how do you make an invoice?

[Nathan Leach-Proffer]

i have been asked to send an invoice, and i honestly dont know how to make it out.

i know the amount that i am going to get payed but i dont know what sort of layout to use. it is for the New York Times:D because they are going to use one of my photos .

thanks

nate

[Todd Corzett]

I just coppied mine from one a local photo store used (and I liked). Almost like letter head, but with some room below to write what was purchased, how many, price, etc. (I don't have an example I can attach right now, sorry).

Google Image Search for "Invoice" (http://images.google.com/images?q=invoice&hl=en) shows some basic designs.

I'd leave a section for notes where you can write the specifics of usage, etc.

I made mine in Acrobat so it's really fast to type-in information, but you could do it in anything really (I'll do my next one in Excel I think).

-Todd...

[Mike Ditz]

For most people the worst people the hardest part is the $$$ question so you've got that out of the way.
You need certain things on an invoice:

Your name and address (they will send you a W2 for you to sign with your SS number)
Date of invoice
Description of job or photo(s) could be file names or thumbnail or a sentence that tells what the picture is. or they may also assign your shot some sort of internal number to ID it. A PO number if they issue one.
Reproduction rights granted..."one time, non-exclusive use in NYT__________issue, etc.
Summary of Fees (production fees, usage fees, post production fees, etc)
Summary of Expenses (not really a concern if you are just licensing a photo as opposed to an assignment)
Terms of payment... $50 net 30 days (or whatever you want, not that they really pay attention to your terms, most pay when they pay...)

...or...

Go to Staples and buy an invoice pad and fill in the blanks.:)

[Jacob Leveton]

I used a standard excel "invoice"

my name, address, and SSN (when needed) at the top
Invoice number and date in the top right
Who i'm billing, and billing address below that
itemized list with charges
summary at the bottom
legal disclaimer before that

[Thomas Maranda]

You can get some good templates from the Microsoft Office website. They're easy to modify in Excel.

[Nathan Leach-Proffer]

thanks for the help and sorry i did not thank you guys sooner, i ended up using one from the Microsoft Office website.

its the smallest photo but im still very happy about it
http://static.flickr.com/94/249418093_0d20fe0711_o.jpg

[John Thawley]

Excellent. Good for you.

JT

[Nathan Leach-Proffer]

Excellent. Good for you.

JT
thanks Jon