stocksy and storyblocks are specialised agencies for professionals.

What is your genre? Are you a food photographer, wedding/fashion, journalism/editorial?

Do you do a lot of model released people photography?

Are you an ai artist?

Do you do video, illustrations, audio, 3D renders?

A link to your professional website or an existing port  could be helpful for suggestions.

Pond5 has gone down in sales, but it also takes a long time for sales to start. It took me I think around 18 months before I started to see regular sales. But they are still one of the best places for professionals. They have a huge collection of exclusive content and people wouldn't send their best work there if they were not making money.

Keep checking their sales thread where producers share their last sales. It is. very interesting to see what sells. And if you have sales yourself, please also share to give feedback.

From briefly browsing your website and your pond5 port I personally like your aerial videos and photos best.

Overall your images give a typical hobby travel photo vibe. (sorry, just being honest) To make money in the stock business you are competing with professionals from the entire planet.

Your content is not the type that is in high demand by clients. You are uploading what thousands of other people are uploading as well and many of them do it in much better quality.

Stock is not a slot machine, while you do need a certain base volume of files, for regular sales you need to upload very good quality and show that you have the ability to tell a useful story with your content or series.

And it is also easy to understand why istock cut your uploads to 25. You are not uploading content from their needed list.

Nevertheless, 25 very, very good files a week can make good money even as a non exclusive if you upload content customers love to buy. Which would then certainly lead to a much larger upload options.

You are a newbie, you need to prove yourself.

My suggestion would be to study the suggestions, blogs newsletters of the various agencies where they make suggestions what kind of content they are missing.

And do a lot of research before you upload anything. What is already available at the agency? Can you produce something that is much better?

How much competition is there in a subject?

Most important: do you see something that is missing?

The most sought after content is very high quality model released people stock.

But you can also dive into a niche that you understand and create a large collection of for instance  2000 clips and photos around creating and growing a beautiful rose garden, caring for the flowers over the year, dealing with pests and problems, making flower bouquets...if that is your passion...etc..

Who is your customer? Who are you creating the content for? What are their budgets? How do they use videos and photos and projects? When are their trade shows or important industry or business events in the year? Do you go to these tradeshows or business events?

How many direct client contacts do you have?

etc...

You are trying to build a webshop and want customers to bookmark you as a resource so they keep coming back to you.

Like any business it takes a lot of planning and research and experience that grows over time.

If you are not very patient, it is unlikely that you will make money.

Good luck with your journey, stock can be a very rewarding hobby or even full time income. The latter is very hard work though.

Thanks a lot. Well I did made sales with AS, which seems I made the most from AS. I closed  my account with Getty, as had enough with them, they are waste of time in my opinion, low sales, low pay but they expect a too much work. No FTP upload also.

Photography is like a  hobby for me, and will keep it like this. As I do also YouTube and drone videography.

That is a good mix.

I would add istock/getty as well, because once you have more files with them, they will sometimes surprise you you with a higher sale that will balance all the small sales you have.

adobe, istock/getty, pond5 and some time ago shutterstock, are the "full time income" agencies. With the right kind of content every one of them can generate an income of thousands of dollars a month.

Some artists will stick to their favorite place and not upload anywhere else if it makes them enough money.

But the small agencies add up, in time you will learn what works best where and you become more efficient in your uploads.

Try to upload every day/week and only choose the very, very best files from a series. Edit harshly, the. edit again.

Nobody knows the secret algos agencies use, but it is pretty obvious that a portfolio with a very good sales to size ratio will be preferred over one with huge volume and no sales.

Make a business plan with real financial goals, start with 10 dollars a month, 10 dollars reliably every week, 10 dollars a day...and keep in mind that customers usually lightbox your content many months before they actually use it for a project.

And try to find a theme you really, really like and that clients also buy from you.

Usually people need 2-3 years to understand what works best for them.

Most give up.

Good luck

That is a good mix.

I would add istock/getty as well, because once you have more files with them, they will sometimes surprise you you with a higher sale that will balance all the small sales you have.

adobe, istock/getty, pond5 and some time ago shutterstock, are the "full time income" agencies. With the right kind of content every one of them can generate an income of thousands of dollars a month.

Some artists will stick to their favorite place and not upload anywhere else if it makes them enough money.

But the small agencies add up, in time you will learn what works best where and you become more efficient in your uploads.

