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How to Stop Using Stock Photos & Boycott the Stock Photo Industry

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Because of my personal distaste and dismay of the Stock Photo industry which started with the Getty Images Extortion Demand Letter, I have taken steps to personally boycott the Stock Photo Industry and advocate not using stock photos altogether.  The stock photo industry seems to be rapidly consolidating into two companies:  Getty Images and Corbis, as they buy their way into near-monopoly status with them setting outrageous rules, policy, and pricing.

This article will not give you all the information necessary to entirely eliminate the need for stock photos in every situation.  However, this article will give you some ideas and strategies to wean yourself and perhaps altogether eliminate your need for stock photos.  I firmly believe that if you put your intentions behind the idea, you can make huge strides towards eliminating the need for stock photos altogether.

The very first thing you need to think about is whatever media project you are working on is, do you truly need a photo at all?  Chances are that you are working on a website, book, magazine, brochure, news story, banner, or some other media project.  Alternatives to photos might be diagrams, cartoons, illustrations, and drawings that you or a graphic artist you hire can create.  Can you take your own photo to fit the need?

If you hire a graphic artist to create your own artwork, do not hire anyone in China or India where there is very little respect for intellectual property.  They may be inexpensive but you can never be assured that their work is original.  There is little recourse for their bad behavior because they are so far away.  I recommend hiring graphic artists from the U.S. because as a professional community, they have a greater respect for intellectual property than their Chinese or Indian counterparts.  They will think twice before using pirated material.

I would avoid hiring any company that outsources their work to graphic artist worker bees.  In other words, I always want to deal and negotiate with a graphic artist professional themselves, not some agent or agency that farms out graphics art work.

If you do want to use and take your own photos, I highly recommend investing in a good digital camera so that you can begin taking your own photos.  I also recommend getting to know amateur hobbyist photographers who have access to good cameras and enjoy taking photos.  Very often, amateur photographers with good cameras are trying to find a way to justify the costs of their hobby.  By hiring them inexpensively, you can get some great looking photos but also help the amateur photographer pay for his hobby.  Make sure they understand that you are they are working for hire and that you will have full ownership and rights to the photos.

Professional photographers can be expensive depending on what you want and who you use.  For these folks, I recommend bartering with them for exchange of services if you have talents in your profession.  I find many professional photographers finicky.  They will sometimes not give you full ownership or rights of the photo even though you paid them to take a photo.  They are quite protective and their thinking is aligned to many in the stock photo industry.  Admittedly, this is a broad generalization and based only on my experience.  I am simply not optimistic that you will get good value from a professional photographer but it certainly does not hurt to try and negotiate with them.

Another source of quality photos is product photos from product manufacturers.  Often, they are happy to have their products publicized and placed in a positive light and will give you free rights to use their photos.  Product companies mostly police and control their photos because they don’t want their photos used in a manner they did not intend or in a way that paints their company or products in a negative light.  Many will grant you free usage of their photos if you approach them the right way.  However, large companies can be a challenge sometimes because of their size.  They may be so large that they may not even get back to you.  Again, it never hurts to try.  Product companies are in the business selling more of their products, not sue people who use their product photos.

If you choose to take your own photos, invest in a digital camera that can take a resolution of 4 megapixel images or higher.  You want to take high-resolution photos as your master copy.  You can then “downsize”, crop, and enhance the photos for your websites or other uses.  I recommend buying an easy-to-use photo editor such as Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 that allows you to crop and resize photos easily.  The photo editor can greatly enhance the quality of the master photos you take.  You can also enhance colors and adjust lighting with the software.  Special effects such as blurring, stretching, pixelating, framing, adding captions, etc. are included with photo editing software.

I truly believe that with the increasing power and technical capabilities of digital cameras, cell phone cameras, and camcorders, the value of stock photos and stock photo companies will eventually decline.  It is going to be a losing business to be in.  This whole notion of extorting your way to profitability is distasteful and eventually will fall by the wayside much like what has occurred in the music recording industry.  One only has to look to RIAA for that lesson.

Along the “do-it-yourself” philosophy, you should have the mindset that you will fit images or photos you create to your media project, not let your media projects deciding the specific images you need.  Stock photo companies are trying to brainwash you the idea that THEY have the perfect photo for your particular needs.  If you are creative, imaginative, and resourceful enough, you will almost always find an alternative or work-around solution that does not require the use of stock photos.

If you want to show the stock photo industry you don’t need them, the best way is to simply generate more of your own photos to devalue theirs and then use your own.  I have published two books recently and have been able to successfully avoid using stock photos of any kind.  I used my own photos as well as authorized product photos.  I created my own artwork.  If more publishers, graphic artists, and graphic designers started doing this, I truly believe the stock photo industry could be brought down to their financial knees very quickly.

