P#4 Q2a: What's The Biggest Mistake People Make When They Contemplate Selling Stock Photos?

How can I avoid making mistakes when I submit my stock photos to agencies?

Scott Stulberg: I don't know if it's really a mistake but it's a preconceived notion that they can go out and shoot photos... and the checks are just going to start rolling in.

I have a lot of students who think, "Oh no problem," and I see their photos, and no, they're not going to be making a lot of money.

Even some of the great photographers don't make a ton of money. It's really what you shoot and knowing what to shoot.

The biggest mistake is thinking you're going to make a lot of money in stock photography. Stock photography is a very tough field.

I tell people, "Don't quit your day job." You'll be lucky to make the kind of money that stock photographers used to make many years ago. Things have changed a lot.

Some of my friends that used to have say, 15,000 images with an agency have maybe a thousand now.

What the agencies do is they overhaul and get rid of a lot of photos. The numbers keep going up and down and up and down. It's very tough.

Anyone thinking, "Oh, I'm going to do this and I'm going to start making money," no. It's much tougher than people think.

Audri Lanford: Can you give people some sense of how much money you can make, if you really are a good photographer?

Scott Stulberg: First, if you're not a good photographer, your stuff isn't going to sell. If you're a really good photographer... and you follow some of the principles that we're going to be talking about in a little bit... and you learn the world of stock photography... and you take the kinds of images that sell, then you can succeed.

It also depends on the agency too that you're with. The bigger agencies are going to bring in the bigger bucks, anywhere from $500 to -- I have one friend that averages about $8000 a month, and he's really good, but he travels a lot, he shoots a lot, and he's been doing this for the past 15 or 20 years.

Just getting your leg into a stock agency is a daunting task.

Stock photography is a numbers game. The more photographs you have in the agency, the more chance you're going to have to sell and make more money.

It's harder to get more images in now because the big agencies accept less and less.

Can you imagine how many photographers there are now, and how many agencies have popped up, and how many people are sending in more and more photos because now you don't have to shoot film, slides and scan them, and retouch them and send them in?

Now you can shoot digitally and boom, send them in about an hour later. The agencies have so many images now of everything in the world, so it's harder to come up with new ideas and new amazing shots.

Summing up

Remember that getting into selling stock photos isn't easy -- it requires talent, hard work and perseverance. There's plenty of competition, and even great photographers sometimes don't make much money selling their stock photos. But if you are good, persevere, and follow the principles we'll talk about, you can succeed earning money by selling your stock photographs.