Making Your Camera Pay Part 7

Labor: See particular division desired by consulting Market Book.

Law: _Casualty Review_, 222 East Ohio St., Indianapolis, Ind.

Lumber: _Lumber_, Wright Bldg., St. Louis, Mo.

Medical: See division desired, as Dental, Hospital, etc., in Market Book.

Military: _American Legion Weekly_, 627 West 43d St., New York.

Munic.i.p.al: _American City_, 87 Na.s.sau St., New York.

Printing: _The Inland Printer_, Inland Printing Co., 632 Sherman St., Chicago.

Railroad: _The Railroad Red Book_, 2019 Stout St., Denver, Colo.

Shoes: _Boot and Shoe Recorder_, 207 South St., Boston.

This survey gives a general idea of the wide market open to photographs which fall within each magazine's requirements. No attempt has been made to give the needs of magazines, or to present what is usually called "a list of markets." We have been concerned here with generalizing the market--pointing out to the reader who never sees most of the magazines named that they really exist and buy photographs. The purchase of a Market Book is necessary if one desires seriously to make his way selling photographs to publications.

"Study the magazine" is the bromide flung always in the teeth of the beginner. But what if one can't obtain copies of the magazines which print material which the reader may easily find? Then he has only to request from the editor a sample copy of the magazine, using the address gleaned from the Market Book--and he then has the best information as to what that particular magazine wants. And at a cost of only two cents per copy.

VIII

s.h.i.+PPING THE PRODUCT TO MARKET

When a print is to be offered to a local newspaper, the photographer starts out, sometimes, as soon as one hour after making the exposure, with the print in his hand, and, arriving at the desk of the city-editor, he allows him to examine it. In such a case, mailing the print would delay it; perhaps delay it until its interest has cooled, and so make it worthless. But when submitting prints to magazines one should always invoke the aid of Uncle Sam's mail-service, no matter if the editor lives just next door and the publication-office is but a block distant.

The s.h.i.+pping of your prints to their markets merits special consideration. If the photograph, after being wrapped, can be bent easily, it is apt to arrive at the editor's desk in a cracked and crumpled condition. Then the editor could not buy it if he wished. And, when it is returned, its maker finds it to be so mutilated that it is useless to try to market it elsewhere. Proper protection of photographs when s.h.i.+pping them is an aid to both editor and contributor.

Photographs which are 4 5 inches in size can be sent safely in a No.

11 envelope of heavy manila paper if a sheet of cardboard is placed in the envelope too. The cardboard prevents the breaking of corners, the bending, and the cracking of the print. For a return-envelope--_never omit to enclose an envelope addressed to yourself and adequately stamped for the return of the print if it is unavailable_--for a return envelope, a No. 10 manila envelope is the best.

Prints which are 4 5 inches or larger should be sent in larger envelopes--in clasp-envelopes. These envelopes can be obtained at stationers' in sizes suitable for almost any photograph. The envelope should be about an inch larger each way than the print. The print, as well as a piece of cardboard--which should be somewhat larger than the print--can be sent safely in the clasp-envelope container. _On no occasion forget to enclose a return-envelope, which should be self-addressed and stamped._ The return-envelope may be of the same size as the outer one; and, if it is folded, it may be easily inserted.

The envelopes mentioned, I have found by experience, are the best containers that can be used for photographs that are to be mailed.

Never roll a print and insert it in a mailing-tube. If there is anything an editor does _not_ want you to do, it is that. Prints so sent never lose the violent curve they acquire in transit, and then they are no more amenable to reason than a temperamental mule. Prints should always be sent _flat_--never rolled or folded, nor in any other condition except perfectly _flat_.

The envelope should be addressed to "The Editor" of the particular magazine selected. Do not address it to the editor by name, for it might arrive at a time when he is on his vacation, and so it will follow him all over the country and perhaps become lost. There should be no enclosure other than the photograph; except, when it is necessary, a sheet carrying an explanation or a short article to be printed with the picture. Do not write a letter to the editor unless the photograph is timely and should have an immediate decision. The professional news-photographer submits his work without letters, and with no identification except his name on the back of each print--and it isn't what's on the back, but what's on the front, that counts.

