I hear this a lot from those looking into microstock to earn a full time living.  Questions like this come up frequently on microstock forums, twitter and facebook.  How many images will I need?  What can I make hourly?  Is building up a sizable microstock portfolio even worth the effort?

Now this article is not an article just to try and discourage people from giving it a shot, or attempting to discourage breeding my own new competition.  There are bazillion other blogs, books, and ebooks online where you can learn “How to make a living selling stock photography” and obviously there are already hundreds of thousands of contributors worldwide.  No one stock photographer or illustrator is alike, considering that everyone has their own style, their own work ethic, their own methods – to each his own.  Who am I to give my opinion?  I’m nobody special, just your average creatively minded computer geek.  I have been making a full time living for 2 solid years now.   My 2 years full time was built upon 2.5 prior years selling stock part time (approx 5-10 hrs a week) while working full time at a graphic design dayjob; the field I actually have my BA in.  So I’ve been in this stock business a solid 4.5 years… that’s not a very long time, but then again this biz is still very young.  4.5 years isn’t much less time than some of the top selling microstockers, either (ie: Yuri Arcurs and Andres Rodriguez to name a few of the top dogs).  In this short period of time, I’ve learned and experienced more first hand in this business than I can even put into words in a Tuesday morning blog post.  With just a little over 5000 stock images, I still just consider myself a small fish in a big pond.

Here is my take on getting started in the business – straight up, no chaser.

If you’re just starting out right now… in 2010-11, I honestly think you’re going to need a prayer to initiate your momentum and to start earning enough images to make a living. I started back in late 05, early 06 – I was paying my mortgage by mid 07 and then went all out full time with the loss of my full time day job in mid 2008. If I waited until now, and transitioned from part time in stock to full time, I don’t think that I would make it. Things were much different back then, too.  It was much less difficult to get images approved (if you can’t get past that hurdle, you aren’t going to be able to sell them obviously) and it was much easier to get lots of downloads on simple subjects. It seems like every few years in stock it’s more of an uphill battle. In 06 you could submit a pile of crap, and still sell it like hotcakes. Technically imperfect photos, even. Now you’d better have your skills sharp and be able to hang with the rest of your competition just to get sales.

If you consider yourself an amateur and just want to make $100 a month just uploading a couple of new images each week, sure that’s definitely possible. If you’re looking to make $1000+ a month on a newer portfolio, you’re going to need to have a long road ahead of you, unless your work fills some sort of crazy un-touched niche with high commercial demand. Can you live off $1000 a month? Maybe if you live in India or Asia.  I wish I could.  In the area of the United States I live in, that won’t even pay the average mortgage or rent for the month.

Saying you want to sell stock is one thing – doing it and actually continually maintaining momentum in it is another. Putting up with the submission process; the keywording, uploading, and pushing the images through on the agency back-ends (all the tedious parts) is another thing that stops 99% of people in their tracks. They realize all of the work in it, and are either too lazy or just get discouraged from lack of sales.  When it comes to stock – you either “get it”, or you just don’t. Some grasp at straws taking pics of churches, shooting fruit over white or zoo animals all day, while others create useful, commercial imagery. This is going to be the largest hurdle for most contributors, used to producing nice prints for their living room walls.

So here is what you need to make it:

- Self motivation (Are you a motivated self-starter? Can you stay on task without getting distracted while working alone from home? If not you might as well not even bother with microstock)
- Creativity… enough to choke a cow
- Business sense!  At least as much if not more than creativity
- Quality gear to accomplish whatever it is you’re shooting the most, I’d say an initial investment of $2000-4000 at minimum to cover most of your bases – computers/cameras/lenses/studio gear (don’t even waste your time with consumer point and shoots, unless you like getting over 50% of your images rejected for technical quality)
- Technical skills both in camera and off (Adobe Photoshop knowledge can make or break you in this business. If you’re lacking, you’d better hit the books or don’t bother uploading at all)
- Tons of regular uploads.  Take whatever you think is a lot to produce each week, and add 50 to that number.
- Good keywording skills (something that takes a lot of time to develop, for most)
- Ability to set and reach hourly / daily / monthly / yearly goals
- Lots of quality and variety
- Quantity quantity quantity in addition to high quality (a portfolio of 3000 images is the “new” 1000 – but 3000 crap images has the sales potential as a portfolio of 300 excellent ones)
- Patience, persistence, and a backup income before you get the stock ball rolling

