 Lauren Willman |
Selling Postcards Does anybody have any advice on selling their images on postcards? I live in Chicago and am very interested in selling my postcard designs to local businesses. Is this something I could do on my own and have it be financially worth my while? Or would I be better off simply licensing my images to someone else?
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Mark Feldstein |
IMHO, Lauren, any time you decide to sell something or enter into the business of selling, you're adding an additional business to your existing business. Marketing, in my view, is a pain but particularly necessary as a photographer, even as a staff photographer. What you're proposing is a tough one. First, you need a client list of prospects; then you have to sell them on your work. If you have a rep or sales rep, you need to find them, too, and sell THEM on your work of representing (for a fee, of course). You need to locate a reasonably priced printer to make the deal worthwhile and in quantities that you can get discounts on - not only to make it more feasible to your clients but make things more profitable to you. AND you need a business plan, of course, which outlines all your costs, expenses including any equipment you need, marketing costs, transportation allowances, prospects, fee schedules, and how much you think you can profit from your endeavor. Then there's shipping and receiving, keeping track of which jobs are in what stage of the process ... ad infinitim. It's a LOT of work. It's a LOT of expense too. Stock work is also a LOT of work, even with the software available to help run your business. So, whaddya think? :>) Mark
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Thea Menagh |
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Dale M. Garvey |
Another thing to consider is that anyone going to display your cards in their shop will want a cut. For them to display your cards they will need an assortment. When I looked into the cost of a commerical printer it was just too much to invest. Many card seller want an exclusive contact which will lock you out. You can go to Shutterfly and print note cards, but it is still a bit pricy. Go to the library an get a copy of Photographer's Market and find companies that need the type of photos you enjoy shooting. I found Referee Magazine and Human Kenetics where I am a frequent contributor
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Dale M. Garvey |
Take a look at Photographer's Edge www.photographersedge.com for another way to market.
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Michael D. Miller |
Hi Lauren, A friend of mine also told me about a site that makes all kinds of products that use photographs and they also sell them. I have written him for the site address again. Will forward to you here, when I get it. Michael Miller
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Lauren Willman |
Thank you everyone for your responses. I can clearly see that this is not an easy endeavor, yet not an impossible one either. I really appreciate and found helpful the links to other resources as well as your input and advice.
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