Digital Cameras

Some "working smart" (not harder) guidelines:

1) Start at the bottom -- with low-budget markets -- where the competition is bearable and you can make your mistakes and get your sea legs. It's easy to get discouraged if you aim your sales at the top 100 markets right at first. Aim high in your photography excellence, but aim low initially in your sales targets. Even Michelangelo started out as an apprentice.

2) Think small, but don't be a "small thinker." You'll find some deadbeat photo editors (but a lot of inspiring ones, too!) at the lower budget targets. If some of them don't match your criteria or aspirations, avoid them. If their payment is slow or unacceptable, drop them.

3) Decide early which part of your photography is "hobby" and which part is "business." Support your expensive camera habit with marketable, useful pictures, not your pretty scenics or poetry pictures. A photo editor buys a picture because he/she needs it, not because he/she likes it.

4) Be a specialist. Specific books, magazines, textbooks, etc. appeal to specific readerships. Editors look for photographers who can provide pictures in the specialized category they need: sky diving, autos, computer industry, dentistry, education, ghettos, archeology.

Don't chase over the countryside taking pictures of eight different subjects in one month. Instead take lots of in-depth pictures of one subject you know well -- and market them to eight different magazines which have no cross-readership conflict.

5) Use a price code guide like such resources as: Michal Heron, Pricing Photography, 28 W 71st St, New York, NY 10023; Jim Pickerell, Stock Report, 110 Frederick Ave Ste A, Rockville, MD 20850; Cradoc Bagshaw, Cradoc Corporation, PO Box 1310, Point Roberts, WA 98281. But remember, these guides are targeted for working professionals. You may want to start your prices lower, to get your foot in the door and for exposure. Then you can move higher.

Once you've made several sales to one market, some assignments will soon come your way. Reverse your tactics, now that you're an "established" photographer. Negotiate the assignment fee. Use these rules: a.) Quote a high fee first (you can always come down). b.) Don't accept the first fee the photobuyer offers you. (Remember: He/she has done this before. They're the pro. You're the beginner.) The photobuyer is probably feeling you out and allowing room for concessions. c.) Plan your quote wisely so that ideally you don't have to concede anything. If you must concede something, get the buyer to concede something too (time for the assignment; number of photos, etc.). Match concessions.

6) 2% of photobuyers make dishonest mistakes. The other 98% are like you and me -- honest mistakers. You're marketing a part of your soul: your pictures. But don't get over-emotional about your baby. It's just a picture. Save your energy for your picture-taking, not for bad-mouthing editors and publishers.

7) From all the above, you might have noticed that we omitted 'excellence in photography' as a secret in photo marketing. Taking good pictures, for you, is easy. Right? Marketing those good pictures consistently to buyers is the secret to profitability continuing your photography habit.

Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of "Sell & ReSell Your Photos" and "sellphotos.com," has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report: "8 Steps to Publishing Photos," visit his website at PhotoSource International or call 800 624-0266.