Photo Rights (Author's Responsibility)

My publisher has a standard form that they use for rights. Have you asked your publisher if they have one?

My experience was somewhat different from K1P1's. I contacted the folks who had the photos I wanted, and sent them a letter (usually just an e-mail) telling them what I was doing, and asking them what I needed to do to request copies of photos, along with permissions for use.

In all cases, after I made the formal request and sent in my check for any reproduction costs and rights, the provider sent me the photos (usually as a high-res tiff) along with the paperwork granting the permissions, which I then forwarded to my publisher, who took care of everything from there. I found most museums/libraries to be VERY helpful in making sure things went smoothly--but I suppose it depends on which organizations you're approaching!

redhill1987 said:

Is that something that a publisher should be expected to provide...?

Click to expand...

I would think so, because even if they (the publishing house) tried to disavow any responsibility, they'd bear some degree of liability in a lawsuit. When have you ever heard of an author being sued but not his or her publisher?

I had to secure releases for some photos for my book but the forms were supplied by my publisher. Go ahead and ask them.

Doesn't hurt to check the source's website for preferences.

In the money-job, I'm a secretary for some multi-published physicians. While helping two of them with their lastest textbook chapter, I had to get permission for various tables, charts and photos. The publisher provided a template to use, but some of the copyright holders had their own request form online and wouldn't accept an outside template.

Hope it goes smoothly!

One of my publishers supplied me with a form permissions letter upfront. I had to ask my other publisher if they had any kind of permission request document, and they sent me a formal document. I would definitely ask if your publisher if they have anything you can use.

Like everyone else here, my publishers supplied me with in-house legal forms for the photo provider to sign.

I am inferring from your post that the libraries and archives you'll send the forms to will provide you with no-strings-attached photos. Most such places that I approached (which included museums) wanted significant sums for their photos and even then, the license offered was too limited for my purposes. Consequently, I only used one photo from a museum (an academic one at that) and one from a historical society. This is out of ~1,000 illustrations in my almost-600 page textbook.