I wrote "Microstock Money Shots-Turning Downloads into Dollars" and prepared this for the ASMP SB3 Strictly Business Workshops. It discusses what types and subjects of images do best in microstock, average incomes and offers information to assist photographers in deciding if it is for them.
3. Licensing Models
Rights Managed
• Usage limited by territory (local, regional, country)
• Type of use (editorial, advertising)
• Media (outdoor, web, print
• Position (on page, on web)
• Degree of exclusivity
Pricing is complex and depends on all the above.
Royalty Free
• Traditional-Wide open usage with few exceptions
• Microstock-More limitations
Pricing is based generally on size of the downloaded image
4. Definition of Microstock
• User agreement not a complex contract
• No locked in time period beyond at the most six months
• Technical requirements
• Kinds of photographers
• Contributors
• Volume sales (for some) at low individual download prices
• Strong community support among contributors
• Millions of photos and illustrations
5. Major Distributors
iStockphoto
• Owned by Getty Images
• Market leader by far
• Recently lowered commissions to lowest in industry
• Offers exclusive contributors access to higher fee collections
• Favors exclusives in search results
• Have to achieve certain levels of downloads before being able to request exclusivity
• Eliminated advantages given to earlier adaptor photographers
Shutterstock
• Lowest prices but is consistently listed as making the most money for the highest number of photographers
• Primarily a subscription service
Dreamstime
• Most popular among photographers
• Pays the highest royalty rate
• Very photographer-centric
Fotolia
• Most popular in Germany
• Innovative partnerships
6. A Historical Perspective
Average License Fee RM in Dollars for Last 20 Years
700
525
350
175
0
1990 2000 2010
7. Buyer Numbers
Numbers of North American Stock Photo Buyers
2,000,000
Dreamstime.com stats February 25,
2011
1,500,000
Online images:
10,742,131
Monthly images:
428,217
Users:
3,160,994
1,000,000
Photographers:
110,086
500,000
“90% of stock photos sold in 2010
were from microstock”-Jim Pickerell
500,000 if only 33% are active=
500,000
0
1990 2000 2010
8. Who are the buyers?
Compiled by www.cutcaster.com February 2011
11. Show me the money!
-Average license fee/top pros=$8.00/image/month
-Average for serious amateur is $1.50
12. Estimates of Monthly Earnings*
*Lee Torrens: Microstock Agency Research Report - Fall 2010
13. Royalties
iStockphoto: 15-20% for non-exclusive contributors and 25% - 45% for
exclusive contributors
Dreamstime: 30-60% depending on exclusivity and number of previous
downloads.Subscription sales $0.35-$1.05 depending on the same
factors.
Fotolia: 25%-60% depending on exclusivity status and the quantity of
previous sales. Subscription downloads $0.30-0.42 credits depending
on previous sales and the type of subscription.
Shutterstock: $0.25 - $0.38 for subscription sales depending on the
contributor’s total earnings history. Non-subscription sales $0.81-$2.85
depending on size and contributor’s total earnings history.
14. Is It Worth It?
Production Costs -Can be much less
Costs in Time/Staff/Third party services-Can be much more
Average RPI (Return per Image)
Long term goals/objectives/philosophy
17. Major Subjects
Business-Teams, meetings and even handshakes
Objects-Shells, single candle, a piece of pie, a wreath etc
Families-During holidays, on vacation, cooking and dining
People and animals-pets
Concepts-You name it, then shoot it!
Sports-Recreational
Holiday & Seasonal-Objects and groups of people. tree isolated, box of chocolates, carved pumpkin on the steps
Fashion/Beauty. Sells better in micro than in traditional. Sexy women
Backgrounds
Agriculture and seasonal landscapes
Food and Beverage-include people in the background or holding a glass
18. ST YLE
Keep it simple
Design for the thumbnail
Square format
Leave the cropping to the end user
47. Resources
Books
Microstock Money Shots-Turning Downloads into Dollars. Ellen Boughn 2010. AmPhoto/
Random House. For sale at the SB3 Book Table.
Taking Stock: Make money in microstock creating photos that sell. Rob Sylvan 2010
Peachpit.
Blogs/Forums
www.microstockdiaries.com
www.microstockinsider.com
www.microstockgroup.com
www.mystockphoto.org
www.ellenboughn.com/blog
Uploading/Keywording and Analytics
http://www.prostockmaster.com A free multi agency distribution process.
http://www.cushystock.com/
http://www.deepmeta.com/
http/www.lookstat.com
www.picNiche.com
www.findphotokeywords.com This is an interesting service for those wanting to see what
images exist for any given string of keywords from a variety of stock sites.
http://www.arcurs.com/tools Successful microstock photographer, Yuri Arcurs, has
developed several tools and loads of information for the microstock photographer.
www.microstockcharts.com This is a tool to help you analyze your earnings. You can link
to pages showing the best selling images of the top photographers at several
microstock companies.
Contact Information for Ellen Boughn
SKYPE | Twitter | Facebook name: ellenboughn
www.ellenboughn.com
ellen@ellenboughn.com
ME: after image/Pres Tony Stone/LA; First Executive editor/Corbis; Punchstock; Workbookstock; UpperCut Images; SuperStock; Dreamstime; Microstock Money Shots,; Crestock(Masterfile)\nMicrostock: NEither the end of the world nor intirely a new world of opportunity\n
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User agreement vs stock contract \nTech requirements much stricter\nPros, amateurs and hobbiest\nmany buyers are designers, small businesses and individuals\nMillions of contributors-high percent outside North America\n\n\n\n
istock photo pays out 1.8 million dollars a week to photographers.\n
Plus many thousands more photos accepted ....over 200,000 weekly\n
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istockote that in 2011 iStockphoto is changing the way commissions are calculated and expanding the royalty rate range to 15% -\n20% for non-exclusive contributors and 25% - 45% for exclusive contributors. It will also be calculated based on the quantity of\ncredits spent on a contributors’ files in the previous year rather than their lifetime quantity of downloads.\nFotolia doesn’t pay contributors based on the purchase value of the credits used to purchase each image like other microstock\nagencies. It calculates royalties from a set credit value (currently US$1) which is lower than the cost of purchased credits. This\nmeans the actual royalty rates are lower than the published numbers. The lowest possible rate is 20.83% for USD, possibly lower\nwith other currency combinations.\n\n
How do the costs differ from traditional stock? \nmay be about the same excluding expensive productions needed in RM\n
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Technical requirements are much stiffer for microstock than for traditional stock\nSubmit the minimum to start. \nIf there are no minimums limit first submission to a dozen or so images. \nFollow the submission guidelines to a t. \n
NO sleeping cats\n unless you submit for editorial on Dreamstime, Shutterstock or iStockphoto\n\n
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Keywords: braying, zebra, stripes, mouth, yawn, mammal, open. What keywords to use to ensure that someone who wanted a photo that made an announcement? Shout? Yell? Noise?\n