If you are are an amateur with an interest in computer graphics, it is very likely that you create your pictures just for your own personal enjoyment. You might use Ultrafract to explore the unfathomed depths of fractal formulas, design 3D cartoon characters with Blender or create virtual worlds with Vue or Bryce. Perhaps you will set up a website or a join a graphics community where you can show your works to the world.
Now maybe you have read somewhere that you can put up your pictures on microstock agencies and earn real money with them! So you sign up, upload a few dozen of your most beautiful pictures and take on the tedious task of assigning keywords and categories. First you will notice that a lot of your pictures will be rejected by the agencies for whatever reason. Then you sit back and wait for the cash to roll in… But after a while you might realize that you sell hardly any pictures at all, and your monthly income from your pictures might be in the single-digit range. But Why? Your pictures are so beautiful and all the forum people loved them!
In Microstock You Are not an Artist, You Are a Supplier
The most important thing to understand about selling your pictures on microstock sites is that people buy a picture not because they think it is beautiful but because they need it for their business. They don’t want to frame it and hang it an the wall above their couch, they need it for a sales brochure or a website or as an illustration for a magazine arcticle.
You can sell your pictures only if they meet a need of your customers. And one mean thing about microstock ist that you don’t even know wo buys your works. You might stumble upon them in your newspaper or even on a billboard. To be successful in microstock in general, no matter if it’s graphics or photography, is that you move from Art For Art’s Sake to Give the People What They Want. But this does not mean you should sell your soul to Mammon and deny all your aesthetic concepts.
The Holy Grail of Microstock
The true art of microstock is to find a way to align your personal style with the views of the potential buyers. The better you manage to walk that tightrope, the more successful you will be. The ultimate goal for which to strive is a picture that sells like hotcakes but could also hang in a museum.
Of course this goal is somewhat hypothetical, especially when you are just beginning. And be prepared that many of your pictures will of the bread-and-butter type. But take a look at the most popluar images on a microstock site. You will find some truly amazing pictures there that are far from being “cold an commercial” – not all but some. Now if you have the feeling that you could take on this adventure without sacrificing your artistic integrity, then I can only say three words to you: Go for it!
