Direct

Selling Stock Photos
Directly To Publishers

By Andrew Hudson

Direct

"How do I find a customer?" Look around. Search the Yellow Pages, online, a bookstore; think of who might use your photos.

The publishers of postcards, magazines and books usually include their address and/or web site on the back or inside of their publication. Do an Internet search for "photos of (whatever you have)" and see who's in that market. A valuable resource is the latest edition of Photographer's Market, which includes a huge list of photo publishers.

Send an introductory letter and a "cut sheet" of sample photos. Keep it simple and send only your best work, not everything, to keep your average high and increase impact. Remember that even the best targeted mailings get only about four percent returns, so to get one sale you'll need 25 good contacts.

Who uses photos? Publishers of these products:

Web Sites

Web sites are an the easy place to use your photos. Digital photos are usually already in the correct format (JPEG) for the Internet, and they're easy to transmit to a client (by email or FTP site). Web sites use relatively low-resolution images, which means you don't need an expensive, high-megapixel camera, and you don't have to worry about unauthorized usage in other media (since printed media requires higher-resolution images than typically found on the Web).

Real estate agents, tourist/convention-and-visitor bureaus, and companies in the tourism industry are often looking for good travel photos. Seach the Web for such companies, or see on what sites similar photos are used using Google Images.

How much can you get for a web photo? $10 - $50 per image.

	James Blank is America's most prolific photographer. He sells stock photos direct to postcard publishers. Previously a postal employee, James started in 1969 by picking up the Yellow Pages and calling postcard companies. One contact led to another and now he knows everyone in the business. Read more here.

Postcards

Buy some postcards that feature photos similar to yours, and look on the back. You should find the publisher's name and possibly their address and/or Web site. Send the publisher some examples of your work and see what they say.

How much can you get for a postcard photo? Perhaps $100 per image.

Notecards

With a few samples in hand, you can visit local giftshops and bookstores to see if they will enter into a trial. You could offer the cards on a "no-obligation consignment" basis, where you give them the cards and return a month or two later and charge them only for the cards that sold.

Books

For me at least, there is nothing finer than seeing your photos in a book. There's something classic, complete, and enduring about books.

Be aware that it is hard to get someone to publish your book. Color printing is expensive and the market is small, which makes photography books high risk and low profit. Thus publishers only want well-known photographers who are established sellers. Your chosen subject and impressive photographic skills alone are unlikely to convince a publisher to bet a large amount of printing money on you. That's partly why I chose to self-publish. If your subject is local and you're willing to devote some time to selling, you can often make your money back on a self-published photo book.

Publishers are often looking for authors, to write a book for which the title has already been established, particularly for books in a series. So you could bill yourself as an author with pictures to boot.

How much does a book pay? A typical advance is $10,000 to $15,000 against royalties of 10-15%. That may sound a lot but it takes a long time to write a finished book, and you may have to pay your own expenses.

Advertising

Advertising is where the real money is. If you can sell a picture for an ad, you could be cashing thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. Very nice. Of course, there's a catch.

Advertisers require exceptionally high quality. The picture must be sharp, very high resolution, correctly exposed, and with accurate lighting across the picture. Simply a "good" photo of your baby is not good enough for a baby-product advertiser. Amateur photographers are unlikely to have the necessary equipment, printing knowledge and exacting skills required. Professionals have a team of helpers, banks of lighting gear, and big high-res cameras.

Advertisers usually want something else -- people in the shot. Since this is commercial use, you'd need model releases for anyone recognizable. Locations and products may also need payment and releases. Advertisers will likely require exclusive use -- a buyout of the photo and anything similar.

How much does advertising pay? $5,000 to $25,000.

There's one place that is always looking for photos: magazines.

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