Try to upload every day/week and only choose the very, very best files from a series. Edit harshly, the. edit again.

Nobody knows the secret algos agencies use, but it is pretty obvious that a portfolio with a very good sales to size ratio will be preferred over one with huge volume and no sales.

Make a business plan with real financial goals, start with 10 dollars a month, 10 dollars reliably every week, 10 dollars a day...and keep in mind that customers usually lightbox your content many months before they actually use it for a project.

And try to find a theme you really, really like and that clients also buy from you.

Usually people need 2-3 years to understand what works best for them.

Most give up.

Good luck

What other sites you'd recommend me to sign up for?

istock

Instead of mass uploads, try 25 absolute best files that will be superb bestsellers. Make it your absolute standout best looking portfolio.

That will draw attention from the right kind of eyeballs.

 I think the challenge is to increase the quality and identify niches that work for you.

So, research, research, research...shoot, upload and THINK...and repeat.

There are  people who have small ports with under 2000 files and earn several thousand a month. Literally every single file in their port is a superb bestseller. Usually people stock.

Don't know. I've requested an account deletion today on iStock Getty, said it might take up to 90 days for all my files to be removed from their platform.

well, I tried

Thanks a lot for your advice. Really appreciate it. I will stick with the one I have at the moment. So far I like the AS, and I kind of know what content are selling there. In couple of months I made $60 which was very happy. And from January till now made around $18. And very easy to upload.

you can try every genre but still be very selective. especially if you have many agencies to work with.

the 25 image limit will be lifted, it is not a permanenet thing.

Quote from: cobalt on February 12, 2024, 16:23

istock

Instead of mass uploads, try 25 absolute best files that will be superb bestsellers. Make it your absolute standout best looking portfolio.

i've seen a bunch of comments recently that it's quality over quantity which is certainly at least partially true.  however i've found many of my "bestsellers" are not what i thought would sell and some files i almost threw in the trash have received a few downloads as well.  you may be different but i'm definitely not the buyer of my own work and can only sort of guess at what they want.  i've had cell phone snapshots sell pretty well and (in my opinion) much better photos that i spent more time on just sit there collecting dust. 

if i was giving advice to a new person i'd say try everything and see what sticks.

Thanks, stock photography is not something I want to make it full time. I'm focusing more in creating YouTube videos for my channel. But I love photography as well. Had invested a bit in gear, it's nice to make some buck back.

And also don't want around 6000 images and 1000 videos to collect dust on my hard drive. Want to monetise them.

...................
Depositphotos can be a nice place for a newbie to experiment.

SS has tiny sales but if you simply want to learn what is it that customers like to buy, it can be a useful place just to learn and understand how customers think...

for other newcomers - the above are highly opinionated - many of us here report our best sales with SS (for me SS is 2x of AS). not directed at cobalt, but many of those who slur SS dont have SS accounts anymore and nurse a grudge going back several years

DP is a easy to upload, but i dont recall many folk reporting decent sales

it may be too late as they've recently  loosed an AI kraken that devours all submissions immediately.  but my older canva portfolio duels with AS each month for 2nd place

Quote from: cobalt on February 12, 2024, 15:35

...................
Depositphotos can be a nice place for a newbie to experiment.

SS has tiny sales but if you simply want to learn what is it that customers like to buy, it can be a useful place just to learn and understand how customers think...

for other newcomers - the above are highly opinionated - many of us here report our best sales with SS (for me SS is 2x of AS). not directed at cobalt, but many of those who slur SS dont have SS accounts anymore and nurse a grudge going back several years

DP is a easy to upload, but i dont recall many folk reporting decent sales

it may be too late as they've recently  loosed an AI kraken that devours all submissions immediately.  but my older canva portfolio duels with AS each month for 2nd place

I don't really post images on P5. But you can view my full portfolio at AS. I took it a bit more serious with Stock photography and videography.


Let me know your thoughts?

Quote from: cobalt on February 12, 2024, 23:42

you can try every genre but still be very selective. especially if you have many agencies to work with.

the 25 image limit will be lifted, it is not a permanenet thing.

the 25 limit meant to expire in March, and I've asked for increase and they have extended till end of the year. No point been there. I've read some other comment on here with other contributor leaving them too.

If you read comments for any agency and decide based on what other people write here, you'll have no agencies. Different people have had different reasons for not liking or wanting to not work with every agency mentioned on the forum. While others will send everything to anyone. Decide for yourself.

