MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Newbie Discussion => Topic started by: aly on November 21, 2012, 04:10
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Does one find the best sites for them by trial and error or follow the poll results and concentrate on BIG 4 as some are very hard to get onto in top 4 for a newbie like me. I have found some of lower earner sites accept just about anything but hardly any sales at all.
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Exactly. the best sites are at the top of the poll results. Anything but the top 10 don't generate much for sales, especially if you have a small portfolio. If I were you I'd spend my time figuring out what I needed to do to get accepted at iStock and Shutterstock and perhaps submit to the next 4 sites while I work at it.
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Leaf's advice is a very good approach, however I adopted a bit of other one when I started. I had zero experience of stock and struggled to get into the top 4. I started uploading to about 10 of the sites (at least the ones that had some sales indicator next to it). I looked at their images and try to find those which I think have the type of images I want to produce.
It kept me encouraged to see my work being displayed and made a sale here and there, which kept it exciting. During this "build up" process I learnt which of those sites accepts which type of images, had time to understand a bit more about the industry, built up a bit of a portfolio, etc. and started earning some income.
Over time I got better and as I got accepted with the bigger sites I found that quite a lot of my images in my portfolio did actually got accepted now at these sites, after being approved as contributor (their standard to get accepted is therefore in most cases higher than what they will accept in general as stock - or it is just other reviewers).
Some of those "stat up sites" still actually deliver a nice additional income, as my portfolio at these sites are obviously now quite large.
Just another approach. You will have to adopt the one that suites your personality best.
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Both are good suggestions, but I think a little encouragement along the way like CD123 suggested is a good thing. Plus, I have some success with some of the smaller agencies that definitely makes them worthwhile. You just can't expect a reliable income from them each month.
The sites I support are here: http://www.microstockman.com/microstock-photography-sites/ (http://www.microstockman.com/microstock-photography-sites/) if your interested.
But as Leaf points out, if you really want to earn from microstock you REALLY need to be in with SS and the other big guns.
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they all have different genres that sell well (or in my case, that's what I've found)
I sell more landscapes with 123 than anywhere else.
however, for selling files every day (in my case, while I sleep) you want SS. :)