint Hawkin-Z GraF-X

A quick note in regards to melanies comment. I always make sure to put in the contract that I can use the work to display on my Demo Reel or web site but I cant sell it again or use a variation of it. This is if you sell the rights to the image. But hell if ya get a few grand who cares.. ;) Clint

Thanks to everyone for the replies! I new I could count on the members in this forum. You gave me some things to think about.

I havn't sold anything but have purchased thousands of photos & art over the years for the companies that I worked for. Some of the paintings (original oils) were up to $16,000 each & that was for full reproduction rights only, the artist kept the paintings and sold them for an addtl $18,000 with no repro rights. Iv've also paid as little as $60.00 for print reproducion rights for photography. As the original creator of the "art" you still own its' copyright even if you assign it to someone else UNLESS you are an employee doing art for a company or you agree to any terminology that deams the art as "work for hire". That translates into "this person was temporarily employed by us to do this art, therefore all rights are reserved by the company". Just be fair & the more work you sell & the better your stuff is regognized the higher price you can charge.

With the Communities indulgence I'd like to add my two cents on this subject. As all these fine people have pointed out, all things are negotiable. What I would like to pass on to you is no matter what you decide, always get everything in writing, before you send them anything. I've been burned once but it was for 5k. Did all the work and was only able to get the intial fee of $700 from them, and a tax write off. So do yourself a favor get it in writing, and never sell yourself short. Don't base your answer on what the client can afford, but also on what you feel your time and effort is worth. Nuke

I've sold art work over the years... From commissioned portrait paintings, photographs, logos and even knitting.. I agree with all the above.. Just wish I had a mentor or someone who could have directed me the right way when I was much younger.. Mid American Travels commissioned me to do a logo for their Honeymoon in Bahamas years ago and I got total of 100 bucks.. To this day they still use that logo and I get no credit and get no money.. Burns a hole in my crawl each time I see them using my art work still (whenever I go back home).. I got screwed by my own ignorance... Right now I'm doing adult computer generated 3D images for a friend I know who has two adult sites online.. Even though I trust him, we are working on a contract! ... First job I ever had was working for Times Herald Union Newspaper in the Ad department then I went onto Dillard's advertising department, Memphis Magazine and Web Advertising.. I understood what work I did for these companies were not my own but the ownership of the corporation.... But what I do on my own is my future reference and my bread and butter...I personally think you should charge according to your experience and expertise.. If your a good artist and you deal with your clients fairly, no doubt you'll be mentioned to other possible clients.. As you make a name for yourself, and depending on the demand, then you most certainly should go up on your price as time goes on... Good luck to you and congrats on the offer.. =) ~Cindy