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Whether you’re making your living as a professional photographer, musician, or designer, or just looking to make a little extra scratch here and there, selling your work to stock sites is a great way to rake in some bucks and have your work seen by people all over the globe. Essentially, you’re giving purchasers of your work the right to use it in any way they choose (with the exception of directly reselling it) without paying royalties to or additional fees after they pay the initial download costs.
Competition is fierce on these sites, but if you take the time to read up and play by their rules, odds are they’ll accept pieces of your work and you’ll make money on every sale.
Although every site is different, most of these sites operate off of the same basic rules. You’ll often run into tiered pricing systems, where “exclusive images” (not sold on other sites) get more money. However, some companies like www.iStockphoto.com make you sell a certain amount of images with them before becoming an exclusive vendor with them.
When submitting to stock photo sites, be sure to pay careful attention to their resolution requirements. Tons of great shots are rejected all the time because there isn’t enough data to sell them in large formats. Sites like www.bigstockphoto.com are very clear on their expectations, so be sure to read carefully.
Another thing to keep in mind is to create as versatile content as possible. Sites like www.iStockphoto.com spell out what they are and aren’t currently looking for. If you can cover these bases, you’re more likely to get your work accepted. Read the requirements, and look through the site forums if they have any. If you’re submitting audio (www.audiojungle.com), video, or Flash components (www.flashden.com), be sure to examine things like compatibility – will this work for users on multiple platforms using different versions of software? Is it well constructed? Is it easy to install or implement? How customizable is it? Have you included helpful documentation and comments on how to install and use it, as well as why it’s worthwhile? And again, are there already similar components or files like it on these sites?
Pay attention to these guidelines, and start submitting. And don’t let a couple rejected images stop you. The people running these sites go through thousands of files per day and have to be selected. If you believe in your work, keep trying and eventually your pieces will be accepted. Good luck!
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