I can’t believe that I am having to write this, but recently I have seen a number of ‘magazines’ promoting ‘open calls’ to get published and I therefore felt compelled to string some words together to address this issue.

Have no fear, this will not be a complicated article, as what I have to say is simple and direct. Over the years my photography has been published more times than I can count. Never have I paid to be published, in fact every time, I have been paid by the publication. That is not unusual, that is the norm, because that’s how magazines work. They commission work, publish the work and pay for the work.

Of course, they may publish your work and not pay you. Then, it is up to you if that is acceptable, but never should you pay to be published!

The ‘open calls’ I have seen recently have been made by magazines I have never heard of. Magazines focused on photography asking for photographers to pay to have their work considered for publication, with no refund, if they are not chosen. None of which sits well with me.

I hope you can see the red flags flying as clearly as I can. If not then look closer. This is not how photographers get published by reputable publications. It is how people looking to make money from photographers to fund their publications act. That is me being charitable. It could also be how people act who want to scam photographers with no intention of a magazine ever being printed.

Scammers pray on the desperate and if you are desperate to be published you are going to be susceptible to falling for such an offer. You might even think that this is normal practice, that this is the only way to get published. Well, it isn’t and it isn’t.

Intrinsically you need to understand why you want your work published, if you do. Is it to get your work seen? Ego? A sense of validation? All or one of these could be true, but if that is the case you need to have your work published by a magazine that has a reasonable circulation and distribution network. Those magazines don’t need their contributors to pay for the publication to exist.

My work has been published as editorial photography. Commissioned photography created to a brief. When my work has appeared next to an interview about me or my work I have been paid by some magazines and not by others. That is fine as I accept the marketing value the publications that don’t pay me can offer.

My work appears as part of a professional transaction and that is what you need to understand if you want your work to be published. These ‘open calls’ are not professional transactions, they are manipulative schemes and as such in my opinion they are to be ignored and called out. If you want your work published understand how editorial work is commissioned and make that your goal. There is no short cut to appearing in print.

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026