A couple of years ago I discovered microstock
and I’ve been supplementing my income selling vector artwork ever since.
What is microstock?
Microstock photography,
also known as micropayment
photography, is a part of the stock photography industry. What defines a
company as a microstock photography company is that they (1) source their
images almost exclusively via the Internet, (2) do so from a wider range of
photographers than the traditional stock agencies (including a willingness to
accept images from "amateurs" and hobbyists), and (3) sell their
images at a very low rate (from US$0.20 to $200 in the US) for a royalty-free
(RF) image.
Well, that
depends on a couple of
factors; the quality of your work and the quantity of your work. Quality is the
more important key here. One good piece could sell a couple of times every day,
while 100 poor graphics might not sell at all. The beauty of the stock graphics
industry is you’re selling usage rights to your artwork, not the artwork
itself, so you can sell a single piece as many times as someone might need it.
As of writing this, my library of around 600 pieces makes up about a third of
my overall monthly income.
Each agency has different usage rights and licenses, so check their
terms individually for licensing details.
What kinds of graphics sell the best?
It’s hard to say. I have some pieces that I thought were a bit
bland, but sell multiple times a day and others that I put more time into that
get purchased less frequently. I just like to play the numbers game. Create
quality graphics, upload, and repeat. You never know what will catch fire.
How do you get started
selling your artwork online?
Below are links to my most successful of the microstock agencies I
use in order of monthly sales. I would suggest you re the next section of file
preparation be for you start submitting.
How to prepare your files for
microstock sales.
Each agency has some variants as far as what they need, so please
check their guidelines prior to submittal. But there are many points that are
universal for stock acceptance:
• Files must be saved as EPS 10 or earlier
• Expand your fonts and strokes
• NO open paths (I like to use this “close all paths” script: http://vectips.com/tricks/10-free-and-extremely-useful-illustrator-scripts/)
• No image objects
• If you’re using transparencies, set your preset to 100% vector to
keep Illustrator from turning your transparencies into images objects
• Save jpeg versions (each agency has their own requirements for
these as well, but it’s a good idea to keep a lower resolution (500px) and a
higher resolution (5000px) version for use with the various agencies.)
Please feel free to contact me with any questions regarding getting
started. It’s always nice to meet like-minded artists. www.graphicgeoff.com