Many years ago, people said that we would run out of .com domains available because all the good ones were taken.  It is true it has become more challenging to find a good .com domain name.  However, I have made it my policy to not deal with any domain speculators or domain squatters.  I won’t be extorted into paying thousands of dollars for an available domain I can register for less than $10.  And because I have set that restriction and policy for myself, I have always been able to find many suitable .com domain names for my various websites.

It is the same principle here.  Think abundantly.  Think creatively.  Tap into your imagination.  There are many ways to implement a visual concept besides a specific photo you might have in mind.  There are many ways to implement a concept visually. Do not let the stock photo companies brainwash you into thinking you have to use their particular photos because there are no other ways of finding an image for your particular website, logo, banner, sign, book, magazine, or other product.

The best kept secret that the stock photo industry hates are government websites and their photo collections.  Great public domain photos can be found from U.S. government agency websites.  “The people” own the photos, not any one individual or organization.  USA.gov is a government-operated website that was launched to help U.S. citizens have better access to various government agencies and resources.  Specifically, USA.gov has a page called U.S. Government Photos and Images which contains links to government agency websites that have public domain images.  The diversity of images available is quite impressive.   An off-shoot of that page is the State Photo & Multimedia Galleries which links to public domain images at the State level.

Some of the more notable ones I like and found impressive are listed below:

Are you impressed with these websites?  I was.  It is all free and much of it is available in high-resolution.  However, you should realize that not all images from government websites are public domain.  You will need to seek out the image usage rights notices on each website.  As I said USA.gov is a great starting point to a wealth of high-quality public domain photos.

If there are any other great public domain or government photo sites, please let me know and I will add them.  If you have any additional tips to stop using stock photos and boycott the stock photo industry, send them to me and I will incorporate them into this article.

Introduction to Educational Marketing

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This was first published on The TurnKey Publishing Blog.

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As the names implies, educational marketing is a specific type of marketing where you engage potential customers and clients through education and consultation.  It is about taking a leadership but also an expert, instructional, and training role in engaging customers and clients.

Done well, it is a collaborative well and there is goodwill on both parties.  Done poorly, customers and clients feel that the power of knowledge and expertise is being used against them as an unfair advantage leaving them feeling dissatisfied from the experience.

Educational marketing is often used in large businesses where a high degree of technical understanding is part of the customer-buying process.  The computer hardware, computer software, Internet, medical, and pharmaceutical industry are large-scale examples of businesses that engage in educational marketing efforts.  Even late-night infomercials engage in educational marketing when they demonstrate how to use new, innovative products.

In smaller businesses, doctors, attorneys, accountants, electricians, plumbers, and auto mechanics also actively engage in a form of educational marketing.  They have to educate their customers and clients as they market and sell to them.  Done well, everyone is happy.  Done poorly, it becomes a distasteful experience especially for the customer and client.

Educational marketing is quite pervasive in many businesses even though business owners and managers do not necessarily use the term educational marketing.  They simply know they have to teach their potential customers and clients.

In this article, I focus on discussing educational marketing as it relates to consultants, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and other high-achieving business professionals.  Doctors, attorneys, accountants, small business owners, and entrepreneurs all fall into the group of people I focused on and work with.

These are people who often represent the human face of businesses they own or work for.  How they perform as individuals is a direct reflection of their business.  The individual-company relationship cannot easily be separated with the business.

Fundamentally, there are four basic ways potential customers and clients learn during the educational marketing process.  They can read, listen, see, or do.  They can read text information such as books, brochures, newspapers, ads, and other media.  They can listen to a live or recorded audio program such as a speech, training, or presentation.  They can see (watch) a video (such as instructional tapes, videos, and DVDs) or a live demonstration through a class, workshop, or seminar.  Or they can practice on or work with the product itself such as product and software trial periods.

I believe powerful educational marketing tools include published books, audio programs, and videos.  They are powerful because they are also the same tools used in credibility marketing.  In fact, successful educational marketing efforts result in a dual benefit.  Good educational marketing also translates to good credibility marketing. (You can read more about Credibility Marketing in another article I wrote.)

Even in a seemingly irrelevant business such as leasing single-family homes, we have had great success with ongoing educational marketing efforts using our website. Everyday, we “teach” our applicants through our website using text information and videos and our dedicated telephone information hotline through pre-recorded audios.  We expend relatively little information on a personal level but we “teach” our potential customers 24-hours a day, 7-days a week.

