ASMP NorCal Presents Lee Foster on “Entrepreneurial Travel Photo Publishing”

Lee Foster on “Entrepreneurial Travel Photo Publishing”

ASMP member Lee Foster will talk about what he calls “Entrepreneurial Travel Photo Publishing.” Lee hopes to provide ASMP members with practical information and inspiration on how their photo marketing can flourish in a more entrepreneurial manner.

Preview Lee’s thinking on many subjects near and dear to the hearts of ASMP members in his website articles on Entrepreneurial Travel Publishing and The Ebook Publishing Revolution.

For his ASMP talk, Lee will address several questions, such as:

• How viable is the travel photo market among book publishers in the mainstream mega-publisher class?
• How robust is the photo market in the major travel magazines, including their new iPad versions?
• Is this now the time to publish text/photo books “independently” and bypass the boutique royalty book publishers?
• How does the ebook revolution make the publishing of photo books independently more plausible? Lee recently published his Travels in an American Imagination book as an ebook with BookBaby.
• How does Lee “monetize” his travel writing/photo website? What are the paths to revenue for such a website? How can the “functionality” of a website be improved?
• How did Lee arrange the “licensing” of the 200 worldwide travel subjects on his website to Uniglobe? Are there more such mass “licensing” opportunities out there for photography or writing?
• If you publish on other website or enter contests, can the “terms and conditions” you check off inhibit your future opportunities to market your content?
• If your photo copyright is infringed upon, how can you collect money, as Lee has ($10,900 from one client in 2011)?
• Can you make money in travel photo/text apps? What made Lee’s app San Francisco Travel and Photo Guide a best seller in the Apple iTunes App Store?
• Can you sell travel photos directly from a site such as Lee’s http://stockphotos.fostertravel.com?
• How important is agency selling of travel photos in the modern scene? Lee works with Alamy and Lonely Planet Images?
• Should you begin putting some of your attention in videos, as Lee has in his recent Hokulea video?

Lee Foster is an award-winning travel writer/photographer, winner of eight Lowell Thomas Awards, the highest prize in travel journalism. All of Lee’s contemporary work in travel writing/photography can be seen at his website www.fostertravel.com. Lee has published 10 books, 3 apps, and 3 ebooks. His work has appeared in all the leading U.S. travel magazines and newspapers, from Travel + Leisure to the New York Times. His partnership with the main worldwide travel book company, Lonely Planet, has presented his photos in more than 225 of their books. Lee’s first “independent” book was his travel literary book (with photos) titled Travels in an American Imagination, which is now out as a print book and an ebook. He sees his future as a mix of independent books and books with traditional publishers, plus work in apps, ebooks, website publishing, website licensing, travel magazines, and stock photo sales directly or through agents.