Hasta La Ideas

If it makes you feel old to learn that the Harry Potter books are going to be released soon with new covers, intended to “appeal to the next generation of readers who did not grow up” with the series, because you felt twenty to thirty years too old to have anything to do with them when they were first released, know that you aren’t alone. But such is the case with publisher Bloomsbury, who have announced a new “Signature” edition of J.K. Rowling‘s insanely popular books (PDF), which are set to be released on November 1st. No coincidence at all that this announcement came immediately at the same time as the company released its sales figures for the previous year, showing a 39% decline thanks to not having a new Potter book out there in stores. The new covers can all be seen here (this is just for the UK editions, remember) and here’s a bit from a post on the design by the firm who handled the job, Webb & Webb:

We set about designing the series, which includes a unique Harry Potter signature, following on from our successful Comic Relief covers last year. After presenting several ideas we asked Clare Melinsky to illustrate the front, back and spine for all seven titles in the series. We think you’ll agree the results are magical!

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As regular freelancers ourselves, we’ve likely suffered many of the same fears as a lot of our readers. Despite there being an ever increasing amount of outlets that need material, technology has allowed it to be far more easily and cheaply created, driving down the fees that professional creatives are able to charge. Although most of the time you’ll find that just because your friend’s cousin has a copy of Photoshop doesn’t mean what he’ll turn out is any good, the fact that he’s there can alter the whole industry. So while it’s interesting, it’s not very pleasant to read Stephanie Clifford‘s piece about struggling shooters in her piece for the NY Times‘, “For Photographers, the Image of a Shrinking Path.” Clifford talks about the big bite taken out of that particular freelance market, to the accessibility of good digital cameras, magazines folding and advertisers cutting back, and stock companies branching out to get more material and paying creators less because of it. Like we said, it won’t be a pleasant read, since you can find corollaries in almost any creative profession ($99 logos, anyone?) but it’s worth the reality check. Here’s a bit we found interesting:

In 2005, Getty Images licensed 1.4 million preshot commercial photos. Last year, it licensed 22 million — and “all of the growth was through our user-generated business,” [CEO of Getty, Jonathan Klein] said.

That is because amateurs are largely happy to be paid anything for their photos. “People that don’t have to make a living from photography and do it as a hobby don’t feel the need to charge a reasonable rate,” [photographer Matt Eich] said.

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