How To Get Published, Short Guide For Aspiring Fashion Photographers, Part-2
Step1. Research. Make your own database of magazines. Start at issuu.com and pick at least 20 magazines to which you plan to submit your pictures. Important factors in picking the magazine are:
- popularity — what is the magazine’s social media presence? do they have print version? are they represented in stores or are they print-on-demand? how popular the magazine is in your network?
- style fit — is the magazine’s style similar to your style? or maybe your story would be complementary to what the magazine already has?
- appeal — how much the magazine’s concept appeals to you personally? For example with Teo magazine I didn’t see the style fit, but I loved how the magazine looked so I shot a new different series with them in mind.
From now on, every time you see the reference to a new magazine (one of your colleges published there or the magazine started following you on instagram or you just saw a nice picture from them on pinterest) you should look through the magazine and possibly add it to your database.
Step2. Validation. Let’s see if the magazine is a good fit to the particular editorial you are trying to publish:
- do they accept submissions? Normally if they do they have “Submit” as an item in website main menu, there you can find guidelines. If not, they may have a “contact” or “about us” link somewhere on the website or the email of one of there editor directly on the pages of the magazine — those are all valid contacts, I used them and ended up with publication several times.
- do your submission fit? How many looks minimum they except? How many designers? Do they require for the models to be agency signed? Often if you can’t make it in print, magazine have less strict rules for their webitorials.
- mind every little detail. Do they want wetransfer, dropbox or low res pdf? Could some of the items in the look just be marked as “vintage” or do they always need a brand? Never make the item as “old” or “stylist’s own” — editors hate it. If your styling is slightly homemade, just submit it in “photography” rather than “fashion” section.