5 Mistakes Photographers Make When Submitting Their Work
About five years have passed since I launched Ben Trovato and I can safely say I’ve looked through more than ten thousand emails and submissions from fashion photographers worldwide. I’ve always tried to go through every single one of them, however, some photographers make going through their submissions unnecessarily hard. Meaning an editor might skip the submission altogether without even having seen your work.
Photographer: Kesler Tran for Ben Trovato
Here are the five biggest mistakes photographers make when submitting their work.
1. You didn’t follow the submission guidelines
This is probably the biggest mistake of them all. Failing to meet submission requirements will most probably eliminate your submission from the race altogether.
The guidelines are there for a reason, most probably in order to streamline the process of reviewing the work of hundreds of hopefuls. If you are serious about your ambition to get your work published in a specific publication, you have to read and follow the guidelines listed on their site.
2. You haven’t done your research
People attending my talks always have a good laugh when I arrive at this point. The name of my publication, Ben Trovato, is an Italian expression meaning Well Found, based on our mission to focus our posts on new and undiscovered talent. It looks like a name, and I forgive you (not really) if you thought it was the name of the founder of the magazine.
However, if you were to submit your work to Ben Trovato, and you started your email by writing “Hi Ben,” I wouldn’t even read the rest of your email. Why? Because it shows that you have no idea who you are communicating with. It is completely unprofessional to contact a publication without knowing who they are and what they stand for. Do your research.
3. Your work doesn’t fit the style of the publication
Always make sure your work fits the specific publication’s aesthetic before shipping them your work. Submitting a gritty New York style editorial to a magazine like Mirage (NSFW) would be a giant waste of time for both you and them.
4. Your email is too long
If you’ve done your research, you know who you are addressing, and you know your work would fit perfectly for the publication you are submitting to, don’t send them a long email with your whole life story. Keep it short and to the point. Remember, the editor is probably skipping through a whole lot of these, make it easy for him or her to make a decision.
Same goes for links to your portfolio, zip-files, heavy PDFs, or a WeTransfer download link. They don’t want it. Put your low res photos directly in the email so that the recipient can easily scroll through.
5. You’re mass emailing, and we know it
This point consolidates all of the above. Sending out a generic email to a long list of magazines and editors might land you a feature somewhere, but it will most surely annoy a large amount of the recipients. This business is hard enough as it is, don’t risk getting on anyone’s blacklist.
Conclusion
I stress this to aspiring photographers time after time: You can’t afford to be lazy in any aspect of your business in this industry, at least if you have any ambitions of making it big. Most of what I mention in this post comes down to common sense, and should be integrated in your submission routines.
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by Marius Troy
Marius is the co-founder of BREED and founder of Ben Trovato, an online magazine discovering and showcasing stories of some of the most promising talents within fashion photography and film in the world.
Breed
Breed is an online educational resource for fashion photographers. Breed writers and contributors are experienced industry professionals teaching and sharing current fashion photography insight through a series of videos, written articles, interviews, product reviews, and more. The Breed community also provides fashion photographers a place to connect, collaborate, share and critique work while learning valuable insight about the historically guarded and highly competitive industry of fashion photography. For more, visit jointhebreed.com.
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December 17, 2017 at 6:29 pm, Marc Medios said:
Finally!!!! A well-written, short, absolutely useful article. Congratulations and thanks!
December 15, 2017 at 12:49 pm, denim said:
Common sense is not and has never been, common.
June 28, 2017 at 4:23 pm, Boss Hogg said:
As a publisher I agree with everything but point 4. There are lots of email services that will not display photos or allow attachments. You either get bounced as undeliverable, or worse yet, it files itself into the big ozone layer in the sky.
June 28, 2017 at 3:21 pm, Ivan Nicolau said:
Hey Marius. The link to Ben Trovato at the top of the article doesn’t seem to be working. It takes me to a generic page with related links. I’m sure I’m not the only to point this out, but I thought I would just in case, as I’m sure you don’t want a broken link to your site.
