It’s now past the mid-month mark, and I thought I would give another update. I won’t talk earnings until the end of the month, but I can give some word counts and let you know what I’m up to. I’ve spent most of my time writing for this blog and Bright Hub, but I’ve also answered a couple of calls for short stories. I haven’t heard back from either of the publishers I’ve submitted to yet, only time will tell.

As for Bright Hub, I have seven articles assigned to me for the month. I’ve written four so far but only one has been published. One is awaiting approval, another has been submitted and sent back for revisions, the last still needs to be uploaded. I have also created an account on Elance, a freelance marketplace which I will be writing about soon for The Online Paycheck. I wrote my first proposal to an Elance client today. Check back at the end of the month to find out if using this site has paid off.

My goal for this month is to at least double last months word count and I’m right on track. Here’s the count so far:

Uploading photos has also been going well. Five of the shots I pulled out of my archives have been uploaded but many microstock websites I submit to still have them pending in their upload queues. Most of the remaining photos I chose from my archives have been worked over in Photoshop so they will be uploaded before long. I’m also selecting some landscapes that I am going to try on Alamy. Alamy is a traditional stock photography agency that I will soon be adding to the photography resource on this site but only after I’ve looked into them a little more.

That’s it for now, see you at the end of the month!

Details:

URL: www.123rf.com

Industry: Microstock Agency

What they are looking for: Royalty Free Stock Photos and Royalty Free Illustrations

Pay: Commission

Alexa Rating: 3,163

123rf is a micostock agency. They currently feature 4.5 million photos and illustrations for download. 123rf is a great company to upload to. Their upload tool is very different when compared to most other microstock agencies. You use an FTP account or a web form, fill in the title and keywords if they are not in your IPTC data, and then that’s it. You can submit batches with just one click instead of submitting each photo individually. If a model release is needed, you go to the release page in the site, choose the appropriate document and check off all photos in your portfolio that it applies to. It’s simple and extremely fast once you get the hang of it. 123rf will also provide steady sales, making them a definite winner for any photographer or illustrator.

Submitting to 123rf

This site has no initial submission requirements making them an excellent site for those with a larger library and those just starting out in the microstock business. As I mentioned, uploading to 123rf is easy thanks to their FTP access. If you don’t want to use FTP they also have a web form but this is a very VERY slow option to use. All in all, this site is easy to use and worthwhile. If you are not submitting your microstock portfolio to them, then you should be!

Cool 123rf Features

• Great upload tools

• The site is smooth and easy to navigate for buyers and submitters.

• They have a great referral program (10% for referred photographers, 15% for referred buyers!)

• 123rf has a watermark tool, this allows you to move the watermark to any portion of the photo or illustration that you like.

• 123rf also has a blog that is full of awesome photography and Photoshop tutorials

If you have found this article to be helpful and plan on checking out 123rf, please consider using my referral link below. Thanks!

Details:

URL: www.imagecatalog.com

Industry: Microstock Agency

What are they looking for: Royalty Free Stock Photos and Royalty Free Illustrations

Pay: Commission

Alexa rating: 429,553

Image Catalog is a small microstock agency. They have a great interface that looks very much like the interface used by microstock giant Dreamstime. Image Catalog has a much smaller library than any of the big microstock agencies, but sales still come in for those who submit. Image Catalog can provide a fair amount of extra income depending on the size of your portfolio. I wouldn’t recommend putting this site above any of the large microstock agencies, but this would make a great addition to your uploading process. If those that run Image Catalog put a little more effort into their microstock agency, than it could grow to be a much larger business. Unfortunately the site remains mostly stagnant. The splash page and main page haven’t changed in months. It’s too bad, in my opinion, I had high hopes for this site. It is an alright money earner, but it could be so much more.

Submitting to Image Catalog

Uploading to Image Catalog is easy. They have a great flash uploader that is really easy to use or you can upload via their FTP access. You must upload three photos as your first submission. Once they are accepted you can upload more, there is no limit. Their sales statistic tools could be better, but they do work. Image Catalog also has a referral program that you can sign up for.

Cool Image Catalog Features

• Image Catalog is easy to upload to with their flash uploader and FTP access. This means that adding this microstock agency to your upload process won’t cost you much time.

• Image Catalog chooses some photos to be an Editors Choice. If your photo is chosen it will have some time featured on the main page.

• You can join the Image Catalog referral program to make a little extra money.

• They also have contents from time to time, but none have been announced in quite a while.

