Instagram Followers - worthwhile for print sales?

I could get about 10-20k followers per year, and many of them *not* bots.

My purpose for having followers would be to gain attention for my photographs, and sell them. I'd be selling pictures of reptiles, birds, flowers, etc.

But, is it even worth the effort? Am I likely to make money this way?

Also: how else do people make money selling prints of things like macro flower shots (assuming they're Very Good)?

Or, is this a dead field? I believe Aaron Groen earns a sufficient (or more) income by selling his night sky and storm prints. So, I'd think there's still room for what I want to do?

Ask 25 strangers, "who has paid money for a shot of a flower?"

Ask 25 strangers, "who has paid money for a portrait?"


... There you go.

There are certainly people who buy prints. The question is "do they go looking for them on Instagram". I don't think they do. To actually find out I guess you run a carefully targeted promotion to try and get people to your site (and have them actually purchase).

I think better places to find them would be serious photographic art sites/magazines, galleries, photo book sales/exhibitions. Ultimately you have to identify who will want to buy what your selling, where they look and then come up with a compelling way to get those places to talk about you.

icor1031 wrote in post #18804940
things like macro flower shots

The most over-saturated subject / market on the internet. By far.

And in answer to your question, no. People don't think "I need to decorate my... I know! I'll look on Instagram!"

icor1031 wrote in post #18804940
I could get about 10-20k followers per year, and many of them *not* bots.
My purpose for having followers would be to gain attention for my photographs, and sell them. I'd be selling pictures of reptiles, birds, flowers, etc.
But, is it even worth the effort? Am I likely to make money this way?
Also: how else do people make money selling prints of things like macro flower shots (assuming they're Very Good)?
Or, is this a dead field? I believe Aaron Groen earns a sufficient (or more) income by selling his night sky and storm prints. So, I'd think there's still room for what I want to do?

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There's really very little chance of making any more than a pittance by selling prints. . The people who make money from prints are the labs that print them for photographers who hope that someone will buy them.

If this were the 1980s or 1990s, then yeah you could make a few bucks selling prints. . But nowadays? . Nope. . Not unless you completely luck into some specialized situation, such as getting in good with a high-end commercial interior designer who loves your stuff and includes it into his/her designs for clients. . But prints featuring subject matter such as reptiles or flowers? . My gosh no! . Birds? . Maybe. . But your bird stuff would need to be exceptionally good.


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If anything, do print on demand once you have an order. This way you’re not sitting around with inventory hoping someone will buy

SeattleSpeedster wrote in post #18813384
If anything, do print on demand once you have an order. This way you’re not sitting around with inventory hoping someone will buy

Oh, yes - by all means only consider print on demand.

You could start a free account at Fine Art America. Then you upload your pics to them and offer prints for sale. You set the amount of profit that you want to make for each one, for each size print. It doesn't cost you anything but a bit of time. A free account allows you to upload up to 25 images - to upload more you need to pay $25 a year (at least I think that's how much it is).

However, don't expect to actually sell anything there unless you do some real hard-core marketing to direct people to your prints. . Nobody is going to "just find" your stuff on the internet. . It doesn't work that way. . You have to get to know people, then get them interested in spending money on one of your prints, then direct them to go to your gallery at Fine Art America dot com and purchase a print from there.

Even if you can accomplish all of this, don't expect to make very much from it .... if you are very good and somewhat lucky, you may manage to sell 3 or 4 prints a year, with an average profit of $75 per print.

It isn't my intention to discourage you, it is my intention to tell it like it is.


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Tom Reichner wrote in post #18813549
Even if you can accomplish all of this, don't expect to make very much from it .... if you are very good and somewhat lucky, you may manage to sell 3 or 4 prints a year, with an average profit of $75 per print.
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Where do you get these numbers from?
Is this what you have experienced, or are you speaking for others on FAA?

Perfectly Frank wrote in post #18813638
Where do you get these numbers from?
Is this what you have experienced, or are you speaking for others on FAA?

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I am speaking for photographers everywhere, using many different venues for online print sales. . I'm not basing what I said on any single source, but rather on what dozens, if not hundreds, of photographers have said over the past 10 or 12 years.

My own personal experiences aren't really worth mentioning here, because they aren't typical of what one can expect to encounter. . I was lucky enough to have a commercial interior designer spec out my work for a few big projects, and made good money that way. . Outside of those special-situation sales, my online print sales pretty much mirror what almost every other photographer has said about it not being worth the bother.

Of course I'm only speaking about large fine-art prints, not little stuff like 8 by 10s or 16 by 20s or whatever it is people sell for tiny little bits of so-called profit.


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I am with Tom. Just putting stuff online won't result in sales.

As I said earlier, there are potential customers out there who buy prints but they will only buy your prints if they know you exist. You need to find a way to market yourself/your product to those customers... just like any business.

Social media followers aren't potential print customers. They are just there to play the follow and like game and get a hit of endorphins.

SeattleSpeedster wrote in post #18813384
If anything, do print on demand once you have an order. This way you’re not sitting around with inventory hoping someone will buy

Hello, fellow Otus shooter!! Tell me about your 28mm? Lol.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #18813936
I am with Tom. Just putting stuff online won't result in sales.

As I said earlier, there are potential customers out there who buy prints but they will only buy your prints if they know you exist. You need to find a way to market yourself/your product to those customers... just like any business.

Social media followers aren't potential print customers. They are just there to play the follow and like game and get a hit of endorphins.

Speaking from a retail portrait perspective, the number of people following a photographer is relatively unimportant.

What is important is the number of people following the photographer's clients.

And ironically, the best way to get clients who have significant portrait-purchasing social media contacts is in person. Those people tend to be real-world influencers, not just social media influencers.

RDKirk wrote in post #18815192
Speaking from a retail portrait perspective, the number of people following a photographer is relatively unimportant.

What is important is the number of people following the photographer's clients.

And ironically, the best way to get clients who have significant portrait-purchasing social media contacts is in person. Those people tend to be real-world influencers, not just social media influencers.

My experience from selling portrait sessions matches what you're saying.

RDKirk wrote in post #18815192
Speaking from a retail portrait perspective, the number of people following a photographer is relatively unimportant.

What is important is the number of people following the photographer's clients.

I've heard that this is the case for photographers who offer photography as a service. . But I have never read that this is the case for photographers who offer their images as products. . There is an ENORMOUS difference between these two business models. . Which context are you speaking of?

For what it's worth, in the opening post, the OP was speaking strictly in terms as offering his imagery as print products, not at all in terms of getting people to hire him to do photography for them.


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Tom Reichner wrote in post #18815198
I've heard that this is the case for photographers who offer photography as a service. . But I have never read that this is the case for photographers who offer their images as products. . There is an ENORMOUS difference between these two business models. . Which context are you speaking of?

For what it's worth, in the opening post, the OP was speaking strictly in terms as offering his imagery as print products, not at all in terms of getting people to hire him to do photography for them.

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That's why I began my statement with "from a retail portrait perspective."