Stock Photos
Could this really be worth it?
On Shutterstock, the comissions have a fixed price of $0.25. I know it doesn't seem a lot but if you have 400 downloads in a month (which is relatively easy) you will get $100. With 2000 downloads, your earnings go to $500.
After you've signed up, uploaded, got photos approved and downloaded, got enough money to make a withdrawl (on most sites, there is a $100 minimum withdrawl) you can start spending it!
[From About Stock Photo - Learn > Sign Up > Upload > Earn]
Sounds sort of lame, really. $0.25 for the use of a photo? And restricting payments to multiples of one hundred sounds like a way to avoid paying photographers. I'd like to sell some work, sure, but cheapening myself just to 'get published' sounds lame. If there was a minimum amount I could set per photo, like $50, maybe. Maybe. $50 is well below the standard rate, but would be enough that I wouldn't feel like a whore. One the other hand, Gapers Block, The Consumerist, The LAist, et al, don't pay a penny, and get to use photos as needed. Gapers Block at least is showcasing a photo as art, but still, in a perfect world, they'd have to pay for the privilege.
Speaking of, I gave permission to "Hannah" to republish my Ladybug Cow photo in exchange for a copy of her book, published, allegedly, June, 2007, but haven't heard a word since. Bleh.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Stock Photos.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.b12partners.net/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/swanks/managed-mt/mt-tb.cgi/2373
Someone contacted me about using a photo in a grad paper and presentation. I agreed but, like you, haven't heard anything since. I was probably scammed.
However, at least you might have some recourse with this Hannah person. If you can contact her publisher with a complaint, perhaps you could get your copy of the book.
The problem is tracking down what the book was called. She claimed it was going to be called, "Cows", but that's a little generic, and probably a working title only. In a perfect world, I would be able to easily retrieve her original emails, but haven't yet been able to locate them. Haven't made an exhaustive search, yet, so perhaps I have her surname somewhere. Too many damn email accounts!