The cost of making POSTCARDS, and we're discussing greeting cards, here. The cost for Postcards is between 8 cents and 17 cents, selling at 25 cents to a dollar without taking into account returns, long term sellers; and without considering the innitial outlay, delivery costs, maintenance of racks . . . a penny a card is about right. The original first question, what did the company offer or say was their typical rate is still unanswered. Most photographers who don't do their own cards, consider this type of sale promotion. Take the offer to be published. As for why painters command more money than photographers, there's a long discussion about this. There are great photographers who make pictures of boats from on board sailing vessels that are steller, and command big prices. There's the obstical about longivity of a color photograph that will turn purple after five years. A photograph can't be hung in direct sunlight, a painting is much easier to live with. The size and style of photographs and ability to replace or reduplicate a photograph is another factor in its value. This discussion is difficult without seeing the pictures in question, but in the final analysis, there are photographers who command the same money as painters. Keep photographing and raise your prices. One successful practice is to make small ones cheeper and larger ones very expensive, see what sells and see what sits. As a gallery director, the first question I got answered was 'do you like it?' Once that was fixed, the price was a personal question. The value of paintings versus photography is as complex as to which painting sell and at what prices. How do they come up with a greater value of a Monet than a Manet? Does this open any doors of perception? S. Shapiro, Carmel, CA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Emily L. Ferguson" <elf@xxxxxxxx> To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2004 4:36 AM Subject: Re: Pricing guidelines needed for greeting card useage > Around here, there ripoff rate is $100/imge, no exclusivity, lifetime > usage. Photogs mostly feel that something more like $250 for a > single print run would be a happier price. > > For the monster companies some do work out royalty rates, but they're > very difficult for the shooter to monitor, so you have to trust the > buyer, ha ha ha. > > Find out how many, see if you can get them to a single print run of > 100K, take the $100 and run. > > A penny a card. > -- > Emily L. Ferguson > mailto:elf@xxxxxxxx > 508-563-6822 > New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography > http://www.vsu.cape.com/~elf/ > >
