How to make money selling stock photos, illustrations, flash, and video

Some people in the image and design community make money selling there work as stock work. Tons of designers look for royalty-free stock images, and it is a great way for an artistic talent to make extra money. Here is how to make money selling your photographs, vector illustrations, video footage and Flash files.

Photography is fun and lets you show people your own unique view of the world. Turning your love of photography into a money making venture isn’t hard at all.
Take still life photographs with your camera and sell them. The same can be said for your illustrations, flash, and video work!

Nature offers an abundant opportunity to make money with a camera. Pictures of flowers and animals will never go out of style, and there are lots ways to illustrate these same settings. Put your own flare on the photographs using a computer to add value, or animate these items using flash.

There are many places online that you can then create accounts with that will actually pay for your work. I have listed these sites at the bottom of this article. Once you have an inventory or photograhy, illustrations, videos, or flash work that you want to sell, simply do the following:

Sign up for an account at each of the sites listed below, and follow their directions for becoming a contributor or selling your own work to their site.

Some sites require an approval period for your work to get reviewed by their staff. What I recommend you do is take a look at the stuff that they are already selling on their site in the category that you want to try and sell work. If it is landscape photos or waterfalls - then do a search for those images and see how your work compares before you upload. If you need to go out and getter better photos - get there and start shooting. If you work is as good or better - then start uploading your work! Same goes for vector artists out there.

Upload your work to get reviewed, and wait for the staff to send you an approval or confirmation email that your work has been accepted.

Once you are accepted - create more work, upload it, and try to get your stuff out to as many blog, sites, design groups, or photo groups that you can find online. This will help you to sell your work. If you did not get accepted, read their reasons why, and work on improving your work, content, or style.

Here are the sites to use:

iStock Photo - http://www.istockphoto.com/sell-stock-photos.php
ShutterStock - http://submit.shutterstock.com/
Vector Stock - http://www.vectorstock.com/signup
Fotolia - http://us.fotolia.com/Info/HowToSell