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03/01/2011 01:02:01 PM · #1 |
Just wanted to give you some of my thoughts on the whole digital product debate. If there's any push-back, it's got to be from people who are way, way under-charging for what they're doing. I mean, after you take into consideration the cost of equipment, the time it takes to do all the work, the software needed for processing and archiving (and running the business), and the time it takes to stay on top of everything, you can't just give the prints away just because someone can get a print made at Walmart for 18¢.
A few years ago I wrote a response to Anne Montieth's article about pricing an 8x10. Along those lines, I am now venturing wholeheartedly into the realm of digital products...
For all intents and purposes, I'll be offering two products: untouched out-of-camera images for $20 and post-processed images for $35. Prints and gift items can be added on, probably at cost rounded up to the next dollar. The point is, I want to get paid for what I do - and what I do is provide outstanding image products. It doesn't take much to make an image look good on the Internet, but it does take some work to make a spectacular print. If somebody wants to take a crack of post-processing my images, that's fine with me (especially a headshot of an acne-ridden kid); for those not so inclined, I'll be more than glad to assist them.
Additionally, I'll be doing a lot more marketing for the things that I'm good at, like making books, collages, videos, and high-end post-processing.
Why does this make sense? Well, for the past 3+ years, on my highest volume site, my average revenue for digital products was about $9.50, for gift items was about $12, and for prints was about $14.30. I have to believe I could have done a lot more business if I had been offering digital downloads for $19.95 - not to mention the time I would have saved if I was offering straight-from-camera files!
I'll probably offer my web-ready 72dpi files (the ones I upload to my online galleries) for $5 or 6, just because.
I'll also stick with my 4" buttons, simply because the button maker is paid for and my cost-per-button is only 90¢.
One thing I cannot bring myself to do is to offer full-games or seasons on CD or DVD. The temptation for one parent to buy a whole game and then to share it with everyone else is just too great.
To get this thing going, I'm planning on running a month-long half-price digital download sale, good for everything digital except the low-res images and team photos. This should be an interesting experiment, to say the least... |
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03/01/2011 02:04:19 PM · #2 |
I'm sort of in the same quandary, as I'm doing headshots these days. I'm in LA where it's a huge business, and getting a CD with the entire shoot is expected and considered part of the deal, if you want to get that business. I too worry about them taking any ol' image and using that instead of one I've edited for them, but I'm not sure what can be done.
Good luck!
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03/01/2011 02:31:25 PM · #3 |
Great read Skip, and it is quite relevant to myself and the area I am in as I am not too far from you. I know of certain people that charge around $100 for a single digital file and their market is able to handle that (or at least it could a few years back). My area is very frugal with their money and it would be quite difficult to get $100 a digital file, people balk enough at my $30 8x10's.
I have been working on my pricing/packaging for some time and I think what I will be doing is simply offering everything a la carte, no packages at all but will offer discounts or an extra product at certain price intervals to encourage higher spending. Several clients and friends have made it very clear in my talks with them that digital files are very important and that is one of the main things they want so I may look into going your route with them. Thanks for your insight, always nice to hear the thoughts of someone who has been in the business (successfully) for some time. |
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03/01/2011 03:43:20 PM · #4 |
Thanks especially for the link to your older article. I've been planning to raise my horribly under-priced prints, and am looking for advice on reasonable levels.
One "problem" I have with your formula for setting the print prices is that a lot of those costs apply to the first print only; subsequent prints are "practically free" to produce, and require little further physical or intellectual effort on the part of the artist. In fact, if the customer is ordering through DPC Prints (as I'd want them to) it will require zero effort on my part.
I have a hard time charging a huge amount for something I edit once (usually for myself anyway), upload once, and never even see, much less print myself. Of course this applies to my (hopefully) general-interest "art" photos, not to event or modeling photos with a specific customer.
If anyone wants to suggest prices for unsigned, unmounted, drop-shipped prints, most of mine are available as 4x5, 8x10, and 16x20, bordered and captioned, and I have a few panoramics.
Your pricing for digital files seems pretty reasonable to me, though I'm a little surprised you're willing to let someone else edit your originals -- everyone else I've seen post here cites that as the prime reason they don't want to give people digital images at all. What kind of license to you give them with the digital files? |
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03/01/2011 04:40:04 PM · #5 |
My advice to me is, "Ya gotta keep moving, ya gotta move along." I've lost money hand-wringing over this.
Let me quickly address some of the points raised...
1) There's a difference between selling a print as a piece of art and selling an event photo or an action photo. With your art prints, Paul, simply spread your "cost" and "profit" across your sales and across your catalog. If you recoup your investment (time, expenses, etc) in your first sale, everything after that is profit, and that's a good thing.
2) Along these lines, there are some images that will be excluded from digital downloads, like team photos and fine art prints. They have a uniqueness that has value that would be lost, should the digital files be released.
3) I am going to do everything I can to educate my customers as to "Understanding the Digital Image", so that they will know the difference between an unprocessed, out-of-camera image and a hand-edited image. They need to understand that they will be responsible for their own bad prints ;-) Also, I have a strong enough reputation and enough print customers that if someone were to complain about getting bad results, the appropriate response will be, "You should have let Skip handle it."
4) I'm leaning towards a physical, mailed out personal use license that details what can and can't be done with the images. I also embed licensing information in the files, specifically in the copyright field. Here, I believe I will also embed some verbiage that prints are not to be made unless a signed, physical license is presented to the lab.
5) Pricing suggestions? I'd say start at $12.50 for the 4x5, $25 for the 8x10, and $45 for the 16x20. Unless you have a handful of over-the-top images that people are drooling over, it will be up to you to create value for yourself as an artist.
6) Lastly, to reiterate, different types of photography will require different pricing/product models. What I've described here is not something I would use across the board. |
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