We actively use publishing principles in the real estate side of our business.  We don”t publish books per se for our potential customers but we do publish information on our web pages.  We don”t publish formal audio programs for our potential customers but we do create audio recordings on our dedicated telephone information hotline.

However, if I were to actually sell our homes for commissions as real estate brokers do, I would not hesitate to write and publish a book and audio program on the subject.  They are great business calling cards, symbols of my expertise and credibility, and they would teach my potential clients what they need to know to buy, negotiate, inspect, and finance a home.

I am an advocate of using published products as part of any educational marketing strategy. Even if books don”t get read, they command the highest respect out of all the media available including newspaper ads, brochures, radio, CDs, videos, and TV.  This stems from the academic and scholarly symbolism we attach to books to this day.

An author is often bestowed by the public with expert status on the subject they have written and published on. I often say, writing and publishing a book is like getting a GED for the college degree. Depending on the subject and quality of your book, it may be like you getting a Bachelor”s, Master”s or even a PhD degree.  The difference is that it takes far less time, money, and effort to write a book than to earn an academic degree. Becoming an author is a worthwhile investment for any high-achieving business professional, entrepreneur, consultant, and CEO.

Publishing a book or an audio program are excellent ways to engage in educational marketing.  In addition to being great business symbols and calling cards, they help teach and spread your message. They empower your potential customers and clients with your expertise, knowledge, and wisdom.

In closing, I am a huge advocate of Educational Marketing.  Large or small business, you will have to educate your customers and clients about your business, product, and service before you can sell them.  Educational marketing should be part of your overall marketing strategy.

The Essentials of Credibility Marketing

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This was first published on The TurnKey Publishing Blog.

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Despite what you might have heard, credibility marketing is about marketing your brand, company, mission, and yourself. Credibility marketing is not about directly promoting your products and services.  And it is certainly not about the hard and quick sell.  Credibility marketing is about investing and reinvesting in your company brand, message, and mission.

Credibility marketing is about developing and enhancing your presence, stature, authenticity, and respectability so that when you (or your company) has something to say, potential customers and clients will not only listen, they will believe you with minimal skepticism.

Often, this is about sharing information about your mission and what values you stand for.  You are also measured by the authenticity (believability/honesty) of the message you convey and portray.  Authenticity can sometimes be hard to determine but listeners look to their gut to determine if someone is authentic.  However, it is true that good acting can deceive others into thinking that you are authentic when you are not.

Closely aligned with authenticity is congruency.  You will also be measured by your congruency.  Congruency is the measure and appearance of how you (and your company) behave, act, and respond as it relates to your public message.  Are you company actions and responses always consistent with your company”s mission, brand, and messaging?  If not, how often are you inconsistent?  If your congruency factor is low (less than 70%), your company may be perceived as inconsistent or, even worse, hypocritical.  The polar opposite of congruency is hypocrisy.  Many have a high distaste for hypocrisy.  It is the fastest away to kill credibility marketing efforts.

I believe a powerful way of enhancing and building credibility is the willingness to acknowledge imperfect aspects of yourself and your company.  A willingness to express humility, self-deprecation, and imperfections can greatly enhance your credibility. It humanizes your company in the face of other marketing campaigns that say they are “perfect, flawless, the best, the greatest, etc.”

I am not subscribing to openly sharing your critical weaknesses and Achilles Heel so that competitors and others can take advantage of you but showing that you have an ongoing philosophy to self-improve can be an asset to building credibility.

Another powerful way of building your credibility is through education.  Educating others is about sharing expertise, knowledge, wisdom, and empowering others with valuable information so they can make an informed decision even if that decision means not buying your company product or services.  Short-term, you may lose a sale but in the long-term, you will create goodwill and be remembered favorably for the next buying opportunity.

People who educate place themselves as an authority and expert figure when they teach, train, and instruct others. As a teacher, trainer, instructor, and expert figure, your credibility is almost automatically enhanced.  People are listening and learning from you.  They are opening their minds to you.  They are more receptive to you.

One reason I am a huge proponent of publishing books and audio programs is that authors are often considered experts and teachers in what they write and speak about.  Of course, that is not true in every case and every person.  But in the professional and business world, authors are still much fewer in number than college graduates.  In fact, for most “average” people, their chances of personally knowing someone who is an author (even an unknown one) is much lower than they knowing someone who is a college graduate.

Becoming an author is one of the best ways to build, enhance, and even jump-start your credibility.  Holding a book you authored and published in your hands is a powerful symbol that shows your expertise in a subject matter or field.

