Is it worth it for me to Continue posting on Pond5?

Hey im 16 and am just curious on how other people started out and how their acceptance rates were. Mine is absolutely horrible. I usually upload both my best and second best photos that i think might get accepted. Im nearing on uploading 100 photos, but only 22 have been accepted :/ On Dreamstime I have uploaded the same photos and have almost 50 accepted. I usually post around 10 photos a week on both sites. On Dreamstime, 4, 5 or maybe 6 photos are accepted, on Pond 5 its usually 0 or maybe 1. In the past 4 months i have only had 3 approved even though i uploaded around 40-50 photos. When i started in August i uploaded 30 photos, 19 were accepted. Now, im lucky if i get one, which i find odd cause Dreamstime seems to 'kinda' like my photos while Pond5 shoots me down like a wellington in German Airspace.

Too make a long story short how were your acceptance rates when you first started and is it worth it for me to continue this love/hate relationship i have with Pond5? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel or is my content just not the right stuff? Because at this rate. Ill have to upload 400 photos before i near 100 accepted. Its a lot of work for not much reward :/

Rejections can be hard but they also are the most helpful at making you increase your quality. Only you can answer whether or not it is worth it to you. You can get to where you are living off of stock (although photos are increasingly harder to live from because they are sold for so little) but it will take years of hard work, patience and time learning your craft. Best of luck.

I think you should stick with it mate! You wont get anywhere by giving up :)

Why? Possibility of receiving payments for many years to come with little or no additional work. Consider this "worst case scenario"

Say you spend 5 hours per week processing, uploading and tagging. In those 5 hours you get 20 files and 5 are accepted. In a year you have 250 files, in 5 years you have over 1,250. In 10 years you have 2,500. Let's say each file has a price of $20 with a net of $10. 5% of your uploads sell each year, so after 5 years you could be generating several thousands each year, every year, for many, many years to come. You aren't getting rich, but it is nice.

I provided the photos for a book that came out many years ago. That book never has been a big seller, but every single year for over a decade I get a royalty payment of about $500. That will continue for many, many years to come, as it is the only book of its type for a specific religious tourist market. Royalty stream, not often a lot, but nice to have and doesn't require additional work.

Next is exposure. As an example I have a clip that has sold multiple times over the past few years, not a lot of money. But a few years ago a foreign television network got it. They then got in touch with me about any additional footage, which I had tons of. Some of those clips went into a documentary that ended up being nominated for an International Emmy. I negotiated a nice payday.

Pond5 and all the other sites are almost never an "end all", but they are a nice addition.

My biggest concern is how long will HD & 4K be in demand before they go extinct? I hope you are correct that they will be here for at least 10 more years.

on the other place I still have sales in web format and SD so in 10 years times no reason to think that HD and 4k wouldnt be completely extinct.

HD will be primary for many years before 4K becomes more desirable. I also sell SD clips still often. No panic on HD.

Keep uploading. P5 isn't the place to sell photos right now. You won't make much money and they reject too much. Go to stock photo sites, I consider this more of a video place.

review time of 2 months? that's horrible ever!

WOW with a name of "Pond..." I thought your were one of the owners. Kinda using the P5 name as a possible marketing use as a confusion factor. Hummmm. Patience grasshopper ;)