Would anybody be prepared to share and advice on a good system for cataloguing final finished Jpeg�s after they have been uploaded to agencies?

My original RAW files and �works in progress� are accessed and catalogued in Lightroom.
Once my files have been processed and exported, they go to a �ready for upload� folder, usually labelled by month/year and probably subject/shoot name.

However, after these files have been sent out to the agencies, is there a best practice method for storing / cataloguing these finished files?

I�m thinking maybe in the future, I might want all files that are �agency ready� to all be in one big folder? Then say, if a new agency comes along, I can easily just throw the whole folder at them!

This would obviously require that all file names are totally unique (mine are not at present � they probably should be!) and I was thinking whether I should update original file names with a date suffix for �original upload / published date�?

And would this 'date published' info be of any relevance or importance in the future?

Trying to sort my life out (again) � any help much appreciated.

Thx

I use sequence - original file name - a bit of description

1927_DSC_123_SpottedHorse

Then I store them in small folders labelled 1900-1999

May not be perfect, but they are stored in order, in manageable working folder sizes.  Everything is in order by upload.

Might not work for someone who uploads hundreds every month.  I haven't done a stock shoot since last April!

When I import RAW files into LR I rename them with a year-month-day_sequence number. Today's files start with 150421_0001.CR2

When I pick things to edit for stock, I name the PSD with something meaningful to me and leave the raw file number at the end - so Boston Harbor dawn pano 140819_0170-173.psd

I have a folder (Stock shots) and then inside that PSDs by year. I have Stock photo JPEGs, also by year and the JPEGs have the same name as the PSDs they came from (same for PNGs where I upload those).

I use Mac aliases to keep track of what I've uploaded where, but the agency folders (which only have aliases, never actual image files) won't all have the same things in them. Crated and FAA don't get all stock files; most things that go to Creative Market don't go elsewhere; PNGs go to Canva, but not SS, DT, etc.

I don't have Lightroom track derivative files, only the RAW files (I'm never 100% happy with Lightroom's organizing, much as I love it for processing).

I archive RAW, PSD and JPEG/PNG.

I categorize my photos by content, and assign a unique number to each that reflects the content of the folder they reside in (File for flowers potted, wild or garden grown would get an assigned identifier of FLW101, WFL101....), or for birds (Seagulls - SGULL101, SGULL102...).  I use a spreadsheet with spate tabs (worksheets) for each category.  Then within that worksheet, I list the name of the file down the left side.  I list the Agencies across the top.  In each cell of the spreadsheet I change the fill to either green or red; for accepted or rejected form that particular agency.  Once an image sells, I change the fill to blue, and place a number count in that cell.

I can see at a glance which agency sold which photo, and how many times.  I also track the sale $ on the first page of my spreadsheet by: $ pending pay-out threshold: $ total paid- out: and then I also keep records of number of overall opportunities for sale, cumulative of all agencies accepted files available.

It is very tedious and organized, but I run this as a business.  I know where to best spend my energy.

Hope this all helps,
Good Luck,
Rick   

Many thanks for the replies - interesting to hear the different approaches.

Still mulling over the various options, pro and cons.

For my final jpeg batch folders (like today's batch of 25 new images, for example...) I date and add abbreviations to the folder name so I know where they've been uploaded... for example

"04-23-15 SS-DT-BS-FT-CS-123-etc" etc

Those are organized in folders by year.  My RAWs have an entirely different name system, similar to how PhotoLA does it.  It's not perfect, but it works for me.