How to Successfully Sell Your Images
Introduction
Many of us would like to get paid for our iamges as a reward for the amount of effort we put into producing our landscape photography. This blog sets out how I approach the planning of some of my photographic trips and projects with a deliberate intention of getting the work published.
How to Sell
The first thing action you need to take to sell your images is to decided which magazines you want to sell your work to, and just as importantly in which format. Are you looking at a cover shot, to be included in the local photo section or even have an article or photo essay published.
Once this is decided, you then need to look at what your target magazines have included in the past, how these have been set out, the length of any articles and the number of photos with any article. Do they normally require a brief or longer description associated with any images sets,If you are looking to provided an image based article you need to targets its length and number of images , this in a great degree needs to be based on your research as to what has been published in the past.
Real World Submission
As a real word example, living in Essex one of the magazines which I read on a regular basis is the Essex Magazine. Looking through this publication i noticed that they on a few occasions the publish a 2 page spread dedicated to images from a local photographers.
Having at the time been part way through a self-generated project looking at the best of Essex villages, I saw an opportunity to modify this photo project to make it more flexible and suitable for a double page magazine spread. This meant that i had to ensure that I had a good proportion of the images in differing format i.e portrait and landscape orientation.
I next looked to contact the editor of the Essex Magazine, these e-mail contact details are normally on the contents pages of magazines together with the contributers, i made sure my approach was succinct and to the point, if it was too rambling they may well lost interest.
I briefly outline what i was offering ( remembering my research about the magazine) and put in a few words where i saw my work fitting in to the magazine sections attaching around 6no of the best low res images. One thing that need to be borne in mind, these are busy people so did not send them hundreds of images or expect an instant reply.
A few weeks after i made my approach i was contacted by the Editor with a show of interest, i agreed to supply a selection of hi res images and assoicted text for inclusion in the magazine as seen above.
So in closing this blog, I have listed some bullets point below set out how to shoot images and approach magazine with image sales in mind.
Research what past issues of your target magazinse have published in terms of covers, articles and photo sections .
If it’s a cover shot remember your image needs to take into account the title and text
Keep in mind how often the magazine is published, for instances if its published quarterly they will be looking for Autumn images around July. As such your images need to reflect the season the magazine will be published in.
Make your approach friendly but succinct, setting where in the magazine you see your submission fitting.
Only send your best images, do not pad these images out with mediocre shoots
If you do not have success the first time keep trying remember these editor are busy people
Good Luck
I would be grateful of your comments or feedback below;