In general, for all sites except for IStockPhoto and Shutterstock I pay very little attention to them.  When I have pictures to submit, I submit to them and I check my sales each day.  However I never really pay attention to which pictures they accept and reject and I never resubmit rejected photos to them.

I will now cover these sites in more depth.

Fotolia

Fotolia was the second microstock site I joined and has one of my largest portfolios.  This site has changed tremendously in the last few years.  When they first started up, they offered to pay photographers for each image submitted.  As a result, Fotolia quickly built up a large collection of poorly taken photographs.  After some time, they wisely decided to comb through their collection and remove photographs that never sold – reducing their photograph count significantly.  Then there was the version upgrade – an example in how not to engineer a product – that had their site down for over a week and so alienated customers and photographers that I thought for sure they would go out of business.

However, survive they did and they rebounded a few months after the disastrous server upgrade.  Although my sales there have roughly remained the same, they are now in fourth place in sales behind Dreamstime.

Fotolia provides both on demand and subscription downloads – which like IStockPhoto they recently added in order to better compete with Shutterstock.  Payouts are around 35 cents for subscriptions and a few dollars for on demand.  Most downloads are still on demand.  However, image sales are much slower than at the other sites.

Fotolia, like StockXPert, has a very low tolerance for any pictures of modern buildings.  While Shutterstock and IStockPhoto will accept pictures of any modern buildings known to not be copyrighted, Fotolia will always reject them.  As a result, some of my more popular photos do not sell on there which has likely limited my sales.

Some key advantages with Fotolia are the easy acceptance policy (you do not need to submit any photos for acceptance) and the quickest turnaround for reviews of all microstock sites.  Generally photos are reviewed within 24-48 hours and give me a good preview for what the other sites will do.

Reviewing is rather tough on Fotolia and seems quite random.  Whether they are more random than other sites is difficult to tell because I honestly don’t pay attention to their rejections.  One big disadvantage is they do not provide any actionable info on why the picture was rejected.  Instead they will say something like “quality of the picture” in terms of the rejection reason.  They also often refer to pictures by number – meaning you have no idea what picture they are talking about without further investigation.  Interestingly though, they are the only site where you can look up who purchased your photos.

Fotolia is relatively easy to submit to.  You can use their flash uploader or upload via FTP.  You then just need to click a few buttons for each image and select categories.  However, their web site is not very usable in that you must continually go to the main page and select an image to edit.  This means that uploads on Fotolia take longer than Dreamstime or Shutterstock but not as long as IStockPhoto.

My recommendation is to start out with Fotolia instead of any of the other sites.  Acceptance is easy and you will receive quick feedback on your photos.  Therefore it is the easiest site where you can determine whether you have acceptable pictures for stock.  Once you have a small number of shots accepted there, I recommend you use the same pictures to join more profitable sites such as Shutterstock and IStockPhoto.

Dreamstime

Dreamstime has rapidly come on lately and is now solidly in third place for me in terms of earnings.  They appear rather like a poor man’s IStockPhoto but they are definitely worth your time in terms of submissions.  They offer a good number of helpful blogs on their site and their reviews are relatively uniform.  In general I find it easier to get images accepted here than at other sites which may be a reason for the increased sales.  You can choose for individual images to be exclusive to Dreamstime – which is required if you enter their contests – but there is little reason to do this.  You will always make more money by submitting to multiple sites.

Dreamstime has a relatively easy submission process.  I often submit my pictures via FTP and then only need to select the category for each image.  Their site allows you to easily select the categories from previous images so new submissions often move quickly.

I don’t really have a lot to say about Dreamstime.  They have been a solid seller for me but I haven’t interacted with them very much.  Still, they are well worth your time to submit to.

StockXPert

This site has by far the lowest sales of all the sites I submit to and is probably the only other site that is worth your time.  It is by far the easiest to submit to as you do not need to select categories for images.  Simply upload them via FTP and then click a single button to submit them in bulk – making this site the easiest of all microstock sites to submit to.  You don’t even need to add keywords – though you will if you want your images to sell.  Their site is also amazingly confusing.  Recently StockXPert has been hit with controversy over changes in their licensing plans.  A number of photographers removed their accounts there but I kept mine with the hope that the new sites would increase my sales – for the most part they have stayed the same and don’t amount to much.  Still, despite the low sales they are so ridiculously easy to submit to that it is probably worth the effort.

Other sites

There are of course tons of microstock sites out there.  The only other site that I do not submit to but is probably worth the effort is Alamy.  Alamy is actually a traditional stock house but they have eased their submission process to make it much easier.  Still, you have to significantly upsize your images that you submit there – meaning the submission process is much slower.  Sales are also much slower there but the earnings are higher when you receive a sale.  At some point I will likely sign up here as it is likely worth the effort.  I know several photographers who submit there and they make on average about $30 a month.  This would put it around fourth or fifth on my list of earnings sites but if I can come up with an automated way to submit I will likely submit there.

Other sites include CanStockPhoto, BigStockPhoto, CreStock, and SnapVillage.  None of these are worth your time as sales are very low.  SnapVillage, though started by a reputable name in Corbis, is also an example of how not to start a web site.  Another site – LuckyOliver – known for their very fair treatment of photographers – went out of business recently.  I suspect many of these other sites will soon follow suit.

