Start off small - selling your photography?

[AndyA]

I suppose many of us would like to earn some income from our hobby, but how would you start off?

I'm quite interested in the idea of getting some photos printed as postcards, visiting some local shops and asking if they'd like to sell them on to their customers. Does anyone do this?

How much would you expect to pay for your postcard printing (and where). Would you leave the cards with the shop and collect the money once they're sold, or would you expect the seller to buy your cards up front? What amount of commission should the seller receive on each sale? How much would you charge?

What sounds like a gentle way into sales, also sounds like it might be a bit complicated.

Another option may be to have some canvas prints done (less hassle than choosing frames?) and see if a shop or two would be willing to sell them for a commission. Again, I have no idea how much I should expect to price them at, how much commission the seller should receive etc.

Is there anyone amongst us that is selling images via sites such as Smugmug or similar? How do you find that method of selling?

I'd love to hear from anyone that is selling their photography, by whatever method!

[Texas]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

I'd love to hear from anyone that is selling their photography, by whatever method!

So would I please?

[Wayne Els]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

When I stayed in Wells a month or two ago there was a guy who had rented a stall at the weekly market and was selling prints. he reckoned on a nice day he might sell a few but people would take their own pics but when the weather was poor they were more likely to sell. Obviously that takes up a bit of time and an initial capex to make up the stock. I also guess it depends on how touristy your location is.
There are postcard companies that might pay for your pics, I guess you'd have to google it and see what they want.
I've taken birthday pics (18th party) for friends out of interest, I was going anyway. They offered to pay but I declined. And I've just donated my swan shot to a charity calendar. But otherwise I wouldn't give stuff away and refused to let the local rag use a shot. Not that I try and sell my pics. I think a lot of pros put their bank details in the exif and a statement along the lines of no payment no use.
The simplest would seem to be:
You could tick the Getty thing on Flickr which may not pay much but I guess they are more likely to generate a sale than you are.
Likewise 500px has sale options dependant upon size of your images.
Or you could submit your images to a site like Alamy and see if they are interested.
Or create a website or blog and sell them that way.

Everyone on flickr seems to have a watermark and sell themselves as a photographer! I guess they aren't paying the mortgage that way though.

[Les McLean]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

It's an interesting idea Andy, and there is no 'correct' way to go about it.

A few years ago I would have suggested the easiest way would be one of the stock photo libraries (Alamy etc), but since everyone and their dog now has a digital camera, the market has become somewhat saturated. 5-10 years ago,I could expect to get £100-£200 per image sold, nowadays I don't bother because the price has dropped so dramatically.

I used to sell images using my website, and get a regular but modest income stream from that, but it became too much like a proper job, so I stopped doing that also, if you do consider this route, you need a well developed web site, and ways of encouraging traffic to your site.

I sold a few images for local calenders , based on images I had on local community/council websites.

It's worthwhile making sure you have your images posted in places that might generate income, for instance, Canon licensed one of my images for advertising that they had seen on a gallery on the CPS site.

I've never tried selling prints direct (shops/market stalls etc), but my sister in law is an artist, and has prints in a number of galleries in North Yorkshire, and it maybe stating the obvious, but the best selling prints in a particular location reflect that close area.

[AndyA]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

Thanks Wayne and Les for your replies. I think I may try Zenfoloio at some point, but I'll need to gather some more images first. It's worth a try.

[Stan]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

Dee and I have had a table at a local craft fayre for the past 4 years where we sell greeting cards, notelets, mounted prints and fridge magnets. It takes place in November so is at an ideal time for Christmas and in 6 hours we clear around £150 - £200.

Stan

[jimsphotography]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

It is getting increasingly hard to make money from photography unless you are into studio work or weddings etc. To get a decent income from landscape or wildlife photography you need to make your name well known. Try getting pictures into magazines, editors can be lazy people so they sometimes appreciate pictures and the accompanying text all ready mapped out for them - buying a complete package is a lot easier than having to put it together themselves. Try entering competitions in magazines etc - if you win often enough your name will get known and eventually you may be contacted and asked to contribute. A lot a famous togs now seem to run courses as this is the main way they can bolster income. I personally think cards is a bad idea, the income generated from a single card sale is so low you need to sell thousands to make it worth while. Last but not least, any pro who is willing to tell you in detail how to make money at photography (for free) is likely not to be any good - it's the ones who are more nebulous about how they make their income that are most likely to be doing reasonably well !!
Hope this helps
James

[jimsphotography]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

Just as an aside - I have just this moment had an email out of the blue from NASA asking permission to upload one of my night shot images for use on their web site. Should be on view as the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day tomorrow - no fee payable but as I was explaining it does help to get ones name about !
James

[paul linton]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

All i can say Andy is good luck,
If your going to let shops sell your prints/postcards they will want commission on each sale (You'll know what margin,Only when the shop keeper says yes I'm happy with that) Profit margins are going to be very small if any so your going to need to sell a hell of a lot, Who going to print all these postcards for you, try using a local printing firm as you may save a little money on your overheads. If you start your own website who's going to be looking at it, how are you going to attract people who you don't know to your site.(friends and family won't do)

Stan has a good idea to use local craft Fayre even car boot sales,they'll be loads of these around where you live and people like to spend a little money at such events and could be a good starting point maybe something to think about next year but start planning now!

Paul

Sorry to sound so gloomy I'm just letting you know its not so easy and will take a lot of hard work to get established

[AndyA]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

Thanks for all the comments and the advice, I'm not expecting it to be easy and perhaps the postcard idea might not be the best one. I'll put more effort into getting some better quality images first, before I take things further.

[jimsphotography]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

Hi Andy,
Have you thought about the local library? It's an easy way to start - most have an exhibition space you can hire for a week for next to nothing. They usually ask for a percentage of the takings so you can factor that into the price. You then simply print out your pics, mount and frame them in something not too loud so it would suit any type of decor and then price them up. Get in contact with the local paper about two weeks before kick off to see if you can get some free publicity - local papers are usual desperate for stories with pictures.
Best of luck
James

[AndyA]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

Thanks for the idea James!

[Opifex]

Re: Start off small - selling your photography?

Following on from James' idea I know of some cafes who decorate their walls with photos for sale. I also noticed that my dentist and even the local hospital are doing the same thing.

Another thought, in case the taxman gets interested keep a record of your expenses ready to offset against sales.