“Dear Mr. Stock Smarty Pants: My friend Bill is with the _____  stock picture agency.  I’m pretty new to stock, but since _____ is one of the biggest agencies in the world, I think I’d like to get in there, too.  Problem is, Bill used to make big money with _____ but now he says his sales are way down compared to a few years ago.  Does this mean _____ isn’t a good place for a photographer to be? Are they going down the tubes? Do you think I should sign up with them?

Well, Ron: it would appear that when the flashbulbs go off, you are not the brightest light being emitted in the room.  Let me expound...

First of all, you said "I'm pretty new to stock."  If that's the case, Ron, then why in the world do you presume that _____, one of the world's largest stock agencies, would even be interested in you? I would estimate your odds of getting into one of the global mega-agencies are about the same as my odds of spending a night out on the town in Las Vegas with the Pope visiting strip clubs: somewhere between slim and none.

Despite your naïveté, you actually raise several very important issues that are worth examining.

There are a very small, finite number of truly global mega-agencies.  These are the ones where revenue is measured in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.  They have extensive distribution networks for their images, and thus are able to expose their contributing photographers’ pictures to potential clients around the world.  These are also the agencies that garner the lion's share of headlines and stories in the trade press.  So, because they are making beaucoup bucks and regularly have their names flashed in front of photographers, they are also the ones whose doors are banged on by every shooter on the planet.  The result is that they can be, and are, extremely selective in adding new contributors to their existing roster of stock photographers.  The competition to get into these agencies is fierce, and unless you can fill a specific hole in their library (of which there are not many, by the way), they have absolutely no use for you.

So, that means you're out of luck, right?  Well, with the Big Boys, yes.  But that still leaves a vast array of stock picture agencies, libraries and image distributors which produce millions of dollars in annual revenue from stock image sales.

Think of the stock industry like Major League Baseball.  Hmmmm…OK, maybe that’s not an appropriate analogy at this particular time, as it implies that a high percentage of stock library personnel are juiced up on performance–enhancing drugs.  And, judging by the tiny revenue some of these companies produce, it would appear that the only drugs being consumed by their worker-bees are of the recreational rather than performance-enhancing variety.  But, be that as it may…

At the very top of the pyramid you have the Yankees, Red Sox, and a few other elite teams.  Like the mega-stock agencies, these are the ones everybody knows and wants to play for.  But there are only so many jobs available on those teams, so the vast majority of players are going to end up somewhere else.  In some cases, they'll end up on other American or National League teams and quite possibly will flourish in those surroundings.  For the rest, who simply don't have the skills, talent or good luck to catch on with a big-league team, they'll be destined for the minors.  If they are not major league quality but still pretty good players, they may end up on a AAA team, the elite level of second tier baseball.  As for the rest...well, they'll be dispersed to lesser organizations culminating, in some cases, with a one-way ticket to Fargo.

In stock, not making it to the "majors" is not necessarily a recipe for disaster.  In fact, it may be the best thing that ever happened to you.

How can that be?

Well, Ron, let's take your friend Bill as an example.  You said his sales figures have been sliding over the past few years.  This is not surprising.  One way the mega-agencies became mega-agencies is by acquiring other companies, and along with those companies have come thousands upon thousands of new images as well as hundreds of new contributing photographers.  The challenge that these mega-agencies have faced has been staggering: paring down and integrating their newly-acquired databases to only the best and most necessary pictures and photographers.  So, as the internal competition has ballooned at the Big Boys, many previously-established contributors have witnessed their image acceptance rates and sales revenue decline (sometimes precipitously), and about the last thing any of these companies need is yet one more wanna-be stock photographer knocking at the door and saying, "Yoo-hoo, I’m here!".

Considering this “internal competition” issue, which would you rather be, a small fish in a big pond, or a large fish in a small pond?  That's a difficult one to answer and there is not necessarily one single "correct" answer to it.  But, in general, I believe you're best off finding a stock agency or image distributor that a) sells material similar to the types of subject matter you produce, and b) doesn't already have a gazillion photographers producing and submitting images similar to yours.  These second and third tier companies may not be as sexy and globally oriented as the Big Boys, but they may nonetheless provide you with the opportunity to become a superstar, albeit on a smaller scale than at the 800-pound gorilla agencies.

One thing you have actually done correctly is to seek out the opinions and previous experiences of a colleague with an agency that you are considering approaching.  That is always a wise course of action.  However, the trap you’ve fallen into is to then base your go-forward strategy on the thoughts of that one individual.  You would be hard-pressed to find a stock picture library, or any company, for that matter, which does not have at least one disgruntled contributor, former employee or customer.  This is why I strongly recommend that you solicit the opinions of at least three contributing photographers at any agency or picture distributor that you are considering joining.  Compare their experiences and try to determine if there is any sort of consensus.  Only by casting a wider net can you obtain a more accurate picture of what's really going on at the company you are considering, as well as determine to some degree the general level of contributors’ satisfaction (or dissatisfaction!) with the company’s performance and treatment of its photographers.

Well, Ron, I find myself in need of a fresh Toddy and unfortunately my comely companion (third runner-up in the swimsuit portion of the Miss Lichtenstein competition in 2004) has dashed off to the market to fetch some steaks for this evening’s repaste, so Mr. Stock Smarty Pants needs to extricate himself from the spa, throw on a towel and engage in some mixology.  I hope I’ve adequately answered your questions, though if I haven’t it doesn’t matter much because I get paid an exorbitant fee anyway.  Have a happy holiday season…or don’t, because I don’t really care either way.  Cheerio and see you in 2008!

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Mr. Stock Smarty Pants, known as a major domo within the global stock picture industry, answers your questions about the stock picture industry every other Monday (or whenever the mood strikes him) on About The Image.  Although MSSP is constantly moving around the world due to outstanding warrants in several countries, your question regarding anything about the stock photo business will be forwarded to him and, so long as Mr. Stock Smarty Pants manages to avoid Interpol, he will consider responding to you in an upcoming edition of About The Image.  E-mail your questions to: .  Oh, and MSSP wants to take this opportunity to categorically deny any affiliation whatsoever with the company called Stock Answers™ LLC.