I Still Make Money Selling My Parenting and Family Reprints! Marketing is the Key

Nope, I didnt just WRITE the book on getting published in parenting and family magazines over and over again using the SAME article!

I am PROOF that it works because I do it and have been doing it for going on 10 years! I sent out my two Mothers Day offerings in March and have so far been accepted in 5 different magazines for a total of $170! Keep in mind here that these articles are FOUR YEARS OLD and they keep selling. I just have to market them!

How do you market an article?

You dont forget about it. You dont write it, sell it once and let it rot.

You say, "Hmmm, Im going to send out this Mothers Day piece I popped off in December to every magazine in Kerries ebook. And Im probably going to hear back from a few magazines. But then I have to put a reminder SOMEWHERE to also send it out AGAIN to all publications EXCEPT the ones who accepted it the first time (otherwise I am just rude and annoying) sometime around March for all those publications who DO NOT work 6 months in advance."

There are a lot of magazines who work 6 months out and have it all planned out. But if something INSANELY FABULOUS comes into their email box, they might bump something else or make more space.

There are also a lot of magazines who work LAST-MINUTE and you want to be their go-to writer, believe me. Its April 23 as I write this and most magazines are all put to bed, but just today I got another Mothers Day acceptance. I am happy to be the last-minute filler girl, and you should be also!

How can you do what I am doing? Just grab my print book (so you can mark it up and make changes, additions, deletions, highlights, etc.) and get going! Write me for the .csv file so you can more quickly get the emails in your system and get submitting! And dont forget you can send things previously published on your blog, on Huffington Post Parents, ANYWHERE that you did not sign a contract saying you wouldnt. If its your work, you can sell it again and again as long as you dont sign anything saying you cant shop it around for a year or something. I dont advise you do that! Heres the link!

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Why New Images at Shutterstock No Longer Selling Great

Shutterstock new images have always been performing well, but not in the past 6 months. Contributors are claiming that Shutterstock must had tweaked the search algorithm making new images getting less exposure. Or, perhaps bugs have been creeping through the site. But, I dont think those are the cases here.

Feeding the beast worked in the past because there were simply not enough of good images, then. When buyers could not get what they wanted in Popular, they will try to search through New. However, after years and years of uploading, Shutterstock has got enough of good images today. Buyers no longer need to search through the "irrelevance" New. We all know that searching through New is nightmarish due to keywords spam by contributors.

Here is a good example of why buyers no longer need to search New. Try to search for the keyword "seal" in Shutterstock...

http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=seal&search_group=&lang=en&search_source=search_form

... and under Popular, you can see all the seal vectors presented are good enough to satisfy the buyers. Buyers have no reason to search through New when Popular has enough of good choices already.

The beast is no longer liking the same old food. The beast wants to taste something new. Feed the beast with unexplored topics and I am sure they sell better than the seal.

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Strategies in Selling Vector Graphics

Selling vector graphics needs a strategy to win. You cannot simply draw anything you like and upload them without a direction. You need to set yourself a winning strategy to gain in the long term. Yes, this is a long term game, and it is not a get-rich-quick thing. I have seen many strategies used by different artists and I believe most of them have excel in their own ways.

Producing Only Good Quality Vector

Producing good quality vector takes time. One very good vector takes about 3-7 days to produce. You take into consideration of every pixels and make sure everything is perfect before releasing it. Your portfolio will be very much smaller in this case because you can only produce 2 vectors per week. There is a big advantage in this strategy because your vector graphic is likely to sell a lot and for a very long time. A high quality vector can generate about $500 a month and will probably continue to sell for a very long time. Additional to that, you will be branded as a "celebrity" and celebrity has fans.

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/176509/176509,1290532071,2/stock-vector-vector-set-calligraphic-design-elements-and-page-decoration-lots-of-useful-elements-to-embellish-65754793.jpg

High quality vector.

This is a top seller at Shutterstock.

Producing a Similar Theme of Graphics Everyday

Now, this is a strategy that not many will use because it is hard to produce something similar, over and over again. But if you are a machine and full of ideas about it, this strategy can be applied to you. Producing a similar type of graphic has its advantage of its own. First, buyer who lands on your portfolio will definitely buy something from you because you have got tons of choices to choose. There are high chances that he will buy a few vector graphics from your portfolio in one time. Also, he may come back for you in the future because he knows you have a lot of choices for that particular subject.

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/196705/196705,1283411048,1/stock-vector-seamless-pattern-60203107.jpg

A beautiful seamless pattern.
This is one of the best seller at Shutterstock.

Producing Single Isolated Cartoon Massively

How much is consider massive? 10000. Yes, there are vector artists who produce isolated cartoon massively. It is not crazy, is just pure hard works and creativity. Take a look at this portfolio by lineartestpilot and Cory Thoman. They have produce tons and tons of beautiful cartoons everyday and I think everybody will love these cartoons. In my personal opinions, single character cartoon dont sell well (perhaps 5 downloads per month) because it is very limited to its usage, but when one need it, they will definitely buy it for whatever price. A huge advantage in this strategy is that you can increase your portfolio size tremendously. Bigger portfolio means higher visibility. Drawing cartoon characters is fun too and you will never get boring with it. Because you are good in drawing cartoon, you can produce a lot of them in a short time. This strategy works and will definitely pay off.

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/83138/83138,1232570881,5/stock-vector-little-dog-sitting-23672650.jpg

A cartoon dog by Cory Thoman.
This is on sale at Shutterstock.

Getting Out of Competition

You know, whatever things that you can think off now, has most probably been drawn by other artists thousands of time already. Competition is never good. A strategy that some use is to get out of the competition. You research on the thing you had in mind and sees if anyone else have drawn it yet; and if you could do better. Yes, there are still things that hasnt been drawn thousand of time yet and you will definitely land on the first page in the search. Being seen means a sale possibility.

If you search for the keyword "Chinese Chess" vector at Shutterstock you will get less than 10 results. This means almost no competition for this subject and you will definitely being seen. Whereas, if you search for the keyword "icon", you will get more than half a million of such results. Try to avoid competition. Do something new and unique and it will be profitable in the long run.

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/598477/598477,1274752699,1/stock-vector-chinese-chess-vector-53805082.jpg
Chinese Chess in Vector at Shutterstock.

Drawing According to Seasons

What seasons do we have? We have Christmas, Valentine, Halloween, New Year, Independence Day, and many many more. This has never gone wrong and there will definitely be buyer on this. However, you have to upload your seasonal-theme vector a few months earlier. Clients need to get their stuff ready and graphic designers need your vectors earlier too for the preparation.

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/193093/193093,1263083679,4/stock-vector-valentine-s-day-type-text-44144614.jpg
Some Valentine Day artwork at Shutterstock.

Packing Everything 

You pack everything into one and sell it cheap. Yes, this basically destroy the microstock industry because you are pulling the price down. But again, if you dont do it, others will. And they will prevail, while you fail. This strategy is proven working, but whether it is worth doing it or not, is not up to me to judge. Packing everything definitely sells better but it is time consuming, and sometimes dont really sell at all.

As a conclusion, there are definitely many type of strategies to sell your vector graphics efficiently. However, it all comes down to hard work and skills. If you are really keen to go into selling vectors to make money, I recommend you to join the below agencies for a start and will it will definitely pay off.

Shutterstock

IStockPhoto 

Fotolia 

Dreamstime 

GraphicRiver

I wish you good luck and remember to share this article to your friends if you love it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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