As a photographer looking for ways to sell your photographs, you will no doubt be familiar with Etsy, the online global marketplace for a range of small creative businesses selling everything from vintage clothing to hand made jewelry. However, being such a large marketplace, it is easy for a seller to get lost amongst the Etsy crowd. You may want to consider other vending options that specialize in photography and, as well as selling your work, help you to establish your reputation as a photographer.
Personal website
Having a personal website is a must when building your photography business, acting as your main point of communication with the world. While Meta pages and Instagram are useful additional tools to interact with potential customers, a personal website provides a professional face for your business. Setting up a website is easy, with many online tutorials showing you how, some specifically for photography websites. With a website, you can provide potential customers with all the information they need about the types of photography you offer, any additional services, your photography background, and any training you may have taken. You can display your portfolio, along with customer testimonials championing your photographs. Your website can include an online shop, from which customers can buy directly from you, thus eliminating any seller’s fees that may be included on other online marketplaces and ensuring that every cent goes to you.
Patreon
Patreon is a crowdfunding platform that makes it easy for creators and artists to get paid. Subscribers choose from several membership tiers depending on how much they would like to pay. In return, you, as the creator, release monthly content for Patreon subscribers, with different things being made available for each subscription tier to reflect the different costs of each tier. Patreon content can incorporate anything from vlogs to exclusive prints for the higher tiers. Patreon works particularly well if you have a substantial online presence and communicate regularly with your online community and customer base, for instance, if you have a YouTube following, an established blog, or a lot of Instagram followers.
ClickASnap
As a way of establishing a photography career and getting your work out there, uploading your photographs to an image hosting website is a must. ClickASnap is the only image hosting platform in the world that pays you when your photographs are viewed and, what’s more, is free to sign up. With unlimited storage, photographers can upload up to seven photographs per day. Once your monetized views have reached $15, you can put in a payment request. As well as enabling your photography to provide a passive source of income, with ClickASnap you can also sell your photographs as both digital downloads and physical prints, ensuring that your photographs work doubly hard for you. As well as providing you with a monetary income, being part of an online community of photographers will boost your creativity and photography skills, ensuring that you continue to evolve as a photographer.