GET YOUR $ WORTH OUT OF THAT NEW DIGITAL!

Cameras are indispensable for craft sales to magazines and online websites for children and adult writing markets. A close up of all the items needed and the finished product could bring you an immediate sale! In the past I sold a craft page with several holiday ideas combined to Brio magazine and Brio & Beyond for teen girls. A picture of my marshmallow snowflake ornament and the material needed helped sell this easy craft three separate times. I sold my Snowman Soup recipe to Kid Zone magazine. The picture showed a single serving package of cocoa mix, mini marshmallows, a mini candy cane for stirring and a Hershey kiss for added yumminess inside a plastic lunch baggie. The baggie was tied with a red ribbon and placed inside a new mug. Another picture sale to a teen magazine showed the ingredients needed to make homemade lip gloss along with the instructions.

I sold a science project describing how a simple boat made out of aluminum foil floated on water yet when this very same piece of foil was crumpled into a ball it sank immediately. Why? Again, the pictures proved what my article and experiment described.

THINK WEATHER OR NATURE

We can experience amazing weather events at any time. You never know when you might want to document with pictures a two foot blizzard that toppled your mailbox or a twister that took out Grandma’s beloved willow tree. Think local newspaper. Writing inspiration is lurking!

A few years ago my husband rushed through our house exclaiming about a deer that had just walked into our yard. I thought to myself, big deal, deer walk out of the woods around here all the time and we have umpteen deer pictures. “This deer only has three legs!” he called out and captured several unique pictures. This deer visited on and off for a couple years and seemed to get around just fine with three legs. I named him Tripod. Since I’m a writer my husband’s pictures inspired me to write a story. In the pictures the deer stood by our backyard shed and that got me thinking. I wrote of a little boy looking out his bedroom window and seeing a three legged deer. He wondered what would be a good name for her. Our shed became Club Secret in my story and when his friends met in their clubhouse they each gave suggestions for names and created a Name the Deer contest. This story, Club Secret and the Surprise Visitor, was published in the 2010 fall issue of JAKES Magazine. The four page feature was packed with wonderful illustrations yet they paid me extra for the real pictures of the three legged deer over and above the price of my story. They put the real pictures in a “movie reel like frame” at the top of the page.

BIRDS MAGAZINES ARE VERY PLENTIFUL

This spring bluebirds nested in a birdhouse casually placed in a planter on our deck. Since bluebirds enjoy privacy it’s very hard to photograph them. I had a Father’s Day picnic for my husband and at this family get together our two year old grandson knocked the birdhouse onto the deck which smashed three of the four eggs. Our son put the surviving skeletal like bird back into the birdhouse. Fearing the mother would never return saddened us greatly. Our camera was placed on the deck later that week programmed to take pictures automatically every few minutes so we could see what was going on with this very skittish bluebird couple. We were thrilled to discover a picture of a baby bluebird with its mouth wide open being fed by his father. The mama waited patiently on top of the birdhouse roof. It’s a treasured photo because an entire bluebird family with the papa feeding the baby is unusual and also fits in with the title of my essay perfectly which was named “The Father’s Day Bluebird Massacre,” and submitted recently as a query to bird magazines seeking backyard adventures.

CANDID IS SELLABLE

Candid pictures are a valuable asset to magazines and they’re willing to pay good money for the right ones. Take your camera with you whenever you’re considering a writing assignment. Set your camera to take pictures randomly if it has anything to do with animals, nature, weather, or if your subject is hard to photograph. Magazines often want pictures in tif format in the highest resolution. The editor at JAKES explained that if I was afraid our deer pictures email would be too large to check out YouSendIt.com. It’s the most popular online file sharing software that allows you to easily send large files and email attachments. Writers, keep your camera handy, not only to enhance your nonfiction but to inspire your fiction!