7 Steps to Ensure Your Images Get Published

As an Editor of a Wedding Blog, there’s nothing that pains me more than when I sit down to look through submissions, fall in love with stunning images, only to realize the photographer who submitted it didn’t bother to include any information about it whatsoever. How am I to properly consider it if I have no idea where the event even took place? The bride and grooms names? Or ANY of the AMAZING vendors that worked so effortlessly to make their day happen? Let me help you not make the same mistakes that so many others do. When submitting your precious work, it’s important that you see it through 100% and that means pulling out all the stops in order for it to have the highest possible chance to get featured.

Here are 7 steps to ensure your images get published!

If you shot 500 images, by all means, we do not want to see all 500 images! It’s the most important thing that you take the time to choose the best of the best and create a selection that tells the story of your event. 100-150 images is recommended for a wedding. 50-75 is recommended for an engagement, family or styled shoot.

Before you just email your favorite blog, take the time to look at their website and see what their submission requirements are. Do they prefer submissions via Two Bright Lights? Would they rather have a Dropbox folder? Don’t assume that all publications have the same guidelines and follow them to a T!

This should be a no brainer right? Wrong. You wouldn’t believe how many photographers submit work worth ZERO information about the event. No details about the day, no vendor information, and sometimes not even names of the couple. How on earth can I write a wedding feature that goes “Bride married Groom on a bright sunny day, she carried flowers” and expect anyone to read it? Information is key, and lots of it!

I understand that you might not know everyone who worked an event you photographed. But if you are planning to submit an event, it’s really important, not to mention courteous, to take the time to talk to your bride or the wedding planner to get a list of all of the key players that helped to make their day happen. The feature will be so much better and the other vendors will be so appreciative that you took the time to include them.

It’s really nice when I open up a submission and see a kind note addressed to me asking for consideration of the event to be featured on my blog. This tells me that they actually read my blog enough to know the name behind it and that they made an extra bit of effort when submitting it. It just feels nice. 🙂

Limit the amount of submissions. There’s nothing I love more than opening a submission on Two Bright Lights to realize that you submitted it to 94 other publications. Let me tell you, myself along with the other 94 editors all are feeling so special right about now. If the publication is exclusive, submit and wait to hear back before submitting elsewhere. If they are non-exclusive, you should choose only a few to submit to. While I don’t mind featuring great content that was published elsewhere, I don’t want to share the same content with 94 other publications.

Last but certainly not least, don’t forget to SHARE the love! Once your event has been featured, it’s important that you take the time to SHARE it on all social media platforms and utilize a publications “featured on” badge. Afterall, what is the point of getting featured if no one is going to see it? Blog editors spend a lot of time featuring YOUR work and ensuring that it gets out there. It really stinks when you don’t take the time to then share it and it will make us think twice about featuring your work again in the future. Sharing is Caring!

Sound great, but you don’t have the time to do all of this every time you want to submit your work? Have no fear, that’s why we’re here! Let us help you take on those time consuming tasks so that you can get back to focusing on what you really love to do. Contact us to set up your free initial consult to see how we can help your business be seen everywhere it should be!