Here in MALVIE, we always receive messages and emails on how to publish new work, what are the steps and requirements for getting in the magazine and many more questions like that. And you know what? We got you! There is a lot of information out there and it can be really confusing to know what is good advice or to even know where to get started. Thinking about it and trying yo find a way to help all artists out there, I thought I’d share some of my top tips on getting your work submitted to fashion magazines and help you get started on the process. Maybe you are new to the submission process. Maybe you’re a photographer looking to break into fashion photography to attract more clients. Or maybe you’re experienced and you’ve already started to get your work published and just want to up your game a little – all of those options are great and I’m sure you’ll learn something here!
Photo: @sergio_aldacorphotoofficial, MUA: @emanuela.mua, Stylist: @mariannafemiano_, Model: @_sselly_01
Getting your work published in fashion magazines is a great marketing tool for you. It’s not just about getting beautiful tear-sheets for your portfolio, actually, editorial work is the way to get recognition in the commercial industry or in the portrait world – whatever you’re comfortable in – which can lead into important bookings. I could keep talking about how important published work is for a while, but let’s dive into the tips to give you more insight – that's what we’re here for!
TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR WORK PUBLISHED
KNOW YOUR BRAND AND FIND YOUR STYLE Before even thinking about sending your work out, it´s really important to understand your product and what you’re really offering. Take your time to reflect on the work and your current style. What type of photography are you trying to explore? What’s your visual style and what strong themes stand out? What are you trying to communicate? Sometimes, it’s important to take some time, take a step back and review your identity before planning any future actions. Knowing your brand and finding your true voice will help you know exactly what to say when presenting your work.
DO YOUR RESEARCH
When looking for submitting your work, make sure you’re paying attention to the suggested and most accepted themes – some magazines list on their website and social media. Sometimes it happens for a magazine to be accepting spring stories and at the time they’re looking for something in line with spring, some magazines are more specific and want photographers to submit work in line with concepts and some are much more flexible when reviewing submissions – that's why it’s so important to do your research beforehand and don’t just send work to submission email addresses or Kavyar Calls for Work hoping for an acceptance message. These guidelines will help you understand how they accept files, if there are any specific themes, how often they publish and how to send in wardrobe credits. If you submit your work to a magazine without reading this information, chances are your submission will be rejected.
FOLLOW THE THEMES It's important to send multiple images - enough to create a full story, 6 to 16 per submission is a good number - and to make sure they all work well together. But even though they should look good together, they don't need to look the same - it's quite the opposite! Create different concepts, outfits and makeup styles in your photos. The ideal thing would be two or three looks per shooting.
DON’T TRY TO STEAL TIME AND ALWAYS PITCH WITH CONFIDENCE
Your email or submission content should be clear and straight to the point, you don’t ever want to overwhelm an editor and share a bunch of irrelevant information. Just send the work you want to submit and attach all the relevant info and noting that you are looking to get that particular photoshoot published. Also, if your intention is to be commissioned for future editorials, your email must clearly mention that. Introduce yourself, be polite, give relevant information and ask your questions directly. If you are pitching editorial ideas and sending mood-boards, then introduce yourself, explain your ideas and that you’d love to get your work showcased in a future issue. Pitching doesn’t always come natural to everyone and it may take some time for you to be confident when trying to ‘sell’ your brand, but trust me when I say: there are a lot of, ways to pitch your work but the key is always to be confident in what you are selling and to ask for what you want. And a top tier tip: any email attachment should be 10MB or lower. If you need to send the files in high resolution, then thr best option is to use file sharing or Kavyar services.
UNDERSTAND YOUR PLACE – DON'T GO SKIPPING STEPS Picture it: all of the publications are on shelves. The smaller publications and print-on-demand magazines are at the bottom shelf, on the mid level you’ll find publications that are either digital or print and at the top shelf you have the major, most famous publications. To gain your place and find your moment in the editorial industry you have to climb your way up. It’s important to build your experience, help you gain tear-sheets for creating a portfolio and give you the ability to test out new techniques & creative teams. There is no magic way to help you get you directly to the top, so in order to reach those goals, you have to know that it takes practice, dedication and most of all, a solid marketing plan – you need to have a good understanding of the editorial industry and to find a way to reaaly stand out from the crowd. Remember to be humble when you are growing, reputation is a big deal in this industry.
ALWAYS BE OPEN TO HEARING FEEDBACK Always – and I mean it – try to get as much feedback as you can from anyone. If your submission or pitch is rejected then ask why it wasn’t a good fit and that you’d appreciate the insight. Take the critics, the compliments, the advices and everything else and use it to learn new things and improve your work. Don’t take everything personal, they are talking about your work, not about you as a person – learn how to separate those two things when necessary.
Compare your work to the quality of editorials you are seeing in your goal magazine – in a healthy, good way. Take your time to reflect on what your strong points are and what your weak points are, be totally honest with yourself and know that it takes time to develop your eye – and that’s fine! Maybe you need to refine something or even get a little more help in the making of the photos. Maybe it’s your your lighting that needs some change. Maybe you need to work with different beauty squads and stylits? All of these things are developed over time but it’s important to understand where you currently stand and what are the areas that you need to take a closer look and work a little more on.
With that being said, we would love to review your work! Please send us your submission via Kavyar to one of our available calls for work. Here is the link: https://kavyar.com/malvie-magazine
If you still have some questions or requests, please send us an email at contact@malviemag.com. We're always happy to help!