Posted by Lydia Dotto on February 10, 2009 at 11:13 PM
Hello. I'm new here -- just joined today. I'm looking forward to learning about NPN and getting to know everyone here. My portfolio here is still small because I'm really time-challenged at the moment, but I'm hoping to get it up to full strength fairly soon.
I was wondering if anyone has advice about the best way to sell pictures for calendars. I've been trying to find calendar publishers online but so far haven't been been able to come up with much. Any tips on how to break into this market would be much appreciated.
Posted by James Hersey on February 11, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Hi lydia,
I haven't done the calendar / paper goods market in years but I doubt too much has changed. Two places not online to look are Photographers marketplace (will have lots of other markets for your work), and I used to always carry a note pad and write down the publishers names I would see. Calendars are everywhere just turn them around and get the publishing house name. I doubt it has changed much but it was not a very high paying market so you might want to look into other markets as well.
Good luck
Posted by Robert Fisher on February 11, 2009 at 9:23 AM
Brown Trout is one of the larger calendar companies, I think, and they have information on their website, http://www.browntrout.com/index.asp. Aside from Photographer's Market, spend some time in any major bookstore and jot down the names of the publishers of some of the calendars or do the same in any of those mall kiosks that sell calendars. Once you've got a list of names, start looking for websites. Most publishing companies have submission guidelines on their sites - if they even accept unsolicited submissions; many don't. You could also look into hiring an agent to help get you in the door at some places.
Posted by Lydia Dotto on February 11, 2009 at 11:33 AM
James and Robert: Thanks for the tips. I did find Brown Trout and I emailed them, but so far no response. I'm planning to keep trying until I get some kind of answer. I'm also planning to browse calendars in the stores as soon as I get some time -- the pressure of other work has kept me from being able to do that yet. I'll also check out the book Photographer's Market.
I was just surprised to find so little information and so few leads online and I wondered if I was not searching the right way. I don't recall seeing any sites that provided submission guidelines. The best I could do was to get an email address.
Always find the submission guidelines first. No editor has time to deal with general submission emails. I'd recommend starting locally, where you most likely have your best and strongest work. Competition for the 12 or 13 pictures in the big National calendars is among the most fierce in all of nature photography.
Good luck.
Posted by Lydia Dotto on February 19, 2009 at 12:30 AM
Dave: Thanks for the advice. I'm finding that there's nothing about marketing nature photography that doesn't involve fierce competition.
Regarding finding submission guidelines -- my problem is that so far I haven't even been able to identify companies that take submissions for calendars. I haven't had the time to do all my homework yet. The Google searches I've done were surprisingly unproductive. I have to get out and look at some calendars to find more useful contact information.
Discussion
5 repliesI was wondering if anyone has advice about the best way to sell pictures for calendars. I've been trying to find calendar publishers online but so far haven't been been able to come up with much. Any tips on how to break into this market would be much appreciated.
I haven't done the calendar / paper goods market in years but I doubt too much has changed. Two places not online to look are Photographers marketplace (will have lots of other markets for your work), and I used to always carry a note pad and write down the publishers names I would see. Calendars are everywhere just turn them around and get the publishing house name. I doubt it has changed much but it was not a very high paying market so you might want to look into other markets as well.
Good luck
I was just surprised to find so little information and so few leads online and I wondered if I was not searching the right way. I don't recall seeing any sites that provided submission guidelines. The best I could do was to get an email address.
I'll keep trying. That's my mantra these days.
Always find the submission guidelines first. No editor has time to deal with general submission emails. I'd recommend starting locally, where you most likely have your best and strongest work. Competition for the 12 or 13 pictures in the big National calendars is among the most fierce in all of nature photography.
Good luck.
Regarding finding submission guidelines -- my problem is that so far I haven't even been able to identify companies that take submissions for calendars. I haven't had the time to do all my homework yet. The Google searches I've done were surprisingly unproductive. I have to get out and look at some calendars to find more useful contact information.