I am new to both photography/illustration and stock photo, starting to upload this Jan. Wanted to get some sense how typical my experiences are.

I now uploaded about 80 pics. It's shocking how much difference there is in the review process among big 4. Can never get 7 approved at ss. It's almost 100% at is, 50% at dt, and 20% at ft.

And I though things might start at the most selective one, namely ft. Nope. It's with the least selective is. So far I have about 20 dls from is and nothing from the other 2 at all. In fact most of the dls at is were rejected at the other 2 sites.

Is this typical? If so should I even bother uploading at the other 2?

And then there is ss... Enough said about how hard for newbies to get in there. They are extremely inconsistent. I have several approved in different submissions, but always rejected in the next submission, making me totally at loss what they like. I don't think I will try again there.

If you really want to do stock then you will need patience and frustration resilience. It takes time,sometimes years, to discover what the agenvies take, what sells where, what are you good at producing and what do you enjoy producing?

And of course you have to keep learning new things because your competition doesn't sleep.

Good luck!

That said, if you've already got 20 dls from uploads you made on iS only in January, you're doing incredibly well there.

nee..
On IS you can get downloads from images you dont even have there...

Ha! That may be your unique talent!

[OT]
We have a Scottish version:

Corries - Portree Kid (Parody)

Ha, today I got a few bucks without seeing any downloads and I thought of your post!
I really CAN get downloads from images I don't have there...

Then after some research I realized that this is actually from partner programs. When I click on partner programs on my uploads page, I see all the downloads from those website, which perfectly explains the additional bucks.

However, these are EXTREMELY cheap! Much cheaper than the already very low royalties that I got from iS.

Is this what iS and other sites do? They set up iS and you spent lots of time uploading, and if sold, you get a few cents. But they then put all your images automatically on a sister site that they set up, where they sell things cheap and pay you even cheaper.

Buyers, of course, if they know those sites have exactly the same images at lower price, will simply sign up at those sites and buy things cheaper. And eventually your downloads are all from these sites...

In Feb, my dls from partner programs are about 4 times of what I had from iS! This does not sound right to me...

nee..
On IS you can get downloads from images you dont even have there...

"Is this what iS and other sites do? They set up iS and you spent lots of time uploading, and if sold, you get a few cents. But they then put all your images automatically on a sister site that they set up, where they sell things cheap and pay you even cheaper."

You need to do more research before you sign up, methinks.

gostwyck is right? (and so is Sean)

Quote from: JPSDK on February 08, 2014, 17:52

Sean is right

Of course Sean 'is right'. He's forgotten more about stock photography than you will ever learn. We don't need you to tell us when Sean 'is right'.