Can You Make a Living as a Travel Writer?

The answer is YES ... and the topic is the focus of three articles written by Blair Howard. Blair is a travel writer and stock photographer. He has sold hundreds of articles, thousands of photos and has had 26 books books published.

The really FUNNY thing is that Blair tells me he is ultimately LAZY. Oh yeah! But he is serious and goes on to explain that unlike most writers who write an article and then sell it once or twice, he sells his articles dozens or more times.

So if you want to get a glimpse into his genius ... GO AND READ THE ARTICLES:
http://proofpositive.com/feature/travel-writing-pt1.htm


Oh and in case you are wondering that this has to do about selling your photos .... the majority of articles Blair sells are of the photo-essay type. This is the perfect way for photographers to get into the article market because very little writing is necessary.

Showcase Your BEST Work

I got an email from a photographer last week. I was totally flabergasted by his approach and what he said.

The jist of it was: Would I look at his website. Would I take into account that he was displaying second and third best photos on his site because he was afraid people were going to steal the "good stuff."

My question to him was. If you are showing your third rate photos (and they were) that is what people are going to think of you as ... a third rate photographer that is not worthy of their time.

No wonder he had no sales.

You HAVE to show your best work. This is what "brands" you as a photographer. This is how people will think of you. This is why people will HIRE you.

The big fear, of course is ... having your photos ripped off. And in this digital age that's easier than ever before. However, you still have to show your best stuff. No way around it. I have talked before about a low cost service that will check to see if your photos are being used without your permission. If you are worried about rip-offs then pay the small price for your own peace of mind.

What's that song? Hit me with your best shot!

Tips for More Photo Sales #1

Well this seems like a no brainer. So if it is, why aren't more photographers doing it?

Shoot images of subjects that are in demand.

Subjects that are constantly in high demand include "model released" shots of people interacting. This includes "lifesyle" photos, minorities and ethnic mixes, industrial and people working photos and anything high tech and currently in the news (with people).

People shots sell. Period.

How you get the shots willl depend not only on your photography skills, but your equiptment, assess to a studio, access to a variety of subjects and your financial resources. For example, can you utilize existing studio equipment to do "contained" portraits such as someone on a cell phone, playing games or using a blackberry? Do you have access to "good looking" models? Are they free or do you have to pay them. Can you afford to "stage" a day long photo shoot with clothing changes, props.

Don't panic ... you can still get lifestyle shots with your point and click ... on the beach. Good saleable photos!

Access to "models" is a matter of putting on your thinking cap. Do you have a friend who loves to jog? Arrange to meet him/her and catch the action. Take along several changes of clothing (bright colors, subdues colors). Then shoot with sales in mind. Leave plenty of room for captions or headers. Shoot verticals and horizontals.

Does your neighbor have kids? Shoot them in the backyard. Playing, having fun, not having fun. Be sure to have permission and to give prints to your neighbors in exchange for the all imporant "model release."

Get a friend to take you to work with her. Get permission of course. Shoot her at her computer, talking with co-workers. Doing whatever it is she does. And don't forget the model releases for everyone in the photos. Do your homework ahead of time. What are the buyers looking for? What are they buying. What shots are you seeing as the #1 sellers at the stock agencies? What shots are you seeing in your favorite magazines. THAT'S what's selling.

More Tips coming to this blog soon!

Melanie

Raising Prices

Ha ha … I got a few emails about my last post on raising my prices. I labeled it a “funny story” because the way my customers reacted was totally unexpected. The truth was that many of my clients were in the oil and gas industry and money was flowing. The same thing may not have happened a few years later when money got tight! How much did I increase my prices? I doubled them. Several times which probably meant I wasn’t charging enough in the first place.

So what’s the reality of RAISING PRICES?

Many businesses use formulas for when and how much they should increase their prices. You can keep it simple by increasing your prices gradually every year … 5% to 15%. That should keep the costs of inflation and your Cost of Goods (COGS) covered as well as give yourself a small salary raise. If you have a price list of various packages or products ... you could raise some of them at one level, for example 5% while you raise other products at a different level.

If your loyal and long time customers say “something” … you could give them 90 days at the same price and then tell them the price will increase after that. Make sure you let them know you are doing this BECAUSE they are good and loyal customers. In the mean time all new customers pay the new prices.

You could also use price increases as a "sales tactic." For example ... let all your customers know there will be an increase in prices ... and urge them to come in to take advantage of the old lower prices. You could also ask your customers to tell their friends. Say something like, "If your friends come in before (date) and they mention your name, they will also get the old lower price. "

Avoid getting into a situation where you don’t increase prices for several years and then you are forced to go for bigger increases. Remember, this is a business and you are in it to make a living but to generate enough profits to grow your business.

START with a fair price (read the last post on perceived value) and then keep your price increases small and steady.