As I often say, writing and publishing a book is like getting a GED for the college degree.  Depending on the subject and quality of your book, it may be like you getting a Bachelor”s, Master”s or even a PhD degree.  The difference is that it takes far less time, money, and effort to write a book than to earn an academic degree. Becoming an author is a worthwhile investment for any high-achieving business professional, entrepreneur, consultant, and CEO.

In closing, I am a huge advocate of Credibility Marketing.  Large or small business, if you don”t have credibility, people will not believe what you have to say or sell.

The Emergence of CEO Publishing

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This was first posted on The TurnKey Publishing Blog.

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With the recent and tremendous growth of independent publishers, a newly emerging niche of independent publishing is CEO Publishing. CEO Publishing, as the name implies, is a specialized form of business publishing that is focused on CEOs. CEO has traditionally stood for “Chief Executive Officer”. However, with the growth of entrepreneurship and professionals working from home offices and smaller offices throughout the U.S., CEO also stands for “Consultants, Entrepreneurs, (business) Owners”.

Many modern CEOs no longer work restrict themselves to working for Fortune 1000 companies in a corner office on the top floor of a skyscraper in a metropolitan city. Today, it is not uncommon for modern CEO”s (Consultants, Entrepreneurs, Owners) to work in smaller offices of a company they own located in the suburbs of a modest city.

This special group of CEOs are fresh, innovative, unconventional, and daring in their approach to business. They recognize the need to represent themselves and their companies with Credibility, Excellence, and Optimism. They also understand the growing importance and significance of having their own powerful calling card, their own published book.

Ambitious CEOs know they are not only chief managers for their company, they are also figureheads. They are the most important symbol and, subsequently, the public “face” for the company and the products and services they offer. They must also become Celebrities, Experts, and Opportunists as part of their ongoing marketing efforts, not simply be the traditionally-recognized Chief Executive Officer.

Moderns CEOs are beginning to recognize the role of having a published book as their business calling card for their credibility marketing and educational marketing efforts. For Consultants, Entrepreneurs, and business Owners, having a published book is the new business calling card for the 21st century.

Comments on the Poverty Symposium

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Last Thursday, I attended the 2nd Annual Poverty Symposium organized by Enrichment Services Program Inc., a Georgia non-profit organization.

It was interesting that I had received an invitation to this free event. It turns out that I received an invitation because of my prior attendance of last year’s Jim Blanchard Leadership Forum. In that event, it attracted many people from both the private and public sectors who had an interest in leadership and the future of business.

I was impressed that someone would create an event and assemble an interesting roster of attendees to discuss the issue local poverty.  Local politicians, representatives, public agencies, and non-profit organizations appeared to be the target audience.  Whereas I, representing small business in the private sector, seemed to be in the small minority.

Although the Poverty issue is certainly not the most exciting or inspiring subject to learn and think about, I am not oblivious of its impact locally, regionally, nationally, and even globally.  Poverty affects everyone even the affluent, wealthy, and the rich.

Unlike presidential candidate John Edwards, who made it a major issue in his campaign, I do not think that government and non-profit organizations can themselves solve this problem.  They can provide some funding and services to assist in the effort and deal with the symptoms but fundamentally, businesses and private sector must ultimately get involved to make a huge difference.

Danny Bivins of The Fanning Institute at the University of Georgia in Athens was the opening moderator of a Panel Discussion that included representatives from the Housing Authority of Columbus GA, United Way, Columbus Public Library, and Open Door Community House.

It was interesting because I have interacted with each of these agencies to various degrees through my normal course of business.  I listened as to what their opinions were regarding the local poverty issue.

A big part of the Panel discussion was finding and acknowledging the “root causes” of poverty, not simply the symptoms.  Issues such as high school education, affordable housing, diversity, home ownership, teen pregnancy, and marriage were all touched upon as “so-called” root causes.

In my mind, I agreed with much of what they said but I also disagreed with a good portion of it.  Most of the issues were politically-correct discussions that avoided the central and politically-charged issue:  the Culture of Poverty.

In the audience, were a few people that were beneficiaries of government programs and non-profit organization services.  So much of the day’s discussion focused on what the government, non-profit organizations, legistlation, and social programs could do help.  There was almost NO discussion on what the private sector and businesses could do to help.  There was also almost NO discussion of personal responsibility of what people in poverty needed to do to pull themselves out of poverty.

In the Poverty Symposium attendee folder, the Shriver Center included a packet that supposedly graded politicians and their performance in fighting poverty.  Not surprisingly, Republicans got failing grades and Democrats got excellent grades.  It was based on voting records on what the Shriver Center perceives as important bills to combat poverty.  From what I could see, there was little regard to the costs of each social program.  I have no doubt each bill have merit but I thought to myself, who pays for every single program that is going to be proposed?

