I've decided I shouldn't wait any longer for the review-based microstock sites like Shutterstock. After all, worst case I'd have to wait a month to resubmit.
So I submitted a bird-heavy batch of 10 photos to Shutterstock tonight. We'll see how it goes!
First impressions:
- Initial sign-up was easy.
- Shutterstock's website is a bit primitive.
- Shutterstock is very straightforward on their rules -- quite nice because many sites bury them.
- Getting 7 of 10 photos is a little daunting but shouldn't be a problem. It helps to have a list of accepted photos at Dreamstime and Fotolia and a bit of sales history.
- The submission system is pretty nice, although it forces you to keyword all images at the same time which is scary (what if I lose my connection!). Generally, though, it is easy to keyword and tag, and it even highlights possible misspellings for you.
- From what I have heard, Shutterstock's subscription program gives you a lot of sales whenever you have a decent number of new photos submitted. But, at only 25c a sale, I'll need a lot to make any money.
- Minimum payout is $75.
Tuesday Update (two days later): Nine of my ten images were accepted first thing Monday morning, but a second batch of eight images is still awaiting review over a day later, so I suspect Shutterstock puts priority on new signups. Also, my original images haven't been indexed into the search yet (although if I search for my name they show up), so apparently indexing takes days rather than hours like many sites.
1 comment:
Hi there,
I'm the founder of Orange Line Media and I'd love to get your thoughts on an earnings tracking service called LookStat that we're working on.
Please drop me a line if you have a sec to follow up. You can read a little more about the service at http://blog.lookstat.com
Thanks a ton.
Rahul
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