Selling Pictures To Local Newspapers
By DarthJustice
@DarthJustice (2014)
United States
March 28, 2011 7:49am CST
Has anyone ever sold photos to their local newspaper?
I ask because I want to start doing (or trying) this. Not as a full-time job really, but more as a on the side sort of thing. I've never done this but what got me interested was a year or two ago, there was a 17 year old in my town I read about who got into photography and within a year or year and a half had sold a picture of a motel fire (of which I was there actually).
I'm sure I wouldn't get too much from a picture, but I'd like to know how it went for anyone who has sold them to local newspapers.
If I had a photo I wanted to see about selling, how would I go about doing it? Would I email the editor and tell him about what I'd like to do and set up a meeting? I'd have to get the photo printed first, I'm assuming?
I'd just like to know what to do and hear some experiences you might have.
2 responses
@frontvisions101 (16043)
• Philippines
28 Mar 11
I don't think this will be easy. Newspapers only need shots that are rare. Go to where the paper gets planned out and published and try selling your stuff. I don't think you'll be able to make a living out of it, though, because newspaper companies have their own photographers.
@DarthJustice (2014)
• United States
28 Mar 11
I don't plan on making a living out of it, it's just something I'd try out here and there.
@topffer (42156)
• France
28 Mar 11
Local newspapers buy rarely photos as they have their own photographers. If you have made some exceptional shots -- a drunk celebrity or the last tsunami --, a national photo press agency is the way to go. You can also try to propose other photos, but do not expect to earn a lot with them : a friend has more than 17000 professional photos -- monuments, landscapes, macros, etc. -- in photo agencies and earn less than $500 per year with them for what he said to me. To be accepted they must be truly professional.
