Iris Richardson Photography - Stock Licensing
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One of the ways photographers augment their incomes is through the sale of stock images. Stock is the licensing of images for specific use previously created for a different client of for yourself . Stock is why you want to hold onto your copyright and why so many companies are after your copyright. The internet allows the individual photographer to license images on their own. Stock agencies commonly take a 70% cut of the sales for your image if you place images with an agency. In the past, the split was 50/50, but this has changed as two large corporations have consolidated the industry. Some agencies have been known to accept your work, have another photographer duplicate it under "work-for-hire" terms, and then sell the duplicates instead of yours.
The individual photographer has two basic options, selling stock on one's own or selling images through MIRA (www.mira.com). We currently do both, but currently we have better results, making sales on our own. To sell one's own work, you will need to do some research on what to charge. There are a few photographers that display their prices online. There is also a $139 program called Photoquote that is invaluable for pricing stock licensing.
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