Never Apologize For Your Prices

Much of the pricing conundrum is “perceived value.” If you don’t think you DESERVE your fee, then your client won’t either. What’s the difference between a portrait photographer who charges $250 a session and a portrait master who charges $25,000 a session (yes there are photographers who charge that).

Well presumably the higher priced photographer is better. Their equipment may be bigger and better. Their crew may be more numerous. They may have a state of the art studio. BUT … most of the price differential is in “perceived value.” They think they are worth it ... and their clients agree.

If you are in the business of selling your photos you are IN BUSINESS. Business means money. You’ve GOT to get used to talking about money. NEVER apologize for what you charge.

If a potential client balks at your price (and you really want them as a client) … negotiate. But don’t lower your price without “adjusting” what they get. In other words don’t give them the same package for a lower price. Give them a “different” package for the lower price.

Funny story. I used to do a fair bit of industrial photography. It really wasn’t my favorite thing and I was heading in a different direction. I had a brilliant idea. Instead of turning my current clients down, I would get rid of them by raising my prices. SURPRIZE. The more I raised my prices the MORE they wanted me. Their perception was “she MUST be good.” I finally priced myself out of my clients “marketplace” AND I left them thinking that they were lucky to have had me! I also retained many of my photography clients and sold them much higher priced video productions!

Still having a hard time thinking that some photogs get $25K for a portrait session? Check out this book Portraits: The World's Top Photographers by Fergus Greer. It has a collection of the most amazing portraits along with some anicdotes and tips.

Slick Hot Off The Press - Sofware for Stock Photogs

OK ... I may be wrong, but I haven't seen anything quite like this brand new, hot off the press software for working stock photographers. It looks VERY slick. On one of the forums I peeked in on, the members had only great things to say about it.

The fact is this software is sooooooooooooo new, it is still in the Alpha version known bugs) ... which means that you should only get it if you want to be part of the whole testing process and are prepared for glitches. A nice thing about being an Alpha tester is that you get it for zip, as in free.

http://www.prostockmaster.com

ProStockMaster is a desktop application for stock photographers which allows fast, fun and easy upload of multiple images to multiple Internet stock photography sites, convinient editing of JPEG file metadata infomation (IPTC) and local files queries. ProStockMaster is developed in Java and runs on any operating system where Java virtual machine can run: Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux and many UNIX-es.

BUT the Mac version isn't ready yet!!

This is the part I've never see before and it could save you hundreds of hours of work manually uploading to each and every stock program you are registered with. AND it appears to track WHERE you've submitted which is really useful information to have ....

simultaneous uploads to 6 Internet stock photography sites (Upcoming version will support more sites)
BigStockPhoto
ShutterStock
iStockPhoto
123RF
DreamsTime
CanStockPhoto

I'll keep you informed. I'm not a fan of glitches cause I always think it's MY fault and I always waste too much time trying to fix my mistakes!

Check it out. Bookmark it because I am predicting great things when the software gets released!

Protecting Your Photos From Thievery

Photo Theft is a big problem on the internet. There are a number of ways to protect yourself ... this is one solution to the problem. In the weeks to come I'll give you several others.

PicScout

http://photographer.picscout.com/photo/index.aspx

Photographers who are in the business of selling their photographs find them selves in a Catch 22 position. They have to post their photos in order to sell them, but by doing so, they are opening themselves up to image theft.

Images can easily be poached and used either as is, or they can be manipulated a bit in PhotoShop or equivalent programs. Often the thieves are aware of what they are doing and take the chance that they will never be caught or prosecuted. Sometimes the thieves are simply unaware of copyright laws and unwittingly take and use the images simply because they don't know better.

So how can photographers post their images in order to showcase their work and get sales and at the same time protect themselves from theft?

Some photographers resort to placing a watermark on each image ... so if someone takes the image to reproduce it on the Internet, or to print it out ... the watermark shows up. Some thieves don't care.

Many of the BIG stock photo agencies actually have a staff whose job is to find copyright infringements and to go after fees or infringement law suits to collect money owing. Some of the large agencies actually make a large amount of money doing this ... which means that copyright infringement is a BIG problem.


Pic Scout is an Internet based company that is addressing the problem for photographers, artists and photo agencies. You simply register your images and they take care of everything else. They regularly scout the Internet for poachers and when they find them, they collect a fee for use on the photographer's or agencies behalf.

I was very surprised at the reasonable fees, making this a viable option for all photographers and photo businesses. Their starter package for individual photographers is 500 registered images for $14.95 a month.

When they find infringements, they collect a fee on your behalf ... and split anything they get for you 50/50. Which is a great deal considering you probably would never have found the infringement on your own!
I read a few of their case studies, and some of the image thieves tried to get away with it by flipping images or using only part of the image. They were CAUGHT!!

The company appears to be targeting photographers, but the technology would apply to ANY image (graphic art, fine art) equally well.


For your own peace of mind, take a look and consider getting this great service.
http://photographer.picscout.com/photo/index.aspx