March 01, 2017 at 8:36 pm, falcona said:
Regardless of whether I’ve heard of your magazine I appreciate the advice. I thank the editor for taking the time to contribute his views and advice to better my, and other’s search for publication. Those that disagreed with said advice are free to ignore it and find their own path through the slush pile. Again, thank you Marius.
PS: the link to Ben Trovato isn’t working.
March 01, 2017 at 8:25 pm, Steve247 said:
Well said! My magazine 247 Ink Magazine is a modern tattoo magazine which also covers stories about artists in every field with or without tattoos and tackle issues of tattoo artists without health insurance etc. To start I can’t tell you how many submissions I get from models that are one or two CELL PHONE IMAGES with the subject line reading COVER SUBMISSION. Now that I got that out of my system, I can move on to photographers and voice my agreement. Sometimes I get 3 images (which kills the idea of a spread immediately. I need 6 to 10 images) with NOTHING said. Not one word! NEXT! Way too many long bios “I was born in New Jersey 24 years ago” You are right, I don’t care, NEXT! “I have loved you magazine for years and pick it up every time I see it” I answer “It’s online (12 million hits) and its only been around for 2 years.” I used to write long thank you letters with explanations about why I am passing, but no longer, I just don’t have the time. READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. LOOK at the magazine! Do your images FIT with the magazine? Are they the same quality? In this case, do they showcase the tattoos or the fact you shot them in a lake or a forest? Happy to read your story and I hope a lot of people find it helpful and have caught on. I also hope to see some great submissions from MM members. [email protected]
March 01, 2017 at 7:20 pm, Charles Farrah said:
Thanks for the tips, Marius!
March 01, 2017 at 5:22 pm, Steve247 said:
Well said! My magazine 247 Ink Magazine is a modern tattoo magazine which also covers stories about artists in every field with or without tattoos and tackle issues of tattoo artists without health insurance etc. To start I can’t tell you how many submissions I get from models that are one or two CELL PHONE IMAGES with the subject line reading COVER SUBMISSION. Now that I got that out of my system, I can move on to photographers and voice my agreement. Sometimes I get 3 images (which kills the idea of a spread immediately. I need 6 to 10 images) with NOTHING said. Not one word! NEXT! Way too many long bios “I was born in New Jersey 24 years ago” You are right, I don’t care, NEXT! “I have loved you magazine for years and pick it up every time I see it” I answer “It’s online (12 million hits) and its only been around for 2 years.” I used to write long thank you letters with explanations about why I am passing, but no longer, I just don’t have the time. READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. LOOK at the magazine! Do your images FIT with the magazine? Are they the same quality? In this case, do they showcase the tattoos or the fact you shot them in a lake or a forest? Happy to read your story and I hope a lot of people find it helpful and have caught on. I also hope to see some great submissions from MM members. [email protected]
March 01, 2017 at 1:50 pm, Steve247 said:
Well said! My magazine 247 Ink Magazine is a modern tattoo magazine which also covers stories about artists in every field with or without tattoos and tackle issues of tattoo artists without health insurance etc. To start I can’t tell you how many submissions I get from models that are one or two CELL PHONE IMAGES with the subject line reading COVER SUBMISSION. Now that I got that out of my system, I can move on to photographers and voice my agreement. Sometimes I get 3 images (which kills the idea of a spread immediately. I need 6 to 10 images) with NOTHING said. Not one word! NEXT! Way too many long bios “I was born in New Jersey 24 years ago” You are right, I don’t care, NEXT! “I have loved you magazine for years and pick it up every time I see it” I answer “It’s online (12 million hits) and its only been around for 2 years.” I used to write long thank you letters with explanations about why I am passing, but no longer, I just don’t have the time. READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. LOOK at the magazine! Do your images FIT with the magazine? Are they the same quality? In this case, do they showcase the tattoos or the fact you shot them in a lake or a forest? Happy to read your story and I hope a lot of people find it helpful and have caught on. I also hope to see some great submissions from MM members. [email protected]
March 01, 2017 at 1:40 pm, cybersport said:
These same admonitions apply to writers too
March 01, 2017 at 1:33 pm, Preston Page said:
BEWARE – the link above to Ben Trovato goes to a Ransomware site!