Photographs properly require only third-cla.s.s postage rates. The addition of a caption to the print, or any other written matter included with it, automatically raises the rate to first-cla.s.s. Even if nothing but the photograph alone is sent, I advise the use of first-cla.s.s service for several reasons: the print is then carried more quickly; it is handled more carefully; and the sender may seal the container, which he is unable to do with third-cla.s.s matter. Always, then, send your photographs by first-cla.s.s mail.

Editors do not maintain special funds for the purpose of paying for postage-due stamps. That is, if a package of photographs arrives at the editor's desk with the postage not fully prepaid, the payment by the editor of the postage due does not make his att.i.tude kindly toward the work itself. There are a good many editors who will not accept contributions from the postoffice which have postage-due stamps attached because of the neglect of the sender to fully prepay the postage. There are a great many more editors who will not return photographs unless a stamped and self-addressed envelope is enclosed with the offering. The att.i.tude is entirely justified, for the supplying of postage to careless contributors in such cases would cost a magazine hundreds of dollars every year.

Never send your photographs by registered mail unless their value is extraordinary; and never send them by special-delivery mail unless the prints are addressed to a newspaper and possess burning-hot news interest. To send photographs of average quality by either registered or special-delivery mail is a trick of the novice struggling for recognition. Use ordinary first-cla.s.s service and the editor will feel more kindly toward you than if he is made to stop his work and sign a mail-receipt.

Not all photographs are accepted by the very first editor who sees them. Very often it is the fifth, or the tenth, or even the twentieth editor who buys them. So if a print comes back, immediately send it out again and again and again. _Don't stop, for the very next time you might sell it._ If it's a good print, there is an editor somewhere waiting for it.

IX

THE PRICES PAID

The most remarkable news-photographs ever made--they were exposed at the South Pole--brought $3,000 from _Leslie's_ (now no longer published) for "First Rights," and $1,000 more from International Feature Service for "Second Rights." Some photographers have realized hundreds of dollars from lucky shots; an extraordinary photograph may bring from $25 to $100; but the average price paid is $3.00; and, indeed, there are some editors who unblus.h.i.+ngly offer as little as ten or twenty-five cents for prints; and some who find it impossible, unwise, or unnecessary to pay for prints at all.

Although the average price paid is not astounding, it is a good return on the cost of making; also, the abundant opportunities for salable prints compensate for what each cheque lacks. A photographer who is wide-awake and moving ought not to find it difficult to sell at least ten prints each week, if not more, when one considers the large number of available subjects and the mult.i.tude of magazines.

Newspapers pay for prints according to their breadth of circulation. A widely-read daily will pay more for photographs than one of small circulation. Very often, newspaper-editors prefer that the press-photographer send a bill for his services. If you are asked to do that, do not hesitate to charge a price you think is entirely just; but don't grasp the opportunity to profiteer. Better, discover the price asked by the newspaper's favorite commercial-photographer, and mark down your price accordingly. That is business; it isn't taking an unfair advantage.

Whatever the price that is paid, don't object if you think it is too low; accept the payment and seek a more remunerative market next time.

This applies to magazines as well as to newspapers.

The prices paid by magazines vary likewise, but none of any reputation pays less than one dollar per print. There are many factors which decide the size of the cheque which the press-photographer receives.

The first is the circulation of the publication, for its financial reserve depends on the number of buyers. The size of the print in some instances decides the price paid. Thus, one magazine pays $1.00 for prints of one size and $2.00 for larger ones. However, there are not many magazines who pay according to the size of print.

Sometimes, retouching must be applied to a print in order to make it suitable for reproduction; and, as the service of a retoucher is expensive, something is deducted from the photographer's cheque to pay for the work. _Popular Science_ is a magazine of that policy. The photographer can avoid such deductions from his cheques by supplying photographs of such quality that they will need no retouching.

