How to Sell Pictures to Calendar Companies
Calendar companies are in constant need of top quality photographs for use in their calendars each year. If you are a photographer who can fill a niche need, provide excellent images and present yourself and your work professionally, you may be interested in selling your photographs to calendar publishers. It is not as simple as mailing your photos to the company listed on the back of the wall calendar hanging in your kitchen. Succeeding in the calendar business requires research and legwork, but with persistence and quality photography skills, you could see your work gracing the pages of a calendar.
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Instructions
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Research your potential market. Photographer's Market is a valuable tool for photographers seeking a market for their photos. It is published annually, so locate the most recent edition. Search online for calendar publishers. Research the local market as well by visiting local stores and noting their calendar publishers. Take note of who is publishing and sending out free calendars in your area. As a beginner, you are more likely to succeed with a smaller company you come across locally who is not listed in the Photographer's Market, since there is less competition.
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Develop a niche, focusing on photos with one subject, such as travel, nature, local events, children, animals, motorcycles or whatever you have the opportunity to photograph. Differentiate yourself by honing your craft.
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Compile both an online and a physical portfolio. Offer one online location where a potential client can view your best work, whether it be a personal website or on one of the numerous online galleries, such as Flickr, iStockphoto or a photography membership site. Remember that time is a precious commodity for publishers. They will not spend long clicking around to various sites, so keep your work together in one place. Make your physical portfolio neat and fill it with no more than 25 of your best pieces. Swap them out with whatever work is most relevant to the client you are pursuing. Create a DVD of your work as well.
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Write a query letter introducing yourself and your work. This is the first impression publishers will have of you and your work, so make it professional. Include the online location of your work.
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Contact potential clients. If a client is local or if the idea of a calendar is a new one you are first presenting to them, begin with a phone call. If it is a major publisher, a distant company or someone listed in the Photographer's Market, they may or may not accept phone calls and emails. If they do not, submit a query letter with samples of your work according to their submission guidelines as stated in Photographer's Market, at the company website or via a phone call. Often work will be damaged while sitting in the slush pile of busy publishers, so be sure to have a copy of anything you send off. When possible, make a personal connection with the potential client.
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Approach local businesses and organizations such as real estate agents, farm supply stores, auto repair or sales companies, dance or martial arts studios, gardening clubs and schools with the possibility of printing a calendar. Show them your most relevant work.
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Follow-up by calling a few weeks after submission unless the publishing guides request no calls. If a contact asks you to call back on a certain day, be punctual. Ask the publisher if there is a certain kind of work he is looking for, and then offer to fill that need if it is within your skill range.
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Record the publishers you submit to and what you have sent them to avoid duplicate submissions in the future. Note the results and future action you should take.
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Continue photographing and sending work out to publishers. Rejection is common in any artistic field. Rise above it by heeding any relevant corrective criticism offered, perfecting your craft and keeping your work in circulation. Patience and persistence are necessary to break into the calendar market.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit photographer's photographer image by Lee O'Dell from Fotolia.com
