Why to photographers sell images as royalty free stock? Well, there are at least two reasons. First, not everyone can afford to purchase images under a standard stock licence. Such a licence is typically quite restrictive and costs from $200-$500 even for limited term usage. The lower price for royalty free stock opens up a larger market. Second, all photographers have images which, though of excellent quality, might not be highly marketable as straight stock. Selling them as royalty free is an alternative way of selling them.

Why not buy a CD of royalty free images from a big stock house? Well, that's certainly an alternative, but those CDs often contain photographer's "reject" images. I think the general quality of my images is higher (though that's for the viewer to judge!). Also, a lot more people will have those CD images than have my images, so although mine certainly aren't exclusive, I'd say the chances of seeing them in another publication are probably lower than the chances of seeing the CD images from a big stock house.