If you have found this article helpful and plan on checking out Image Catalog please consider using my referral link below. It won’t cost you anything but it will help me out

I’ve also been going through old photo shoots. I was double checking to see if I missed any photos that should have been uploaded to the microstock agencies I submit to. I found 55 photos. My wife, the resident photoshop guru, looked at most of them and so far 19 have passed her inspection. Even so, I am still hoping to upload five new shots this month, not including these old shots.

Tomorrow I will be taking the day off to celebrate the birthday of my beautiful wife

URL: www.canstockphoto.com

Industry: Microstock Agency

What are they looking for: Royalty Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Illustrations, and Royalty Free Footage

Pay: Commission

Alexa rating: 33,919

CanStockPhoto, recently purchased by the tradition stock agency Fotosearch, was the first microstock website I ever submitted to. CanStockPhoto has a quick and easy upload process with ftp access. These guys tend to sell a little of everything, but if you really want to reach payouts quickly then business images are the way to go. Business images obviously do well with every microstock agency, but they seem to sell a little better then everything else on CanStockPhoto in particular. Canstock probably won’t be your best selling agency but with a large enough portfolio, you can cash out at least once a month.

Submitting to CanStockPhoto

Getting in to CanStockPhoto is relatively easy. You need only to sign up and then submit three photos for review. Once those three are accepted you can upload up to twenty more. You won’t be able to upload more until those twenty are reviewed. Review times with CanStockPhoto can vary greatly, I’ve seen them take a few hours to look at my work but I’ve also seen it take as long a couple of weeks.

Cool CanStockPhoto Features

• CanStock has a variety of uploading tools so you can choose whichever one you like best.

• There is a photo/illustration request area in the CanStockPhoto forums. It’s not always that active but it can give you some great ideas for subjects to shoot that you may never have thought of.

• They are now owned by Fotosearch, and in turn Fotosearch is marketing the CanStockPhoto library to their clients. Sales have gone up ever since.

• CanStock has some great sales statistics tools on each member page.

• You can create galleries of similar shots, including shots from other members, boosting your chance of selling those photos.

Details:

URL: www.istock.com

Industry: Microstock Agency

What they are looking for: Royalty Free Stock Photos, Royalty Free Illustrations, and Royalty Free Footage, Royalty Free Audio

Pay: Commission

Alexa Rating: 370

iStock is the microstock industry leader. Some people make a living by only selling photographs on iStock. iStock also offer a large range of products, most recently adding RF audio files. Unfortunately, iStock does have some pretty serious problems. Their uploading process is complete garbage, they cap your uploads at a seriously low amount of files per week (except audio), and they are more picky in their review process than any other microstock agency. It’s not all doom and gloom with iStock though. Once you have your files accepted they go into a beautifully designed interface. The iStock, site from a buyers perspective, is gorgeous and that will help sell your work. iStock also has some great statistics tools built right into your profile page. All in all, if you can handle only being able to upload 15 shots a week and having to upload them one at a time, then iStock will treat you well.

Submitting to iStock

iStock is not an easy site to get accepted to in comparison to any of the other microstock agencies. You first have to sign-up, then go to Upload on the left and click the Apply button next to the type of content you wish to submit. Royalty free photography is what made iStock the powerhouse it is today. They now have over half a million photos and illustrations for sale. With that in mind, I’m going to talk about submitting as a photographer. The application for photographers consists of uploading three files for review. Make sure your photographs are noise free and very sharp focus. All three must pass the review process for you to get in. If you do not pass the first time, you can just change out whichever photos did not pass and try again.

Cool iStock Features

Here are some of the things that made iStock the number one microstock agency:

• iStock sells a lot of photos. No matter how frustrated I get uploading to iStock, I know in the end it will be worth it. They will make me money.

• Since iStock takes so many different types of media, you can create a very unique portfolio if you have the skills.

• The iStock Vetta program allows some of your photos to be sold at a much higher price.

• iStock has a great article base where you can learn tons of great tips about how to make money on the site. These tips translate easily to any microstock agency.

• iStock also has a very active forum, although it is heavily moderated.

Details:

URL: http://submit.shutterstock.com

Industry: Microstock Agency

What are they looking for: Royalty Free Stock Photos, Editorial Stock Photos, Royalty Free Illustrations and Royalty Free Video Footage

Pay: Commission

Alexa rating: 1,306

Shutterstock is one of the top microstock websites you can submit to. The majority of the money that you’ll make with Shutterstock is by selling your work through their subscription service. The commission for these sales is pretty low, but you will sell your content often enough to make up for it. Shutterstock has more recently started selling individual photos as well. This system is new for them, but is catching on quickly. The most profitable sale is their Extended Liscense (or EL) sale, worth 28 bucks a pop for photos. You won’t sell an EL often, but regardless, they’ll make you smile.

