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Selling Digital Photos
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Approaching Clients Directly
February 6th, 2006
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butterfly |
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Continued
from Page
5
You MUST try to
sell pictures directly to publishers, magazines, Calendar and
Postcard companies - apart from anything else you don't have to pay
anyone commission and you can get a good relationship going with the
customer. Fees vary wildly but range from $100 on up.
Initially, send
your pictures on a CD - with your name and address on the cd itself
with a marker pen (and enclose return postage if you want the cd
back) but ALWAYS send a printed contact sheet of what's on the CD.
This is so the customer can see the pictures at a glance. Customers
of big Calendar and poster companies get hundreds of CD's every
week.
Don't forget that
you will be competing with the best and most experienced
photographers in the World (oh yes.. and with ME ! (Grin)).
Customers in this sector actually PREFER to deal direct with
photographers. It's amazing how many photographers send in CD's
without their name on the CD or any captions. You just won't get it
back - or get paid!
A CAPTION SHEET
that the customer can relate to the photos is essential (put your
Name & Address on all paperwork) Enclose a brief covering letter.
Don't make it too long - the customer is ONLY interested in the
pictures - NOT in your life history....
Remember that
customers get hundreds of submissions in EVERY week- so don't bug
them for a quick response please. Customers will probably refuse to
see you in person as they are constantly bombarded with new
photo-submissions. The CD option is the one to go with.
The main thing to
avoid though is an e-mail submission of photos. Think about it -
hundreds of unsolicited photos from thousands of photographers
clogging up the incoming mailbox! PLEASE DON'T DO IT!!!
All these things
apply to direct submissions to customers or Agents/Libraries.
There's not much difference now between a photolibrary and an agency
Agents represent a very few photographers and market just their
work. You can also put your pictures with smaller photolibraries
like Fotolibra who charge storage space and minimal commission fees
(www.fotolibra.com).
That's worth investigating.
Next article in
the series of Selling Digital Photos :
Page 7
About the
Author: Keith Jones
Resource Section:
Keith Jones has been a Stock and Travel Photographer for over 40
years
His Website is at
http://www.fotos4web.com
Where you'll find lots of his
photos and articles.
This article may be freely
reproduced in print or on the world wide web providing :
This resource section is also published intact and the article is
not altered in any way.
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