This seems really shady – has anyone heard of this? After some searching, I found a thread in a MySpace forum warming (in French) that you should not authorize them to use your photos because they will not pay you for them and you would need to buy the book yourself if you even wanted a copy. Hm.
Do you think it is safe to just do nothing? Or should a take some sort of action..?
Hello punquin,
My name is Gil, and I am an editor in Paris, France.
I have the pleasure to announce that your photograph
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/46/130522901_733e8a89db_o_d.jpg
has been selected to be published in this photographic
book: Pink Attitude!The book, Pink Attitude, part of the collection COLORS,
brings together 300 of the most pertinent photos
illustrating this mythical color.At the end of the book, there is a Photographer Directory
that lists the web address where you can be contacted – to
consult your biography or any information concerning your
photograph (legend, anecdotes, copyright).Edited by LIZ Editions, the LIZ-books (a total of 96 works,
including Pink Attitude) present elite photographs taken by
those who show a particular passion for the art of
photography as well as young professionals.To validate the publication of your photograph in the book,
Pink Attitude, please click on the following the link:
http://liz-editions.com/xxxxxxxxxxxxx– To contact me directly: [email protected]
– To find out more about the online preview of Pink
Attitude, the LIZ-books collections (current and upcoming),
as well as our publishing house, visit our site at:
www.liz-editions.com
I’d respond with a simple: No thank you. You DO NOT have permission to use my photographs.
–k
In general I agree with kelowna, respond with a No Thanks and make it clear they do not have your permission to print it.
You will then need to monitor to see if they use it anyway. If they do, send them a bill for it’s use and follow up on it.
If you do decide to allow it;
Respond with a VERY LIMITED copyright release specific to the publication in question with “All other rights reserved”
Michael (since he’s close) or I could probably help you write the release, if that’s what you decide to do.
J
Actually…
… they are at least nice enough to ask you, and didn’t use it without any permission.
You could respond that you give them the permission to use that particular photograph in just this publication, and only in just that publication. That they are not allowed to sell that image to thirds or republish it in any form anywhere else (like for posters, T-shirts and so on).
If they suddendly loose their interest after that limited usage allowance, you know it was a fishy request.
If they are still interested it might be a serious project. They might be unable to pay you for that(I have the feeling that they have no big budged for that), but in return you get the advertizing of your contact address.
If you decide that you’re not interested rather than simply ignoring it I would reply and ask/tell them that they do not have your permission to use the photo, so you have something in writing if they decide to anyway.
What you’re describing sounds like those “who’s who” books. If you aren’t getting any money – or even a copy – as one of the contributors, then they’re counting on the contributors buying a copy each. The thing’s up on Amazon for preorder for $39, so if 300 people are published in the book and buy one each that’s $11,700 – assuming nobody buys a few extra copies for friends and family. And if they succeed with this over 96 different books that’s over a million dollars total, and all they have to do is click around on flickr?
All their books seem to be “coming soon” so there’s not much to check out, but for all we know this thing is going to be photocopied and stapled together at Kinko’s or whatever they have in France. Kinkeau’s.
Anyway, I’ll back away from the impending rant and just say what every book I read about publishing says: money flows to the creator. You shouldn’t have to pay someone for the privilege of watching them profit off your work.
“Kinkeau’s”…excellent…. 🙂
I agree with your take, giles. And although Gil doesn’t mention it in his message, he could well start asking for some kind of fee for getting the photo published, kind of like one of those poetry collections. As you say, you don’t pay publishers to profit off you.
Ahhh! I lost it at the “Kinkeau’s” part… haha…
I agree that it’s better to send an e-mail specifically stating that you do not give your permission for them to use your photographs. That way, if they do, you have a record of having told them they can’t.
Unless you are the one that took the picture, or the photographer gave you the correct rights, you can not grant permission to use it. The person who took the picture is the copyright owner and therefore the only one who can grant publication permission unless they gave those rights to you or another person.
Either way, it seems a bit fishy to me and if they were truely legit, they would offer at least a token payment. I would suggest responding with either “You may not use this picture in anyway.” or “I can not grant permission until I receive and sign a copy of the contract that lists the specific amount you are willing to pay for publication of the photo.”
He’s kind of creepy looking, no?
http://www.myspace.com/lizbook
Also, look over Flickr’s user agreement and TOS very carefully. It was my understanding that by agreeing to use their service you give over the copyrights on your photos?
If it were my photo, I wouldn’t allow him to use it. The entire thing doesn’t read like its legit.
While I’m too lazy to actually read the TOS in question, generally it seems that places like Flickr, DeviantArt, Cafepress, etc., always manage to freak people out with this “signing over copyrights” stuff when in fact what they’re doing is allowing you to allow them to make prints, t-shirts, etc., of your material.
Because if you don’t give them allowance to use your copyright in that instance, they’d be pirating your own work and sending it to you. Which, you know, blah blah, paradox, end of the world.
Same message
Hey, sorry to butt in, but I was just searching google for this LIZ Editions thing. I had the exact same message in my Flickr inbox. I had the same feeling, that it might have been something dodgy! But i’m glad i found your site or else i think i would have given my permission. I’m a student doing my degree in Photography, and the thought of a book having my image and contact details was very tempting indeed…but like one of your members said – if its only the people who contributed buying the book, then chances are they’re never going to need a photographer!!! And yeah, they’re making all that money because WE’RE paying to see OUR image.
Thank you for your post…
Mandy xx
I recently received the exact same message about one of my Flickr photos being “selected” to be published in their Pink Attitude book. After reading some of the other comments on your post, I’ll be thinking twice before accepting!
me too 🙂
An invitation for “pink attitude”
but I am really happy with this, i am just an amateur 🙂
I got one too.
I’m happy for them to use my photos, but I won’t be buying it! Like Giles says, it does appear that they’re trying to get people to buy printed copies of their own work.