How I Started Selling my Photography Prints

Your artwork (photos) are incredible. The reason your prints aren't selling is because you're marketing them to other photographers, and this is the same exact problem I've seen from literally every other photography YouTube channel and then they complain about how it's so difficult - but that couldn't be further from the truth. The people who want to buy your art are NOT interested in photography. They may not even be interested in going on adventures. Who buys art? That should be the question that leads you to finding your audience, and we can say straight off the bat it could people interested in things like interior design who like wall art, or local businesses like bars and salons who want framed artwork on their walls. Remember, you will be looking for people who have enough disposable income too. You already hinted at how people would be interested in prints of their local area, so start with that - run some some Facebook ads to target people in those areas. Boomers especially love their local history and landmarks. You have photos of Chile on your site, so who is interested in Chile? Who is interested in Punta Arenas? Go find those people. I wish you the best :)

Interesting video Rick and I admire your honesty. Don’t despair, I’ve been selling prints for about 3 years and have sold well over 2000 and none of them bigger than A3. In my opinion you need a bigger range, a handful isn’t enough. I think a shopper wants to be able to see a range of images and I find sets of images sell well.

Thank you Rick for such a genuine retelling of your situation and attempt.

You can’t be a failure because you are creating, you are doing and others are not. I admire your honesty. From what I saw your work looks very inspiring and professional. Thanks for a video full of hope and achievement.

You gained technical skills and wisdom from this experience which is probably worth more than the revenue from the print sales. Thanks for all the tips as I am thinking of getting the same Canon printer you have.

Thanks, Rick, for your thoroughness of analysis and your honesty. I’m retired but have started moving toward the same goals as you have, but I am several steps behind you in terms of name recognition (effectively zero) and printer size. I know Danson’s (and many others’) attitude toward print selling, which is why most landscape photographers use conducting workshops to earn their keep - something I’ll probably never do because I don’t have the personality for it. I am digesting the implications for me of what you’ve told us, and I would like to follow your progress…and hopefully, success.

Very good and honest video. Congratulation for starting the printing adventure! A good advice I saw is not only offering photos that we love but also photos that are going to suite people walls: Having some B&W is always a good choice, but I recomment going to a shop like IKEA and ask ourself what photo could suite the different showrooms. We also need to ask ourself: what other photographers photo did we bought, what we love about thoses and how we display them. This is a long long journey.

This is the video YouTube recommended to me. Thanks for being genuine and helpful.

Hey Rick great video! I just wanted to say, I had the same mindset in the beginning of wanting my own website to sell my prints but I didn’t want to limit myself to just my audience/ following. I ended up opening an Etsy and it’s been relatively successful. I’ve only been open for a little over a year now and have made profit. I’m by no means retiring off this income but I get a lot of joy seeing random people across the country/world purchase my photos for their home.

Fingers crossed for the future of your store, Rick. I thought your choice of images reflected the trip well, I hope the only way is up from here!

This is a super helpful video as a photographer looking to do sometime similar! Great video as always, thanks for posting!

Well you know I’m a fan and soon to be proud owner of those prints! 🙋🏻‍♀️ Loved the journey and honesty in this video, also incredibly helpful having just got the same printer myself. Looks like you’ve learned lots and enjoyed the process, I’m sure the sales will follow, but even if they don’t 1. My piece will be even more valuable 😅 and 2. You’ll have beautiful prints for your home!

Interesting background to what it takes to sell prints, Thanks Rick

Good luck Rick! I just launched my print store about 3 weeks ago. We’re on the same journey around the same. Only 3 sales so far. I’m a little under 1% conversion rate for site visits. It’s a hard business so far! But I’ll keep at it. Best of luck friend.

Honest guy! Thank you so much…..YOU keep going!

I watched this before heading to work this morning and its been on my mind ever since. I too have thought about ways that my own photography could start paying for itself and its tough to find an answer. One of the subjects I enjoy photographing are endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals that often haul out for a nap on the island I live on. I send all my photos to NOAA so they can monitor the health of the population of seals on Lana'i and gather data points on where the seals are traveling too. This made me think of setting up a nonprofit business where I can sell my prints to raise funds for habitat studies and population monitoring where I live. I've not fleshed out the concept to even think about pulling the trigger, but people might be more keen to invest in prints if a portion of the profits go back to aid or benefit the subjects we shoot. Nat Geo's Photographer series inspired this thought and maybe this concept could work for you. Just my 2 cents. As always, great video!

Great and honest video. Really well done! Best of luck with your project!

Just stumbled into your channel, so I'm a first time viewer. Not a photographer, nor do I buy photography, but from the experience you describe it seems like the piece of the puzzle missing is the audience. Who are you trying to sell to? Who is looking for the photos that you've taken? Simply that they're well composed and visually striking won't make the magic happen in terms of sales. In the same way as identifying your audience to build a following on social media, including YouTube, is the key part of the process, the same is true for selling anything. Where you have an strong starting point is in having followers already. In each of your future videos, find the one shot that you think nails the experience and offer it for sale within the video. Also, it's worth offering limited quantities for those who maybe see it as an investment. "There'll only ever be 5 prints of this photo" adds incentive to your audience to pick it up if they're on the fence. Fundamentally, try to get a read on who is following your primary marketing channel, whether that's YouTube, Instagram or wherever. Are they following you to get ideas for their own projects? Because they love your end results? The better you understand them, the more likely you can convince them to make a purchase. Good luck.

I just finished watching this video while walking on my treadmill and I surely wish you success in this endeavor. I have a thought you might consider: I'm an amateur photographer and have been, off and on, for more than 60 years. On my walls here in my den there are 46 photographs. Three of them are gift pictures of family and one is an aerial of a place where I worked over 20 years ago. The rest are mine. I very much enjoy your channel and those of some of your compatriots, but I've only purchased one print from the four of you. I wonder if photographers who watch YouTube may not be the best market targets. I would be happy to be wrong.

Thank you sir for sharing your process.