How to get your images published in magazines

Perhaps not a goal, but a desire for many photographers is to see their work published in print. Even if they’re a hobbyist and have no wish to become a professional photographer, it’s a nice validation of one’s efforts. And, no, paying for a feature doesn’t count. You weren’t published, you bought advertising.

In this video, Craig Roberts of e6 Vlogs explains what you can do to help increase your odds of being published. He talks about how to approach publications, as well as how to figure out which publications you might want to approach.

The typical pursuit for many photographers is photography magazines. Seems logical, right? It’s photography, so why wouldn’t you try to be published in a photography magazine? But the problem is, photography magazines are read by photographers. Many of their readers can shoot a decent photograph, and many of them are submitting their work to be published just like you are.

One of the things Craig suggests is looking at your other hobbies and interests and pursuing magazines in those fields instead. Are you a fishing fanatic? Do you like camping? Competitive tiddlywinks? Whatever it is, the majority of people reading those magazines won’t be photographers or really even all that good with a camera.

Pursuing magazines which cover those topics instead means potentially less competition, so more chance of your work being seen as particularly good – assuming it is.

Another, valuable, tip that Craig offers is that when you do contact magazines, don’t just send your photos and hope for the best. When you do this, you’re relying on somebody randomly writing an article that your images might relate to. And, chances are, somebody else’s might relate to that article better. So, learn to write, and submit an article along with the images.

If you’re a terrible writer, you could team up with somebody else knowledgeable in the subject matter to write the article to accompany your images. Then, submit that along with the photos.

Craig gives a lot of great advice in the 6-minute video, and if you’ve thought about getting your work published, it’s well worth a watch.