The Right Way to Photo Sales

Want To Improve your Photo Sales? Here Are Seven Marketing Mistakes To Avoid.

"Why Do I See Others Photos Published --
Yet Mine Are Better?"
My cousin in Texas told me she wanted to get into stock photography and hoped to start selling to magazine and book publishers. When I visited her a couple of years ago, she brought out an album of her outdoor and travel photography. "People have told me these pictures are as good as the ones they see published in magazines and books. What do you think ?"

"Before I look at the pictures, let me see your marketing methods," I said.
"My what?"

If you are interested in seeing your credit line in national magazines and books, and you can produce excellent images, the following will be helpful to you. We all know that trying to sell excellent umbrellas on a dry day is difficult. Even the inferior ones will sell during a downpour. The engine that drives the selling process for stock photographers is fueled by effective marketing methods.

We've heard of the photographer who hit the jackpot with the sale of one photo for use on a billboard or an advertising campaign. This is rare. Your best bet to break into the stock photo field is the book and magazine industry. The photography budget for a medium-size publishing house is between $20,000 and $40,000 monthly. For a major publisher, it's twice that amount. Stock photographers who are consistent at selling their photos have learned to identify certain markets that match their own areas of interest. Once they become a "regular" at the publishing house, they receive a steady stream of photo requests and assignments.

Over the years, I've looked at dozens of collections of superb photos gathering dust in a shoe box. One important element stood between those pictures being published and remaining in the shoe box: skillful marketing techniques. I've noticed that the photographers who succeed at selling to the book and magazine industry are those that have developed a strategy for selling, which today we call, marketing.


Want to improve your marketing methods? Here are seven marketing mistakes to avoid.

• CREATE FIRST THEN FIND A MARKET

Number one is probably the most oft-repeated marketing mistake. Creative people tend to produce their product first and then attempt to find a market for it. This is a recipe for disaster. The Boulevard of Broken Dreams is strewn with bodies of creative people who never learned: "Find the market first, and then create for that market."
Most entry level stock photographers fail because they go after the "photos that sell", not necessarily the ones they love photographing.

• SPECIALIZE

When you try to be all things to all people in the publishing world, the photobuyer's reaction is: "No one can be that good!" Discover your photographic strength areas, and go for them. Most entry-level stock photographers go have the whole pie rather than the piece of the pie. Become a specialist. don't photograph everything you see. you'll burn out. Stay within a "segment" and become an expert in your area(s) of interest. Learn to speak the language of your interest areas. You'll become a valuable resource to a certain group of photobuyers out there. If wild horses can't pull you away from your goals, you'll succeed. You'll fail or get bored if you aim for only those markets that 'pay well'.

• FOR SOUL NOT FOR SALE

Writer's rarely publish their poetry and even rarer is getting paid for it. In the stock photography field, don't expect your 'artsy' pictures to sell. Consider them your poetry. Ask yourself next time you're taking (making) a picture, "Is this for sale or is it for soul?". Spend Sundays to take pictures that feed your soul, take the marketable pictures during the week to feed the family.

• PASSING THROUGH

Give the appearance that you are a 'permanent' resident. Most creative people have a tendency to change their address once every five or six years. Photobuyers have a tendency to shy away from the vagabond, the wanderers, no matter how talented they might be. Buying photos is a business and they want you to be businesslike in their dealings with you, and that means being 'reachable' five days before deadline. Get an e-mail address and stick with it.

• LOOKING LIKE A BEGINNER

If you appear to be 'just starting out' photobuyers will pass you on by. They don't have the time to hold your hand or "train" you. They'd rather spend their time with someone who is "hassle-free". You should give the appearance of looking like a pro. Build a quality website. Correspond on quality stationery, labels, and envelopes. The photobuyer will put you on her/his “white list.”Don’t use the Internet to send a catalog of your pictures to a prospective editor. Instead, ask for permission first.

• TECHNICAL FAILINGS

The automatic controls on digital cameras today make it nearly impossible not to get a technically good photo. Photobuyers expect technical excellence from you. No matter how excellent your image may be, if it does not meet the reproduction quality for the publishing industry, you'll fail. A 1D meg picture may be resolution enough for magazine and book markets, however, a 50 meg image is often the minimum requirement of many of your markets. Use this as a guideline when buying your next camera.

• HOMEWORKLESS

Do your homework. Know what your strengths are, and then begin photographing in the areas that you love best, where you 'speak the language' of the photobuyer. Do your homework on the web or at the reference library. You'll find scores of powerful directories awaiting you, plus photobuyers who, at this moment, are searching for your talent and know-how. They will recognize your mini-expertise that matches the special interest of their magazine or publishing house audience.