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How much can you make with microstock sites?

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How much can you make with microstock sites?

laryn — Fri, 11/06/2009 - 08:14

Most people who are considering whether or not to upload to microstock sites are curious how much money can be made by doing so. (There are other reasons, too, but this is a biggie). The short answer is that it depends on how much time and energy you put into it, and it depends on the quality of your images. The top earners can make hundreds of dollars per day, but most people will not achieve that. For an overview of my experience, see below. I update the stats about once every month or two so you can get a sense of what I have earned -- without devoting a ton of time to it, to be honest.

Microstock Sites: Bigstock | Dreamstime | iStock | Shutterstock  Tags: Earnings | Sell   
(Autogenerated Keywords: Adobe | David Siqueira | designer | digital camera | digital cameras | energy | florist | Fotolia | Google | IStockphoto | Law | Law | Microstock photography | Peter Galbraith | Photographer | Photographer | Photography | Shutterstock | SnapVillage | Stock photography | Technology | Technology | USD)
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Microstock's long tail

laryn — Sat, 08/22/2009 - 16:37

Long Tail graph (Picture by Hay Kranen / PD)

It's interesting to look back on the microstock experiment I started a few years ago. I have been quite lazy this past year about uploading anything--and expected my sales to dry up because of it.

Microstock Sites: Bigstock | Dreamstime | iStock | Shutterstock  Tags: Earnings | Long tail | Sell   
(Autogenerated Keywords: Amazon | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Bestseller | Business | CDATA | Entertainment | Entertainment | Erik Brynjolfsson | Google | Marketing | Mass media | Michael D. Smith | Microstock photography | Photographer | Stock photography | Technology | Technology | The Long Tail | USD | Yu (Jeffrey) Hu)
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Look into referral programs

laryn — Sat, 08/22/2009 - 16:30

Make sure to look into referral programs on the various sites. Many of them will offer rewards for users that you refer to the site either as photographers or stock image purchasers. You can send your referral link to interested people by email or include the link on your personal website. Shutterstock and Dreamstime are particularly good for rewarding successful referrals.

Microstock Sites: Bigstock | Dreamstime | iStock | Shutterstock  Tags: Earnings | Referral | Sell   
(Autogenerated Keywords: | CDATA | Photographer | Pierre Amerlynck | Shutterstock | Stock photography | Technology | Technology | USD)
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