As prices for stock photo uses drop, the joke has been that pretty soon, publishers will start asking photographers to pay for publication of pictures. That idea may not be as ludicrous as it sounds. The time may not be too far off. In the last few weeks, photographers and stock agents have been receiving the following letter from India.
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am writing to you on behalf of Pearson Education, one of the world's leading educational and professional publishers. We publish books across a wide spectrum of subjects, including business, technology, engineering, sciences, law, humanities, current affairs, politics, and lifestyle.
We have a book called Business Communication Today, written by Courtland L Bovee and John V. Thill. The book is now in its 9th edition and we are working on the adaptation of the book for the benefit of the students of the Indian subcontinent.
The adaptor is Mr. Mukesh Chaturvedi, Professor of Business Communication and ECE Chair at Birla Institute of Management Technology at Greater Noida, India.
You had provided us permission to use image (attached to this email) in the U.S. edition of this book. We would now request you to grant us permission to publish it in this as well as the future edition of the Indian Adaptation of the book.
As the adapted edition is meant for students in the Indian Subcontinent, we would be thankful if you could provide us gratis permission so that we can keep the book affordable for students in the Indian subcontinent.
Should you require further details on the project, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best,
Ms. Sonu Manola
Permissions Coordinator
At least one photographer wrote back:
Dear Ms. Manola:
Thank you for contacting me. I am very happy to assist you with the adaptation of the book Business Communication Today 9th Edition. Your request for “gratis permission” to publish my photograph is quite an interesting business communication itself. I will be happy to provide such “gratis permission” if, and only if, the following criteria are met:
1) Mr. Mukesh Chaturvedi donates his adaptation fee to the Indian students;
2) Mr. Bovee and Mr. Thill also give up their royalty fees to the Indian students;
3) Pearson Education, one of the world’s leading publishers, gives up all of their profit on this publication to the benefit of Indian business students;
4) The models I paid and the location to which I paid a location fee also return the significant amount of money I invested in the photo shoot; and lastly
5) The Universities to which I send my children provide gratis education to my offspring.
Until these things occur, surely you will understand that I am in business to make a profit also, and that my well being is as important as that of all of the other parties above.
Please advise how many copies of the books are to be published, so that a proper price can be determined. I look forward to your early response.
Sincerely,
[Redacted]
We assume that what is being taught in Business Communication Today is that everything, or at least all information, should be free. It is interesting that American and European photographers are being asked to pay for the education of Indian students, so that more Western jobs can be exported to India. Oh those poor, starving Indian students, about to take over all our businesses! And, on top of this, Americans are asked to use some of their valuable time to authorize such a donation but do not even get to deduct such a charitable gift off of their tax returns.