Everyone's a photographer, (how) can I sell my photos?

I've sold photos on smugmug - but I sell to a very targetted audience - and I don't make a lot of money. I would probably make more if I did it a lot more often (I do bike race photography, and since I am not at every race, I'm not that well known and people don't go looking for my photos) smugmug is an OK place to sell actual art also. Their main competitor is zenfolio. They will handle printing, shipping, etc, taking a cut of the profit. Both places charge more than $100/year, depending on what level you want. If you're selling fine art, then you charge more and imo, you probably want to handle the prints yourself - even if you're just getting them printed. You need to be able to examine them and approve the quality of them. You might also want to sell them matted and/or framed. It's very hard to sell fine art without being known on the internet - why would people visit your site? If you're looking to develop interest you'll have to get your work shown/recognized, even if only locally. This is super hard and I'm not going to lie, I don't know a single person, even very talented photographers, who have really "made it" this way. Or made much money. I'm interested in fine art but I do a lot of the aforementioned race photos because a) I race bikes, so I am going to be at some races anyway b) I like the subject matter c) I am looking for the ever elusive perfect photos of people suffering, while I am trying for them I can sell the photos that aren't good enough on the side. This basically works because people want pictures of themselves. As far as I know no one has ever ordered a picture of someone other than themselves. I assisted a very good commercial photographer when I was much younger. He got his start doing dumb stuff like peewee football and prom pics. He developed his chops, made money to support himself, and gradually moved up the ranks. It took years of hard work, and in his prime he still worked very hard. He was well known and respected but it's in no way an easy or glamorous job. It's probably only gotten tougher. In his day the barrier to entry was much higher in terms of both cost and technical skills.

SaraC: "I don't mean to be discouraging, but nothing in the link you provided looks likely to make money for you in an artistic sense." This. I came here to say the same thing. Most of your shots are casual shots of people having fun together. The ones that are of trees and other nature pics are not original enough or high quality enough to draw me to them, especially for money. You are obviously having fun with the hobby and that's great! I just don't think your work is sellable at this point.

It might help both your morale and your money making prospects to create some kind of specifically curated website with the photos you're most proud of. Ideally photos that show off your brand or "voice". They don't have to be photos for sale or anything money related. But it would be MUCH easier for you to make the leap to selling your work if, as soon as I click that link, I think "oh wow this person is an incredibly talented photographer" and not just a random assortment of phone dumps (which is what I think when I see blurry snapshots, photos of restaurant menus, etc). I can tell that some of the photos in your Flickr feed were taken with great care, and you do have a good eye. But those shots get drowned out in the silly stuff anybody might have on their phone. If you present a more curated image of yourself as a photographer, it will help potential buyers (and sellers, for example imagine trying to convince a local coffee shop to show your work and showing them that Flickr page) understand who you are. It also might help you discover some things about your brand and what market you hope to reach.

Yeah, my flickr account is pretty lackluster, and I figure I'm deluding myself thinking I can make much/any money from selling in the flooded photography market. I have photos I like more, so I realize now that trying to upload things daily would require more picking and editing than bulk uploading.

I disagree a little bit about dumping photos all at once to online services. A lot of them (instagram, flickr,facebook, etc) are really social media platforms and if you post 100 pics in one day pretty much I can guarantee no one will look at more than 10 or so. If you post 1-2/day and they're really good people will look at them, start following, and remember you. All the best photographers in my feed stretch their uploads out, some of them are still uploading stuff I know they took 3mo ago.

I'll throw this idea out there, though I don't know how useful it will be. I recently started selling my photos through a company that sells art to businesses. (You know, like when you go into an office and there's a framed picture of a tree in the lobby.) I get very little money from it but I have to do literally zero extra work; I'm taking, editing, and uploading my pics anyway, and they are the ones to pitch my work (and their other artists' work, obviously) to their clients. I would never have thought of doing this - they contacted me out of the blue, having come across my pictures online - so I don't know if photographers normally approach them or what. But it might be something to look at. However, I agree with everyone above who said most of the pics you linked to look a bit random. The clients who buy from the type of company I'm talking about are looking for something quite specific - in my case, recognizable local scenes.

Who is your target customer? If you want to sell to advertisers or license for commercial use, like on http://www.pond5.com/?gclid=CNv32K-DocICFe1cMgodOB8A3w or http://submit.shutterstock.com/?language=en&kw=shutterstock&gclid=CISppqWDocICFcpAMgodlEkAsQ, most buyers will expect that those photos are released, meaning the people in the photos have given their approval for your taking and selling the photos. Your Flickr stuff doesn't really strike me as anything anyone would buy for commercial use. Do you want to sell as art people can hang on their walls or as shots people can use on websites? I don't know many commercial photographers who sell on stock sites who comment or participate on those sites. Most have their own sites, showing various aspects of their work and then license through a photo agency, but use Pond5 etc. to license more generic shots or clips.

What market are you thinking? Etsy seems to be more for crafts than art. Try printing your photos onto cute artifacts and sell them that way. For stock photos hire neutral models breaking into the business and get many different poses in a generic business environment. Post on photo.net. Keep posting. When your photos are regularly voted best your market will be more apparent. I kindof gave up on the idea of going towards pro photography when I noticed that it was as much an archival/bookkeeping/tracking business as a creative effort. Your customer calls for you to email a blue house with green shutters, you took one 5 years ago, now find it in the next 10 minutes. (and that's probably an easy one for a pro;-)

Also, I disagree that etsy is primarily for crafts. It did start that way but evolved to include much, much more. I have purchased fine art there and have seen gorgeous photography I would buy if I were in the market for it.