The Photo Info

By David Bigwood

There is no doubt that a fair proportion of the pictures used in publications are not the 'best' available. At least, we think so because after all, you and I have much 'better' pictures, in our files. But, that's the trouble, the pictures are in our files and not in the marketplace.

If I were to ask a number of freelances what was the most difficult part of their job, I guarantee that most would plump for 'marketing'. Not 'exposure' or 'composition' or 'finding subjects' but 'marketing'.

Which is why many 'ordinary' photographers who are excellent marketers succeed more than the brilliant photographer who has no marketing skills.

There have been numerous books written on the subject - and I have most of them on my shelves. I am a sucker for any book that has 'sell' and 'photographs' in the title! As is to be expected, the quality of the advice varies considerably. From my point of view, I still consider Rohn Engh's Sell and Re-sell your Photos as one of the best albeit with a very American slant. It's now in its fifth edition so it obviously has something going for it. When I began freelancing I also dipped constantly into Louis Peek's book, Cash from your Camera and had regular success following his advice.

However, times have changed and with them photography and publishing. But, one aspect is timeless; if you don't have your work in the marketplace, it won't sell.

For me, the big question is: how do I get my work into the market-place and give it a chance to be published?

To begin with certain assumptions have to be made. It is assumed that the pictures I am trying to sell are well exposed, sharp, clean, and the sort of pictures that the target publication uses. The first problem is finding the target market. While there are several marketing guides available, these are really only a starting point. Having found a likely market in, say, the Freelance Photographer's Handbook (UK) or Photographer's Market (USA) the next step is to get hold of a copy of the publication to see the type of pictures they use and how they are treated - positioning, size, is type used over the picture, are people involved and so on. This is the information that guides do not have the space to give you but which is essential if you are to give your pictures the best chance of being published.

Having picked your target, and made sure that what you are submitting is in line with what the publication actually uses, presentation is the next consideration. First impressions do count so you need to make them good. And you can start by not making your package difficult to open.
As an editor myself, I admit to cursing the contributor who uses a mile of sticky tape on the outside of his package and another half mile on the inside. By all means pack securely but with the quality of envelopes, both padded and board-backed, on the market today there really is no need to go over the top with tape. Most of my submissions now are on a CD so I use one padded envelope big enough to take a CD which is the return envelope and place this and all the submission in a second, larger padded envelope. Good protection and simple to open.

When we sent transparencies to editors, all they had to do to look at them was throw them on a lightbox but that's not the case with a CD. To enable the editor to make a preliminary assessment of your contribution without having to load the CD into a computer you need to provide an index sheet of reasonably sized thumbnails. I use an A4 sheet with thumbnails sized to 6cms on the longer side, print it in landscape format and fold to make an A5 folder.

David Bigwood is an Australian based writer and photographer who sells his words and pictures regularly. He was a columnist for F2 Freelance + Digital magazine for three years. His website is http://www.bigwoodpublishing.com where you will find some of his published articles.