Microstock

Microstock Illustration is an offshoot of traditional stock illustration. A microstock company sources their images via the Internet from a wider range of illustrators than the traditional stock agencies due to a willingness to accept images from amateurs as well as professional artists. The reason they are called microstock is that they sell each image for a very low rate (approximately $1-$25 for a royalty-free image). The idea is that artists will end up making as much from many small sales as they would from a few large sales on a traditional stock illustration site.

Pricing and payment varies at each microstock company. Artists can upload the same illustrations on multiple sites or, with some agencies, become an exclusive supplier and receive an increased commission.

There is no fee to post images on a microstock site but microstock companies do not accept everyone or all illustrations. The inspectors review every picture for technical quality as well as artistic and commercial merit. Contributors add keywords that help potential buyers find pictures of interest.

iStockphoto

iStockphoto is a great source of high quality, low-cost stock photos and the leader in the emerging microstock industry. iStockphoto’s success opened up a new market for stock photography and illustration, catering to customers who could not afford traditional, high cost stock images. This success caught the eye of Getty Images, who acquired istockphoto for $50 million dollars in 2006.

iStockphoto’s innovation was offering all its image licenses royalty-free, available via easy download over the Internet. By allowing semi-professionals to join, iStockphoto drastically reduced the cost of stock images for graphic designers, small businesses, and non-profits that could not afford traditional sources of stock art.

Commissions vary from 20% - 40% based on sales milestones reached and whether the photographer grants iStockphoto exclusive use of images. iStockphoto has many active online forums where new users can post questions and get help from experienced users. These active forums have made the iStockphoto community welcoming to new users and engaging for experienced users. One reason that iStockphoto has such an active community is that their users have personal, financial ties to the overall success of the company.

Micro Stock Agencies that Sell Illustration

Top Microstock companies that sell vector illustrations in addition to photography are:

	istockphoto.com iStockphoto is credited with starting the microstock industry. The website started off providing free photos by the founder, Bruce Livingstone, before he evolved his website into the current microstock model that we have today. iStockphoto was bought by Stock Photography giant Getty for $50million dollars in 2006.
	Shutterstock.com Shutterstock is IStockphoto's biggest competitor. Adored by contributors for it’s high earnings, Shutterstock uses a subscription model where users download an unlimited number of images in a set time and price. Shutterstock launched in 2003 but according to the Alexa stats it didn’t start getting popular until 2005.
	Fotolia.com Fotolia is a relatively young microstock agency (founded late 2004) that's focused on the European market. This makes them a late entrant to the market but they’ve made up for it with their portfolio numbers, quantity of contributors, and the amount of press coverage they get.
	Dreamstime.com Dreamstime is one of the top microstock agencies. Their commission for photographers is 50%, on of the the highest in the market. Despite slower sales, their success is attributed to their high commission rate. Offers credits or a subscription to purchase images.
	Shutterpoint.com ShutterPoint collects membership fees from contributors (about $19 for one year to start). It was founded in 2003 with the goal of providing a medium for photographers to interact directly with image buyers.
	IllustratedStock.com llustratedStock is a microstock website where you can sell you illustration for any price you want. You keep 50% of the sale price for all images. They are just getting started and are looking for talented artists. The only sell jpg format- no vectors yet. llustratedStock is owned and run by artists.
	Big Stock Photo.com BigStockPhoto doesn't compare in size to the market dominators, but they make a splash. Entered the scene in late 2004, BigStockPhoto experienced impressive growth in 2006. Since then, it’s tapered off, according to the Alexa charts.
	StockXpert.com (Jupiter Images) The Stockxpert subscription service was launched to serve the needs of high volume microstock image buyers. Subscriptions are available for one month, three months and one year, and allow subscribers to download up to 25 images per day. Stockxpert.com lets buyers purchase the images they need for their creative projects either by individual image download or by subscription.
	Featurepics.com Featurepics is an emerging stock photography web site, which has been serving photographing community since 2004. Recently added the ability to download vectors.