Rohn Engh - SELLPHOTOS.COM: Your Guide to Establishing a Successful Stock Photography Business on the Intern et

sellphotos.com

Your guide to establishing a successful stock photography business on the Internet

Rohn Engh

WRITER'S DIGEST BOOKS

CINCINNATI, OHIO

www.writersdigest.com

About the Author and PhotoSource International

Rohn Engh is well known in the stock photo field as an editorial photogra-pher, columnist, lecturer, newsletter publisher and author.

He began his career as an editorial photographer and in 1966 moved his family from Maryland to the hinterlands of western Wisconsin to a hundred-acre farm on Pine Lake, selling his photos from there to markets all over the United States. He's the originator of the first marketletter (1976) for editorial stock photographers, the PhotoLetter. Rohn established the business, Photo-Source International, which he operates from his barn office at his farm. He added another marketletter, the PhotoDaily, delivered every day by fax, E-mail, and the World Wide Web, which brings the photo needs of markets such as Time-Life Books, National Geographic and Harcourt Brace to subscriber photographers. He produces additional marketing aids for independent stock photographers, including audio- and videotapes and manuals on various aspects of managing your own stock photo business. He also publishes a monthly eight-page informational newsletter, PhotoStockNotes, for stock photographers and photo researchers. His first book for stock photographers, Sell & Re-Sell Your Photos, currently in its eighth updated edition, has sold over ninety-six thousand copies and is regarded as the number one practical reference guide by stock photographers around the world. Rohn and his wife, Jeri, have two grown sons, Dan and Jim.

Acknowledgments

My wife and I live in a farmhouse that dates back to 1886. The Nelson . family who built this house toiled from early morning light to dusk to make ends meet. To enjoy these surroundings, they had to steal time away from daily chores. I am grateful to be living at a time when, with the flick of a switch, I can be swiftly connected to friends, news and information from around the worldand all from a house that was built in 1886. Thank you Internet and World Wide Web.

My greatest thanks go to the friends and colleagues who have so generously shared their knowledge and expertise with me. This book truly would have been impossible without them.

Many of these folks are regular columnists to our newsletter, PhotoStock-Notes, and not only have contributed to this book but also help put substantive content into PhotoStockNotes. My gratitude to our columists: Julian Block, Dianne Brinson, Sharon Cohen-Powers, Joel Hecker, and Effin and Jules Older.

This book also includes direct insights, explanations and observation from the following individuals, veterans in their specialized areas: Jagdish Agarwal, Jeanne Apelseth, David Arnold, Cradoc Bagshaw, Royce Bair, Georgienne Bradley, David Brownell, Alan Carey, Tom Carroll, Skye Chalmers, Phil Coblentz, Jim Cook, Dennis Cox, Joel Day, Denny Eilers, Joe Farace, Bob Finlay, Charles Gillespie, Steve Holt, Mitch Kezar, Steve Knox, Brent Madison, Scott McKiernan, Peter Miller, Larry Mulvehill, Boyd Norton, Richard Nowitz, Dale O'Dell, Jim Pickerell, Ann Purcell, Seth Resnick, Ernest Robl, Bernadette Rogus, Lorilee Sampson, George Schaub, Ron Schramm, Flip Schulke, Michael Sedge, Bob Shell, Don Tibbits, Joe Viesti and Jim Whitmer.

Just as crucial to the depth and dimension of what you'll read in these pages are so many people whose experiences and willingness to butt heads with me over the years have added immeasurably to the hopper here at PhotoSource International, and their contributions are woven significantly throughout these pages. Thanks go to Elizabeth Buie, Peter Burian, Steve Carver, Bob and Carol Culver, Donna Gates, Spencer Grant, Bob Grytten, Michal Heron, David Lieb-man, Doug Peebles, Tom Perrett, Elsa Peterson, Galen Rowell, Allen Russell, Gary Russell, Ron Sanford, Pete Silver, Rick Smolan and Tom Stack.

I'd like to give special mention to Crimson Star, Web page columnist for PhotoStockNotes, whose Web expertise has added incalculably to this book. Another big thanks goes to Bill Hopkins, photographer plus computer on-line columnist to our newsletter, whose technical acumen and accuracy have also been great contributions. Our in-house Webmaster, Owen Swerkstrom, was always on hand to correct my miscues.

And I'm deeply indebted to our crew of typists (keyboardists) extraordinaire: Lacey Holland, Jeff Klawiter, Neil Kaul, Belinda Rutledge, Annie Swerkstrom and Joe Wilker.

The staff here at PhotoSource InternationalBruce Swenson, my right-hand man, and mainstays Alice Dannenmueller, Angie Dobrzynski, Kathy Kloetzke and Deb Koehlerkept the ship afloat during just about six months of book takeover, and I can't thank them enough.

My companion on the front cover is Jeri, my wife and best friend for thirty-nine years. If there's polish to this book, she put it there. She's the writer in the family.

I've reserved the last word for Megan Lane, editor of Photographer's Market, who accomplished the Herculean task of editing. Thanks to her incredible patience and capable eye, you have this book in your hands.

Rohn Engh

About the Information in This Book

Faster than a speeding bulletthat's how quickly information can change today. Phone and fax numbers and, especially, Web and E-mail addresses are all in a state of constant change. Every effort has been made to have all resources up-to-date at the time of printing. As time moves along, however, changes will occur. I welcome any corrections to the information in this book. Send me an E-mail (changes@sellphotos.com) to let me know what you've found, and I'll make the updates in the next edition.

Thanks, Rohn

About E-mail and Web Addresses

Web and e-mail addresses will often wrap around to the next line of a page. When typing them into your browser, don't insert a hyphen, space, or any punctuation other than what is printed.

Table of Contents

Introduction

YOUR PARTNERTHE WORLD WIDE WEB

As an independent stock photographer, you are on the edge of a revolution. It's a digital revolution, but not one focused specifically on digital photography. That can wait. We are in a revolution on how imagestraditional and digitalare located, delivered and paid for.

Bob, it's a whole new ball game. We're in the minor leagues right now, but in a few short years, we'll all be playing in the majors, I said to my friend, Bob Finlay, from Pennsylvania.

Bob wasn't sure what I was talking about. He has been a photographer since childhood (he's now retired) and has a collection of thousands of beautiful photos. They have won prizes and contests. But because the subject matter of his pictures is scattered across the board (from aviation to sunset scenes), it has been difficult for him to achieve consistent sales through his attempts to market his photos via traditional methods.

Photobuyers at the special interest magazines and publishing houses that have dominated the editorial marketplace since the sixties traditionally have wanted to deal with editorial photographers who have deep coverage in the particular subject matters their publications specialize in. These buyers generally haven't wanted to deal with freelance photographers who may have excellent photos but whose subject matter is scattered all over the board, with only thin coverage in any one area. Because of the amount of time and work it takes a buyer (up until now, that is) to establish a working relationship with a photographer, buyers have wanted to make sure that a photographer could be an ongoing resource, with in-depth coverage of the subject areas the buyers need.