Have you thought of illustrations? I thinking getting into
Shutterstock can be harder than staying there. I find they accept a lot more of my illustrations because they can't grip about noise or focus. I am not the best example because I applied over two years ago when life was easy.
However, I will tell you the good and bad of
Shutterstock:
The good:
1. Their submission process just plain ROCKS! Its easy and fast, not complicated categories and submission, you can do 50 images in one go.
2. They spell check and get rid of common words, for this reason I submit to them first and then go change my images with any mispellings.
3. Instant gratification - Images generally sell VERY well on Shutterstock for the first two weeks. This is because its not selling, but merely people picking the image up "in case" they want to use it. Subscription has its benefits for the photog. I like the fact that an image gets accepted and instantly starts making me money. This isn't always true on other agencies. Things take a while to start showing up in the search results
The Bad:
1. Trickle off - If you don't submit consistantly, your sales drop over time rather quickly
2. An exercise in humility - You will always have your best shots denied. Just take it in stride. I alwats submit to at least 5 agencies and only pay attention if a shot gets rejects in 3 or more of them. Different reviewers trying to apply the different guidlines of (ever changing) different agencies doesn't make it easy to learn what works best. Try to average this out by changing or learning from images rejected by most of the agencies you submit to.
Did I get carried away?
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