Hi Danielle.
What kind of magazine work do you want to do? Fashion, news, portraits, etc? Fashion is probably the hardest (and most expensive) to get into, since seemingly everyone wants to shot practically nude young women. Pick something and shoot the heck out of it.
I presently use Adbase, but in my application, am still on the fence as to whether or not to continue with them when the bill comes due in September. It’s expensive, and frankly a lot of the information on the site is available on the internet or in the publications themselves.
Besides, big names at big companies often keep ‘VIP’ phone numbers and emails (or have screeners), so even with the ‘published’ number on the database site, you’re still may or may not be reaching the person you want. Finally, I’ve been told cold-calling is the worst way to do business. My experience has somewhat verified that.
Email is so hit-or-miss that often, I don’t trust it. And as more and more photographers spam the ever living heck out of editors and ADs, they’ll be paying less attention.
As for promo cards, they may be better than email, depending on the institution.
The absolute thing you can do is network. Meet people. Go up to NYC or down to DC. I’m a little jealous that you’re a day trip from the right people, and I’m three timezones away.
In terms of practice, I made a big mistake a couple years ago. Business was really good, and I was busy doing the job as assigned, but not enterprising. As a result, leads stagnated, and I’m a bit worse off in the present climate.
I’ve found in a lot of cases, it’s easier to sell (or event to use in a portfolio) complete photo/story packages than single photos. When business is good, draw up your ‘on-spec’ plans to get out and shoot, and put money away to do that. Then when times are slow, you have the resources to keep enterprising.
Sorry I can’t be more helpful with the self-marketing. These days, it’s more of a crap-shoot than ever before. Just keep getting your work out there and keep networking.
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