UPDATE:
While everything below holds true, the way photoconnect
accepts images is changing. It will feature only images
from photographers who have their own websites supplied
by photoconnect. Unlike other photographer website
solutions, photoconnect allows you to tap into market
offered by people searching for images on the web.
More details will be on the site soon so you might want to check back. In the meantime please do not submit any images for review.
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What is involved?
This page is aimed at those who wish to use photoconnect
as their primary sales platform. Photoconnect is not a
gallery site, above all you must be serious about selling
your
stock
photos online.
You
will
be
a
photographer,
professional
or semi-professional, who has a quality scanner or high
end digital camera. You will know how to prepare and
transfer digital
images to buyers and deal with them at a business level.
You will have an eye for photos that do sell and believe
that
the
customer
for
your
stock
photos deserves the best service.
You will be
aware that search engines will work well in certain areas
in bringing you customers. However in most areas selling
stock photos means marketing them and, just as you would
with your own website, you should be willing to help yourself
in this area.
Selling stock photos with Photoconnect means that your
precious original negatives and transparencies never leave
your
home. You
do not have to worry about whether agencies pay you the
commission due. If agencies are not demanding it, you don't
spend hours producing giant files for each and every one
of your
photos. You put
the effort
where it's needed - into high quality scanning and preparation
of the stock photos that you have sold.
You really need to know about the market for
stock photos - what sells - and how to deliver images electronically.
If using conventional film, you need to be fully conversant
with what it takes to scan and manipulate images to produce
quality results - whether a high resolution image for a
customer or to get images cleanly onto a computer screen.
You also need to be fully conversant with the properties
of alternative electronic files such as .tiffs and .jpgs
and which to use in particular circumstances. You should
be able to optimise to fit those circumstances delivering
at specified sizes without causing any visible degradation
in image quality.
What are people searching for on the
web?
If you are wishing to simply allow search engines to bring
traffic to your images then you need to be particularly
disciplined in constructing your images around particular
themes. Here are examples:
- images from specific locations eg London,
Madrid, Venezuela
- niche activities and specific sports eg pilates, horse
racing
- rare specialist images eg the 1984/85 Miners Strike
in the UK, refugees
In the end, any image can sell on Photoconnect. Your chances
of success in using Photoconnect are however enhanced if
you can identify areas where buyers might turn to searching
on the general internet search engines to find an image.
What does not work? No
matter how good they are the evidence from our first year
of operation suggests that you are unlikely to make sales
from people searching in the following areas:
- landscapes (because of intense competition)
- conceptual images (people do not tend to search on
concepts)
Who buys at photoconnect?
The people who find photoconnect
tend to be the thousands of occasional photobuyers with
no ties
to
agencies
or
those familiar
with agencies
who turn to the internet to find a specialist area.
The steps in the selling process
There are three steps in the process of selling your stock
photos with Photoconnect:
- Carefully consider whether Photoconnect
is right for you - your decision
- Become an approved photographer and
submit your first images - approval.
- Deal directly with your stock photography
buyers - delivery.
Step one - your decision
This is the most important step - we want to establish
this business to be as inclusive as possible but at the
same time we have to set standards so that professional
image buyers know that it is unlikely that their time will
be wasted through choosing to buy from a photographer who
cannot deliver a quality final image.
We want to deal with photographers who have quality, saleable
images for sale. The up front fee helps in achieving this
end. But more than this, we want to deal with photographers
who are willing - and able - to provide buyers a level
of service that makes the buyers want to come back.
Photoconnect buyers may expect greater flexibility eg
Photoconnect photographers may be available to
deliver at weekends when the major agencies are closed.
Occasionally buyers may prefer a print or an original transparency
- Photoconnect photographers should be flexible and be
able to deal with their wishes.
We do not impose any conditions on you that restrict your
rights to sell your stock images through agencies, libraries
or directly through your own website. Remember that we
are not an agency in the normal terminology - we are a
way of selling your images direct. It is just like having
your own website - with a few advantages thrown in.
You will get more out of the site by also marketing your
images yourself. Just like having your own website,
it is unwise to solely rely on search engines as the route
that buyers will take to get to you.
We do ask that you consider our flexible approach to selling
images - although you can choose otherwise, for some photos
restricting sales to a particular licensing method
may not be the best way of maximising your income. Read
the licenses page
to see what we mean by flexibility.
Step two - approval and submission of
first image set(s)
Go to this page to
see the detail of handling your first submissions to us.
Only when we know that your stock photos loaded and properly
keyworded on the site will we ask you for payment. You can
pay by cheque or credit or debit card. You payments are processed
by WorldPay. 
See our pricing
page for more detail and the package deal for
new photographers.
Once we have received payment, your first stock images will appear
on the site. You will then be in a position to submit more. If
you already have your images organised for optimum presentation
on the computer screen then you will find this a simple and time
efficient process.
Step three - delivery to buyers
When you sell a photo, you and we will receive a purchase request
from a buyer. You are free to negotiate a lower price with the
buyer but, because prices are set out on the site, buyers should
know that you are unlikely to sell the photo for less than the
price set.
You deliver the image to the buyer at their specification at the
price you agree. You invoice the buyer and you should obtain payment
as efficiently and quickly as possible directly from the buyer.
There is help in this area in the photographers'
forum and here.
If you can accept credit cards by PayPal then new options are open
to you.
The responsibility for monitoring that buyers are not abusing
the rights purchased and collecting the cash is yours. |
