Consumer publications

To sell your work in consumer publications, magazines are the easiest market. Researching your market is important to selling photography. As suggested it is essential to do your “homework” on where you are submitting your images to. You need to know what needs to be done to have what is appropriate for the publication.

As mentioned most submissions require a cover letter. To know what kind of letter to send you must know determine what kind of work you are selling. The letter should include publications credits, samples of your work, and other relevant information about yourself.

Book Publishers

            Photography in the book publishing world is diverse. For book publishing the publishers may buy individual images or groups of photos. This particular job requires freelance photographers to be flexible in their pay rates. Themes are typically what publishers are looking for. Including a brief letter describing your project and sample images is a great way to show publisher your work. If the publisher is interested they may ask for more information depending on the complexity of the project. Photo books are expensive and may have a limited market.

Stock photo agencies

The stock agency is extremely competitive. Figuring out how they work is a great way to get ahead. Photos are licensed and the company extracts roughly around fifty percent commission from each use of the image. Before diving into the stock agency market you must have a solid base of quality images fifty through on hundred and must be prepared to supply new images on a regular basis. Smaller agencies are the best to go after since they are looking for ways to build up their image files. You must keep in mind how a stock agency is going to market you work to attract buyers. Retaining the rights to your work will provide an income even you’ve moved away stock agency work.