COST OF STARTING A WEB BUSINESS
ADVANCE NOTES: It's refreshing to know that Goliath doesn't win 'em all! Freelancers were given a great victory by the members (most of them) of the U.S. Supreme Court in June. The Court’s decision (the Tasini case) says basically that publishers cannot take your freelance work that they previously published, and re-sell it without your permission.
Without doubt, the future for stock photo sales will be on the Web. Here are one photographer's plans and preparations for breaking into Web production and sales.
COST OF STARTING A WEB BUSINESS
Note: While every stock photographer's situation has its own special mix, it's helpful to see how other photographers just breaking into the market look at expenses and necessities to run their own particular kind of stock photography operation. In this spirit, PhotoStockNotes interviewed photographer Jack Clark, of Fall Creek, Oregon.
PSN: What is the nature of your stock photography business?
JC: I currently have about 8000 photos of quarter-mile drag boats. I'm highly specialized. I don't know of anybody else selling drag boat photos. I haven't discovered a strong demand for drag boat pictures, but I love the sport. I am willing to establish my website and wait for the photobuyers who want these photos to become web savvy. So I am in no real hurry. As Rohn Engh says, the photos will just eventually be an annuity for me.
PSN: Are you on-line?
JC: I have two email addresses with my Internet Service Provider (isp) and 15 mb of disk space. The cost is $28 a month. I believe I am getting a break, as I go through a local credit union and my fee is automatically deducted from my CU account.
PSN: Do you have a website?
JC: Yes, and I recommend that stock photographers get what's called, "web authoring software." Since I use Microsoft Office exclusively, I chose to go with their web-authoring product, FrontPage 2000. At Costco's web page you will see that it is $124.99. I have found that Costco is the cheapest place to buy software.
PSN: Do you have your images available on a CD to send to prospective buyers?
JC: Yes, I bought a CD Writer so that I could press my own digital pictures and mail them off to prospects. Costco offers a CD Writer for $179.99. Writeable CD's are currently about 30 cents a piece at costco.
For $30, I picked up at costco a software package called, 'Stomper,' which is a program for making labels for CD's. In Rohn's books he constantly reiterates the need for presenting a neat and professional package to the photobuyer. So I felt that neatly labeled CDs are a necessity.
PSN: Editing your pictures. How do you do that?
JC: A stock photographer will need a good photo editing software package to rework images. I belong to New York Institute of Photography and got PhotoShop 5.5 at half price. You have to be careful about which software package you get. In the cheaper PictureIt software, I could not figure out how to control the size of the TIFF files. It always made them too small. So, you will need to do some research here if you want a product cheaper than PhotoShop. If you can afford PhotoShop I would strongly recommend it as it is the industry standard. But be aware it is not easy to learn. I believe the retail cost is about $700. Again, look around for special prices.
PSN: So, you would consider yourself self-taught?
JC: Yes, in this niche of the industry. In addition to Rohn's books, I bought the book, '101 Ways to Promote your Web Site' ($29.95). Also, the book, 'Mastering FrontPage 2000,' which was $49.95. The Front Page software has a tutorial that is very good.
PSN: Are there other tools or software that helped you get started in your business?
JC: Optionally you could also use office and business software for billing. I use Microsoft Office and Quicken. I use the Cradoc product FotoBiz for pricing. There may be others that I'm leaving out here, but this gives you a good idea of what it took to get my operation up and running.
PSN: Are your pictures analog or digital?
JC: When I began shooting drag boats I found that when using photo labs, it was easier and cheaper to make prints from a negative than slides. Also the greater negative film, and its better forgiveness of exposure error made it my medium of choice. *
PSN: What printer do you use?
JC: You won’t need one if you are submitting digitally. For my drag boat business I bought an Epson Stylus 1270. They advertise 25-year longevity using Epson heavyweight matte paper and ink.
PSN: Do you also sell prints to drag boat enthusiasts?
JC: I am real happy with the results and my customers seem to be also. I sell 8x10 and 11x14 prints and can crop, change brightness, contrast, etc.
