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DPChallenge Forums >> Stock Photography >> one of my pic used on the cover of a book
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02/25/2015 09:36:54 AM · #1
I just found one of my picture used on the cover of a best selling book. It's on the french version of "Dead scared" by Sharon Bolton

Here's the image of the book: and here's my picture:

My image is on several site that sells stock images but I'm just wondering about the license for this kind of use for a picture? I don't remember selling it anywhere for more than pennies or a few dollars. And what about credit? Are they suppose to give the credit for the photographer?
02/25/2015 09:39:01 AM · #2
Congratulations, this must give a real buzz.
02/25/2015 09:41:05 AM · #3
Originally posted by Tiny:

Congratulations, this must give a real buzz.


Thanks! It sure does :)
02/25/2015 09:42:49 AM · #4
WOW that is so cool. Congrats!
02/25/2015 10:12:05 AM · #5
If you didn't sign off on it, send 'em a bill!

Oh.......and congrats!
02/25/2015 11:12:45 AM · #6
I don't know anything about book covers but if no one here has a helpful answer for you, get back to me. I do have several cyber friends who sell for book covers regularly. They might be able to give you a better idea. You might pm sjhuls, too. She does a lot of stock.
I would sure pursue this.
02/25/2015 11:20:45 AM · #7
Very cool (unless they stole it). How did you find out -- just using an image search?
02/25/2015 11:31:27 AM · #8
Originally posted by nam:

I don't know anything about book covers but if no one here has a helpful answer for you, get back to me. I do have several cyber friends who sell for book covers regularly. They might be able to give you a better idea. You might pm sjhuls, too. She does a lot of stock.
I would sure pursue this.


Thanks Nikki, I will contact Jennifer :)
02/25/2015 11:41:24 AM · #9
Originally posted by markwiley:

Very cool (unless they stole it). How did you find out -- just using an image search?


Thanks Mark, I was just browsing the new books section on a French Canadian library site and saw it, right away I knew it was mine, and when I did look at the details more closely it confirmed that this is my picture. Here's the link of the site: Archambault.ca

Message edited by author 2015-02-25 11:44:05.
02/25/2015 11:48:02 AM · #10
Great image and great to see the end result printed. I've sold a few different images that have ended up on book/magazine covers, calanders, catalogues etc in different parts of the world and I've never seen the end result of any of them. I only have my photos with one agent though and not any micro stock type places. So what I get is an invoice with collected payments perhaps once or twice a year but that will tell me where an image has sold, for what type of publication and what rights etc, and how much for (this tends to be for a lot more than the micro stock sites so payments are usually in the 100's not 10's). Saying that though, I haven't sold anything for ages. I've no idea if I'm credited by name or just by the agency.
02/25/2015 12:00:17 PM · #11
I don't think they need to give credit, but they sure as hell need to give a check!

I would think it would be a pretty high royalty for using it on a book cover.
02/25/2015 12:24:35 PM · #12
Originally posted by FromDaRock:

I don't think they need to give credit, but they sure as hell need to give a check!

I would think it would be a pretty high royalty for using it on a book cover.

Depends on the agreement you have with the stock agency. I wouldn't count on a large royalty if using someplace like iStockPhoto.
02/25/2015 12:32:06 PM · #13
One of my iStockPhoto images was used for this book cover:
Plain Folk of the Old South

Original:


I think I made something like $1.50 on that transaction. At least I did get credit on the inside cover of the book as the photographer. :-) You'll also notice they liked North/South better than East/West. :-D
02/25/2015 12:33:24 PM · #14
Originally posted by glad2badad:

Originally posted by FromDaRock:

I don't think they need to give credit, but they sure as hell need to give a check!

I would think it would be a pretty high royalty for using it on a book cover.

Depends on the agreement you have with the stock agency. I wouldn't count on a large royalty if using someplace like iStockPhoto.


Sounds like an agency to avoid if is no more than pennies or a few dollars for a book cover. Not that I know diddly squat about stock agencies mind you.
02/25/2015 12:42:30 PM · #15
As others have pointed out, if this was on a stock site, and was bought off them, it's "legal". And depending on the licensing agreement for that particular image, you might, indeed, only get pennies for it.

The best place to start, of course, is to contact the stock site where it's posted.
02/25/2015 01:07:54 PM · #16
Originally posted by tanguera:

As others have pointed out, if this was on a stock site, and was bought off them, it's "legal". And depending on the licensing agreement for that particular image, you might, indeed, only get pennies for it.

The best place to start, of course, is to contact the stock site where it's posted.


Thanks all for the comments, my photo is actually on several micro-stock site and I did some research on the various licences, on ShutterStock the basic license grant the buyer to use it on printed media (including books) that are publish at less than 250000 copies….

I had some of my pictures published in magazines before but at least they gave me the credit. But it’s still fun to see it on the cover of a book, I even hope that the book will sell well and I will even read it, lol.

So I guess that there’s not too much I can do anyway, so just for curiosity, I did send an email to the publisher asking where they got the picture from, I will see if they answer and will post it here if they ever do… :)
02/25/2015 03:01:06 PM · #17
Congrats!!

Great news
02/25/2015 04:21:19 PM · #18
The sales I've made on Alamy usually end up in textbooks. Generally your stock agency will collect the info like how big a print run, the type of media, the duration (ie one image's rights have just been re-sold so it's still appearing in future print runs).

Now, have you checked the stock sites you're on to see if they have a) a record of the sale and b) issued you a royalty statement for it, if it met the minimum # of $ to warrant a payout?

