How to Send a Picture to a Magazine

Magazines often accept unsolicited submissions of pictures and photography to add content to an issue or for special competitions. Pictures can be drawings, paintings, collages or photography, to name just a few examples of what magazines accept. However, most magazines do not accept just anything and often require specific themes in the picture and especially specific formatting. Although the submission process differs from magazine to magazine, there are many similarities among the submission processes, making it a simpler process than it may at first appear.

Instructions

1. Check whether the magazine you wish to submit to accepts unsolicited submissions of pictures. Find this information on the magazine's website under a contact or submissions page or in the print edition of the magazine. Consider contacting the magazine if you cannot find the information you seek, as it can be elusive. National Geographic, for example, lists its submission policy under the heading "Your Shot."

2. Carefully read the submission requirements for the magazine you wish to submit to. Check for theme, credentials, file type and resolution restrictions. The photography magazine Oriental Tales only accepts photographs taken in East Asia, for example.

3. Check how the magazine wishes the picture to be submitted and submit the picture via email, through an uploaded form or through the mail. Consider writing a brief cover page for an email submission along with the names of each picture file attached to the email. Double-check before submitting that all the information is correct and you've written your contact information.

Tips & Warnings

• Review the style of the magazine before submitting to verify that your work gels with the aesthetic of the magazine.

• Do not send more than the maximum amount of pictures the magazine allows anyone to submit at one time, because those additional submissions won't be considered.

References

• Oriental Tales: Photo Guidelines
• National Geographic: Submit Your Shot
• "Starting Your Career as a Freelance Photographer"; Tad Crawford; 2003