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The
Write Way to Sell Photos
by
Kimberly Baldwin Radford
“I’m
firmly convinced that the very best way to break into professional nature
photography is to write an article to accompany your photographs. In
other words, create a vehicle to carry the pictures,” advises John Shaw in his
book, John Shaw’s Business of Nature Photography.
The acclaimed photographer knows what he’s talking about: Shaw’s
gross income doubled within a year once he began using writing as a serious
marketing tool to promote his photos.
Whatever
your photographic specialty – nature, travel, wedding, digital -- creating a
saleable photo/text package is a multi-faceted endeavor that requires not only
excellent images, but also interesting, error-free writing and strong marketing
skills. The following eighteen Web
sites will help in every facet of the freelance writing process: grammar and
punctuation, identifying potential markets, the nuts-and-bolts of promoting your
work – even free software to help track submissions and sales.
- Writing-World.com
(www.writing-world.com):
Started by Moira Allen, former editor of Inklings at Inkspot.com,
this site is virtually a one-stop resource for your writing questions and
needs. The
“Basics/Getting Started” page is packed with excellent advice – from
how to write a query letter to manuscript formatting to coping with
rejection. Other categories to
explore include the Business of Writing, E-publishing, Freelancing Tips,
International information, Rights and Contracts, Self-Promotion, and many
more.
- writersdigest.com
(www.writersdigest.com):
Writersdigest.com, based on the popular magazine, is produced by the same
company that publishes the annual Writer’s Market and Photographer’s
Market. The site
includes a searchable database of over 1500 writer’s guidelines.
Many include information about submitting photographs.
A free e-newsletter, “Tips & Updates from Writer’s Digest”
is also available. Each May,
the site includes an updated list of the “101 Best Web Sites for
Writers” – an absolute must-read for any serious scribe or wannabe.
(Apogee Photo Magazine was listed among the top 50 earlier
this year!)
- WritersMarket.com
(www.writersmarket.com):
Associated with writersdigest.com, WritersMarket.com is a
subscription-based service that gives users Web access to the annual Writer’s
Market--including book publishers, magazine markets, literary
agents, contests and more. The
on-line market guide has some distinct advantages over the book form, the
most important being a constantly updated database with a fairly
comprehensive search feature. Writers
can create their own portfolio and be notified at every log-in of changes to
their target markets. At
$29.99* per year, the service is reasonably priced and includes a thirty-day
money-back guarantee. A
$2.99/month option is also available for less frequent users.
- Inkspot
(www.inkspot.com):
Until it was dropped by its sponsor Xlibris, Inkspot was one of the
most vibrant writing sites on the Web.
The award-winning site’s fate remains unknown, so search the
archives while you still can. “Freelance
Writer’s and Beginning Writers’ FAQ’s” cover many of the marketing
basics for new writers. The
travel writing, international marketing, and writing for children sections
are particularly strong. Commit
to some serious “click time” once you arrive.
Inkspot’s on-site organization tends to ramble and is not always
intuitive.
- Inscriptions
(www.inscriptionsmagazine.com):
Inscriptions’ strong point is its writers’ e-zine, including
articles and detailed information on publishing news, writing markets, job
opportunities, humor and contests. If
your interest is writing for the Web, the “News” section is a great
place to check on the status of dot.coms and dot.bombs.
Another useful feature is
“Writers Needing Input,” a free service that allows writers to find
sources and information by “advertising” through the weekly e-zine.
- Wooden
Horse Publishing
(www.woodenhorsepub.com):
Wooden Horse Publishing’s guidelines database comes highly
recommended, but unfortunately it requires a subscription and has become,
well, a bit pricey ($1.99/day up to $149/year).
Nevertheless, “The Wooden Horse Publishing News Alert” is still a
free service and a helpful one at that.
Editor Meg Weaver sends out a concise weekly update on the most
recent editorial news affecting magazines and Web-zines, as well as new
debuts, failures, and important mergers.
This is not your average site cluttered with ads and pop-up
windows—well worth a visit.
- The
Writer’s Place (www.awoc.com):
The bi-monthly newsletter “Writing for DOLLARS!” lists only
paying markets and includes useful articles for writers looking to break
into different genres and higher-paying markets.
WFD also accepts “first-sale stories” – a great place to crow
your published writing debut and get paid for it once again!
