I read a lot about photogs getting their work on many mid and high end sites like corbis, offset, getty, etc. through  a stock distributor.   Lets assume somebody has a large portfolio with a successful sales track record.  How would they get with one of these distributors?  The names of some of the distributors would be nice to know.   Google was not helpful.

Thank you JoAnn.  That is a good starting point.   Maybe someof the ones who are mentioning selling thru dustributors could weigh in.   MichaelJay?

Check out his blog - he's written about distribution before.

Thanks!  Will do. 

I read a lot about photogs getting their work on many mid and high end sites like corbis, offset, getty, etc. through  a stock distributor.   Lets assume somebody has a large portfolio with a successful sales track record.  How would they get with one of these distributors?  The names of some of the distributors would be nice to know.   Google was not helpful.

You could go to Getty and Corbis, click on Advanced Search, you'll find a list of collections. Some are in-house collections, some are pointing to a supplier agency. Try and google for the names.

You could use Google images and search for very rare/specific/local topics and add "stock photo". You will be surprised how quickly you run out of the microstock images when you look for something very specific, and then you might get images from agencies that are specialized in your topic/region.

They all have different specializations and demands, they all have different ways to apply - some will ask for hundreds of images, some only a dozen, for some you might need to pick up the phone and call them asking for an email address to send your application to.

"Successful sales track record" won't be a help with the application in my opinion, especially if your success is in microstock. To apply today, you need a portfolio of images that are more than what you typically find on microstock. Actually I'd rather remove all images that are anywhere to be found on page 1 of any "most popular" searches in microstock from an application profile. And tons of sales of concept/tabletop images won't get you into any macrostock agencies. Look at what they promote and then show them those of your images that match their offer.

I also think about it to test a macro-distributor.

Westend61 is not an option for me.
They spread itself to microstock that I can even do better and efficienttly by myself (without german/eu VAT).

It's not really possible to just "test" a macro-distributor. You have to consider that the process of distributing images takes time - some of the agencies only accept new images quarterly, smaller agencies get images maybe only twice a year to keep it efficient -, and when sales are coming in it can take months to reach back: Getty charges some clients on a quarterly basis, so it's not uncommon to find an image online in October but not get paid before February. So it is highly unlikely (though possible) to see sales within the first 6 months.

There is no point starting to upload images to macrostock if you don't want to consistently stay with it (and I mean continue uploading on a regular basis) for at least 24-36 months. And there is no point if you don't want to commit a few hundred images mid to long term at least.

(and I would be surprised if any of them would not require image exclusivity)

Super good advice here.   MichaelJay, you are very experienced with this.  Thank you a lot for sharing these details of a subject I know nothing about!

i was thinking if lifestyle is your thing, maybe you put out a call to find lisafx who used to be a regular here and her words are more like those of paulie , joanne, sn, ... (ie. good advice and insight).
i take it that her conspicuous absence here and other micro forums suggest she might have somehow
gone that route already.

i was thinking if lifestyle is your thing, maybe you put out a call to find lisafx who used to be a regular here and her words are more like those of paulie , joanne, sn, ... (ie. good advice and insight).
i take it that her conspicuous absence here and other micro forums suggest she might have somehow
gone that route already.

She is gone from this forum because of Dollar Club thing.