Depending on the images you sell, there may be other sites worth your time.  There are a number of sites limited to a certain geographic area.  For instance, if you live in Scandinavia there are sites that specialize in that area as there are with some other countries.

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The following are breakdowns of how each site did.

StockXPert (5.76%) – Overall it seems like it was a wise idea to join this site.  Sales are still the lowest of all the sites where I submit, but the percentage has grown from 1-2% of total to something a bit more meaningful.  This is also the easiest site to submit to, as I do not need to categorize my pictures.

Fotolia (7.52%) – I have noticed Fotolia becoming more erratic with their reviews.  Pictures that are rejected at both Shutterstock and IStockPhoto – whose rejections once I look at the shot I agree with – were accepted by Fotolia.  On the other hand, a good number of shots that are accepted by both are rejected for reasons I do not agree with – though it’s not worth the bother to resubmit.  Only a few sales late in the month prevented Fotolia from moving to last place, though their days solidly in third place appear to be over.

Dreamstime (10.34%) – It is not overly difficult to submit here – though a bit more difficult than Shutterstock – but I am pleased with the numbers.  I suspect that Dreamstime will solidly occupy the #3 slot for some time.  Their review system is a bit weird – and I’m not talking about the actual reviews.  Currently I just submit my shots there and look at the sales – I don’t really have an idea how many shots they accept/reject.

Shutterstock (37.85%) – For just the second time Shutterstock comes in second to IStockPhoto, though the race was very close.  Perhaps IStockPhoto’s new subscription element is hurting them, as I have noticed a dropoff in sales.  Still, as I mentioned above I saw the same results this year as I did next year, so I won’t really know if anything is up until next month.  Supposedly this month there will be a raise, so I expect May’s results to be higher.

IStockPhoto (38.53%) – In a narrow race IStockPhoto edges out Shutterstock.  This month they began a subscription plan, but I have yet to really see a difference in the pattern of sales.  Perhaps next month I will start to see more subscription downloads.  It does seem that IStockPhoto was less affected by the slowdown than Shutterstock, reflected in IStockPhoto being tops in sales for the month.

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The following are some details I noticed about each site this month.

StockXPert (2.95%) – I now have most of my portfolio submitted to this site.  They are they most paranoid site in terms of potential rights issues and as a result most of my best selling shots were not accepted.  As this is the easiest site to submit too, I will likely continue to submit here even though my sales are low.  Still, this site has improved somewhat from the last two months.

Dreamstime (6.41%) – This was a rather standard month on Dreamstime, which had respectable but not outstanding sales.  It is certainly worth the effort to submit here, though I don’t pay attention to which shots are accepted/rejected.

Fotolia (7.37%) – Fotolia started out the month quite strong and at the beginning of the month was close to Shutterstock in sales.  However, after the middle of the month sales slowed considerably and it came close to being overcome by Dreamstime.  Of the Microstock sites, I still think this is the least professional site among them.  Right now obviously new buyers are coming in at a faster rate than sellers (displayed by the fact that my sales increased without submitting).  However I suspect some day that will end and Fotolia will be one of the first ones to go.

IStockPhoto (40.82%) – For most of the month IStockPhoto was in the distant lead over Shutterstock.  However, as with most months, sales at IStockPhoto remained erratic while sales at Shutterstock were steady.  The reviews at this site are still the most helpful and I like the fact that resubmission is encouraged.  However I still disagree with those who go exclusive with IStockPhoto – as you can make a lot more by diversifying.

Shutterstock (42.45%) – There has only been one month so far where Shutterstock was not top in sales and this was not the month.  In some ways I was glad that I did not have time to submit much this month as they were plagued by a rogue reviewer that rejected the majority of shots as “No commercial value”.  A number of the most popular photographers there were hit with this and were more than a little upset.  I’ll see soon whether this has been fixed, as I plan to submit a number of the pictures I have posted here recently – and I find that a flip of a coin is more helpful in determining whether they will be accepted on Shutterstock (not so on IStockPhoto, where they are accepted as long as there are no technical issues).

In terms of new sites, I applied to Lucky Oliver and was rejected.  I don’t really care much though, as after reading about others’ experiences this is more of a circus than a web site to sell pictures.  Ironically the major flaw of this site is favoring photographers too much over buyers.  They seem nice, but I don’t want to waste my time if the sales aren’t worth it.

I was accepted at several new sites – 123RF and a few others.  Perhaps this month I will take the time to finally get my portfolio up there.  I also tried out a new tool called ProStockMaster – but I found it unusable.  If I had the time I would write my own tool, but for now I will manually submit my shots – which once you have a system isn’t too much work.

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Shutterstock (44.8%) – Last month, IStockPhoto took the lead for the first time.  I was curious if this trend would continue but this month but the answer was a resounding “no”.  IStockPhoto did regain a lot of ground at the end of the month, but Shutterstock easily came out ahead and came close to getting half of my total sales.  What is even more interesting is I did not submit any new shots until the very end of the month, which suggests that my sales increase was due to new buyers and not necessarily new shots.  In even better news, the forums on Shutterstock mention there may be a raise in May – so it seems likely that my earnings will continue to increase here.  The simple reality is, though they are not pleasant to deal with, this site does bring in the most money.

