in the time it takes you to take and post process 1,000 photos a week, if possible...
there are much easier ways to earn money ...
- squeegee cars at the red light
- flip burgers
- be a mime or buskers at the waterfront
- play a flute or saxophone or walk on stilts at the underground
- panhandle

as someone said, it used to be true that feed the beast in ss and you will make money
but even now with the way ss is, this is no guarantee anymore.

but marijuana on white is still the best way to get downloads on ss.
better still, send a box of marijuana in brown paper wrapping by courier to HO ss,
...
 

"I actually miss the days when Shutterstock were so strict when accepting content from new "photographers"." I actually learnt a heck of a lot from them and especially I stock about the technical side of photography. To be perfectly honest when I look at my own portfolio I have let my standards slip.

"I actually miss the days when Shutterstock were so strict when accepting content from new "photographers"." I actually learnt a heck of a lot from them and especially I stock about the technical side of photography. To be perfectly honest when I look at my own portfolio I have let my standards slip.

waaa, that is so true... for me too, Pauws!!!
i remember how when i first started with istock, fotolia, drstime, crestock, bst,123,canstock,... 20 all in all , the first 20 to the right of this page at that time LOL...
i had like 20 % approval..  and it took me hours.. yes, hours to post-process 20 images.
then with practise, and approval went to 90% , so did post-process to less than 15 mins per image
as everything was spot on with the shot.
istock, esp gave me a lot of training to cleanup my act and efficient up my workflow.
and it took me 2nd try to get 7/10 for ss.
and the improvement shot skyhigh , as did the downloads..
and with the introduction of regular 28 to 102 dollars signle earnings,
peaked my own interest for micro.

then with the disappearance of the 28 to 102 dollars single earnings, and
the abolition of the 7/10 entrance requisite , and the lowering of the 35 dollar payout limit
also went the earnings to a shortfall like many old contributors.

it wasn't that our work got worse, but more as jo ann , mantis, rinderhart,etc.. point out
that new lesser quality controlled items flooded the new images...

and when looking back of a decade or so, i noticed my best sellers were not actually my best works...
so too, to echo you.. i let my own standard slip...
  to the point where it really does not matter anymore,
since the earnings no longer warrant the time spent to shoot.

but maybe, as i said earlier , this might change as i now look to apply to stocksy...
change my workflow and shooting criteria to what stocksy is looking for..
in hope of gaining an earning that used to be my ss portfolio mandate.

I think quality over quantity matters. I started in late 2007 and only have 1540 images, but they do me well. I do stock photography because I truly love it. I don't think there is a formula that you can figure out.

I think a lot of people want to write books on how to do this microstock thing and succeed but there isn't an exact recipe for it.

It is a marathon and I'm getting stronger and better with every "mile" ... Good luck to all my runners in it for the long haul!

I think quality over quantity matters. I started in late 2007 and only have 1540 images, but they do me well. I do stock photography because I truly love it. I don't think there is a formula that you can figure out.

I think a lot of people want to write books on how to do this microstock thing and succeed but there isn't an exact recipe for it.

It is a marathon and I'm getting stronger and better with every "mile" ... Good luck to all my runners in it for the long haul!

I have looked at your stuff ...you are very talented. I'm not so but I enjoy it too there are many people on here doing something they hate

Oh gosh, if you hate it why bother?     I mean, some people will eventually make a living, but I do that in my day job already.  And if you want to get rich at this, well it's a lot of work and a lot of risk and probably will not happen.   If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it.

Thats what puzzles me so many on here constantly complain and keep going back for more punishment.

You are wrong. Images peak not too long after upload and go down hill from there.

I have not found that to be the case with some of my best-selling images, which are photos I uploaded more than one and two years ago.