Print Publication

Recently when Mr. Vincente Wolf spoke in Boston he made mention to the dated timeline of Design Publications and how Fashion is all about being in the now. If you've ever been published you know how 
l-o-n-g the wait can be from the time of the photo shoot to the actual day that highly anticipated feature will hit the news stand. At a recent seminar one of our regional publications admitted that they had enough material until mid 2013...


If you are new to the time honored tradition of print publication than you have no doubt learned that patience is a virtue and that the honor (and believe me it is) of being a printed, published Designer is equal in some cases to winning the Stanley Cup or World Series trophy for many Designers and Architects. Typically a print magazine produces only six issues a year, with an average of four features, which means that only 24 projects will be featured in any given year. That is a tremendous amount of competition, and if you are one of those 24, well YOU should be honored.


So where do you begin?


Well you have two choices:


ONE: You can either take photos of your recent project yourself or you can hire a professional photographer (who has continual relationships with the editors) and submit scouting photos of your project. Once selected, your project will be photographed and published with in about a year (on average). 


PROS: No up front costs (except if you hire a photographer to scout, which usually involves a very small fee for time).


CONS: No one will see or have access to the professional photos of your project until 60 days after the project has been printed (this varies with each publication). Then after that time period, you can purchase the images from the photographer (which can amount to more than a day of shooting, as you maybe paying per image rates).


TWO: You can hire a professional photographer to photograph your project and submit those styled polished images to a publication for their consideration. If accepted, the magazine may elect to use the "as shot" images or commission another shoot.


PROS: Since you contracted the photographer for styled, polished images first, you have every right to use those shots from day one on your website portfolio, which any potential client can view, as magazines respect that your website is your portfolio. 


CONS: Most magazines, when budget and time allow will prefer to style and control the photography to suit their intended audience, which means your client maybe inconvenienced with a second shoot. This is a very important consideration and only you know your clients well enough to decide this.


I thought I would discuss three examples (one includes national vs. regional)


Example One: If you have read the current New England Home Magazine (March/April issue), you'd have seen the wonderful work of Interior Designer Amy Meier. Amy had me photograph this project and then submit it to New England Home Magazine. New England Home Magazine accepted the project and had Stylist Stacy Kunstel produce/style the shoot by me of the entire project for publication. This of course gave Amy every opportunity to use the project (as Amy and I photograhed it previously) on her website prior to the publication date.


Example Two: In the soon to be released New England Home Magazine (May/June issue) you will see a tremendous project by Interior Designer Susan B. Acton. In this example again, I was contracted to photograph the project first, then this project was submitted with the understanding it could NOT be re-shot (projects can be submitted with stipulations). New England Home Magazine accepted the project as shot, which meant because it was photographed prior: the Architect, Landscape Architect, Millwork Company and Interior Designer; Susan B. Acton have all had the opportunity to showcase this project on their websites since July 2011 when I originally photographed it.


Example Three: The exceptionally talented and very astute Gerald Pomeroy submitted scouting shots of his own through his PR Company JD Communications to Boston Common Magazine. The project was accepted and I was honored to photograph this spectacular residence for Boston Common Magazine. After it was printed, Gerald Pomeroy reached out to Estelle Bond Guralnick who then "sold" the project to Traditional Home whom then sent one of their photographers from New York to photograph the project, which was just printed in Traditional Home Magazine. So not only did Mr. Pomeroy have regional press of his project, he also had national press and while Mr. Pomeroy waited for the national presses debut, he purchased the images I photographed for Boston Common Magazine for use on his website, so talk about a trifecta!
Bravo, Gerald!!!


And as a side note, generally speaking you want to publish regional first, national second...


Ultimately the road to publication can be a rewarding and a highly successful experience when you know all the rules, which I'd be happy to discuss, so give me a call 617 571-1395.


Warm Regards,


Michael