Now that I am expanding from exclusive at one agency to multiple agencies; how do i track what I have sent to the different agencies and what was accepted, rejected, etc.

I know I could setup a database of image numbers with columns for each agency (Shutterstock, accepted, rejected) but was curious what others are doing to track image submissions.

i have over 35K wildlife images; want an efficient way to track my submissions.  Thanks in advance.

I have Submitted, Accepted and Rejected folders for each agency (i.e. 'DT Accepted', etc).  I also have an Upload Queue folder where I put JPEGs that are ready to go, with EXIF, etc.  I FTP files to all the sites, so I open multiple FileZilla windows (one for each site), drag and drop everything from the Upload Queue folder into each window.  FileZilla will automatically throttle everything, so it uploads two images at a time in each window to each site (all customizable).  While the files are uploading, I select everything in Upload Queue again, right-click and choose 'Create Shortcut'.  The shortcuts will automatically be selected when they are created, so I just drag them to one of the Submitted folders, then repeat for each site.   When the uploads finish, I then copy everything in the Upload Queue folder and move them to a JPEG folder.  As sites accept/reject the files, I just move the shortcut to the appropriate folder, and the OS will figure out how to make the shortcuts point to the correct place.  It only takes me a few minutes to get uploads started to all the sites, its actually pretty quick once you are used to the workflow.

I keep all of these site folders in a folder for the current year, which is handy when trying to look for a particular image. 

i use a spreadsheet, agencies in columns, filenames in rows.  At each crossing, I I paint the cell green in approved, yellow when waiting review, red when rejected, no color when not submitted. Also write number of sales,  add a comment for ELs. Columns are thin to make cells square. Different subjects go in different tabs.

For me I work a bit differently since I mainly do vectors.  I have main folders for my AI files, large jpgs, eps and so on.  Inside those folders I'll place the month and save them in there and upload to the various agencies according to their requirements.  I haven't kepts up with my file names spreadsheet in the last 3 months or so so I don't do that anymore.  The only spreadsheets I have is what I earn at each agency every month.  I used to keep track of what was accepted/rejected but that drove me nuts so I stopped that too.

Simply it for yourself and how your workflow is.  You'll find what works best for you.

I use a spreadsheet, with sites in columns and folders in rows. Then I tick cells to mark uploaded folders. I find it easier to print an empty spreadsheet and tick cells by hand, since I have already too many windows opened on my screen at any given time.

I've been facing variations on problem for over 30 years. First, with slides and classical stock agencies [often called rights managed, with examples like Corbis, and Getty]. I went thru multiple physical organizing systems - by shoot, by slideshow, by topic, etc, eventually settling on metal filing boxes for over 35,000 slides organized by category. I also kept a simple spreadsheet list of slide numbers and captions. I’ve shot digital since 2001 and problems quickly multiplied with the greatly increased number of images that were now created. Most photographers aren’t computer programmers, but some computing oriented approaches are helpful. Rather than choose a software solution and force it to fit your needs, take some time to analyze what you currently have and what you’d like to be able to do. At that point you can decide what sort of workflow system works best for you. Only then do you need to decide what actual software might be needed.

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