For example, the lengthy QC process (at least with Alamy) can mean that it will take up to 25 days to get your images accepted and ready to sell. There are no guarantees that your images will be accepted either, and if one fails QC, the whole batch fails QC. This means that if you’ve been a bit lazy you might be waiting 25 days only to find that another few minutes spent checking your images would have meant you didn’t have to wait another 25 days after resubmitting your work.

So, not only can the whole submission process take a while, you then have to keyword your images. This again needs some thought and effort to make sure your keywords are accurate and not too generic.

Then there is the fact that you are up against so many other, and in my case, more talented, photographers producing some great images with plenty of experience in the stock industry. So how are your images going to be the ones that people want?

Well, that’s what I’m hoping to work out over the coming months and make some decent sales.

So, the message of this post is that if you are serious about stock photography, you have to stick at it because once you have a decent collection of images you will start to generate a passive income, meaning that your images will continue to sell without you having to do anything, therefore making you money for doing nothing. The holy grail!!

If only it was that simple eh?

Well, the guys over at Crestock have blogged about their Top Ten Bestselling Images. Well worth a look.

You’ll notice that not all the images are photos, so if you are a creative type who’s good with a Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop then you might consider submitting artwork too to those libraries who allow it.