A year or so ago I embarked upon a grand strategy to improve my income by uploading photos to stock photography sites. Find some photos that might be useful to buyers, load them to a stock site, wait for their quality assurance Nazis to accept them, and then sit back and watch the sales grow. I loaded several hundred and looked forward to at least doubling my annual income.
And I would have done, if my annual income was around $10. My current balance is $15.61; too small for them to even issue me with a cheque. Another failed enterprise.
She who must be obeyed also tried her hand and also loaded up some shots. She had some strange offerings. One shot was of a pair of pink Converse sneakers. They were another of her impulse purchases which she never wore because she decided she was too old; so instead she took a photo of them. I pointed out that if anyone needed a photo of a pair of Converse sneakers, they could just buy a pair and photograph them, rather than buying a photo.
Consequently, I was surprised to discover that her excited squeaks at the computer yesterday were because she had just sold her photo of the sneakers for $700, to be used on the cover of a book. This brings her total earnings to around $900 and when the cheque has cleared there will be champagne.
Well done she who must be obeyed; I am off to photograph my flip-flops.
For those who want to know what you get for $700:
Comments 🔗
2012-06-03| david sayscan you show us a small low res preview of the photo? and which stock sites do you advice?
2012-06-03| Grant saysPlease take your feet out of them first…
2012-06-03| Barry saysFunny old world, isn’t it. Do you have any more footwear she can photograph?
2012-06-03| Spike saysAdded.
Stock sites? As far as I am concerned they are all useless. But it all depends what type of photo you want to sell. Google is your friend.
2012-06-03| TheSon saysMy goodness! Congratulations and jealousy all round!
2012-06-04| biggrtiggr saysAhhhhh…………… you forgot to deduct the purchase cost of the unworn sneakers from the $700!
2012-06-04| genuinej saysAt last all your help/instruction/guidance/tuition/leadership pays off big time. No doubt you will be rewarded with a share of the cash, or possibly in some other way, at SWMBO’s discretion
2012-06-05| Spike saysI don’t think she would recognise any of those terms; she does her own thing when it comes to photography. And I don’t want any of her earnings, although she might treat me to a cocktail.
2012-06-05| Grant saysWell, let’s hope it’s a Martini made with the bottle of vermouth in the other room!!
2012-06-06| Mike N saysuhmm….as somebody who also dabbles in microstock, just very slightly more successfully than you, how did she sell that pic royalty free (ie commercially for a book cover) when it has the converse brand displayed ? For a thai book perhaps ? I know at Dreamstime she would only be able to sell it as “editorial”. but whatever, congrats to her for a $700 sale !