February 03, 2015 at 2:00 pm, esolesek said:
Do any publications even pay anything any more? I guess if you want to get into one of these emo-ego pubs, then go for it, but don’t take their rejections too much to heart, though, of course, there is good and terrible photography. You’re prob better off shooting for your own website and selling prints at this point. Build up a good enough style and presence, and then link the work out to some editors, and make them pay if they want to re-use it.
February 02, 2015 at 11:01 am, Steven Hlavac said:
Good tips that hopefully most experienced shooters have already learned. Truth is, actually planning, casting, shooting, editing, and submitting editorials while adhering to a publication’s guidelines is HARD WORK! Which of course, is why most get rejected… 😉
September 03, 2014 at 6:19 pm, Heather Yeager Photography said:
This has been a big help, does anyone know if you can submit photos that you have put on your own website though as your portfolio, or does that constitute as being Published?
January 30, 2015 at 8:28 am, The Jay L.A. Studio said:
That is considered published to a lot of reputable/more established publications.
August 28, 2014 at 4:19 pm, Mannock said:
Your point about not enough research is a major point. Saying hello or dear Ben may also be a flip comment, which is just as bad a sin. A friend of mine worked as a graphic artist for a Toronto magazine. The magazine posted an ad offering a job for someone proficient in Illustrator. The ad read to send CVs to Post Office Box 123. Someone responded with the cover letter beginning “Dear Posty”. The resume was tossed to the round file.
I did not know about Ben Trovato before reading the article. Nice magazine!
August 29, 2014 at 3:54 am, Marius Troy said:
Thank you! And yes, as I write, it often comes down to common sense 🙂 “Dear Posty,” classic.
August 28, 2014 at 10:00 am, Verónica M. Avendaño Murillo said:
Very thankful with this kind of articles!
August 28, 2014 at 5:34 am, Svetlana said:
My question is: How do you find the magazines that accept submissions? Or I can just do it randomly and send to any I desire.
August 29, 2014 at 3:55 am, Marius Troy said:
Hi Svetlana! Lucky for you we’ve put together a comprehensive list of magazines that accept submissions here: http://jointhebreed.com/insight/submitting-work-line-magazines/
August 27, 2014 at 8:01 pm, Gleam Magazine said:
As a publisher and published photographer RULE 1: read and follow the SUBMISSION GUIDLEINES is crucial! It’s the #1 reason for rejection! READ THE MAGAZINE! Because our social media and website are not a substitute for understanding the stories we create in the magazine and what you need to provide to get PUBLISHED! A Thank You is ALWAYS appreciated when you like your feature or think we’ve put out our best issue yet. KEEP TRYING! It may just be that particular submission is redundant with a feature/theme in the last issue (again, READ the magazine!!!), there may be good photos but not enough, or we didn’t like one deal breaking aspect like the theme, wardrobe, model, lack of consistency or post processing choices. But oh so close! So don’t give up! NEVER EVER EVER send something you’ve already published. Call us “independent magazines” but we do not “publish anything” – I will check and will find out.
September 04, 2014 at 10:52 am, Heather Yeager Photography said:
This has been a big help, does anyone know if you can submit photos that you have put on your own website as your portfolio, or does that constitute as being Published?
September 04, 2014 at 11:33 am, Gleam Magazine said:
It varies from publication to publication. If you read the submission guidelines carefully some will explicitly say that the photos cannot have been used on portfolio sites or social media. Others, like ours, request that you remove them until after the next issue of the magazine you’re published in has been released. Always read the guidelines and the photo release. Never be afraid to ask questions. You won’t be disqualified for trying to do right by a publisher 😉
March 01, 2017 at 1:52 pm, Steve247 said:
I can speak for my magazine 247 Ink Magazine. I do not want to see half of the shoot on Instagram and other forms of social media. We will not use those images. Great question.
August 27, 2014 at 6:30 pm, ND said:
Hey Ben (just kidding) 😉
Marius this is a great article and building a relationship with an editor, art buyer or is difficult these days. I try my best to get to know someone because it allows me to do a better job.
August 29, 2014 at 3:58 am, Marius Troy said:
Hey ND! I’m glad you appreciated the advice. TTT = Things take time. What matters is to keep up the hard work.
