iSyndica Review – How Well Does It Work For Stock Photography?

I recently had a question from a reader. She asked, “I was introduced to iSyndica through a friend, and was wondering if that would be a tool to use to help me grow my stock photography business”. So I had to go over and surf around for awhile to find out what iSyndica is all about.

I love sites like iSyndica because as a photographer, they make your job easier. They take away the difficulties of having to go and do the same functions again and again on multiple sites. But of course there is a price to pay – you have to pay for the ability to accomplish more in less time.

The best way to start testing is to start with their 14 day free trial. That gets you into the backend system so you can start uploading your images, and seeing how the backend works. Sign up when you can really use the 14 day free trial to its fullest potential.

From there, the program itself is reasonably priced. Their top package is just $150 a year, and if you’re planning on making a living as a full time stock photographer, that’s a small price to pay for effective time management. Start small, and upgrade as you find the system more useful, and you start reaching your limits. Upgrades take place almost immediately, so you can change based on your needs.

Once you have your account, you can upload and manage all of your photos. You can upload and manage in large batches, and begin grouping items to help you better organize your content. Keyword, adding descriptions, and even spell checking are all there to make sure you have your content organized to quickly feed it into the appropriate stock house.

ISyndica has over 50 distribution channels to select from, so you can easily find your favorite and most profitable stock houses online, and quickly feed your best images to them. You can also manage your accounts and add things like model releases as necessary.

Every account comes with a certain amount of credits. These credits are used as you submit your information to a stock house. ISyndica does it right here by allowing you to buy more if you need them during the month, and allows you to bank them if you don’t. Use only what you need without worrying about losing what you’ve already purchased. This is great if you are off shooting or doing other production work for a month, and simply don’t have the time to upload.

The reporting feature is also well thought out. The more you use the system and the higher plan you choose, the more frequent you’ll receive access to your reports. Track what stock houses are working the best, and quickly assess where you should be spending your time. And if you use Firefox as your browser, the statistics bar is a great feature to keep you up to date all through your day.

Thinking of using iSyndica? I give it a thumbs up. The more efficient you can be with the business and selling side of things, the more time you’ll have to devote to what you truly love – your photography.

Microstock Bidding Wars? Now You Really Need To Think Before Selling Microstock

I wandered across a new beta site today, SpiderPic. SpiderPic may be a consumer’s best friend – and a photographer’s worst nightmare if you’re not careful.

I know that feelings on microstock vary across the board with the photography community. I’ve always been a fan of selling microstock on the side, and letting it help you build up a residual, or second stream of income while you do whatever else you love.

When you sell to a microstock house like iStockPhoto or Fotolia, you make anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars, depending on your level of authority within the community.

And if you play the microstock game correctly, you’ve sold images to multiple sites. Some sites reward you if you sell exclusively to their company; and others allow you to sell the same image currently listed on other sites.

Where the danger lies is selling for different prices to different microstock sites. And that’s where SpiderPic comes in. With SpiderPic, search for images based on keyword or URL, and it will find everywhere an image is listed, and give you pricing in every location. Consumers can instantly find the lowest price for their image, instead of purchasing from a preferred microstock location. And in today’s difficult economic times, who isn’t looking for a way to cut costs any way you can?

Moral of this story: If you do sell microstock, make sure you are pricing your images the same in every location. It may also be better to build up your reputation with fewer stock houses, and use more exclusive content per site, especially as you gain a larger portfolio, and have a larger following.

Getty Images Announces A Call For Photographers

Getty Images has been scouring Flickr for over a year now looking for photographers that can add to their portfolio. Now they’re taking it to the next level, and are putting out a formal call for artists.

If you are interested in becoming a stock photographer, start by uploading 10 of your best images to the Flickr collection on Getty Images. Getty’s editors will be monitoring the uploads, looking for the right photographers to add to their contributor list. If you make the cut, your images will be a part of their collection.

Stock photography is a step up from microstock. With places like iStockPhoto, you make a few cents to a few dollars per image, depending on your portfolio status. With Getty Images, you stand to make substantially more. But keep in mind if they do accept your photos, you enter a contract with them as the exclusive seller of that image.

As with any type of photography, your best course of action is having several different ways of making money. If you’re photographing regularly for both micro stock and stock photography, the results could be rewarding.

Earning An Income With Your Photography – Passive versus Active

If any of you are fans of the Robert Kiyosaki series Rich Dad Poor Dad, or one of many other trainers out there who teach about earning income, you’ve probably heard the terms active income and passive income.

Active income is the revenue you  earn by physically doing something. Your income depends on you being there.

• You show up for your job and you get paid by the hour.
• You bring in a client and charge them for a photo shoot.
• You shoot a wedding and have people order images from you.

Passive income is the revenue that comes from something you have in place that earns revenue whether you are there or not.

• You own a rental house and the renters pay you month after month.
• You have investments, stocks, dividends, or retirement funds paying you every month.
• You write a book and receive royalty checks year after year.
• You own a stock image that makes money month after month.

Chances are up until now you’ve received the majority of your revenue from active sources. Most people do.

But think for a moment how much easier life would be if you could have both working for you all the time.

Active Income
You are a wedding photographer. You photograph 35 weddings per year. You spend over 40 hours catering to each individual client’s needs (including initial consultations, marketing, booking, shooting the event, production, and delivery).

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How To Make Money As A Stock Photographer

I’m always amazed when I head out to the forums to find photographers complaining about stock photography, and the fact there is no money to be made in that industry?

It’s just not true.

As a matter of fact, it is an incredible way to make money, and I’m seeing huge potential over the coming years in this field.

Last fall I touched on this in my Trends In Stock Photography and today I read more about it in Microstock Photography Is Getting Big.

By far, iStockPhoto is advancing as the leader in the stock photography industry. In February 2006, Getty Images purchased iStockPhoto for $50 million. In 2006, iStockPhoto had revenues of about $23 million. Fast forward to 2008, revenues jumped to $150 million, with projections for this year being around $200 million. Huge growth! And huge potential for us photographers!

If you’re thinking, “How can I ever make money with just a few cents per image sold?”, think again. iStockPhoto obviously has the desire to make money through sales of images, but it also looks for ways for building deeper relationships with great photographers too. Which is why they’ve just announced their newest division, Vetta Collection, which is comprised of images that meet a higher quality. They cost more for the end user (starting at $20 per image compared to the $1 per image for the standard images) – and provide more income for the photographer as well.

So, can you really make money as a stock photographer? Let’s take a quick look.

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Trend In Stock Photography

I’ve been noticing a trend lately on the stock sites.

Shutterstock just announced a new subscription plan with higher payouts – meaning as a photographer you can ultimately earn more money for each time your photograph is downloaded. [And it's not just Shutterstock that's raising their payouts.]

According to their latest newsletter, their payout fees have gone up anywhere from 3.25 to 7.5 times over previous numbers, ultimately paying you even more for your images.

As you earn more with these stock sites, you make more for each download. For a large file once you reach the $10k plus level, you would receive $2.85 per download. Imagine how quickly that would add up if you have a following of people that like your photography, and you continually add a few photographs each month!

I know people go back and forth with the benefits of putting images onto stock sites. I always look at it for future growth. With just a little bit of work each month, your potential is huge. Just like any other business endeavor, you have to work the system.

Want to learn more about earning a healthy income from stock photography? My stock photography program was created especially for you. I’ll show you exactly how to build up your portfolio, and create an income that will continually come in month after month.