Is Stock worth the trouble

I shoot as a hobby, but do sell some prints off local coffeeshop walls.
My question is, are stock businesses worth sending work to, or do they pay too little to bother with?

Thanks

Lots of people do stock photography, what sets you apart?

Stock or Micro Stock? Some will say it's worth it, some will say it isn't, others will tell you it hurts the photography business. You'll have to try it and see if it works for you. I do some of each, make more money of micro but for me, I can't make a living at it. You have to work at it to make it work for you.

a noobs guide to stock photo...

I sell stock on Alamy and have been doing so for about 4 years. In that time, I've learned that selling stock is not "easy money". It takes a large library (meaning thousands) of good or great images before regular sales start to roll in. No only that but I've found that to be successful you have to shoot with the idea of stock sales in mind....create concepts and images that have commercial/editorial appeal. Uploading random pictures of cats, dogs, flowers and landscapes just isn't going to generate much in the way of sales.....you must create images that can clearly convey a concept or idea. Once you've done this, there is still an immense amount of competition......just go to www.alamy.com and search subjects you may be interested in selling as stock......those will be your competing images. You'll need material that stands out and above the other thousands of images. It's not easy and it could potentially take years before you begin to generate sales with any regularity. It took me about 3 years to begin to see any regular sales.....it's only now starting to "be worth it" for me.
I'm sure that it's a unique experience for everyone but I doubt that it's easy for anyone at this point

Wouldnt waste your time.


Its a saturated market and you could be shooting for years before someone buys one of your images.

Start shooting weddings and the normal crud that exists

jra wrote in post #14025151
...I've learned that selling stock is not "easy money". It takes a large library (meaning thousands) of good or great images before regular sales start to roll in. No only that but I've found that to be successful you have to shoot with the idea of stock sales in mind....create concepts and images that have commercial/editorial appeal......you must create images that can clearly convey a concept or idea. Once you've done this, there is still an immense amount of competition......

This.

Translation: it takes a lot of work and a lot of time to be successful in stock. And even then, there are no guarantees.

It aint gonna make you rich but if you have images of the appropriate quality and shoot regularly then it is a nice way to make a few pennies to invest in more gear. I've been doing it for about a year and make a couple of hundred USD per month from Microstock.