Selling pictures

You would probably make more money selling usage rights than prints. Hard to sell anything in market stalls for a good price. Especially considering all the upfront cost of printing, mounting and possibly framing a lot of images. There’s just so many folks on the web that it would be very difficult to distinguish yourself.

Also, at least on this side of the pond, there are so many chains selling limited run (10-20k ha ha) offset prints for short money that to sell as works of art you would pretty much have to show in a gallery. They usally take 40-60%. So to make money you would have to sell a majority of your pieces.

The good news is that you don't say you want to make your living selling your images. Since I have no idea the type of area or market you are in, I will just tell you how I go about making some "beer money", or cash for more camera gear.

I have found a few retail locations that carry my prints on a 60/40 consignment. One of them also carries my postcards. I live in a tourist type area and so I take pictures of locations that all the tourists take pictures of...with unsatisfactory results. Living here full-time allows me to capture those locations under ideal conditions: dramatic skies, perfect lighting, etc. For me, that is the stuff that sells. The more "artistic" pictures, like macro flowers and insects, do not sell nearly as well. So I load the stores with what the tourists want.

I sell the images matted, with clear protective bags, and a foam core backing. I purchase my stuff from a guy I took a chance with on ebay. I now deal with him directly and he is great to do business with. I print my images through everything from mpix.com to the local superstore (Sams Club or Costco). I get my postcards through winkflash.com. I work with a client I met on ebay for frames as well. He is very reasonable and makes frames out of barnwood...great for my images here in northern Michigan.

I also sell photos off my website and at one local art show. I am always passing out business cards and posting them in places throughout our little tourist town. I am by no means making a living at it, but, I also am a realist. I know that I am not going to be making a living at it. I enjoy taking photographs and the extra money is a bonus. Good luck and just try to find your niche in your market.

Some business advice: www.danheller.com.

Jim, my advice would be to visit a couple of galleries around where you live. Here in the US, most galleries charge you rent for the space to display your work, and then take a percentage of the sale price. Find out how much places charge, then figure if thats something you can even handle. As for framing, its expensive. Every time some of my work is selected for a gallery showing, after the initial excitement, I cringe in thought of the hundreds of dollars it is going to cost me to frame the work. My advice would be to frame 3 or 4 of your best pieces, mark the price up high enough to make it worth your while, but then sell the rest of your stuff matted and sealed in clear plastic sleeves. Let the customers take on the price of framing instead of you having to eat it up front.

As for selling work online through a personal website, all I can say is its tough. Unless you have a well established name for yourself like John Shaw or Art Wolfe, than most of your sales will probably come from people you know or meet in life that you refer to your website. Don't count on a lot of sales from random people who stumble across your site online.