Selling your photos?
Discussion
Has anyone managed to sell photos in significant numbers? I've had mine on a few stock sites before. I have one pic that sells well, but not exactly in enough numbers for me to give up the day job for. Does anyone have any ideas/experience of shifting pics in big numbers? Anyone tried the greeting card/poster Hallmark/Athena route?
outlaw biker said:
Anyone tried the greeting card/poster Hallmark/Athena route?
Yes, but as with stock photos the world is full of people with DSLRs taking good photos. You might be lucky and have THE shot of 2009, or maybe your uncle runs a publishing company, but if you budget for earnings of £0.00 that's fairly realistic I think. If you do strike lucky, expect a lengthy contract which probably signs your rights away - and they have very rich lawyers.I'm pretty confident that about 5 or 6 of my pics could be potential big sellers in the poster/card market. Its really frustrating not being able to get the exposure...although I've not actually approached Hallmark/Athena yet. I'm kind of hoping for any advice on how to go about that before I f
k it up 
k it up I have finally got off my arse and have been uploading to Alamy for the last week or two. No sales yet but it is very early days and realistically given that their site has over 10 million images for sale I do not expect to sell that many. I believe the poster / greetings cards folks use places like Alamy and maybe Getty for sourcing their images.
No harm in a direct approach. If successful as Simpo says make sure you know what you're signing away so you can balance that against what price you want for that usage.
Chris
No harm in a direct approach. If successful as Simpo says make sure you know what you're signing away so you can balance that against what price you want for that usage.
Chris
I've had quite a few sales in the last year on a couple of stock sites. I've had one pic licenced for T-Shirts. Another one has sold LOADS of postcards, framed prints etc (and I have high hopes for this one as greeting cards) and another couple have sold well as postcards. It just feels like the quality is there but I'm not getting enough exposure. I could be very wrong and probably should be counting my blessings I know from having been on a major site that there are literally thousands of photographers with great work that never sell a single pic.
I know from having been on a major site that there are literally thousands of photographers with great work that never sell a single pic._dobbo_ said:
I suppose my question is, how much money do you think there is in the postcard/greeting card/poster market?
With cards retailing at approx £2, how much of that is going to the photographer? Not much I'd wager, probably no more than from a single sale on a stock website.
From large framed prints (A2 I think?) I currently get about £12. From postcards I get about 22p. But I imagine from a wider market like Hallmark/Athena that small margin would work out quite nicely.With cards retailing at approx £2, how much of that is going to the photographer? Not much I'd wager, probably no more than from a single sale on a stock website.
outlaw biker said:
I've had quite a few sales in the last year on a couple of stock sites. I've had one pic licenced for T-Shirts. Another one has sold LOADS of postcards, framed prints etc (and I have high hopes for this one as greeting cards) and another couple have sold well as postcards. It just feels like the quality is there but I'm not getting enough exposure. I could be very wrong and probably should be counting my blessings I know from having been on a major site that there are literally thousands of photographers with great work that never sell a single pic.
Out of interest which stock photo sites do you use? mtia! Ignore that request - just seen UKBob's recommendations on the sticky I know from having been on a major site that there are literally thousands of photographers with great work that never sell a single pic.Edited by ginettag27 on Tuesday 24th June 11:59
I sell between 10 and 20 a month on www.photobox.co.uk
Never going to make loads of cash from it, but it provides decent beer tokens
Never going to make loads of cash from it, but it provides decent beer tokens
Photobox aren't offering new Pro Galleries for a while whilst they rebuild the site - can anyone recall what the financial setup is though as a friend of mine is interested. Do they take more than the normal cost of the prints out of the total price you charge? I assume they take a set % of the selling price, plus the normal print cost.
Shoot me down if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the way it works is that if Photobox charge £10 for a print - the pro gallery owner can ask for £20 and every time one is bought, £10 is added to the photographer's account.
It seems to have worked for me that way for the past two years.
It seems to have worked for me that way for the past two years.
Simpo Two said:
Last time I looked the Pro Gallery system also took 10% commission on top of their normal charges.
Hence I prefer to take the order and buy it from PhotoBox myself, with delivery direct to the customer.
Conversely I'd argue that the admin hassle would be worth the 10% fee Hence I prefer to take the order and buy it from PhotoBox myself, with delivery direct to the customer.
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