When it comes to selling your photography online (or offline for that
matter) it can seem like a daunting task, and if you’re not sure where
to start, we’ve put together a basic guide which offers a few avenues
that you can take, from where you to post your photography, to how to
make sure your work gets noticed.
The first step, obviously, is deciding where to sell your
photography, which is determined by your style. If you’re more of a
product photographer, microstock agencies are the best route for you. If
you prefer fine art photography, sites like Red Bubble or Etsy might be
better suited to your style.
Microstock Agencies
One of the most common places for photographers to sell their images
today is through microstock agencies. When choosing a microstock site,
make sure to read all the fine print, and understand exactly what your
rights are, what their commission is, as well as reading the guidelines
to make sure you adhere to their rules.
There are countless microstock agencies, but when getting started,
it’s best to go with one of the better known and established agencies
such as Fotolia, iStockPhoto, Shutterstock and DreamsTime. There’s no
harm in placing the same images on each site, to see where your work
does best.
When adding photos to a microstock site it’s good to always keep
adding new work, in order to keep your portfolio updated and get you
noticed.
Fotolia: We have already reviewed
Fotolia,
a popular microstock site, but we looked at it from the point of view
of the buyer. If you’re a photographer and want to sell your photos on
Fotolia, what you get paid depends entirely on your ranking on the site
and the image’s exclusivity, among other factors. You could get paid
anywhere from 20 to 63% for a single image download. Fotolia complicates
things a little bit for photographers due to its various subscription
plans. If a user downloads the image via the subscription download
option, you will receive 0.25 to 0.40 site credits, which you can cash
out via Paypal or Moneybookers once you’ve earned a minimum of 50
credits.
Shutterstock: One of the best-known microstock agencies,
Shutterstock
is often at the top of photographers’ lists as far as earning are
concerned, so if you’re going to choose just one agency, it should be
Shutterstock. Shutterstock only pays anywhere from $0.25 to$2.85 per
image, but the higher rates are limited to photographers with extremely
high lifetime earnings. The potential for the volume of sales, however,
makes up for that. That said, your images do go through a pretty
stringent vetting process before your images are accepted.
DreamsTime: DreamsTime
is a good place for beginners to start as its vetting process is
probably the most lenient out of all the sites listed here.
Photographers receive a commission which ranges from 30 to 60% of the
price, while images sell for as low as $0.20 per image.
iStockPhoto: While you could potentially get the highest earning per image from
iStockPhoto,
the site’s vetting process is extremely stringent as well. Photos
accepted by other microstock agencies could very easily be rejected by
iStockPhoto. Photographers are paid a commission which ranges anywhere
from 15 to 45% depending on various factors including exclusivity
Creative sites
While photography sold on microstock sites doesn’t have to always
have a corporate or product feel to it, the more artistic or fine art
photography doesn’t have an audience. Most, if not all, fine art
photographers are averse to use a royalty-free site, especially ones
with low rates as it simply devalues their work. If the microstock model
doesn’t appeal to you, there are more creative routes to take.
Like with microstock sites, you do need to keep your portfolio
updated, but also be very selective. Showcase only your best work and
make sure to tag your work well so it can be easily found by customers.
Etsy: Using a site like
Etsy
is a great way to sell prints to a ready and waiting audience. It does
of course have its drawbacks. With microstock sites, you are selling
nothing more than a digital file, and the site does all the work for
you. With a site like Etsy, you have to go to the trouble of making
prints, and mailing them, all of which automatically increases your
price, and potentially makes it harder to sell. On the flip side, you
have complete control over setting the price point, and you have
complete control over how your art appears.
If you choose to sell prints on Etsy, offer more than one print size,
and while there is an audience actively searching the site, you will
definitely need to do a bit of self-promotion.
A listing on Etsy will cost you $0.20, while the site takes a 3.5% sales fee on each transaction.
SmugMug: A popular choice among many photographers, not only for selling photos,
SmugMug gives
you an impressive portfolio to showcase your work. One of the few photo
sharing sites which doesn’t have a free account option, posting your
work on SmugMug will set you back anywhere from $40 to $150 per year.
There are three different
account options
on Smug Mug, Basic, Power and Pro. With the basic $40 account you get
unlimited photo uploads and unlimited traffic, a choice of 50 themes for
your portfolio, and the ability to sell your prints through the site,
but without setting the price point yourself. The Power account, at $60 a
year, gives you more customization features, while the $150 pro account
gives you more flexibility as far as selling your work is concerned,
with the ability to set the price, create custom coupons for promotions,
and sell digital copies of the files as well.