Submitting to Shutterstock

In my experience, Shutterstock has one of the most difficult initial review processes for new submitters, surpassed only by Istock. To get accepted to Shutterstock you must initially upload ten images for review. Seven or more images must pass the review process for you to be allowed to become a member of Shutterstock. If you do not pass the review process, none of your images will be accepted and you will be asked to wait 30 days before trying again. During this time you may still visit the Shutterstock submitters forums to seek assistance and advise. To help ensure that you pass on your first attempt, choose only your best works and make sure that they are all unique. Don’t use the same subject matter unless the photos is drastically different, also don’t use the same model if you can help it. Once you’ve passed the review stage, then you can upload sets of the same person or place. Shutterstock is also extremely picky when it comes to jpg noise. Make sure any noise is fixed in post production before submitting.

Cool Shutterstock Features

Here is a small list of things that make Shutterstock a money maker for submitters

• Once you’ve become a member, there is no upload limit. You can upload as man images or as much video footage as you like. My only suggestion is to submit them in small batches. The reviewers seems to get unhappy when they receive huge batches at once. If I have 20 photos to upload for a day, I will upload them in two batches of ten. I find I get a better approval rating doing this, as stupid as it sounds.

• Shutterstock submitter forums is the best photography community I have ever found. They are a wealth of information. It is worth becoming a member just to be able to read and be a part of these forums.

• Shutterstock is quick to review your material and start selling it. Some sites can take weeks just to look at your work. Shutterstock is normally quick to processes submitted works, unless hugely burdened.

Like most microstock agencies, Shutterstock has a referral program. If you have found this article helpul and plan on looking into Shutterstock, please consider using my referral link below:

Submit Photos to Shutterstock and make $$$!

Details:

URL: http://www.dreamstime.com

Industry: Microstock Agency

What are they looking for: Royalty Free Stock photos, Editorial Stock Photos, Royalty Free Illustrations

Pay: Commission

Alexa rating: 976

I would suggest, to anyone who wants to get into the microstock game, to start with Shutterstock, Fotolia, StockXpert and Dreamstime. Dreamstime, in my opinion, is the most important of this group. There are a few reasons for this: they sell well, they are not as picky as some other sites when reviewing photos, and they have a lot of site features to help you get exposure.

Dreamstime First Submission

Your first submission with Dreamstime, like any microstock agency, should be your best work only. Good first impressions are, well, good! One of the reasons I suggest starting with Dreamstime is, unlike many of the other big microstock agencies, there is no real screening process for new submitters. Many other agencies want you to only submit a certain amount of photos to be reviewed, if those are accepted then you can continue. Dreamstime has no such stipulations, and as a first time submitter, this will work to your advantage. You can upload up to 50 photos per day, even as a new member. Dreamstime, in my opinion, is a more lenient microstock agency in terms of reviewing. This is easier on the ego when just starting out. The microstock industry can be pretty frustrating at first. First off, microstock sites are well known, in the photography world, for their inconsistency to one another when approving photos. Secondly they are also well known for rejecting photos for what seems like ridiculous rejection reasons. I’m not saying that Dreamstime isn’t guilty of these things too, I’m just saying, in my experience, they do this less often then any of the other larger micros.

Cool Dreamstime Features

I’m going to list off a few things that make Dreamstime one of the best microstock agencies out there:

• They have a very high daily upload limit compared to some other microstock agencies even though each submitter’s upload limit is based off their photo acceptance ratio.

• Dreamstime holds a monthly assignment competition. By entering you guarantee your photo some time on the Dreamstime main page. This will really help you generate sales. Please be advised, if you enter a photo in the assignment, it must then be exclusive to Dreamstime. It is not allowed to be on any other microstock site.

• Some photos are also chosen on Dreamstime to be a part of the Editor’s Choice gallery, which is also featured on the main page.

• Once you become established with Dreamstime and have a decent sized portfolio of quality images, there is a chance you will be chosen as a Dreamstime feature photographer. If this happens your photos will be plastered all over the main page, giving your portfolio a huge boost.

• Extra money can be made via the Dreamstime Affiliate Program which gives bonuses for new members and buyers you bring to Dreamstime.

If you’ve found this article helpful and you plan on checking out Dreamstime, it would be much appreciated if you use my referral banner below.

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