In any case, it quickly appeared to me that the packet by the Shriver Center was clearly Democrat-leaning.  For the record, I classify myself as an Independent.  I cannot classify myself as a traditional Republican or a traditional Democrat.  I disagree enough with both parties to keep myself Independent.

Although Congressmen and Senators were invited, none attended in person.  Young representatives of each politician’s office were there to make their presence known.

Deborah Weinstein of the Coalition on Human Needs, concluded the day with her perspective on the national level. Admittedly, she said each community must do their part to deal with the poverty issue.  Not everything could be handled on the national level.  I agreed with her. But in her presentation, there appeared to be a “hole” in her presentation.

Like her non-profit peers, the focus seems to provide more services and more government programs.  Being patient for most of the day, I finally tried to ask a question regarding why there was no discussion about how businesses and the private sector could be involved in a way that didn’t always require donating money.  It seems that all businesses and private sector are good for are money donations which somewhat offended my sensibilities.

I also desperately wanted to know why no one wanted to tackle the Culture of Poverty and the Poverty Mindset which is ultimately what keeps many people poor, not necessarily the lack of services or opportunity.

Ultimately, a woman who came from poverty and a beneficiary of non-profit services got more “air-time” than others who had resources and fresh ideas to offer.

After the program ended, I had the opportunity to speak to Junie Christian who was a Host of the Poverty Symposium and Belva Dorsey, Executive Director of Enrichment Services Program.  I asked about why there was almost no discussion of the Culture of Poverty issue.

I brought up the well-known saying “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”  Quite simply, I wondered why there are not more educational programs that deal with this.

I also shared the well-known tales of lottery winners who come into a lot of money through their winnings but ultimately run their lives into the ground.  They do so not because they never had the chance to get money, they do so because they fundamentally are poverty-cultured.

They were surprisingly pleasant and engaged my discussion.  I told them I was also concerned about the poverty issue but my “small business” and entrepreneurial perspective vastly differed from the non-profit sector’s approach. Nevertheless, I told them I was willing to keep an open mind to any information they might have since I cannot claim to be an expert on the poverty issue.

All in all, I did not regret my time at the Poverty Symposium.  It did give me a different perspective on the poverty issue and it gave me time to reflect on how I might do my part to help.  But I did know that I wasn’t going to simply throw money on the problem.

It should be interesting to see what happens now going forward

I am Boycotting the Stock Photo Industry

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This article first appeared on “The TurnKey Publisher’s Blog”

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Because of my personal distaste and dismay of the Stock Photo industry which started with the Getty Images Extortion Demand Letter, I have taken steps to personally boycott the Stock Photo Industry and advocate not using stock photos altogether. The stock photo industry seems to be rapidly consolidating into two companies: Getty Images and Corbis, as they buy their way into near-monopoly status with them setting outrageous rules, policy, and pricing.

This article will not give you all the information necessary to entirely eliminate the need for stock photos in every situation. However, this article will give you some ideas and strategies to wean yourself and perhaps altogether eliminate your need for stock photos.I firmly believe that if you put your intentions behind the idea, you can make huge strides towards eliminating the need for stock photos altogether.

The very first thing you need to think about is whatever media project you are working on is, do you truly need a photo at all? Chances are that you are working on a website, book, magazine, brochure, news story, banner, or some other media project.Alternatives to photos might be diagrams, cartoons, illustrations, and drawings that you or a graphic artist you hire can create.Can you take your own photo to fit the need?

If you hire a graphic artist to create your own artwork, do not hire anyone in China or India where there is very little respect for intellectual property.They may be inexpensive but you can never be assured that their work is original. There is little recourse for their bad behavior because they are so far away. I recommend hiring graphic artists from the U.S. because as a professional community, they have a greater respect for intellectual property than their Chinese or Indian counterparts.They will think twice before using pirated material.

I would avoid hiring any company that outsources their work to graphic artist worker bees.In other words, I always want to deal and negotiate with a graphic artist professional themselves, not some agent or agency that farms out graphics art work.

If you do want to use and take your own photos, I highly recommend investing in a good digital camera so that you can begin taking your own photos.I also recommend getting to know amateur hobbyist photographers who have access to good cameras and enjoy taking photos.Very often, amateur photographers with good cameras are trying to find a way to justify the costs of their hobby. By hiring them inexpensively, you can get some great looking photos but also help the amateur photographer pay for his hobby.Make sure they understand that you are they are working for hire and that you will have full ownership and rights to the photos.

