Hi, this is Anne for Graphic Design How To, and today I'm going to tell you how to make
passive income with stock vectors (I'm a stock vector artist), and stock photos.
So this is going to be a three- or four-part series all about stock vectors, how to actually
make money creating them, and what they're all about, and how much money you can make.
So in this first episode, I'm going to tell you what stock vectors are all about, and
we'll go over the money stuff.
So let's get started.
Okay, so how does it all work?
Well, if you're a stock vector creator, you will create images in Illustrator or CorelDRAW,
or whatever you happen to have.
If you are a photographer, this means just taking pictures.
Next, you'll upload them to a stock site like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Bigstock, CanStock...
there's tons of them out there, and we'll go over the ones that make the most money
here in a little bit.
Next, you'll create a title and tags for each of your images.
And those are really important because that's how people find your image.
So if your titles and tags aren't good, nobody will ever find it, and you won't sell any.
So you want to make sure they're very relevant to your image.
Once you hit submit, your image will go off to an approval team at the stock site.
And this is real people.
It's not computers, and they take time and they go over everything there is to go over
about your image to make sure it is sellable.
And that the title and keywords match your image and that kind of thing.
No spam.
Finally, once it's approved, you'll be on the site, and you will be able to sell your
images.
So it's pretty awesome.
So you're probably wondering how much money can you really make?
Well, when I first started out, I had 10 images on Shutterstock.
With that site, you have to have at least 10 images to upload at all.
You have to pass an approval process and all that stuff.
So I had 10 images out there.
And my first month, I made a whopping $1.81.
So it wasn't very much money, and it was a lot of time that I put in.
But I just want to encourage you guys that if you keep making images, you will continue
to increase that amount per month.
So let's go over a little bit on how your portfolio works as a passive income generator.
So let's say you put out 10 images.
And just as an example, those 10 images make $10 a month, or $10 that first month.
And the next month, you add 10 more to it, and so it makes $20 a month.
Now if you stop right there, your images will probably continue to make $20 every month
even if you don't add any more images.
After a while, they'll start to taper off because you always need to be adding more
to stay higher in the search results.
So that means if you keep creating new images every month, your amount that you make will
go up every month as well.
So it'll be like $10, $20, $30, $40, and it might not be that fast.
It might not be that slow, but it will increase as long as you continue to make images that
are relevant and people want to buy.
So you're probably asking, Well, how much do I make per download?
And there really are like three tiers for all the stock sites.
And that is a huge generalization.
There are way more tiers than that, but the three amounts, (these are averages) are probably
like 25 cents... that's the one that you will get the most often.
And you're probably thinking like, 'Twenty-five cents?
Why will I even do this and waste my time if I'm only making 25 cents an image?'
I want to go over some ways that I personally justify that low amount here in a minute,
so just hold on.
But the next amount you'll make is anywhere from $1 to $3 per image.
You'll probably get several of those, not nearly as many as the 25-cent ones, but you'll...you'll
make those.
And then,finally, the last kind is about $25 per image.
And when that happens, that means that someone's bought an extended license of your image.
And so they paid about $75 to $100 for your image, and you get a much larger cut when
they buy an extended license.
And that's why you make so much money.
I've had that happen a couple times.
It definitely does not happen a lot.
So don't expect that right off the bat.
Now, let's go over a few ways to actually justify that money part of the equation.
For me personally, I just keep in mind a few things.
Number one, these are recurring sales.
So yes, you sold that image for 25 cents.
But over time, you can sell that image hundreds of times or even thousands of times, and that's
when it really starts making sense to be a vector or photo stock artist.
So if your image sells 1000 times over five years, you've made $250 on that image, if
you only made 25-cent download types.
Now, when you think about all the time that went in on that, it's probably a pretty good
amount per hour for the time that you spent.
Another thing to think about is that you can be non-exclusive with these stock agencies.
So you can have your stuff at Shutterstock and you can also have it at Adobe Stock.
You can have it at CanStock.
As long as you agree to be a non-exclusive contributor, you can sell your stuff wherever
you want, and it's totally okay with them.
It doesn't pay quite as nicely as being an exclusive contributor for, say, Istock.
But I would rather have my stuff all over the place than at just one agency.
Now I'm going to give you my list of what I think are the agencies that pay the best.
Number one is Shutterstock.
Two is Adobe Stock or Fotolia.
They're the same company now.
Dreamstime, Bigstock, Canstock, 123rf, Alamy, Depositphotos and Istock.
And actually for me, Alamy has not done very well at all.
It's probably the lowest one on there.
Maybe.
CanStock, Depositphotos don't do very well either for me.
Those are some of the ones that I contribute to.
And I really recommend if you're going to do this, go ahead and put your artwork out
on as many places as you can...might as well.
Another thing that I keep in mind to justify the low amount is the fact that this is passive
income.
Yes, you have to work hard at first, but over time, you'll see that money coming in every
month and you don't feel like you worked very hard for it.
So I really encourage you to go ahead and start with this.
Make new images every month, get those out there, and then whatever you're making passively
before, you have all that new income to add to it.
Next week, we will go over how to set goals for your stock image business and also what
makes a good stock image compared to something that would not be so sellable.
So tune in next week, and thank you guys so much for watching my video.
If you liked this, please click the 'Like' button, and
I'll see you next Thursday.
Thanks, guys!!!