www.djbphoto.com • dean@djbphoto.com • 415-967-2508 • San Francisco, CA

How to Get Your Work Published Nothing beats the feeling of pride that comes from having won critical acclaim for your creative vision, and artistic talent. We would all like to have the creative opportunities that arise from having your ideas and accomplishments held out as a standard to which others should aspire.

This is not to mention the greater perceived value of your work. If managed properly editorial publication in a well known and respected magazine can act as a springboard for your career leading to securing larger, more creative and interesting projects for decades to come.

What do I need to do to get published? The short answer is to submit your projects to the magazines. Here’s how...

• Pitch the projectSubmitting a well written and concise pitch accompanied by largish jpeg photographs is the best way to ensure the decision makers at the magazines learn what they need to learn, and see what they need to see to select your project from the hundreds they receive.

• One picture is worth a thousand wordsIn the early ’90’s I read an interview of the editor of Interior Design magazine one thing he said has always stayed with me, I paraphrase:

“People think we publish projects, but they are wrong. We publish photographs of projects.”

Magazine editors and art directors must see the quality, charm and creativity of your work as well as be given a good description of your project before they can consider it for publication. The best way to do this is to send well crafted, editorial quality photographs that communicate your vision and illustrate your pitch.

• Be available, demonstrably so.The decision makers at the magazines are every bit as time challenged as we are. If they like what they see they’ll get back to you and ask for more information and larger pictures, include your name, email address and phone number in the text of the email.

• FollowupAfter a few weeks follow up with a brief note to prod the editor. Don’t send fifteen emails asking if they saw your project, send one, or two over the course of a few months. If they don’t respond positively move on to your second choice magazine.

As usual the long answer is more both complex, and more helpful.

www.djbphoto.com • dean@djbphoto.com • 415-967-2508 • San Francisco, CA

ASID published a pamphlet on this subject How to Get Your Work Published. There are also dozens of articles and interviews online that all say pretty much the same thing, as I’ve summarized below.

1. Develop a strategic plan.There is no guarantee that your project will be selected for publication. It’s wise to have a plan that will maximize your chances of being published. Select a first, second and third choice magazine and submit to them one at a time. If your first choice magazine doesn’t choose your project, submit to your second choice, etc.

2. Submit to appropriate magazines. You don’t want to waste your time, or that of the editor submitting a traditional home to Dwell, or a restaurant to Country Home. The magazines and design journals you read and review are good candidates for publication of your project. Your work will look like it belongs in those magazines because they influence your artistic style and creative vision.

3. Research the magazines. Read the stories, one editor suggested reading a years worth of their magazine before submitting a project to them. This will give you an idea of the editorial content they want. • Do they want photographs of the homeowner or designer in the spaces? • Will they publish a small project with only one or two images or are they looking for entire homes and need eleven to sixteen photographs?

4. Review the magazine’s editorial calendar.Submit your project at least six months prior to the edition that would be most suitable for your project. Tell the editor in which issue you think your project is best suited for, this tells the editor that you’re not sending out blanket submissions to every magazine you can find.

5. Don’t write the article, pitch the projectWrite a short description of the project, less than 300 words. Be concise and stick to a straight-forward presentations the facts: description of the project, the clients needs-the design challenge, how the design works to resolve the challenge, and why this project would be interesting to the readers of that particular magazine.

6. Invest in good photography.You can send in snapshots you took with your phone; but submitting for publication is as much a beauty contest as any design award. Professional photographs that showcase your vision beautifully will increase showcase the quality of your work and improve your chances of being selected for publication.

www.djbphoto.com • dean@djbphoto.com • 415-967-2508 • San Francisco, CA

Q: Won’t the magazine pay for the photography?A: It depends, don’t count on it.

• Interior Design won’t pay for photography. They require editorial quality images be submitted. • Elle Decor will always photograph a project themselves to control the presentation of the project.

7. The Magazines Want To be the First to Announce Your Achievement to the World.The magazines all want to be first to showcase the project. So, give them what they want. Don’t post the images to your website, Houzz, Pinterest, Facebook, or blogs. Even emails are bad idea because they could end up on your prospects Facebook page the next day and eliminate your chances for publication.

You can show the photographs on your iPad or in your print portfolio, but don’t put them anywhere they could be distributed or the magazines are likely to reject the project as previously published.

Competition Entry: Most competitions involve publication of the winners, in some venue. Hold off on entering any competition until you’ve exhausted your publication options. Most design competitions provide a two year window of opportunity from the year of completion of a project to enter. Your publication strategy should provide results or final rejection within this time frame.

8. Submit your projectSend your pitch as the text of an email. Include largish jpeg pictures as attachments to the email and make it easy for them to contact you by including your name, email address and phone number in the text of the email.

9. FollowupBe patient and professional. Give the editor a reasonable amount of time to review your pitch and then send a followup email. Four to six weeks should be enough time for them to have reviewed the project and a good point to touch base.

Here’s a helpful Resource: Five Reasons Why Your Interior Design Project may NOT be Published...1.It’s not unique enough.2.Your scouting photography doesn’t capture the space well.3.Your projects are too something: too big, too small, too low-end, too high-end.4.There’s not enough to show.5. Your project is over-exposed.

www.djbphoto.com • dean@djbphoto.com • 415-967-2508 • San Francisco, CA