Us full time microstockers are in the minority – I’d estimate there are probably under 500 in the world. Who knows?  I wish I knew the actual figures, but that would be a tricky statistic to pin down.  I’m not talking RM/ traditional stock sellers, but those that are strictly making their income with microstock, exclusively, whether they are working for one agency and an exclusive artist or they are using multiple agencies to sell their work.  We are a rare breed, and a lot of us are probably crazy for even attempting this feat   One thing you can’t expect from this business is to get rich off of it.  Gone are the days of making money from the snapshots laying around on your hard drive (heck, I myself even claimed that back in 2006 – because that was truly the case back then – but not anymore).   If you’re the type of individual that wants to earn a higher than average income, then you’re definitely barking up the wrong tree here.  It’s taken the seasoned pros years just to develop a portfolio strong enough, large enough, and good enough to consistently earn them a steady monthly income.  Don’t expect for this to be a quickly profitable start-up business without any sacrifice or years of “paying your dues”.

If you’re going to attempt this, you need to treat it like a start-up business.  40-60 hrs a week will be necessary, working diligently and taking a stab at it.  After a few months you should then evaluate your time & cost vs earnings ration.  Time is money, so if you are seeing a decent return for all of your hard work right off the bat, then there is your answer whether or not you might be able to make it as a full time microstock contributor.  Otherwise, you might conclude that stock is a rainy day side hobby to dabble in whenever you’re bored or needing some extra cash for new gear or to take your wife out to dinner.  If you haven’t noticed, I don’t blog super regularly.  My blogging is highly intermittent.  I’m sorry, that’s just pretty much due to the fact that I’m too busy working, as a one-man operation.  I limit myself to a 40 hour work week, because money isn’t everything to me.  I work to live; I don’t live to work.  When you work for yourself you have to limit yourself; unless of course you want to be a burnt out workaholic that doesn’t have a happy family, spiritual, or any type of other life. I digress.

Do you already consider yourself a pro photographer, because you’re making a living in the wedding or portrait business?  Sorry to burst your bubble, but micro is an entirely different animal.  Please try not to go into it thinking you’re going to be all set and that it’s going to be a piece of cake for you, just because you’ve been a seasoned pro photog for years and years.  I’ve heard many stories of this happening.  You’re still going to have just as much learning curve as the amateurs will, just as any of us did back when we started.  The harsh reality of the nazi-ish microstock quality standards are enough to turn even the best of photographers away from this business.

Timing is everything, so I can understand why there are so many blog posts online explaining how the ship as sailed to be able to have a full time microstock living.  I respectfully disagree with that for those microstock contributors who already have their foot in the door with a large collection of images, established and already selling.  Given the continual move of buyers away from RM and more to budget RF images, as well as the continual movement towards digital media of all types in our daily lives.  If you are currently sell microstock part or full time, and are making a decent living, consider yourself a rare breed.  I wish everyone success in whatever creative field you’re involved in, and hope that my honest evaluation of the business in this article has helped those considering microstock as a career choice.  I’m tired of all of the nay-sayers and doom and gloom discussed about this business.  Remember too that there are a thousand ways to make a living in any creative field; it just depends what you want to set your mind to, and focus on in your own business.  If the microstock market tanks and us full time contributors can’t continue getting by, forcing us to explore other avenues of income, then it is what it is.  Only time will tell.  Life will go on, and many of us well know there are countless other niches areas of this creative field that we can pursue.  In the meantime, best wishes and happy selling!

For a list of agencies you can sell your photos, graphics, and vector illustrations, that I think are actually worthwhile (in other words, where there are actual sales); read this post.

If you are serious about microstock photography, the best way you can hit the ground running is to learn from the pros.  Rasmus Rasmussen has been working in the microstock business as a contributing photographer and also an editor for over 10 years.  In his updated ebook, he takes you in-depth into what it really takes to make it in this business, not as just a side hobby, but as a career.  Check out The Expanded Microstock Photographer’s Guide ebook today.  After reading it myself, I really think it has all of the necessary tidbits of insider info that I wish I had known, back 7 years ago when starting out in microstock.

Tags: business, buyers, dreamstime, earning a living, fotolia, freelancing, full time, istockphoto, making a living, marketing, microstock, microstock ebook, microstock photography, photo industry, photographers, photos, professional, RF, rights managed, RM, royalty free, selling photos, shutterstock, stock photography

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