Two Simple Methods to Sell More Photos

Most professional photographers these days make the majority of their money through print sales. Regardless of the niche they choose to shoot, the money is almost always in the print sales rather than the creative fee. This is especially true of photographers that are shooting conceptual pieces and landscapes. Chances are you have read countless blogs on how to increase your print sales, without seeing the results you were really after. What you probably haven’t realized is that there is two very simple ways to improve your print sales, starting today. All you have to do is take the common sense approach to the game, it’s a simple two prong effort and when you realize it you will kick yourself for not thinking of it yourself. All you have to do is show more and shoot more.

Simple isn’t it? Just by shooting more and showing more of your work you can dramatically increase your print sales, regardless of the niche you are shooting. Shooting more photos every shoot will not only give you more variety to choose from (and likely better shots), you may end up snagging some different looks. Notice that doesn’t mean to take more photos of the same thing; try different angles, composition and other camera tricks to get entirely new photos. The flip side is just as simple; showing both more of your work and in more places will drive sales. After all how can you expect to sell your photos when no one sees them?

All you have to figure out now is where to show your work. This is generally going to depend on what you shoot. For example, if you shoot families and/or weddings you probably aren’t going to sell too many photos in an gallery show. However, you may have some success sending links to an online gallery to grandma and grandpa who might want a new photo of their children and grandchildren. What about the photographer who shoots mainly conceptual work though? Well the first step is to start a photo blog. Sites like wordpress and tumblr make this process both easy and free to start, and both of these sites have a built in audience which can help you get some momentum. The next step is to move on to photo sharing specific sites like flickr and 500px. Choose your best work and upload them, include links back to your website and where they can purchase copies. Finally look around for websites that allow artists to sell their work directly to the consumer, sites like Etsy can be a great place to sell a few more prints.

If you can stick to these two simple principles you will see an increase in print sales. It is basic odds, the more photos you have, and the more people you share them with; the more likely you are to get print sales. As an added benefit you will quickly learn what types of photos do well where, and you can further push your sales to a whole new level just by shooting what people are looking for. Now get out there and start shooting!


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