Sell Your Photographs Through Photographic Agencies and Libraries

This is perhaps the most rewarding and profitable category of all for the freelance photographer to consider, and it’s one that allows you to concentrate on taking photographs without having to worry about marketing them.  The process works where you take photographs which you submit to photographic agencies and libraries who distribute them and take payment, and return a fixed commission per picture to you.

Payment is good and established agency photographers can expect regular guaranteed work for several years, even from just a few particularly good selling photographs. Tales are told of just one photograph earning hundreds or thousands of pounds in one go, and on rarer occasions generating a regular high income for life.

End users for pictures range from newspapers and magazines to advertising specialists, model agencies, and so on. 

Hundreds of agencies and libraries operate in Britain alone, but that does not mean the market is easy to break into. It isn't and only the very best photographers will make it.  But this is always a market that’s worth working hard to master.  That’s because, when you do find an agency for your work, regular commissions are likely, and the agency will expect you to commit yourself to a long working relationship.

One successful freelance photographer tells how he lodges most of his pictures with libraries, leaving him free to continue taking photographs while still expecting a useful income from others created months or even years before.

Unless prohibited by specific clients from doing so, he also talks about granting restricted rights to some clients, such as postcard manufacturers and local newspapers for one-off features, meaning he can offer the same photograph to non-competing end users, and make money from every sale.

Recycling your work can help optimise your earning potential from even quite ordinary photographs, but recycling is not an option with photographic libraries and agents who usually want exclusive rights or nothing at all

And that means you must study requirements before submitting to top agencies and libraries, and send only your very best work samples, not photographs others have used or refused.

Photographs must be clear, bright and sharp. Perfect, in fact.  And you must always stick to the exact specifications for your target market, such as subject, size of print, type, colour/black and white, and so on.

Don't think you can submit one or two photographs to an agency and then sit back and wait for the profits. It doesn't work like that. Most agencies want literally hundreds of photos before accepting you onto their books.  And, obviously, the more photographs you submit, the more choice end users will have, and the more money you are likely to make.

Look in newspapers and magazines carrying the kind of pictures you'd like to specialise in. Look closely at photographs to see who the photographer is and which agency or library authorised use of the photograph.  Then go check out the library or agency concerned and try taking photographs exclusively for them.  If you have a specific interest, such as wildlife photography or taking pictures at horse racing events, it’s probably a good idea to subscribe to all popular publications targeting your special interest, and spend time studying the kind of pictures they use.

Find information about photographic agencies and libraries by keying ‘photographic + agency + library’ into the search box at google.com.