August 27, 2014 at 6:26 pm, Stephanie said:
Thanks for the article. All good tips.
August 27, 2014 at 6:08 pm, Tony Piazza said:
This is good advice at a time when i need it. Only question i have is how much time is enough when you don’t hear back to move onto another publication. Also is it easier to have a model contact the publication first in some cases?
August 29, 2014 at 4:03 am, Marius Troy said:
Hi Tony, glad you liked the post.
I have been on the other side plenty of times, where a photographer have been waiting for me to get back to them. Only thing I can say is that editors running publications are only people -they (usually) understand your situation. If two weeks have past without any respond, let them know that you will start shipping it to other publications within two days. If they see your email too late, they’ll be happy you gave them a heads up. I hope that answers your question.
And to your second question: No. No way at all. That will only give the editor the impression that you didn’t care enough to send it in yourself. The model usually have very little to do with the publisher. Remember, you are the artist. 🙂
August 29, 2014 at 9:41 am, Ray said:
I think that the model has as much to contribute in creation of the art as the photographer. I got my images published in a Spanish magazine (Anormalmag) recently, primarily due to the initiative taken by the model. I am very grateful to her to have taken the initiative.
August 27, 2014 at 4:27 pm, Philip'e said:
I never heard of the magazine..
This is advice for on line magazine or Mag cloud magazine..
But, misses the boat on the important things that national and news stand magazines look for..
If its magcloud or on line, they publish anything. Bigger magazines have different standards,,
This has nothing to do with getting published in a news stand magazine..
The advice is not how it works………..
August 29, 2014 at 3:51 am, Marius Troy said:
I appreciate your opinion, but that seems a tad ignorant. If you are approached by an editor of one of the “bigger magazines” for a meeting to discuss a possible collaboration you still need to do your research. And if you’re approaching an editor of a larger magazine in order to possibly shoot for said publication, you still need to make sure your work would be right for that publication.
Of course, there is a difference between smaller independent magazines and larger publishing house backed magazines, but often it has more to do with size (bigger budgets, reputation, offices) and organizational structure. Claiming the artistic quality and integrity of a magazine is based on whether they are online or print, is fairly shallow.
That said, the article is directed towards photographers submitting their work to a publication accepting submissions. I can’t remember last time Vogue called for submissions.
September 04, 2014 at 11:43 am, Gleam Magazine said:
Well said.
February 01, 2015 at 6:57 pm, After 6 Exposures said:
Definitely research is important. It is hard to deal with a person or
organization that you don’t know about and how to approach it.
March 01, 2017 at 2:03 pm, Steve247 said:
Totally wrong. A quality magazine is a quality magazine and has the same rules and standards as a “bigger news stand magazine.” The advice is EXACTLY how it works with ANY QUALITY MAGAZINE. There are crappy news stand magazines that will “publish anything” too. What are you going to do as more and more magazines make the transition to online? What is this “I never heard of the magazine?” therefore it must either not exist or be crap… WAKE UP
August 27, 2014 at 4:09 pm, Jon L. Miller said:
as an experienced published photographer and photo editor the advice is so on the money. I used to do the same pass a newcomer if they haven’t taken the time to do their homework.
August 27, 2014 at 3:51 pm, Paolino said:
Yeah I do appreciate too but shows in the comments what – in my experience – BenTrovato Magazine has: a lot of attitude and a little snobbish. Sure it is a good publication, but we are all here for the same reason, aren’t we?
February 03, 2015 at 2:08 pm, esolesek said:
I give it my highest yawn…
March 01, 2017 at 2:10 pm, Steve247 said:
You are missing the point. I doesn’t matter if you have heard of his magazine, you don’t like the magazine, you find him and his magazine snobbish, it comes out on Tuesdays etc, The ADVICE IS SPOT ON for ANY magazine. Your claim the “we are all here for the same reason” totally contradicts the rest of you statement.
August 27, 2014 at 3:36 pm, Lisette said:
Appreciate the advice.
August 27, 2014 at 3:29 pm, jasonmcphoto said:
Nice read.