Print Marketing alternatives to Instagram for Photographers
Newspaper Club Digital Tabloid and Blurb Premium Magazine
Over the last few months, I've become increasingly disillusioned with Instagram as a platform for sharing long-form work. It works well as a visual diary, where what you're posting refers to the moment it's published. In January this year, Instagram received over 100 million uploads per day, a figure which shows no sign of slowing. So, your images can disappear in seconds on that never slowing torrent of data. If your intended audience is anything like me, they're not looking at Instagram every day. So they may not even see your work if they do how long do they pause - one second, two maybe?
In January this year, Instagram received over 100 million uploads per day.
So, what's the alternative? I did think, and it may still be the case, it could be the zine. Yep, the good old zine - a cheap to produce, small form publication, that you could give away free or for a low cost. But zines are not what they once they were. Ironically, with the advent of cheap digital imaging, zines are now more expensively produced. A low-res photocopy seemed to add to the essence of a black-and-white image shot on film. I'm not sure it works for a potential audience used to high-quality digital media. Unless, of course, the low-res look is your thing.
I like the format of the digital newspapers available from the likes of Newspaper Club. But they're too expensive, for me at least, to have printed in any quantity. The digital tabloid, you can see above, has 20 pages, using their 55gsm paper - 90gsm is also available. In the UK, twenty copies would cost £96.00 + postage. Newspaper Club uses a CMYK colour mode for their PDFs. As photographers, we're used to looking at our images on an RGB display - backlit to boot. So, if you're not familiar with the differences between RGB and CMYK, the final result isn't going to look as you expect.
Blurb’s Premium Magazine
I also tested Blurb's Premium Magazine, which uses 115 gsm matt paper, with a 250 gsm semi-gloss cover. There is an Economy version, but Blurb suggests it is best for text and graphics. The Premium version would work very well as a printed portfolio. Short runs mean you could tailor a portfolio for a specific client, which appeals to me. Twenty magazines of 20 pages would cost £76.56 + shipping. Blurb run frequent promotions, so it's worth signing up to their mailing list if you're interested.
Blurb’s Premium Magazine
The magazine has a different feel to the newspaper; which suits you may depend on your work and your audience. Blurb uses RGB; for photographers, that means your image stays in the same colour mode from capture to output - it's far easier to know what to expect. The turn around time isn't great, at least if you're in the UK and you don't want to pay for expensive couriered delivery. I'm working on a revised version of the magazine for my Pantoland project. Again, it's too costly to give away in any volume.
I'm not quite sure where that leaves me. There are more options for print than there were even a couple of years ago. MagCloud's Digest is a low-cost small-format option worth investigating. What I do know, is that a good website is still vital - it's a place where you as a photographer are the curator of your work, where you set the rules, and you're not subject to Facebook's whims. I'll keep investigating the printed alternatives. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them, please leave a comment below.
Meanwhile, let's be careful out there.