- Funds
for Writers
(www.fundsforwriters.com):
Funds for Writers is an interesting concept: Help writers find grant
money and help grant writers find organizations that need their services.
The weekly newsletter includes grants, jobs, contests and freelance
markets. Because many of the
grants are arts-related, some also pertain to photography.
The Web site has an extremely strong links section to assist with
writing research and additional grant sources.
- WritersWeekly.com
(www.writersweekly.com):
The persistent self-promotion in WritersWeekly.com can be a serious
turn-off, but many writers give this site’s e-zine a thumbs-up for its
collection of current freelance jobs (all less than a week old), including
some for photographers. Helpful
business-related articles are featured on the site, including a
question-and-answer column. With
over 49,000 subscribers, WritersWeekly.com has the largest circulation of
any freelance writing newsletter.
- Worldwide
Freelance Writer
(www.worldwidefreelance.com):
One of the best ways to increase sales – whether photos or articles
-- is to expand into international markets.
The monthly “Worldwide Freelance Writer” newsletter helps writers
meet that objective by highlighting markets outside North America. Explore the articles section for valuable tips;
especially informative are those written by WFW’s founder, Gary McLaren.
- The
Burry Man Writers Center
(www.burryman.com): This unusually
named site includes over 1800 writing-related links from around the world
listed under nineteen different categories. “’The Freelance & Nonfiction’ page features
seventy places to find freelance writing jobs – the largest list of
writer-specific job resources online.”
- PubList.com
(www.publist.com):
Billing itself as “The Internet Directory of Publications,” PubList.com
is a free database of “over
150,000 magazines, journals, newsletters, and other periodicals.”
The advanced search feature allows writers to sort publications by
country and key words. With
almost 300 subject headings to choose from, this is a fantastic resource for
finding lesser-known publications.
- GrammarCheck
(www.grammarcheck.com): It’s
difficult to make grammar and punctuation interesting, but the authors of
GrammarCheck, a weekly e-newsletter, have done an excellent job.
If English is your second language or you simply need a refresher
course in the basics, this is a very useful resource.
Archived issues also include helpful tips on business writing.
Can’t find an explanation for your personal grammar glitch?
Submit your question on the home page and you may see it addressed in
future GrammarCheck issues.
- SharpWriter.com
(www.sharpwriter.com):
SharpWriter.com has an extensive array of reference links that can
assist with almost any writing or research question, including dictionaries,
thesauri, quotations, encyclopedias -- even copyright information.
If the technical side of writing is your challenge, these tools will
get your articles off to a solid start.
- The
Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org):
Fact-checking is crucial to good writing, whether you’re developing
accurate slide captions or explaining the scene captured through your camera
lens. The IPL includes an
impressive array of links to topics listed under “science and
technology,” “entertainment and leisure,” “health and medicine,”
“education,” and more. An
“Ask A Question” service can assist with more challenging research
queries.
- PowerReporting
(www.powerreporting.com):
The best way to explain Power Reporting is it’s own
self-description: “Thousands of free research tools for journalists,
annotated and updated daily. And
no ads.” You needn’t be a
journalist to find this a valuable site. If you’re looking for maps, statistics, expert quotes,
or sources, this is the place to start.
- ShawGuides/Writing
(http://writing.shawguides.com):
ShawGuides details writers’ conferences available
throughout the world in a variety of genres such as nonfiction, journalism,
humor, nature/environmental, marketing, etc.
Subscribe to “The Writers Conference and Workshop Bulletin” for
monthly e-mail updates.
- Sandbaggers’
Automated Manuscript Manager
(v 2.0) (www.sandbaggers.8m.com):
This unusual-sounding site allows you to download easy-to-use freeware to
track manuscript submissions and market information. Extra space for notes and descriptions can also
accommodate details about accompanying photographs.
A reminder feature generates daily “alerts” to help writers
remember deadlines and follow-up on submissions.
Don’t mistake “free” for “low quality.” This is one amazingly useful program.
Both DOS/Windows (SAMM) and MAC (Manuscript Tracker) versions are
available.
Kimberly Baldwin Radford (kim@dts.mg) is a writer and photographer living in Tamatave, Madagascar
Apogee Photo and Apogee Photo Magazine are
trademarks of Apogee Photo, Inc. Copyright © 1995-2007. Apogee Photo, Inc. All
Rights Reserved.