Alexandre Rotenberg

like 90%

Bloody Mary for me, thanks Congrats!

Yes, I think so. Arcangel and Trevillion specialise in romance/suspense/thriller/horror type novels. According to their filters, Arcangel have just over 782,000 images in their collection. Out of those, just over 268,000 have "nobody" (34%). Sometimes it's not even an identifiable person that's required, it's just a shadow or a hand that is needed to make an image standout.

The above all have potential to be accepted but probably won't sell on there because they're not unique enough and suffer from a serious flaw, which I'm trying to remedy with my new submissions with some success, in that they lack an interesting person / people as the main subject. If you go to your local bookshop and see the best-selling romance/thriller/suspense novels, they have one thing in common with usually placing at least one person within the frame, even if minimalist or silhouetted. See below some examples licensed via Arcangel. Obtaining a willing model isn't easy so the best thing is to use a friend/relative or even yourself. You may be able to get away with unreleased general members of the public as long as they're not clearly identifiable.

I'd try again in a few months. These from your port would be suitable imo as concepts to re-create for a fresh batch submission.

Correct. These would be brand new images exclusive to Trevillion (should I be accepted)

Staying on the topic of book covers, I'm seriously considering making an application to become a contributor at Trevillion. I'm happy at Arcangel and although they're competitors, they have a different style/market/niche which I may be able to tap into. Not sure yet what the difference is between them...from what I've researched, Trevillion is more "artsy".

Microstock = Think of the McDonald's business model and apply it to photography licensing

Great list! One important aspect you missed is the resolution. They request minimum of 4500px on the longest side (with some exceptions). So if you're shooting with cell phone, basic mirrorless or cropped sensor you may have some issues reaching that threshold. Even when shooting with full-frame sensor, too much cropping may be an problematic and it's not permitted to "up-size" to create pixels from thin air.

I’m at $34 right now which is on pace for a pathetic low $100s. Compared to previous years... August 2019: $345 August 2018: $299 August 2017: $204 August 2016: $186

There's a significant chance I won't reach $100 for a payout this month. Worrying!

You have to forget about travel and microstock photography and go back to the basics of artistic photography. They are really looking for fine art photos with strong metaphors and heavy uses of suggestions. Have to work hard to bring those out include working with shadows, contrasting colours, interesting models and weird perspectives. Oh and no such thing as not enough copy space. Basically the stuff that has no place in microstock, very little cross-over. Shot this one today in front of a church with some fun shadows and uploaded speculatively. Let's see if it will be accepted!

Thanks and best of luck with your application! 🍻 Now I’ll have nightmares in my sleep after looking through your freaky dolls collection lol I’ll use the $ to pay for the upcoming therapy!

Thanks! Your freaky dolls would lend themselves to book covers imo