The Photographer's Guide to Making Money: 150 Ideas for Cutting Costs and Boosting Profits [Paperback]

Karen Dorame (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1584282576 | ISBN-13: 978-1584282570 | Publication Date: July 1, 2009 | Edition: Original

With do-it-yourself projects and inspiring and instructional images, this comprehensive resource teaches photographers the tricks of the trade for creating a thriving business without breaking the bank. Drawing on the first-hand experiences of established professionals, this reference discusses opening a photography studio from the ground up, what equipment to purchase, how to make the most of marketing, and how to streamline production efforts. The simple, numbered tips cover all the necessary skills needed to become an expert marketer, an adept accountant and financial planner, a skilled sales and customer service representative, an amateur psychologist, a manager, and a designer while learning to establish the best business in the field.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This guide . . . can help you save money, boost exposure, and find deals on studio equipment . . . includes a chapter on using free websites, blogs, and various other Internet resources."  —Shutterbug

"Buy it, read it, apply it, and then read it again. Good stuff that is sure to help you as a photographer more than a new lens or camera body."  —ronmart.blogspot.com

About the Author

Karen Dórame is a trainer for Special Kids Photography, where she teaches numerous workshops for professional photographers. She is the author of Photographing Children with Special Needs. She lives in Washington, Utah.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Amherst Media, Inc.; Original edition (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584282576
• ISBN-13: 978-1584282570
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #786,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for beginners and pro's, July 2, 2009

By 

Adam Richards - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Photographer's Guide to Making Money: 150 Ideas for Cutting Costs and Boosting Profits (Paperback)

As the title implies, this book has 150 ways to basically make your photo business more profitable. For someone just getting started, these tips can illustrate pitfalls to avoid and areas to focus on, saving a lot of time and money getting going I would hope! For an established business, this book would certainly help streamline your operations and work more efficiently.

There are both business/marketing tips and technical tips. While some of the ideas may seem obvious to a pro shoooter I can't imagine that anyone, established pro or up & comer, could read this book and not walk away with a number of valuable ideas that one could enact right away.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suprisingly good and way different from other similar books, February 7, 2010

By 

Ron Martinsen "Visit my photography blog for ... (Renton, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Photographer's Guide to Making Money: 150 Ideas for Cutting Costs and Boosting Profits (Paperback)

It's funny that in today's world the best way for photographers to make money is by writing books and teaching classes to millions of aspiring photographers, so I tend to laugh when I see books like this. However, as I read through this book I became pleased to see that its subtitle (150 ideas for Cutting Costs and Boosting Profits) was probably a more appropriate title. In fact, this book has no chapters and simply lists 150 tips of the trade - very good tips in many cases!

It's actually quite hard to write a review for this book because I can't do my typical chapter-by-chapter walkthrough. What I can tell you though is that you can think of this book as a collaboration of tips collected by the author, Karen Dorame, by a legion of seasoned professionals to come up with some great tips for any aspiring photographer - whether you intend to make money with your hobby or not. From basic tips like #1 - Specialize in a genre, to the practical like #14 - Practice is the cheapest training, there's a lot of sound advice that may come off as "duh" to some, and a light bulb moment to others. For example, I've heard tips #33 - Raise prices instead of lowering them and #121 - Effective print displays sell larger wall art from multiple well-seasoned sources, but reading it in this book made me think - you know, I've heard this enough now that I think I'm going to do something about it!

There's good tips in here from the beginner (#97 - Learn to say no), to the intermediate (#81 - Show only your best work), to even the hard core pro (i.e., #88 - Get on the blog bandwagon) so I can easily recommend this book for anyone. Just like going to the psychologist, you may feel that the book states the obvious, but if you look at your life you are certain to see that you aren't really applying some of these tips (which really are more like rules) to help minimize your costs and maximize your profits. It's sound advice and a super easy read. In fact, this is one that I'll pick up from time to time to remind myself of what I should be doing, instead of being stuck in the habits of what I am doing.

Conclusion
If you take pictures of more than just your family, or if you spent more than just the cost of a kit lens DSLR setup, then it's worth your time to read this book. Buy and read it, and then from time to time read it again and make sure your not falling into your old bad habits again.

Skill Level: All
Value: Good. At first it may seem like a waste, but when you think about the thought provoking actions you will take from reading it then it's priceless.
Recommendation: Buy it, read it, apply it, and then read it again. Good stuff that is sure to help you as a photographer more than a new lens or camera body.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Idea That is Forgotten, January 14, 2011

By 

Telnt "Telnt" (New York) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Photographer's Guide to Making Money: 150 Ideas for Cutting Costs and Boosting Profits (Paperback)

Here are the first five ideas presented by the author on how to make money with photography.

1. Specialize in a genre.
2. Make the most of your abilities.
3. Don't try to fit a square peg in a round hole.
4. Consider unexpected specialization.
5. Develop a unique style.

If you have already known or learned the above ideas somewhere, then read no further, because it does not get any better from this point.

The author forgot one best advice she can give about making money with photography: write a book.