Shutterstock Review
Shutterstock – this is the big one. For most microstock photographers, Shutterstock consistently outperforms all other agencies. If you are thinking of getting started as a microstock photographer, make sure Shutterstock is at the top of your list to join. For most independent contributors, Shutterstock consistently brings in around 40-50% of a microstock photographer’s monthly earnings. That’s pretty impressive.
Recently Shutterstock have added a whole raft of new image licenses that they aren’t giving too much information about. Suffice to say though, these new licenses are earning contributors a lot of extra income. Some individual sales are netting people anywhere from $16 to $120 per image. This is obviously very welcome news, especially when some other sites seem to be dropping prices or commissions. Yet again Shutterstock just seem to know how to win both buyers and contributors alike.
Why sign up with Shutterstock?
- Highest earning agency for most stock photographers
- Consistent, regular sales ranging from $0.25 to $28 per sale (or more on occasion)
- Relatively tough agency from a review perspective that will help improve your images long-term
- Massive worldwide exposure
- Easy to use website with new features often making their debut
What’s the downside to Shutterstock?
- Honestly – not much!
- Huge amount of competition, your work will need to stand out
- Initial image approval process can be tough (see our tips to getting accepted at Shutterstock)
- It’s the kind of agency where you may need to keep adding images frequently to keep your head above water
Shutterstock Review – Conclusion
Shutterstock’s search model favours new images quite heavily, although perhaps not as much as it used to. They have introduced new search functionality recently that has changed things around a bit, but certainly not broken anything (unlike some site’s new ‘features’ that seem to only make things worse!)
The way Shutterstock report your statistics as a contributor (downloads, revenue, gross totals etc) is extremely well done and a few other agencies could learn a thing or two from it. All the information you will want as a photographer selling your photos is presented on one page that is regularly updated (every hour or so to maintain database performance). They even have the Shutterstock Contributor app available for your smart-phone!
Personally, Shutterstock represents about 40% of my monthly income. And they seem to sell more each month. This agency is a consistent earner, with a proven track record of decent dealings with their contributors. Buyers seem pretty happy too, as sales seem to keep improving for most contributors, despite the competition increasing as well. Whatever Shutterstock are doing behind the scenes is working!
Shutterstock works equally well for both photos and vectors. Both are in high demand here. But they handle vectors slightly differently to most other agencies. If you submit a vector, only a vector will be available for sale – no jpg raster version. So don’t forget to upload a separate jpg version of your vector image once the vector has been accepted. Then you double your chances of selling! Just be sure to remove the word ‘vector’ from your jpg’s keywords and description or it might get rejected.
The one thing that sometimes puts people off Shutterstock is their initial image acceptance test. You can read our tips for passing it and increase your chances. Yes, this initial test can be tricky. But then again, you are asking to be part of the world’s best selling stock library! Just give it your best, and keep on trying. The results once accepted more than make up for it.
My review advice for Shutterstock is simple – Sign up. Sign up now. You will not regret it.
Thanks for reading. Are you ready to check out Shutterstock now?
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Shutterstock Review - Microstock Agency,
8 comments:
This is a super website with fantastic info! Thanks for making it
I have a question, I just went “unexclusive” with an agency have a 30 day wait, when can I apply to shutterstock… I want my images ready to “sell” on day 31 or 33 ish. Is this possible?
Hey Kim, thanks for the great feedback.
To answer your question, you can apply right away to Shutterstock as they have an option to make your portfolio live or not. So basically you can start uploading etc and then just flick the switch once your exclusive contract expires! Great feature hey!
You’ll find this option under the account settings. Let me know if you need more info
Ooooooh!!!! Goody! Wow thanks a bunch! Your website has given me the courage to take this plunge as well as the 50% ++ income dip this co gave us
Love your excitement Kim!
Can only guess which agency you were exclusive at… Let’s hope they lift their game soon.
All the best at Shutterstock!
Hey Kim, just noticed your images are online, congrats! Just thought I’d mention that at Shutterstock you should also upload a JPG version of approved vectors. This is not only allowed, but encouraged, as some buyers don’t understand how to use vectors, so you up your sale potential having it in JPG as well (as Shutterstock don’t automatically make a JPG version available for sale, unlike most other sites)
Hope that little tip helps. Will add this to my site info ASAP for the benefit of others.
nice
Yeah, double your port for almost no extra work! I
I should mention, make sure when you submit your raster versions of your vectors that you leave a note in the “Note to Reviewer” section that you are submitting raster versions of already accepted vectors.
Seems to avoid any worries about rejections, if the vectors are already approved.
You’d be surprised how many people just download the raster (jpg) version and not the vector.