If a photograph is offered for the exclusive use of one magazine it may bring a higher price than if it were non-exclusive. Thus, _Collier's_ pays $3.00 for non-exclusive prints and $5.00 for exclusive ones. Some few magazines rarely accept any print that is not exclusive; indeed, non-exclusiveness may be a reason for rejection. Calendar-makers and postcard-makers, of course, buy only exclusive rights. A publisher is always more favorably inclined toward an exclusive than toward a non-exclusive print; and, very often, the added favor means added dollars to the payment.

The use to which a print is put is also a deciding factor in payment. A print bought for use as a cover-ill.u.s.tration will bring home a bigger cheque than if it were used merely as one of many ill.u.s.trations. Too, _Ill.u.s.trated World_ pays $3.00 and more for prints used in its pictorial section, but $2.00 for those used in its mechanical department. Other magazines do not make this distinction.

After all, the price paid depends wholly on the usefulness and quality of the print. If, sometimes, as in the case of the _Ladies' Home Journal_, the payment is made with a view to the photographer's reputation, it is only because news-photographers of experience produce prints of a higher average quality than beginners do. But, if a beginner "delivers the goods," the editor is just as glad to pay to him the large cheque as he is to pay it to any one else.

A few examples of prices paid will be of interest. _Collier's_ pays $3.00 for non-exclusive prints and $5.00 for exclusive prints, and from $25.00 to $100.00 a page for layouts (spreads). _Ill.u.s.trated World_ pays $3.00 for each print. _Popular Mechanics_ pays $3.00 and up, and $25.00 a page for layouts. _Popular Science_ reimburses at the rate of $3.00 for each photograph, and sometimes more. The _Sat.u.r.day Blade_ pays $2.00 for each. The Thompson Art Company pays from $1.00 to $5.00.

Underwood and Underwood pay from $3.00 and up, according to the value of the print. The Woodman and Teirman Printing Company pays at rates varying from $5.00 to $50.00.

"But when is payment made?" you ask. The answer is, "Either upon acceptance or upon publication."

By far, most magazines pay according to the more desirable plan--upon acceptance. As soon as such a magazine decides that a photograph is useful to it, it mails a cheque to the sender. Sometimes, a receipt is sent with the cheque, which the recipient must sign and return; but, more often, the cheque itself is the receipt. Payment upon acceptance is by far the more desirable method, for with it the worker is paid as soon as his work is done; there is no waiting for weeks and months for payment, as in the case of pay-on-publication magazines.

There are a few magazines who wait until the photograph actually appears in the pages of the publication before payment is made. In such cases, the photographer has no recourse but to wait until the editor is ready to print his contribution whenever it may be.

In the case of pay-on-publication magazines, notice is usually sent that the photograph has been accepted for publication and that it will be paid for as soon as it is published. Sometimes, no notice is given at all of publication or acceptance; and in that case the photographer must scan each issue of the magazine in order to find his contribution when it appears, or he must wait until the cheque arrives that denotes publication. Either method is uncertain; but there is nothing to do but to endure it. Some publications even wait for some time after publication before making payment, as in the case of the _Kansas City Star_, which pays on the fifteenth of the month following publication, and the _Sat.u.r.day Blade_ which also mails all cheques the month following publication. This is a discouraging policy; but as the cheque always arrives in the end, there is little to be said in condemnation of it; the photographer is obliged to make the best of it.

The contributor should always keep a record of prints accepted and to be paid for on publication. Otherwise, by an oversight, a cheque for published material may never come, and the photographer may never miss it. Too, a cheque may arrive unexpectedly from a forgotten source and cause an attack of heart-failure.

The beginner does not achieve mountain-top prices except by a lucky shot now and then. Prices increase with your experience and your reputation.

The photographer who develops his "nose for news" until it can scent a salable photograph in every conceivable situation is the photographer who has the large cheques forced upon him.

The sky-high cheques come to the camerist who, night and day, through suns.h.i.+ne and storm, earthquake and cyclone, is always "hot on the trail" of the salable photograph that is tucked away somewhere, where only a keen scent and a large amount of perseverance can lead him; and when he arrives, the subject will be singing truthfully, "Shoot me and the wor-rld is tha-hine." There are enough of these subjects to shame the biggest choir on earth by their "singing." However, the photographer must know good music when he hears it.