The iStock upload limit is the same for everyone, or was years ago:

Bronze (500+ DLs): 25
Silver (2,500+ DLs): 30
Gold (10,000+ DLs): 35
Diamond (25,000+ DLs): 50

I don't know now, but it was not a month, but something in the area of a 72 hour period. Everyone is the same. At the time, the restrictions were in place to slow the uploads so the reviewers could catch up. Before that, anyone new had a limit and we progressed based on sales.

Are you in a hurry to get large numbers of files, uploaded to iStock? It seems odd that if you can't get the accepted fast, you'll just choose to have nothing at all? Perhaps you could adapt to somewhere in the middle?

Quote from: Uncle Pete on February 15, 2024, 13:04

Quote from: Faustvasea on February 13, 2024, 01:30

Quote from: cobalt on February 12, 2024, 23:42

you can try every genre but still be very selective. especially if you have many agencies to work with.

the 25 image limit will be lifted, it is not a permanenet thing.

the 25 limit meant to expire in March, and I've asked for increase and they have extended till end of the year. No point been there. I've read some other comment on here with other contributor leaving them too.

If you read comments for any agency and decide based on what other people write here, you'll have no agencies. Different people have had different reasons for not liking or wanting to not work with every agency mentioned on the forum. While others will send everything to anyone. Decide for yourself.

The iStock upload limit is the same for everyone, or was years ago:

Bronze (500+ DLs): 25
Silver (2,500+ DLs): 30
Gold (10,000+ DLs): 35
Diamond (25,000+ DLs): 50

I don't know now, but it was not a month, but something in the area of a 72 hour period. Everyone is the same. At the time, the restrictions were in place to slow the uploads so the reviewers could catch up. Before that, anyone new had a limit and we progressed based on sales.

Are you in a hurry to get large numbers of files, uploaded to iStock? It seems odd that if you can't get the accepted fast, you'll just choose to have nothing at all? Perhaps you could adapt to somewhere in the middle?

I have an account waiting deletion 3000 images and 500 videos. I can't submit new stock when my old one is sitting there. They put 25 files restrictions last year, and said it will be reviewed again at the end of this year. And this made me to delete my account. Definitely won't contribute there anymore.

Oddly they have done this before to all of us. Or was there a reason for the 25 restriction? Is that an upload, every 3 days, a week, or what? I don't think I understand you. You have 3,000 to upload, then how many accepted so far, on IS, right now?

You are cutting off yourself and your income, to spite them for not letting you upload as many, as fast as you would like?

I looked at your SS collection, very well done. You sure make good use of the drone. Nice location, scenery and subjects.

Quote from: Faustvasea on February 15, 2024, 15:05

Quote from: Uncle Pete on February 15, 2024, 13:04

Quote from: Faustvasea on February 13, 2024, 01:30

Quote from: cobalt on February 12, 2024, 23:42

you can try every genre but still be very selective. especially if you have many agencies to work with.

the 25 image limit will be lifted, it is not a permanenet thing.

the 25 limit meant to expire in March, and I've asked for increase and they have extended till end of the year. No point been there. I've read some other comment on here with other contributor leaving them too.

If you read comments for any agency and decide based on what other people write here, you'll have no agencies. Different people have had different reasons for not liking or wanting to not work with every agency mentioned on the forum. While others will send everything to anyone. Decide for yourself.

The iStock upload limit is the same for everyone, or was years ago:

Bronze (500+ DLs): 25
Silver (2,500+ DLs): 30
Gold (10,000+ DLs): 35
Diamond (25,000+ DLs): 50

I don't know now, but it was not a month, but something in the area of a 72 hour period. Everyone is the same. At the time, the restrictions were in place to slow the uploads so the reviewers could catch up. Before that, anyone new had a limit and we progressed based on sales.

Are you in a hurry to get large numbers of files, uploaded to iStock? It seems odd that if you can't get the accepted fast, you'll just choose to have nothing at all? Perhaps you could adapt to somewhere in the middle?

I have an account waiting deletion 3000 images and 500 videos. I can't submit new stock when my old one is sitting there. They put 25 files restrictions last year, and said it will be reviewed again at the end of this year. And this made me to delete my account. Definitely won't contribute there anymore.

