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How To Sell Your Photos Links for Stock Photography IntroductionStock photos are pictures that you have taken. They are in your "stock" of existing photos, your inventory of things you can sell today. You own the copyright, that is you possess a legal, intellectual-property right that was automatically bestowed upon you (as the creator) when the photo was taken. Owning the copyright allows you to license the usage of your photos to make money from them. Even though someone else is using your photos, you'll still retain the copyright, so you can license the photos over and over again, continually making money from the same shots. Sounds good huh? Welcome to stock photography.How Do I Copyright my Photo? Photos You Can't Sell The Law for Photographers Books about Photography Law. Stock AgenciesThere are so many photo buyers and sellers that in between are stock agencies. Buyers can visit an agency and quickly search the work of many photographers. Conversely, photographers can get their photos seen by more buyers, and they don't have to deal with clients directly. The stock agency hosts the photos; provides search capabilities, order fulfillment and billing; and pays the photographer commission on a regular basis. For this service, the agency keeps a percentage of the transaction. There's an overwhelming number of stock agencies. Many are owned by the "big three" -- Getty, Corbis and Jupiter. Differing agencies provide differing prices, commissions, qualities, and subjects, but they share one thing in common: licensing. There are just two general types of license: "rights-managed" and "royalty-free". In the trade, this is shortened to "RM" and "RF".Links to Stock Agencies Rights-Managed and Royalty-FreeStock photos are generally licensed in one of two ways:Professional stock photographers generally supply rights-managed photos through traditional stock agencies. However, these agencies are exceedingly selective about which photographers they'll work with and the quality they'll accept. So, as a new photographer, if you work with an agency, you'll likely be in the royalty-free market. Micro-StockEven though royalty-free photography is cheaper than rights-managed, it is still too expensive for many budget-conscious users. For example, small office-, home office-, non-profit-, and amateur publishers have limited means to buy photography. So, thanks to the Internet, there's now a low-cost version of the original low-cost version of stock photography: Micro Stock. Microstock agencies charge as little as a dollar per image. They are also known as "micro-payment" sites and "royalty-free digital stock photography communities". There's a mouthfull. From a novice photographer's perspective, although the revenues are low, so are the barriers to entry. Whereas traditional royalty-free agencies may reject your work, micro-stock agencies often let you post whatever you have and let the customer decide what will sell. Prices are often (but not always) determined by the agency and are typically based on image size downloaded by the client. Here are some popular sites:
Links to Microstock Sites Variations of Micro-StockThere's nothing cheaper than free. You won't get paid for your work but you can allow it to get published.Stock.xchng Part-owned by JupitermediaMake and sell your own photo products with: Links to Free Stock Sites Books about Selling Photography How To Share Your Photos As Online Albums How To Make Photo Prints and Gifts How To Sell Your Photos Links for Stock Photography 
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