IStockPhoto (37.16%) IStockPhoto had a month similar to last month, but this month came behind Shutterstock in sales.  Based on these sales I suspect going exclusive with them in the future would be a very poor choice.  I must admit though it is a pain submitting images here, as they now check that the keywords match the image exactly and their opinions often differ from mine.  Still, their reviews were quite fair this month and several good images – including two for which I just sold large prints – were accepted by IStockPhoto but rejected by Shutterstock for not being of commercial value.

Fotolia (8.73%) This month was slightly better than my previous month.  Reviews here seem to be getting very unpredictable.  On one hand, images are reviewed very quickly – usually within 24 hours of submitting.  On the other hand, image rejection sometimes seems to be random.  A recent batch of shots there was massacred, though Shutterstock and IStockPhoto accepted most of them.  After working with other sites, Fotolia seems to be poorly managed.  They have gone through a number of bumps, including a disastrous upgrade early last year, and my sales have never fully recovered.  Still, it is currently third in my earnings and worthwhile to submit shots to.

Dreamstime (7.12%) This was a rather quiet month for Dreamstime.  I submitted a large batch of photos at the end of the month but they have yet to be reviewed.  Sales are not very common here, but the commissions tend to be larger than sites like Fotolia.  Then again, my portfolio on this site is much younger and smaller than Fotolia’s.

StockXPert (2.20%) A slight gain from last month has me not ready to ditch this site yet.  I currently do not have my best selling Dubai pictures on here, so I will add them and see what happens.  I suspect that eventually sales here will be similar to Fotolia and Dreamstime.  This is also the easiest site for which to submit images.

In March I hope to take more shots.  I already have a number of insect and spider shots awaiting, though admittedly they tend not to do very well.  All sites, except Fotolia, generally accept them.  Usually for each shot I get a handful of downloads over time.  Very often when one image gets downloaded, all of my other shots of the same insect also get downloaded.  So for instance I’ll either get no woodlouse downloads (most days), or every woodlouse image will be downloaded.  On IStockPhoto, sales are much slower, though some of my better ones like the ladybug eating an aphid have received a number of downloads.

I’m also thinking of submitting to other agencies.  LuckyOliver is mentioned often, though I have seen vastly different reports of sales.  I will probably do some investigation to see if there are other sites worth submitting to.  All in all I was very pleased with my sales this month and that will definitely have an impact on future equipment purchases.

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The following are more detailed result from this month and my opinions of the different sites.

IStockPhoto (47.5%) – I had my best month ever at IStockPhoto in January and my pictures are really beginning to take off. Perhaps in the future I may go exclusive with them but right now I would only make about 20% more going exclusive and given the fact that IStockPhoto is still less than 50% of my sales this doesn’t make sense. This was the first month that IStockPhoto was my top producer. Of all the different stock sites this one is probably my favorite as they are the most cordial and consistent with their reviews. It can be difficult to get pictures accepted, but when I look at the rejected pictures based on their reviews the rejections tend to make sense.

Shutterstock (36.1%) – Shutterstock had a decent month for me in January, though it was not a record month. However, this was the first month that Shutterstock did not take first place. They were the first microstock that I started submitting to and I have by far more pictures there than elsewhere. Although my sales are decent there I’m not particularly fond of them. Whenever I’ve had to deal with them directly they have been very rude and they do not seem to care about their photographers. Also, their reviewers are wildly inconsistent. Whenever I submit a large number of pictures I will pray for a decent reviewer. Some reviewers are very accepting while others reject everything – even those that were accepted at much tougher sites like IStockPhoto – with the rejections not making sense.

Fotolia (8.0%) – Fotolia still seems to be recovering from a massive blunder several months ago when they upgraded to a new version of their software. My sales have been slowly picking up there though and at the beginning of the month I wondered whether they would beat Shutterstock. Fotolia has become much tougher with their picture selections – however they have the fastest review turnarounds. Their reviews seem for the most part to be fair. They are now a bit tougher in acceptances than Shutterstock, but not as tough as IStockPhoto.

Dreamstime (7.2%) – Dreamstime is one of the newer sites I have applied to and it was only this month that I submitted most of my photos. This is a nice start and I suspect that Dreamstime will be a stable, though not top, earner. Of all the sites they have some of the most helpful blogs on their main page and they have very interesting photo contests, though I don’t take part because the images tend to sell better on IStockPhoto and Shutterstock (their contests require the images to be exclusive to them).

StockXPert (1.1%) – I am currently quite disappointed in this site, even though I just joined. They seem to be paranoid about taking any shot that has the tiniest potential for copyright – so they reject pretty much any building. A number of other photos that have done fine on other sites and which even IStockPhoto didn’t have a problem with were rejected. Still, I have a large enough number of pictures there that the sales should be higher. I will likely submit some more this month and fix up the image groups to see if I get more downloads. If I don’t, then I’ll probably stop bothering with this site.

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