The trouble is, pictures won't sell if they never leave your files, so you also need to dedicate a large amount of that time to finding and exploiting new markets.
How would you find a market for this image? I probably couldn't sell it for a calendar, a card or to a magazine on its own with no reason for use - but my picture library has sold it many times
This highlights yet another problem - discovering new and lucrative markets for your work can in itself can very difficult. There are the obvious ones - photographic and country magazines, postcard and calendar publishers. But the markets that offer the best returns are usually the ones you've never heard of, or don't have access to.
One way to overcome this dilemma is by submitting your work to a picture library. Not exactly an original idea, I'll admit, but stock photography is a booming business these days and when you take a look at the benefits a library can offer, you'll wonder why you didn�t get involved with one years ago.
The immediate advantage of a library is you can leave the bulk of the selling to them, which means you're able to dedicate much more of the limited time you have to take pictures. Not only that, a library can make your work available to a much wider range of markets than you ever could as an individual, and often those markets are far more lucrative than the ones you currently know.
Many enthusiast or part-time freelance photographers dismiss picture libraries, thinking they only take-on contributors who already have thousands of saleable pictures. Not true. Most only ask for an initial submission of 100-200 pictures to judge the quality of your work, and few put demands on photographers to supply a minimum amount each year. I know of two amateur photographers who each have in excess of 7,000 pictures with leading libraries and make thousands of pounds every year in sales. Not bad, considering those pictures were taken while they were both holding down full time jobs.
Pictures like this have been earning me money for 8 years - without my lifting a finger
The great thing about working with a library is once your pictures are in the files they can sell indefinitely. For example, I've had 1,500 pictures with one library for about 8 years, but despite the fact that I haven't submitted a single image since the middle of 1992 - all my new material goes to a different library - I still receive a three-figure sum from them every month without lifting a finger.
If you do start submitting work to a library you can also continue selling pictures yourself. One or two libraries demand total exclusivity, but most don't mind providing you inform them of any copyright restrictions on images they hold. This effectively means you can maximise the sales potential of your work.
If you're interested in joining a picture library, get hold of a copy of the latest Freelance Photographer�s Market Handbook (from the BFP, UK, phone +44 181 882 3315) or Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. Both list dozens of the best known UK libraries, with brief details of their conditions and the type of subjects they accept. A comprehensive UK list, the BAPLA Directory, can be obtained for �10 from the British Association of Picture Libraries (+44 181 444 7913). You can even find library 'wants lists' on Internet if you look! Start by narrowing down your choice to half a dozen or so then write or phone for more details. London-based libraries are always a good bet as that's where the heart of the UK publishing and media industry is. Ideally, the library should also be actively producing new catalogues every year - ask to see a copy - as the bulk of stock sales come from catalogues.
If you are accepted, the usual deal is that the library takes a 50% commission on all sales made. You may also have the cost of inclusion in the catalogue and making duplicates deducted from sales. This may seem like a huge amount, but remember that without the library you wouldn't make most of those sales in the first place, and the highest selling slides are those in the catalogues and the ones they decide to duplicate and send to international associates.
While on the subject of maximising sales, it's also worth mentioning the newsletter Steve and I produce, Cash From Your Camera. We can't guarantee it will give you as many sales as a picture library, but for a UK subscription fee of �16.95 for 6 months or �29.95 for a year, we can guarantee that every two weeks you'll have the opportunity to follow-up many new and lucrative sales leads. (The BFP Newsletter and Freelance Focus have similar but not identical leads, and a comparable cost - Editor).
So why not give it a try? If you only sell a single picture this year, you'll have more than paid for any reference books, directories or subscriptions. � Lee Frost