What's the best strategy to sell original photos online?

Question

I've seen sites like smugmug that will store and display your original photos, and give you 85% of the asking price if you sell a photo. Can this work? My idea is to hook up with a photo gallery and exhibit there, and get them to work with me in developing an online presence to coincide with my photo exihibitions. Is this a good way to go, or would it be better to just create my own website? What are Pros and cons of each or an altogether different plant?

Answer 1

Smugmug is not for major income. The solution is stock photography. If you have good photos you can sell them easily here. Just sign up and upload your photos. Once accepted your photos will be downloaded for a price. You get your money every time the photo is downloaded, so every good photo is a win-money to you. Here are the links for you: (by the way, it's free):

http://www.dreamstime.com/res309669
http://istockphoto.com/index.php?refnum=artaniss
http://www.fotolia.com/partner/326052
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/?refid=DOZ4jxMEo7

Answer 2

Not sure how big your porfolio is, but you may want to consider a stock photo company like those listed on www.makemoneywithphotos.com - you don't make much per photo but its about volume and the good thing is that you keep the rights to the photos so you can sell the photo over and over again. Some people make a few k a month doing this.

Answer 3

The first thing to determine is if you'd like to be a "fine art photographer" or a "stock photographer". If you'd like to be a fine art photographer, I'd suggest you focus on galleries and building your name through exhibitions. If you put prices on photos on a website, the galleries will not be happy. (It can undermine their ability to make a profit for both themselves and for you.) Read books about making money in the fine arts (see source listed below).

However, if you decide you want to pursue stock photography - you can choose to sell through a website or create your own website to sell images through. I highly recommend the following book, "How to Sell & Re-Sell Your Photos" by Rohn Engh.

Answer 4

Be careful with selling to stock photography, because someone can buy your photo from them instead of buying from you. Depending on the size of your portfolio I say make your own site, but link it everywhere. Make lower quality images with water marks throw them up on flickr and such places, but link to high-res images with no mark to buy at your site. No one should make money off your images but you.

Answer 5

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