Photography Side Hustle
Photography Side Hustle
Selling Landscape and Street Photography
Episode 197 - How to sell your work if you are an introvert.
The Transcript page - https://photographysidehustle.com/197
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Hey, how's it going? I'm Andy Jones, and this is episode 197 of the Photography Side Hustle podcast.
A few ideas I've come up with that will help you sell your prints. Whether you shoot landscape, Street, or whatever it is that you shoot. If you think you can sell them to the public, I’ve come up with some ideas that will help you.
If you’re an introvert and the thought of dealing with individuals of families is out of your comfort zone, this is for you.
Going out shooting landscapes, abstracts, street, or fine art is great, but if you want it to be a money maker you need to find ways to sell your work.
So, let’s get started with …
Your Own Website
Selling through your own website is the simplest and probably most profitable. You can build your website yourself or use Squarespace, smug mug, pixieset, or even Shopify.
Shopify is basically a storefront. You put everything in it you want to sell, which in your case would be your images and all the payments go through that website. But you can do the same with most other websites.
The one thing you need to do in this situation is get people to your website. You need a way to get people to look at your work and decide to purchase if nobody knows where your images are, you're not going to make many sales, so you need to find a way to get people to your website.
I've covered this in other episodes using Facebook, Instagram, or any social media platform.
Okay next is …
Third Party Platforms
Now these are platforms like Etsy. Redbubble Zazzle eBay even Facebook and Instagram offer shops.
I personally wouldn't use any of these options. Facebook and Instagram shops may be, but you're much better directing them to your own website where you can control everything.
Etsy is definitely a No-No for me. The market is so saturate, and people will try and steal your work so that they can sell it on Etsy at a cheaper price. So I'd avoid it at all possible.
Okay next …
You need to look in a ways of selling offline, like …
Libraries and community centers
A lot of libraries and community centers like to show work of artists, photographers, and crafts of local people.
The idea here is that you show your work to as many people as possible and always show a link to your website where they can purchase the prints.
Art fairs and craft markets
In this situation, you're going to sell direct to people that visit your stall. You might not get many people stopping by, it's a great way to meet new people and Network.
That's a lot of art fairs. Visitors are actually looking to buy works of art, so make sure you have a price on every piece that you have on display.
Restaurants and coffee shops
A lot of photographers use this method of getting their work seen by the public. Think of all the restaurants and coffee shops there are in your area.
Make it your job to get in there and offer to cover their walls with your work. It doesn't cost them anything. And you split the profits with them on any sales.
If you can get into one or two coffee shops or restaurants you'll be amazed how many people get to see your work on a daily basis.
Just make sure that every image has a price and your web address on it. You could even use a QR code to make this easier. Because a lot of people might not want to buy a picture while they're having a meal, but if they can go to your website, there's a good chance they'll buy it through your website and you won't have to split the money with the owner of the restaurant.
Art galleries
Now I watched a video on YouTube and it was a photographer whose friend was making money from landscape photography. His main sales channel was through two or three art galleries.
Now I don't want to sound too mean, but the guys work was pretty average and he was getting some big money for his work.
I follow lots of Street photographers and landscape photographers on YouTube whose work is absolutely incredible. And they are spending the time trying to sell their work to other photographers that are watching them which is strange.
The work the guy in the video was putting out was average at best but he was concentrating his efforts on people that weren't photographers. They just wanted a piece of art for their wall and because it was in a well-to-do gallery he got a lot of money.
So the next time you go out and take some landscape shots. Don't ask other photographers what they think. Instead, ask your family ask friends at work that are not photographers and if they like it you know that it would probably sell. So again don't ask other photographers what they think. If you want to know whether something will sell, ask the general public, not photographers. Because it's the general public, the non-photographers out there that are going to be buying your artwork.
Corporate offices and hotels
Just like restaurants, coffee shops and furniture and appliance stores, offices and especially hotels need pieces of art on their walls.
As far as corporate offices go, I would try to sell to them a package of 10 pieces of art for x amount of money.
With hotels, you could do it like you would do with the coffee shops and restaurants. And use their walls like and Art gallery. You could also sell them pieces about like you would to corporate buyers.
Real estate stagers
Now these are people make empty houses look like they've are lived in. So they need lots the of artwork for the walls.
Airbnb hosts
Offer wall art of local landmarks that they can use on the walls of their rental properties.
Stock photography
Use sites like Adobe stock Shutterstock, there are lots of them out there. By using these sites, you can sell the same image hundreds of times, with no limit. The downside is you don't get that much money for a sale.
Adobe stock allows you to set the price so you could set your price high and if your work is really good you will get some sales but stock photography I think is about to die because AI are going to take over a lot of what they do.
Local businesses
Now these are just your regular mom and pop shops and businesses with offices that customers visit in your town or city. All businesses need artwork on their office walls.
Just think about how many shops and businesses there are in your area and all of them are potential customers. Now you don't have to go knocking on doors. You can send emails or mail out some Flyers. Businesses don't like people turning up at the door. It stops them doing their daily work. So these are the people that will look at your Flyers quickly and if it interests them they'll give you a call. You've just got to play the percentages. You mail out 50 Flyers and you might get one or two customers.
Furniture and appliance stores
Now this dawned on me last year when we were out buying a washer and dryer. The store sold appliances and furniture and the walls were covered in artwork.
Now, I've just realized that at the time I said I was going to go out and take some photos around town of local places of interest and then go to the store and see if they would like to put some on the wall and sell them. I should pull my finger out and do it.
The worst thing they can do is say no, we're not interested.
I think there's a huge market out there.
Okay, those are my ideas for selling landscapes, street photography or whatever you shoot. There's a lot of profit out there just waiting for you to get your hands on it.
If you have any questions you need answering, you can find me in the Facebook group.
I'll be back soon with another exciting episode. Talk to you! Soon, bye.