In general, most stock photography libraries work within the same guidelines.
Photographers submit their photography on a regular basis. This photography
is then edited and the stock photography library keeps whatever stock
shots they think will sell. The stock photography library then goes
about marketing the stock photos to anyone who needs pictures. This
can include publishers, advertising agencies, TV and radio stations,
businesses,
travel companies, etc. Many of the bigger stock photography libraries
produce glossy color catalogues of their most commercial stock images
which are shipped out to regular clients and sent overseas to other
stock photography libraries around the world that act as agents and
sell the stock photos in their respective countries. More and more stock
photography libraries are also investing large amounts of money in developing
stock photography websites, which allow clients to search and order
stock images on-line.
In return for selling the stock images, stock
photography libraries usually take a 50% cut from all sales and
the photographer gets the other 50% of the profits. This is a pretty
good deal for the photographers considering they don’t have to
do any of the marketing for their photos.
The most important thing for photographers to keep in mind before approaching
any stock photography library is that stock photography
should be thought of as a long-term investment.
Many photographers think that all they have to do is send off their
latest batch of holiday pictures and sit back and wait for the money
to start rolling in. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. When
a new photographer joins a stock photography library it could take many
months before their work is integrated into the stock photo filing system.
Many stock photography libraries re-mount and re-caption all of the
images they take on. After that it could take up to two years for the
stock images to start selling..
Because of this, most stock photography
libraries stipulate a minimum retention period of two or three years
for stock images. If they didn't set this time period, many photographers
would recall their work after a year because it hadn't sold, thereby
wasting time, effort and money on the stock photography library's part
in the process.
Equally important for photographers to remember is to increase the number
of pictures held by the stock photography library on a regular basis.
If the photographer only sends off an initial batch of 200 shots then
leaves it at that, they could never make a single sale. Shooting pictures
specifically for the stock photo library as often as possible, will
rapidly build up a photographer’s stock; that's when they'll start
to see the financial
benefits.