As for how much $$ to expect for a book cover, no idea. Again sjhuls could give you some idea.

Also you mention several stock sites on which you have the image, so it sounds like you don't do exclusivity. I think that would definitely affect things. Finally if I see a book cover I like, it usually will list inside the jacket the photog and the stock agency. Seems to be par for the course.

Meantime...if I am ever in South Africa and find one of my images in a textbook, you can be sure I'm going to check the credits at the back to see if my name's there! :-)

Message edited by author 2015-02-25 16:21:41.
02/25/2015 04:37:48 PM · #19
Originally posted by snaffles:

The sales I've made on Alamy usually end up in textbooks. Generally your stock agency will collect the info like how big a print run, the type of media, the duration (ie one image's rights have just been re-sold so it's still appearing in future print runs).

Now, have you checked the stock sites you're on to see if they have a) a record of the sale and b) issued you a royalty statement for it, if it met the minimum # of $ to warrant a payout?

As for how much $$ to expect for a book cover, no idea. Again sjhuls could give you some idea.

Also you mention several stock sites on which you have the image, so it sounds like you don't do exclusivity. I think that would definitely affect things. Finally if I see a book cover I like, it usually will list inside the jacket the photog and the stock agency. Seems to be par for the course.

Meantime...if I am ever in South Africa and find one of my images in a textbook, you can be sure I'm going to check the credits at the back to see if my name's there! :-)


Like I said, I have many photos on several micro-stock sites. I'm just an amateur and I’m far from a professional photographer. I did not upload any pictures to micro-stock in the last few years but it still brings me between $75 to $200 USD every month. I used this money mainly to buy new camera stuff :)

I personally think that it’s cool that they used it, but, still, I'm curious about it, and I'm trying to find out where they took the picture and if the agency or I were credited inside the book. :)
02/25/2015 05:53:53 PM · #20
But, do you know which images you have on which microstock sites? Do you have all nature stuff on one site, food on another, people on another? Or is it an image mashup on each one - a bit of everything?

That imho is the key to learning who sold it. And if you see a physical copy, I'm pretty sure you will (or should) see your name somewhere on the inside pages where all the legal and copyright stuff is, naming you and the stock agency they bought it from.
02/25/2015 06:19:10 PM · #21
Originally posted by snaffles:

But, do you know which images you have on which microstock sites? Do you have all nature stuff on one site, food on another, people on another? Or is it an image mashup on each one - a bit of everything?

That imho is the key to learning who sold it. And if you see a physical copy, I'm pretty sure you will (or should) see your name somewhere on the inside pages where all the legal and copyright stuff is, naming you and the stock agency they bought it from.


Hi Susan, like I said, I have not uploaded any images to stock sites in years, but back when I did, I use to upload the same pictures to many site, ie: ShutterStock, Dreamstime, Fotolia, Istockphoto, Veer, etc.... so it's hard to follow up on who bought what. lol

As I want to read this book anyway, tonight I will probably buy an epub version (finding a French book would be difficult here in BC) and I'll see if they do credit me or the stock agency.
02/25/2015 08:44:37 PM · #22
I finally did buy the book, (epub version) and I don't know why but I was not surprise to see that I did not get the credit for the picture. I also found the site of the guy that did the design of the book, he's good and he even did the cover of many best sellers including the French version of the Hunger Games Trilogy. Here's the link to his site: Book Cover Designer Site

In the book, he is taking full credit for the cover page as seen here (that's a print screen of the epub, it's in French... sorry):

I did take a look at some other epub that I have and as it was mentioned in the tread, normally credit is given to the photographer and the stock agency as seen in this other screen capture (the designer does mention his own name but credit is also given to the photographer and agency):

I'm not sure what to do from here, even if he did purchase the image on one on the stock agency where I have this image, can he take full credit for it as he is doing?

Thanks for your help.
02/25/2015 08:51:10 PM · #23
If you haven't registered your images, even if it turns out they are not using it legally, you probably can't afford to sue them over it... unless you have a lot of extra cash around. If you have it registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, then you have some real teeth behind your copyright and whom ever did the cover should know that when you mention "my registered copyright image" in a letter. I've made a good chunk of dollars from infringement and the pleasure in telling someone that has used one of my images for profit is almost as sweet as the check I got from it. :D

If you are not in the U.S. then it might be a bit different.

Mike
02/25/2015 08:55:12 PM · #24
Assuredly the publisher knows nothing about this. This Axel Mahe will have the microstock account, will have bought your image, and has incorporated it into a design of his own, presumably with someone ELSE's image for the "human side"...
02/25/2015 09:00:01 PM · #25
Originally posted by MikeJ:

If you haven't registered your images, even if it turns out they are not using it legally, you probably can't afford to sue them over it... unless you have a lot of extra cash around. If you have it registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, then you have some real teeth behind your copyright and whom ever did the cover should know that when you mention "my registered copyright image" in a letter. I've made a good chunk of dollars from infringement and the pleasure in telling someone that has used one of my images for profit is almost as sweet as the check I got from it. :D

If you are not in the U.S. then it might be a bit different.

Mike


LOL, this is good Mike, I'm sure that it must be a great pleasure to tell someone that he used one of your copyright image! :)

The problem is that the guy is in France and I'm in Canada, and as I mentioned I'm just an amateur photographer and don't know all the copyright law. I know that I will probably never get anything for it but I just want to let the guy know that he's been using my image to make money and taking credit for something that is not from him is... how to say?... not very professional...
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