I have had a handful of clients start asking me to include images/diagrams/etc. in their projects- both eBooks and reports. While I am an excellent writer, I have no experience with this kind of thing. How do I find images and how much should I expect to pay for them? I was working on a meditation guide and he wanted diagrams- where would I find those? I would like to add the service if it will help out my clients but need some advice on getting started. Does anyone have experience adding images to their work? Thanks!
There are many places that sell images some a cheaper then others, price usually depends on the images size and quality. For small web images (400px-400px) I have been paying $1-$5. There are a good number of places that have good collections of photos I do not want to advertize any but if you send me a PM I will tell you which one I have been using. You can get free images some places but copyright, usage rules and selection can be a real problem I have found it much easier to pay a few bucks. Also photographers are working freelancers so they are just trying to make a living from an investment in work and equipment.
I always tell my clients they need to supply any pictures.. If you start digging around for them yourself you can end up getting in a lot of trouble with copyright claims and what-not. You don't want to deal with that kind of headache.
go to sxc.hu,-free royalty images or istockphoto.com i use this and u pay $40 per image but they are very professional. To reduce image sizes i use irfanview, its excellent hope that helps. Mark
I might chase down pictures for a long-term client but generally I suggest to clients to visit iStockphoto and buy what they want. That avoids me buying and then having to charge the client for any fees - it just keeps that part of things cleaner. We discuss the visuals they want to create and the possible metaphors but they do the actual picking and buying. Sometimes I'll send a list of things, as in "How about one of these?" The best option is to try and get them to take their own - no chance of later copyright issues that way. As to charts, unless it's something fairly straightforward and easily generated, as the experts in the field...they should be providing you with that as well. I've also found that sometimes when clients ask for "charts" they really want tables of information or that a table would be a better choice anyway. Tables can provide a bit of visual interest in a piece and are far quicker to build and edit.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond YMC. I feel blessed to have found such a great community of writers over the last few years and it looks like DP is no different! I have never added pics to any of my books before but some of my new clients have started taking it for granted. I was a little worried that other writers were starting to include them regularly, but it looks like that is not the case. I appreciate your answer- you definitely cleared things up for me. Thank you to anyone else I may have forgotten- Jennifer
Sorry to be the reaper of gloom but DP is a just alley in a 3rd world. You will find a couple of good writers on here but they are few and far between. Mostly you will find a bunch of people with elementary writing skills trying to scam, scrounge and hustle a few bucks from the world of the internet and naive speculators.