Selling prints seems straightforward, but it's tougher than you expect. It's more than snapping good photos and hanging them in an online shop; it's a careful blend of understanding your customer and knowing what makes a print sell.
Coming to you from Keith Cooper, this practical video tackles the overlooked truths about selling photography prints. Cooper emphasizes that successful print sales have less to do with where you're selling and more with knowing exactly who your buyers are. He argues that a casual compliment about your work doesn't translate into sales—your friends probably aren't your true market. It's crucial to pinpoint who actually spends money on prints, what appeals to them, and why. Cooper illustrates this clearly with examples from his own experience, showing two drastically different prints of the same coastal location; one vibrant and cheerful, the other moody and authentic. Guess which one sells better?
The video dives deeper into the nuances you might not expect. Local scenes sell better locally. Bright, colorful prints generally outsell those that are darker or moodier—even if the latter feels more genuine to you. Cooper's experience with his photographs of beach huts demonstrates this perfectly. He personally prefers the muted, realistic image, but admits that brighter images are typically more attractive to buyers. Another unexpected but important consideration: people usually prefer horizontal, landscape-oriented images rather than vertical or square formats, simply because they take up more wall space. Cooper’s blunt but honest approach challenges your preconceived notions, forcing you to think clearly about the practicality behind print sales.
Cooper also discusses a reality check when it comes to online platforms. While plenty of photographers imagine they'll sell prints effortlessly online, Cooper warns most online galleries benefit the platforms themselves rather than the photographers using them. He suggests avoiding the popular trap of setting up a store online without first understanding if there's genuine demand. You'll need to carefully assess if your photography has an audience online, or if in-person local sales are more effective. He highlights the overlooked yet essential costs involved in the print selling process: your printer, ink, paper, packaging, shipping, and—importantly—your time. Failing to factor these in can quickly derail your business goals.
Cooper also highlights the tough choices you'll face as you scale up your business. Selling a few prints now and then is manageable, but scaling your business to several prints a week or even a day means significantly more administrative and logistical work. It could even become primarily a fulfillment operation rather than a creative endeavor, requiring a totally different mindset. You'll need to think hard about whether this business model appeals to you, as well as whether you can handle larger print runs, costly shipping, and packaging issues.
Ultimately, Cooper advises you to think carefully about why you sell your prints. If you're in it purely for profit, prepare to adjust your work to suit customer tastes. If selling prints is a means of promoting your main photographic services, that changes your marketing entirely. Understanding your own motivations and your customer’s reasons for buying will shape your strategy. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Cooper.
Unless you're David LaChapelle or another equally famous photographer, your prints are just home decor. Your home decorating skills are going to be at least as important as your photography skills. You need to be able to create simple photos that match a buyer's home's color schemes and moods. The images convey an ideal, like, "I love the beach" or "I love NYC". Having a set of similar prints in nice frames is key, too.
But most photographers strive to create complex stand-alone images that need to be individually studied and appreciated. That's not what people want in a print; that would be distracting in home decor.