ShutterStock is a Revolution. If some years back you were a good photographer, a really good one, you still had no way to make money by reaching a wide audience other than doing all the dirty sales work yourself. Technology prevails! Technology not only lets us have an easy access to such enormous media content online, but also lets the creators showcase and even turn their talent into a
ShutterStock is amazing. It allows, the creators (you) to upload Images/Video Footage and sells them to the huge customer base they already have, which consists of various businesses or individuals who are looking for original artwork to use in their media productions or websites.
living. Now this is not even the part that excites me the most. The part that excites me is about separating out the creators of the content with the ones who take care of showcasing and selling them. Well, you still have to sell for yourself. But today technology makes it possible for a photographer or a graphics designer to just focus on what they like the most and leave the part that makes them uncomfortable (selling or marketing) to technology.
How do you make money?
Customers of
ShutterStock are subscribers of the content. The way
ShutterStock works is quite different from others as its primary way of selling content is not through individual downloads but through subscriptions. So customers have monthly/yearly subscriptions and they can download unlimited images under those subscriptions. Each time they download your uploaded image, you make money! Image payout rates range from
$0.25 to $28.00 USD per download. Footage contributors earn a 30% commission each time a clip is purchased. Because the customers don't have to choose too carefully before downloading due to this model, the number of downloads are far higher than other approaches. Individual downloads are also available where sales revenue is shared with the creator, YOU.
Is ShutterStock really Free?
Absolutely! All you need to do is
Sign Up and upload your valid identity proof. Everything is very smooth. They monitor the content very strictly for plagiarism and you have to get the content approved before it makes it to the galleries. It might sound a bit restrictive but if you think about it, it's indeed a good thing. Restrictions help keeping the site clean. And if you are a serious Contributor, your content will get approved and stand a better chance of getting notices and ultimately SOLD.
Anything else you need to know about ShutterStock?
The initial
Sign Up process is smooth. But ID approval takes around 48 hours. Further, for each image you upload it will have to go through the approval process. It might become irritating sometimes, as you want your recently clicked million dollar snapshot to be up there and selling immediately. However, a little patience will go a long way as once approved the photo can sell for as long as you want and as long as its up there.
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