How to Email Magazines as a Fashion Photographer

I'm going to do an FAQ about pitching to magazines today, because I've noticed that I often get asked the same few questions. Hopefully I can help out lots of you at once :)

How many magazines should you reach out to at once?

While I'd love to only email one magazine at a time (be it for submission or sharing a proposal), the reality is that most of the magazines you email will not reply. The editors are busy and get a lot of emails every day. So with that in mind, I do email more than one magazine at a time. Usually, I'd say around 10 in one sitting. Then, I leave it a week before I follow up, leave it a few more days, and then I'll email another 10-15.

It can be a long-winded process, but it does work, so keep emailing!

How many looks do magazines usually want?

For fashion spreads, it's usually 8 minimum. Some will do 6 pages, others will do 10. I like to aim for 8 looks as a minimum, just to be safe!

For beauty, you can usually do 4 or 5 different looks.

Who should you email at a magazine?

I usually email the fashion editor, bookings editor or photo editor.

Do magazines pay for submissions?

Most of the time, no. But if they reach out to syndicate another story which has previously been published, there may be a small budget to pay for the images.

How do you find contact details for magazine editors?

The easiest way is to buy copies of the magazines themselves, or just head to their websites and look up the contacts on there. You'd be surprised by how many magazines list the names and email addresses of their editors right there!