How many peeps have got clients through their stock portfolios?

I like the artistic freedom microstock brings but until I win the lottery, like most I need to pay bills:) So was wondering if it it did lead to the chance of paying clients for anyone?

S

I get an email every other week asking about custom content. Some don't lead to anything, some do. Got an enquiry from NASA about working on a film they're making, after they'd seen my work, but it didn't pan out unfortunately.

I get mails about this every now and then, most of them (80%) lead to nothing when they realise what custom animations actually cost to make. It's a different market.

I only seem to get requests for custom work for no money. People who want different colors in an illustration of mine they got from Shutterstock, people who want to license from me directly but for the sub price they pay at Shutterstock, people who want custom illustrations for $10 because they think I'll make millions by putting it on Shutterstock.

A few times I had someone requesting additional rights or even the full rights to my stock illustrations, some clients asked for a custom illustration based on my stock work, or customizations to existing images.

Most clients are put off by the extra cost I charge for customization (after paying a few dollars for an image), so I don't expect too much from it. 

Near Microstock prices is all they are interested in paying for a couple of requests I get a year. But I always do try to reply and determine if any request is a Microstock deal, a scam, or a possible money making opportunity. I've had a few opportunities where I was suspicious but ended up paying significant to my yearly Microstock income.

The up side to selling Microstock is that people can find you (with some effort) for special work or special licenses. The down side is non-custom (stock) work sales tend to be limited by the prices of Microstock. It's great when a buyer follows the rules and the limits of extended licenses and wants to do a correct license for their uses. At least this line of customer thought is a clue you have a good and considerate customer to work with. However, you may still be limited at the top price of stock price including extended license.

For the Microstock level requests, I kindly try to explain that my personal time and cost of handling the Email correspondence and finding and prepping a file is more than a Microstock level fee. Hence, I can't be in business at those prices for individual negotiated transactions.  These requesters usually just disappear after that explanation. Requesters willing to pay higher will begin negotiations at this point if they are serious.

Of course, then there also requests for free images "for great exposure of your work". Not a chance I'll support those. I do free for charity work of my choice - but not for some unknown requester. I've learned even my many thousands of sold images (paid form of exposure) found off stock sites in the wild don't generate connections back directly to me.