Professional photographers can be expensive depending on what you want and who you use. For these folks, I recommend bartering with them for exchange of services if you have talents in your profession. I find many professional photographers finicky. They will sometimes not give you full ownership or rights of the photo even though you paid them to take a photo. They are quite protective and their thinking is aligned to many in the stock photo industry. Admittedly, this is a broad generalization and based only on my experience. I am simply not optimistic that you will get good value from a professional photographer but it certainly does not hurt to try and negotiate with them.

Another source of quality photos is product photos from product manufacturers. Often, they are happy to have their products publicized and placed in a positive light and will give you free rights to use their photos. Product companies mostly police and control their photos because they don’t want their photos used in a manner they did not intend or in a way that paints their company or products in a negative light. Many will grant you free usage of their photos if you approach them the right way. However, large companies can be a challenge sometimes because of their size. They may be so large that they may not even get back to you.Again, it never hurts to try. Product companies are in the business selling more of their products, not sue people who use their product photos.

If you choose to take your own photos, invest in a digital camera that can take a resolution of 4 megapixel images or higher. You want to take high-resolution photos as your master copy.You can then “downsize”, crop, and enhance the photos for your websites or other uses.I recommend buying an easy-to-use photo editor such as Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 that allows you to crop and resize photos easily. The photo editor can greatly enhance the quality of the master photos you take. You can also enhance colors and adjust lighting with the software.Special effects such as blurring, stretching, pixelating, framing, adding captions, etc. are included with photo editing software.

I truly believe that with the increasing power and technical capabilities of digital cameras, cell phone cameras, and camcorders, the value of stock photos and stock photo companies will eventually decline. It is going to be a losing business to be in. This whole notion of extorting your way to profitability is distasteful and eventually will fall by the wayside much like what has occurred in the music recording industry. One only has to look to RIAA for that lesson.

Along the “do-it-yourself” philosophy, you should have the mindset that you will fit images or photos you create to your media project, not let your media projects deciding the specific images you need.Stock photo companies are trying to brainwash you the idea that THEY have the “perfect photo” for your particular needs. If you are creative, imaginative, and resourceful enough, you will almost always find an alternative or work-around solution that does not require the use of stock photos.

If you want to show the stock photo industry you don’t need them, the best way is to simply generate more of your own photos to devalue theirs and then use your own.I have published two books recently and have been able to successfully avoid using stock photos of any kind.I used my own photos as well as authorized product photos.I created my own artwork.If more publishers, graphic artists, and graphic designers started doing this, I truly believe the stock photo industry could be brought down to their financial knees very quickly.

Many years ago, people said that we would run out of .com domains available because all the good ones were taken. It is true it has become more challenging to find a good .com domain name. However, I have made it my policy to not deal with any domain speculators or domain squatters. I won’t be extorted into paying thousands of dollars for an available domain I can register for less than $10. And because I have set that restriction and policy for myself, I have always been able to find many suitable .com domain names for my various websites.

It is the same principle here. Think abundantly. Think creatively. Tap into your imagination. There are many ways to implement a visual concept besides a specific photo you might have in mind. There are many ways to implement a concept visually. Do not let the stock photo companies brainwash you into thinking you have to use their particular photos because there are no other ways of finding an image for your particular website, logo, banner, sign, book, magazine, or other product.

The best kept secret that the stock photo industry hates are government websites and their photo collections.Great public domain photos can be found from U.S. government agency websites. “The people” own the photos, not any one individual or organization.USA.gov is a government-operated website that was launched to help U.S. citizens have better access to various government agencies and resources.Specifically, USA.gov has a page called U.S. Government Photos and Images which contains links to government agency websites that have public domain images.The diversity of images available is quite impressive.An off-shoot of that page is the State Photo & Multimedia Galleries which links to public domain images at the State level.

Some of the more notable ones I like and found impressive are listed below:

Are you impressed with these websites? I was. It is all free and much of it is available in high-resolution.However, you should realize that not all images from government websites are public domain. You will need to seek out the image usage rights notices on each website. As I said USA.gov is a great starting point to a wealth of high-quality public domain photos.

If there are any other great public domain or government photo sites, please let me know and I will add them. If you have any additional tips to stop using stock photos and boycott the stock photo industry, send them to me and I will incorporate them into this article.

I Received a Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter

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Today, I received a Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter basically trying to extort from me a payment of $1,300 for a bird image that was used on theintrepidway.com website.  If I pay that amount, basically they agree not to sue me or my company.  However, suing and winning are two entirely different issues.

