Go off? Come Back On…..?

Would you go off the Atkins Diet if it weren’t working for you? Of course you would.

How does this figure in stock photography? I recently read a newspaper article that said a Mr. Jodi Gorran in Florida was bringing a court case against the Atkins people because the diet allegedly has caused his cholesterol to rise. Now here’s the twist, what if he spread bad words about the diet but continued to stay on the diet regime? T’would be bizarre, wouldn’t it?

A similar situation happened to me a couple years ago. A fellow posted a message on STOCKPHOTO (Joel Day’s forum) to the effect that I was surreptitiously coaching photobuyers to insist on lower fees for photographers. Two things are important: 1.) The fellow put this spin on advice he read in the Photo Researcher’s NEWSLETTER (which I write), and thought he was discovering privileged information. Actually, this newsletter is available on-line as a free newsletter and available to anyone who wants to read it. It always has been available to anyone who signs up. 2.) Just a month before the article appeared in PRN, I wrote the same advice in PhotoAimLITE, our free stock photographers’ newsletter.

And what was the advice? Many of the photobuyers who call in to list on our PhotoDaily marketletter, do not have a budget to meet the minimum requirement of $100 paid per photo, to be listed on the Daily. I suggest to them to try our PhotoLetter market- letter, a weekly that is geared to emerging stock photographers and smaller markets. Fees from the markets listed there range from $50 to $75 per photo. Secondly, I suggest they can consider "bartering" with a photographer, or they can extend the press run of their book or magazine to send tear sheets to photographers, who can in turn use them as promotional flyers.

The fellow who made the post on STOCKPHOTO thought this was not good advice. But many of you reading this, know when a person first starts out as a photographer, or work with a regional/local publisher of books or magazines who themselves are just entering the marketplace, that these arrangements work well to help get entry level enterprises off the ground.

When someone from our office (Mike Karlsson) apprised me of the STOCKPHOTO post, he suggested I explain my side of the story. Subsequently, he posted an explanation for me at STOCKPHOTO.

I said to myself, "Well, that issue will die on the vine shortly, because my longtime readers and subscribers would find it untenable to think I would do such an "underhanded" thing as short-change photographers.

However, from time to time, I still get a nasty retort from a photographer who has read but not understood the feedback from the STOCKPHOTO post. I even got one recently saying that I had a "bad name" in the industry because of the way I favor photobuyers. Many of the responders on STOCKPHOTO said that they were going to cancel their subscription to our marketletter. One person even stated that he threw two of my books in the trash.

My philosophy has always been, "Never complain, and never explain." I welcome constructive criticism. I’ve also sometimes received spiteful remarks from disgruntled customers over the years. What business enterprise hasn’t? But I can’t afford to spend time debating with photographers who disagree with my business philosophy. I’d rather spend the time researching new ways to assist photographers and photo researchers who understand and have benefited from my approach.

So, you’re asking, "What does this have to do with the Atkins Diet?" It’s this. If the critic complained about the diet, but continued to stay on it, you’d wonder why. This is exactly what happened with the fellow who set the STOCKPHOTO forum ablaze with his diatribe. His post encouraged many photographers to cancel their subscriptions with our services (even throw my books away!). But you know what? He did not cancel. He continues on as a subscriber to our marketletter and actually RENEWED the following year and continues to subscribe today.

A friend once told me, "The way to eliminate competition is to bad talk other suppliers and then take advantage of the spoils." Do you suppose he had this in mind?

Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35^th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA. E-mail: info@photosource.com . Fax: 1 715 248 7394. Web site: www.photosource.com.

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