Oddly they have done this before to all of us. Or was there a reason for the 25 restriction? Is that an upload, every 3 days, a week, or what? I don't think I understand you. You have 3,000 to upload, then how many accepted so far, on IS, right now?

You are cutting off yourself and your income, to spite them for not letting you upload as many, as fast as you would like?

I looked at your SS collection, very well done. You sure make good use of the drone. Nice location, scenery and subjects.

I had 3000 files and around 600 videos. The limit was 25 files every week. But doesn't suit my needs. In order for me to submit new files, I have to finish old ones. Just takes more time and decided to ditch IS.

Quote from: Faustvasea on February 16, 2024, 14:40

I had 3000 files and around 600 videos. The limit was 25 files every week. But doesn't suit my needs. In order for me to submit new files, I have to finish old ones. Just takes more time and decided to ditch IS.

So you didn't have 3,000 and 600 on IS, you had that many files to upload and be processed?

We all have to decide on our own, what we want and how we want to work. I'm not saying that IS is a good place, at all. Just that, to cut yourself off, because of their reviews or limits, isn't going to make a bit of difference to them, but it could cost you money. So, who's hurt the most?

I don't know about keyword and data restrictions on IS, I don't do big sets of anything, but, back to the drone footage, you should do well with that, and the stills that you saved as single frame photos.

There are people who cash often on DT. I haven't in about four years. I used to make more on SS and now I'm making much more on AS, while SS deteriorates. Someone else finds that his collections on both are staying about the same. IS when it has things, can bring slow but steady returns.

I don't think there are many "good" agencies anymore. Do you contribute to Alamy? First beware and be aware is, batch rejections, it's all there, but people seem to get upset when they do, what they promise to do, at Alamy.

One fail all fail, all uploads, all waiting batches, everything! Start with small batches until you are sure that you won't be rejected for unsuitable camera, or something else. Otherwise you'll be angry, like the rest, who discovered, Alamy does what they say they will. One Fail ALL fail, means ALL.  All means ALL.

AFter that, they start everyone at Gold = 40% for the first year, and all you need to do is earn NET $250 in a year, to stay at that 40% level.

I find it worth the potentially strict review policy, but self review, don't send them Crapstock or marginal images, and your golden.

Also unless something changes, Alamy policy is, they do not review based on content, just quality. If the image is big enough, sharp enough fine enough and whatever else, it passes. None of that, not suitable for stock stuff.

I don't know their policy on similar because I don't do those. If many of yours are alike and that's why IS got upset, then you might want to spread them out and make diverse sets.

40%

I had online on IS 3000 images and 600 videos. I had couple more hundred  to be submitted but because of their restrictions my workflow was behind. I asked for a review and they extended till end of the year, that's why I deleted my account with them.

Maybe I will loose some cash, but I'm planning to focus on my quality, also stock is not something I want to do full time. My main target is YouTube channel where I post videos.

On Alamy I have around 6000 images, but haven't sold anything.

At the moment these are my agencies:

AS
SS
DP
DT
123RF
Freepik
Vecteezy
indivstock
P5
VideoHive

And I applied for couple more. hopefully to get accepted. I don't think my portfolio is the best one, but that's what I'm aiming for.

I've seen good drone image sales on AS, so I think that's something to focus.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on February 15, 2024, 13:04

Quote from: Faustvasea on February 13, 2024, 01:30

Quote from: cobalt on February 12, 2024, 23:42

you can try every genre but still be very selective. especially if you have many agencies to work with.

the 25 image limit will be lifted, it is not a permanenet thing.

the 25 limit meant to expire in March, and I've asked for increase and they have extended till end of the year. No point been there. I've read some other comment on here with other contributor leaving them too.

The iStock upload limit is the same for everyone, or was years ago:

Bronze (500+ DLs): 25
Silver (2,500+ DLs): 30
Gold (10,000+ DLs): 35
Diamond (25,000+ DLs): 50

Where can you see your own status, Pete? I didn't even know that it existed or exists there.

That could be history. Back years ago, when they were overloaded with new images, IS came up with the upload limits and all that levels, seems to be old, before the ESP version. Plus, for non-exclusive, levels don't matter? I can add that when they brought in ESP, our history vanished as well, except for a summary, that doesn't go back to the start.

We might not have levels and uploads could be open again, unless someone starts to spam images, in which case, they will get restricted and watched.

https://microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/istockphoto-upload-limit/