TheIntrepidWay.com currently looks bare because I immediately took down all the web banner graphics to comply with the Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter.

For most of you reading this, you will be like me earlier today.  I had no clue what this was all about.  It would be many hours later until I discovered this extortionistic practice by Getty Images.  But, believe it or not, this issue is relevant to anyone who wants to put up their own website and intend to hire someone to design their graphics and images.

The “short version” of all this is that “Getty Images”, a photo-licensing company, actively sends out Settlement Demand Letters in the U.S., U.K., and Australia to unsuspecting website owners that have intentionally or unintentionally infringed on their copyrighted images.  ON the surface, this sound fine.

In my research, so many website owners are small-business people or companies that contracted web site templates and graphics from graphic artists/designers in India.  Well, apparently, the folks in India have a terrible reputation of stealing U.S. images and incorporating them in their web graphics and template design.

Unsuspecting U.S. website owners who want to improve the appear of their websites buy these web templates and graphics and use them on their websites.  However, months and years later, Getty Images sends this very nasty and threatening letter out essentially holding you fully responsible even if someone else did the crime.  I understand that employers are held responsible for many issues, however, what comes is on the verge of insanity and certainly not even close to reasonable.

If you are legally uninformed, I will tell you, it is a very intimidating letter unless you think this through carefully.  After I calmed down, I took the time to do a Google and Yahoo search on “Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter”. I think if you do the same, you will get a very interesting education.  It is actually devious because Getty Images do not do anyone the courtesy of a Cease and Desist Letter.  Basically, let people know that they did the wrong thing and allow them to correct the situation before you get nasty.

However, in one mailing, they ask you to remove all the infringing images AND ask you to pay this extortionistic amount so they won’t sue you.  What a great scam.  Start sending letters to anyone who made a mistake to correct the mistake but also demand a huge cash payment while you are at it in exchange for you to NOT sue them.  What a great way to make money.  Why bother going to court when you can simply instill the fear of a lawsuit into people?

And even if you have to go to court, there is this small matter of preparing and proving your case.  Is Getty Images (based in Seattle) really going to hire an attorney and sue me in Columbus, Georgia over $1,300?  Perhaps they will sue for more.  But for what damages?  Punitive damages?  You want to punish someone for doing something they did not intend to do or know it was even occurring?  Those attorney fees might get expensive trying to sue a corporation over state lines.

I have been to court many times as a plaintiff.  It is not easy to simply make stuff or puff your case up.  The judge is usually smart enough to temper a case and not let a ruling get too ridiculous especially in a small claims case.

If it sounds like I am being cavalier, I am not.  I am treating this seriously.  However, I am not simply going to roll over.  I also have a few tricks up my sleeve if they truly decide to push the matter into the court system.  I won’t get into specifics but let’s just say the word will get out very quickly and wide to people, companies, and agencies I have never communicated to before.

I felt the need to post this warning message to warn others.  There are many, many angry people who have received similar letters from Getty’s Images.  I suspect they will want one more web source to consult and discuss this situation.

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Cold calls are NOT welcome on this matter. Please do not cold call me because I will not accept phone calls from phone numbers I don’t recognize.

Get Help with your Extortion Letter. If you want to learn more about my case, visit ExtortionLetterInfo.com.

 

Customized Education and Modular Learning

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Ascend Beyond LogoIn my prior article, I wrote about my larger role and responsibilities as a Publisher for Ascend Beyond Publishing. I continue on that article by sharing the educational model I am employing in my publishing business.

Many years ago, when I was a Technical Trainer and Technical Instructor of advanced networking, technologies, and network operating systems, I became indoctrinated to the idea of customized education and modular learning.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of modular learning, it is simply the concept of giving the student the ability to custom create and design their own learning curriculum no matter what the subject matter is.

The fact of the matter is, we live in a society where time is precious and adult education is something we pay for. It takes time and costs money to learn any new subject but each of us have a different view of what we should learn and how much time we should take. The determination of success from our learning comes from the results that come from the execution of our action plans. If we execute and manage our affairs well, we should yield successful results. If we don’t, we have poor results. In other words, we no longer get grades as we did in school. We simply measure results.

As a publisher, I believe in providing tight, singular topics my readership and students can choose from. Comprehensive learners prefer to buy “an entire set”, many others prefer to buy their educational materials “a la carte” or “piecemeal”.

In the TurnKey Investor Series, readers and students can immerse themselves in the TurnKey Investing Philosophy that we created and practice ourselves. Or they can simply pick the individual pieces they want to learn about. Either way, the customer comes away happy.

