Photo Licensing Fees - I Need Some Help
Over the past year or so as the credit crisis has hit, photo agencies have raised their rates considerably. What used to cost $100 a month now costs sometimes as much as $1000 per month every month. I have always been happy to pay these costs, because I like the pictures and there was always a trickle of ad money to help defray some of the cost. Now though, some of the agencies are raising their rates again and with a huge drop in ad revenue due to companies cutting back, I am looking at some very large out of pocket costs to keep providing great pictures.
One of the main agencies I use is going to cut me off tomorrow night at midnight if I don't pay their annual subscription price. So, it is with that in mind that I come to you and ask for your help in defraying some of this subscription cost. I appreciate the readers who have purchased ads and that has helped a great deal but I am still several thousand dollars short.
If you are so inclined I would greatly appreciate $5 or $10 or whatever you are able to donate between now and tomorrow night. I know many of you are suffering through the recession or are unemployed and I love being able to write for you and let you have a few minutes each day where you don't have to think about anything other than how many typos one blogger can make in a day.
Not to make this sound like a PBS pledge drive, but for those of you who donate $50, I will send you a copy of Amber Tamblyn's new book Bang Ditto when it is released or a copy of her older book Free Stallion and have her write in it whatever it is you want her to write.
In addition, whatever money is raised above the $6500 goal, I will donate it to a charity we can all vote on later in the week.
Again, I hate to ask for your help, but I am hoping you will be willing to chip in a few dollars. I am not very good at asking for money and hopefully the economy will pick up before this time again next year so this will be the only time I ever have to ask. If you just click on the donate button, you will be directed to PayPal where you can use a check or a credit card or your PayPal account. You might not think that $5 or $10 will make a difference, but with so many readers, every little bit helps, and it adds up quickly.
Thanks again. All of you are the best readers any guy could hope for.
218 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 218 of 218Jax, no apologies necessary, please!
But I guess something DOES have to give.
Personally, I became unemployed, so now I can focus on such things, LOL....
Trying to donate but my paypal cc is no longer a valid cc!! I don't know how to change it!!! Can someone help me?
truly amazing!
oh, and to address a confusion:
there was a cdancon in LA during the first year IIRC of the blog. hez was involved heavily, as were several of the original commenters. i seem to recall that brendalove was an early commenter, as was pinky, i only lurked back then, but i've been here since day one.
the monday after the con, hez & her cronies disappeared. stopped posting completely, and nothing was ever said about the con, no pix posted, nuthin'. i've since heard the hez was seriously pissed that things didn't go her way, so she took her ball and went home.
dunno if brenda or pinky have any other info, or if my memory is even correct that they go back that far.
so, NO, enty is definitely NOT hez, and i know for a fuckin' fact that jax is neither one of them.
a few bucks out of my pocket is worth it for the entertainment AND the relationships i've formed here. and i SO believe the spelling and grammar comes from a lawyer, what do you think an assistant is for?
and what does it matter? we're a happy little group. we have a lot of heart. so if enty really needs the money for lap-band surgery, what the hell?
;)
wish i could have sent more
Here we are on Day 2 of the donation drive, a la PBS. I knew it wouldn't be just one day of this.
CDAN, don't do this very often because there is such a thing as donation fatigue.
As much as people diss Perez Hilton, he's making like $40k/week and although is whiny seems like a smarter businessman than CDAN, who is a lawyer.
i gave some. its worth the break in my day for sure
enty - you basement loving booze guzzling mama living fluff ball - for you...the world. You were ther when my sisterinlaw was ill and when she died and i will never forget that. plus you make me frickin laugh every damn work day. Love you big man! I am in for $15.00 (sorry i am poor)Irishstayc aka Stacey C
Happy to help out in even a small way, given the number of times you make me laugh every week...I only wish it could have been a bit more!
Grace, just to be clear, Enty indicated in his post yesterday that this would be going on to "tomorrow night," which would now be tonight.
Also, he wrote a "Final Tally" post today indicating that he has reached his goal. Many people suggested the "Donate" button stay up permanently. Enty will not be doing that, but will keep the button in operation until midnight tonight, and all of the extra proceeds will go to a charity to be determined via Friday's "Your Turn."
@Mooshki Thanks! I love Get Fuzzy.
How do we know he's using this money as he claims?
There's nothing to validate his request.
Call me skeptical, but with all the scams out there, and Madoff, whom many people trusted, you just can't be sure anymore.
I would read this site even if I had to pay for it I love it so much. I'm glad I can help you out Ent since you provide so much help to me to get me through my day.
I would read this site even if I had to pay for it I love it so much. I'm glad I can help you out Ent since you provide so much help to me to get me through my day.
Grace, I know there were a lot of comments to read through on this post, but I think we agreed that if anyone was uncomfortable about Enty's motivation, they shouldn't donate. Most of us were happy to give something just as a "thank you" for all that this blog has given us, regardless of what it was actually spent on. Hell, it's the internet, and you should be skeptical of absolutely everyone and everything! And then make a decision on whether you're willing to take the risk. I personally choose to believe that Enty took a weekend trip to Vegas and blew 6 grand on hookers and gambling, and had to come up with the cash to keep his legs from being broken.
As someone commented, Perez did get very publicly sued for "stealing" photos. Joe Schmo can post photos on their blog without trouble, but when a blog is as big as CDaN, the copyright police pay attention. If you go to the big online photo agencies and look up their prices, you'll see that they are awfully expensive! And, again from the comments, a number of people who don't like the photos anyway chose not to donate.
Really, in the end, I think it comes down to whether you think you get enough from this blog to feel good about giving some $ back.
I do appreciate your and others concern for people being taken advantage of. I just feel that it's very clear that isn't the case here. One way or another, we are getting our money's worth. :)
Thanks Mooshki!
Damned if you, damned if you don't Enty.
if you don't want to donate, then don't...just don't ruin it for everyone else who had no problem helping a friend out. we're all adults, we don't need an Enty Watchdog.
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