For most photographers, seeing their photo on the cover of a book should be a highlight of their career. It's the cover that does the selling so when a publisher decides that their image is powerful enough to attract attention and pull in buyers, it's a sure sign that they've take a great photo. They'll be able to see their picture on the shelf every time they walk into a bookstore, enjoy the feeling that customers are placing it on their own bookshelves and the remuneration should be nice too. It doesn't always work out that way though. Now that images are available on microstock sites, photos are appearing on book covers without photographers being aware of the sale, without being credited for the picture and without receiving pay that would even cover the price of a latte in Starbucks.
Books and education are changing. Consumer looking for information or entertainment will turn to "vooks" -- books they can watch, instead of the old paper kind they can only read or audio books where they can only listen to narration. These vooks blend text and video into a single integrated and uninterrupted reading and viewing experience that can be accessed and read on the Web or an iPhone.
Textbook publishers now have total control when it comes to setting prices and have no reason to want a dialogue with sellers on the subject of pricing. However, past uses is one area where publishers might want to open a discussion, seeing the outcomes of several recent court cases.
A recent study by U.K. research firm Futuresource sheds light on the numbers of potential entrants into the online stock image and video licensing market: 85% of survey respondents upload stills and video to the Internet. The 16 to 34-year-old group accounts for the most uploads.
As part of an effort to assess the demand for stock photography in China, an American photographer recently talked with the creative director of the Ogilvy & Mather office in Beijing.
Transtock Inc., a stock photography business specializing in transportation images, recently finalized a deal with Hachette Filipacchi Media to exclusively represent the still images and high-definition video footage from the Road & Track and Car and Driver magazine collections.
Previously specializing exclusively in rights-managed deep-content footage, New Jersey-based boutique Global ImageWorks has announced the launch of a royalty-free footage division.
A new Alaska Travel iPhone App from Alaska HDTV, a network of high-definition productions for television, podcasts and other digital applications, uses exclusive Alaska wallpaper images from Alaska Stock Images.
New York-based Shutterstock says its On The Red Carpet editorial offering has grown substantially since its 2007 launch.