I have had customers that I have never heard from and swoop in buy entire learning sets in one purchase. I have had many more customers who bought one or two titles and come back to purchase a few more. Clearly, repeat customers are a sign they are happy with what they have read or heard.

There is this myth that most readers or students want a monolothic approach to their learning. I believe that represents a small minority of readers and students. This is why encyclopedias, tomes, and other thick reference books don’t sell as well as smaller, tightly-focused titles. This is why Audio Titles have gained so much ground in recent years co-existing with their print versions.

Outside of the walls of Academia, people want to choose to learn in their own way at their own pace. And so, unlike so many of my fellow authors and educators, I don’t try to create a high-priced “monster master course” that tries to cover everything and anything regarding a subject.

I say to my readers and students, “Choose and create your own education” from our suggested set of offerings.

Customized education and modular learning is the new paradigm. Publishers, authors, and educators had best understand this new learning paradigm.

Upcoming TurnKey Publishing Series – Concept Titles and Cover Art Teasers

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TurnKey Publishing Book Cover ConceptThis is mostly a teaser post for the folks who are curious as to what is happening “behind the scenes”.

I am currently laying the groundwork for my next major publishing series, “The TurnKey Publishing” Book & Audio Series. It is modeled similarly to “The TurnKey Investor“Series. The TurnKey Publishing titles are slated to start rolling out in 2008, 5 years after my publishing company (Ascend Beyond Publishing) and my first book, The Intrepid Way, was published in 2003.

A lot has happened in the last 5 years and I have certainly learned a lot about the art and craft of creating and building a publishing business. It continues to grow at a steady pace. Although I like real estate, I like the publishing business even more. And so, I am looking forward to producing and releasing the titles.

If you visit TurnKeyPublisher.com, you will see it consists of one announcement page with some teaser information. I don’t typically release the names of the projects I work on until I am well under way. However, because it is an all-new book and audio series, I needed to experience the “look and feel” of the artwork by viewing it on a live website.  I will let it sit there for a few days to see if I want to keep the current design.

My disclaimer to what I am sharing is that EVERYTHING is subject to change. The titles, the projects, the cover art, etc. are all subject to modification or even scrapped if I don’t feel something is appropriate.

Having said all that, enjoy the “behind the scenes” peek and if you have any constructive criticism and feedback, feel free to email me.

ScanCafe: A Photo Collector’s Best Friend

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In the entire history of this blog, I do not think I have been moved to make a stellar recommendation about any vendor I have no personal relationship with.

Today, I will be doing exactly that. For years, I have had stacks of 35mm negatives sitting in various envelopes stored in a box in my closet. These are photos I have taken since the early 1980’s up until a few years ago when I finally made the move to all-digital photos.

I love photos because they can tell a story about how one lives life. It also allows you to relive those special (and not so special) moments in life. It is also great if you are building a legacy to leave behind. I have photo albums assembled over the years. However, in later years, the photos simply accumulated because I did not put a high priority in organizing them into albums.

I find that while having photo albums are nice for yourself, they are not conducive to sharing with others. Also, physical photos deteriorate and degrade over time.

I am not sure how it came about but I started researching companies that could scan in photos into digital JPEG format. There are many companies that do so but I ran into one that was exceptionally inexpensive compared to its competitors. It was ScanCafe. And for that inexpensive price, they offered a LOT. Normally, I am skeptical so I try to do my homework. After doing so, I took a chance on ScanCafe by sending 100 photos on 35mm negatives.

After a very uncomplicated process of selecting which photos I wanted to discard from scanning, I was left with a selection of photos that were going to be sent to me on DVD-ROM in high-resolution format. I have to say that photos from the DVD are amazing! It is like traveling back in time looking at these 15-20 year photos that look so clear and colorful. I have definitely changed in appearance from 15 years ago! (Look at the photo and you will see what I mean!) I was definitely moved by the experience of looking at these photos which are 15-20 years old.

I was so impressed, I assembled another batch of 800 photos on 35mm negatives to send to ScanCafe. That is 8 times the number of photos I sent during the initial trial run.

If you are 30 years old and over with older photos, chances are you will love and appreciate what ScanCafe has to offer. People under 30 most likely jumped directly into digital photos. They have limited experience in 35mm photos.

I don’t personally know anyone at ScanCafe, get no referral fee, and simply a happy customer. But I am so absolutely hooked that I am scrounging around for more photos to send to them. Having high-resolution photos of old photos at my disposal is amazing. I can print and email any of them at will. I am no longer constrained by envelopes and photos albums.

Go check out ScanCafe. I think you will want to dig out old photos and negatives once you do. They are an awesome vendor with a great service.

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