PSN: Do you use a scanner?
JC: I use the original PhotoSmart film scanner for the drag boats. The quality is not good enough for photo editors. Just like all equipment, scanners get cheaper, faster, and higher quality as time goes by. As soon as I begin aggressively selling my pictures on the web to photobuyers. I will purchase a quality scanner. Today there are two film scanners that may be appropriate. The Nikon Super Coolscan 4000ED scanner has a dynamic range of 4.2. Egghead has it listed at $1529.99. Canon has just announced its 4000 dpi scanner. The resolution of the CanoScan FS4000 is also 4000 dpi. CameraWorld lists it at $999.99. Both scanners come with software that the manufacturers claim will remove scratches and dust spots as they scan. From what I understand today, I expect that a quality 4000 dpi scanner will be about what will satisfy the resolution needed for editorial publishers when they begin using digital images.
PSN: Do you provide slides or prints to buyers?
JC: All my pictures are on negative film so I cannot provide slides. Again, my strategy is to wait out the Internet learning curve for photobuyers. When they become sophisticated enough to do their buying over the Internet and accept digital files on a CD, AND the scanning quality is there to accommodate them, then I will be in business. The two paths will need to cross: buyer computer search sophistication and scanner quality.
Jack Clark is a drag boat racing photographer who lives in Fall Creek, Oregon; clark_photo@pacinfo.com; Fax: (541) 747 9014.
* Ed. Note: Not all photo editors can accept digital or print submissions at this time. To be on the sage side, produce your images on slide film. They can always be digitized or made into prints.
Estimated Capital Requirements For Stock Photo Business Start-UpPhotoSource International www.photosource.com Note: As anyone who has delved into "creative accounting" knows, there are many ways to describe profit and loss, expenses, and revenue. As they say in Hollywood, CPAs always try for the "rolling-break-even", meaning that expenses can always be found everywhere, and if they are legitimate, they can be included in your expenses, even if it means paying your Board of Directors a higher fee. Remember the movie, "Batman"? It never made a profit, even though revenues were $750 million. With this in mind, you might ask, o.k. - o.k. - but give me a "ball park" idea of what it might cost me to get started. Of course it depends on where you are in your business track record. Do you already have a home-office or small business office set up? Or are you starting from scratch? Here some estimates from both perspectives: Starting Clean . . . . . .A BASIC STOCK PHOTO BUSINESS: Accountant $375.00 Lawyer 400.00 Insurance 225.00 Software, office supplies and equipment 775.00 Stationery and forms 525.00 Plastic sleeves for photos and slides 175.00 Mailers (white) 50.00 Computer and supplies 775.00 Camera equipment (used) and photographic supplies 825.00 Reference material 250.00 Misc. and out-of-pocket expenses 350.00 $4725.00 Once you get established you’ll want to move onto the Internet, where you’ll realize costs of Web authoring tools, photo imaging tools, CD writer and/or scanner, digital camera, and a how-to-library of books. Again, your accountant will show you how to direct these costs into the cost of doing business, thus reducing your income tax liability. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Already existing home office or small business office: Accountant 0.00 Lawyer 0.00 Insurance 0.00 Office supplies/equipment 75.00 Stationery Graphics 50.00 Printing 75.00 Sleeves (plastic) 8x10 25.00 35mm 25.00 Mailers (white) 35.00 Computer supplies 50.00 Software, dues, subscriptions 300.00 Misc. labels, stamps, etc. 250.00 $915.00 Again, as you increase your use of the Internet, you’ll realize costs of Web authoring tools, photo imaging tools, CD writer and/or scanner, digital camera, etc. All of this expense is deductible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Also, if you are just starting out (this part of your photography business) don’t forget the "Net Operating Loss Carryback" (NOL) feature of the IRS Tax Code. (Section 172). You are allowed to carry back a loss to your business (on your Schedule C) to the three previous years. Talk to your accountant about this. In effect, you generate a refund of taxes already paid for those years. All of this is explained in, "Sell & ReSell Your Photos". (book information is at > www.photosourcefolio.com <. ) |
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