Stock photo advice

[taxguykarl]

Mrs. TGK & I are considering selling, licensing whatever vacay and other JPEGs as stock photos to pay down some debts.

Anyone have experience with this?

Can you recommend a site and terms?

Thank you all in advance.

[Antares]

I can't comment on the stock photo market, though I've heard http://www.shutterstock.com/ is one of the bigger ones. I haven't looked through their terms.

If you go with a site like that, check to make sure what rights you're assigning to them and make sure you're not signing over your rights. I don't know how they work. Also, be aware that unless you have a unique photo, you are going to be up against a lot of competition.


I don't know if this would interest you, but I use http://fineartamerica.com/. Though to be fair, this is a different market. Some stuff on there is quite good. Some is...well...I wouldn't pay for it. Some people have had stuff on there for a long time with no sales and some really make (or claim to make) a fair bit of money.

With FAA, you set your prices, they add their cost and do all the printing and delivery. From their website: "Payments are sent on the 15th of each month for all sales that occurred before the 15th of the previous month." They pay via paypal. I'm not sure how much I have sitting there now.

You can have up to 25 image for sale at no cost to you. If you pay $30/year you can have unlimited images and you get a 5% commission on any framing/matting that is done on a piece of yours that sells.

I don't know what image quality the stock photo places use, but FAA is fairly stringent about quality. If they can't print it, they'll give you a day or two to make the image printable, then they'll cancel it.


Here is a link to my stuff.
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/c...ml?tab=artwork Some of what you see in my portfolio is fairly typical, especially a couple of pics in the National Parks gallery.

One thing they say there is that just because you put it up, don't expect it to sell. You have to promote it. I have been on since July 2013 and I have made 2 sales to people I don't know. Both people purchased this. I have done virtually no promotion. An occasional facebook post and that is about it.



Whichever route you decide to go, think of what keywords you can use. For example, don't just use 'Old Faithful.' You'd want to use: geyser, national parks, Yellowstone, steam, Wyoming and anything else relevant. Don't use words that aren't relevant such as 'beach.' Always put your name in your keywords. This way, if someone finds something of yours they like, they can find other works of yours more easily.


Good luck with the endeavor.

[Seshat]

That's a gorgeous shot.

[Antares]

Thanks, Seshat. I really like the way it turned out.

[taxguykarl]

Thank you, Antares. Mrs. TGK & I will be starting after we better organize our JPEG's. We have a bunch....obviously, we'll only post the good ones.

[Antares]

Anytime, TGK.

If you go with FAA, just be aware the standards of what they can/will print is pretty high. It might be lower with a stock photo site.