Fine Art America: To sell your photography on
Fine Art America you
can either sign up for a free account, or a pro account for $30 a year.
Pro accounts get additional marketing features, such as creating and
sending graphical newsletters, creating your own site, as well as other
features like licensing your work on TV and earning a 10% commission on
accessory related sales of your work. It is probably worthwhile to start
with a free account and upgrade if you find that the features will add
anything to your marketing and selling strategy. If you want to take
care of the prints yourself, Fine Art America won’t take a commission,
letting you retain the entire amount. If you want them to take care of
the prints for you with their
print on demand
system, a free membership will allow you to sell up to 25 images, and
mark up Fine Art America’s base price. Premium members can offer an
unlimited number of images for sale.
Red Bubble: A sleekly designed site,
Red Bubble offers
a great way to showcase work you want to sell. You can sell your work
as framed prints, or if you want, printed on clothing, and other
products. Like Fine Art America, Red Bubble doesn’t charge a fee or take
a commission, and instead they set the base price of the product, and
let the artist set the price with their own mark up on the
base price. Red Bubble has a strong community feel to it, so it helps to interact on the site to get yourself noticed.
A recent
comparison
of Red Bubble, Fine Art America and, a third option, ImageKind, shows
that Fine Art America generates the most traffic and income.
Of course these aren’t the only options available to you. Sites like
DeviantArt
also allow photographers to sell prints through their site, and like
Red Bubble, getting involved in the community always helps. That said,
DeviantArt is an over-crowded site, and might not be the best option for
someone with plans to go professional.
How to get noticed online
Of course it isn’t enough to just put your work online, even on sites
where the audience is coming straight to you. The first step to making
sure that you get noticed on these sites is to use categorization. Make
sure that you label your work with as many appropriate tags so that if
someone is looking for your kinds of photos or subjects – they’re going
to find them.
The next step is to promote, promote, promote. Put together a
professional looking portfolio with your own domain. If you don’t have
any web design experience, one of the easiest ways to put together a
portfolio is using WordPress, and there is no limit to great looking
free and premium themes. Couple that with an extremely easy-to-use
back-end, and you can showcase your work, with your own personality.
It should go without saying that social networks are an essential
part of your self-promotion. Twitter, Facebook and Google+ can all be
used to either drive traffic to your online store or website. With a
Facebook page or a Google+ profile, you can even share a taste of your
work directly on the site.
It might surprise you, but making some of your work available under Creative Commons
can go a long way.
Another way you can get yourself a bit of promotion is to use sites like
PhotoJojo or
PopPhoto, or even GeekSugar’s
Cool Capture Group – look for sites where you can get a link back to your own portfolio to drive extra traffic to your work.
On your portfolio, make sure you let people know who you are, what
kind of work you do, and most important of all, how to contact you. You
never know what kind of commissioned work could come your way.
How to get noticed offline
Promoting yourself in your own local community is another important
vital step to driving traffic to your site. Always keep a set of
personalized business cards on you. Get them printed up using a site
like
Moo where you can use
your own images and design the card yourself, adding that essential bit
of personality to set yourself apart and get yourself noticed. You can
even design the card yourself at home, like Katie Sokoler’s DIY option
featured on
PhotoJojo.
Word of mouth promotion can also come about as a result of having
your framed work on the walls of local establishments. Check out your
local bookstores, coffee shops and restaurants and work out a way to get
your work on their walls, as long as its accompanied by your contact
information.
Depending on where you live, you can also contact local galleries and
ask them if they accept unsolicited work. Keep your finger on the pulse
of local events and fairs where you can showcase your work.
When selling prints locally, think about adding little touches that
accompany your print – it will make you memorable and also serves as
creative self promotion. Don’t just accompany your print with a business
card. Just like you add your personality to your online portfolio, add
your personality to the final product. Use creative and artistic
packaging, which of course features your contact information.
Don’t be afraid to get as creative as you possibly can – because that’s what’s going to make you stand out from the rest.
The process takes patience and perseverance, and requires a bit of
thick skin to go with your talent, but working at it should yield
positive results.
Do you have any tips on selling your photography? Let us know in the comments.