How-to · Creator upload

How to upload a photo set as a creator and get your share + listing links

Concrete step-by-step for a creator publishing their first reference photo set on the Apiway marketplace: where the upload form lives, what fields matter, how the credit pool and co-author splits work, where the listing URL and profile URL come from, and how the AI-written listing description and per-photo captions are auto-generated by Gemini in the background — and editable any time. Around 10 minutes from upload to a live, indexable, paid listing.

Time
Difficulty
Beginner
Cost
0 credits(~$0.00)
Steps
10

Last reviewed: .

What you need

  • 10–30 fashion photos from one shoot session (one model, one location, one lighting setup)
  • Signed model release for any third-party people in the photos
  • An Apiway account (you no longer need to publish a creator profile first — Apiway publishes a minimal storefront on your behalf when your first listing goes live)

Steps

  1. (Optional) Set up your creator profile first — or skip it

    Since 2026-05-07 you can go straight to Sell. When your first listing publishes, Apiway auto-publishes a minimal public storefront with an allocated nickname and a generated display name so the listing has a public home immediately. If you do want to control the URL up front, open Creators (sidebar) → Profile, set the nickname (it becomes studio.apiway.ai/<nickname>), pick an avatar and write a bio, then hit Publish. Either path unlocks publishing the same way.

    Open in Apiway

  2. Open the Sell tab and start a new photo set

    Creators → Sell → Sell a photo set. The form lets you upload up to 30 images from a single shoot session, set a working title, define a creator credit pool, and add co-authors (photographer / model / stylist) with credit splits. Each upload is staged to private storage immediately so you don't lose progress if the tab closes.

    Open in Apiway

  3. Upload 10–30 photos from one cohesive session

    Drag-and-drop the full session into the uploader. The 30-image cap is a deliberate cohesion budget — buyers pick sets specifically because every frame fits the same vibe. Don't mix multiple shoots into a single set; if you have 3 separate shoots, that's 3 sets, not one. Reorder by drag handle so the strongest frame sits first (it becomes the storefront preview).

  4. Set the creator credit pool and pricing

    Enter the creator pool (default 83 credits — the credits split among you and any co-authors per buyer generation). Apiway adds a platform markup on top to compute the buyer price; the form shows both numbers in real time so you can sanity-check what a buyer pays vs. what lands in your pool. Higher pools earn more per pickup but reduce pickup velocity — start at the default and adjust as you learn what your sets earn.

  5. Add co-authors with credit splits (if applicable)

    If the shoot involved another creator (the photographer, the model, a stylist), add them as co-authors and set each share. Someone who already has a published Apiway profile can be added by nickname right in the form; to bring in someone who isn't on Apiway yet, send them a private invite code they redeem by DMing the @apiway_official bot on Instagram. The form validates that the sum of shares equals the creator pool; the split runs automatically on every pickup, no monthly reconciliation. Solo shoots: leave co-authors empty and your share equals the full pool.

  6. Publish the set

    Hit Publish. The set goes live within seconds. The success page hands you two links: Open your profile (your public storefront, studio.apiway.ai/<nickname>) and Open published photo set (the listing's deep link, studio.apiway.ai/<nickname>/photoshoot-idea/<itemRef>). Both are crawlable, indexable, and shareable on social — copy them into Instagram bio, portfolio site, X, or email signature to drive traffic to your storefront.

  7. Wait a few minutes for the AI listing copy to land

    Right after publish, the listing description shows the placeholder "We are generating your listing description and per-image details. This usually finishes within a few minutes." In the background, Gemini 2.5 Flash writes a full SEO-tuned listing description (mood, style, suggested use cases) and per-frame captions / titles / subtitles for every uploaded image. The watchdog retries up to 4 times every 5 minutes if the first pass doesn't land — you don't need to do anything.

  8. Review and edit the AI text where it doesn't match your voice

    Open Creators → Sets → your published set. The Edit screen shows the full listing description, the H2 title, and a per-photo grid where every frame has its own caption, title, and subtitle field. Override anything that doesn't sound right. The system is idempotent — once you've typed real content into a field, the AI won't overwrite it on subsequent retries. This is the key promise: AI does the boring SEO scaffold, you keep editorial control.

    Open in Apiway

  9. Cross-link your storefront from outside Apiway

    Add the profile URL (studio.apiway.ai/<nickname>) to your Instagram bio, link-in-bio tool, portfolio site, and email signature. Buyers picking creators for paid advertising look at the supply-side trail — a creator with a real social/portfolio footprint earns more per set than an anonymous one. The listing URL itself is the ideal share target when you're announcing a new drop on Instagram or Twitter.

  10. Track pickups and earnings

    Earnings appear in the creator dashboard per pickup. The economic loop that compounds: cohesive sets + good tagging + strong off-Apiway promotion → more saved-by-buyer events → more recurring pickups. Sessions with strong saving rates can earn for years on a single shoot. Withdraw funds from the dashboard when you hit the payout threshold.

    Open in Apiway

Common mistakes

  • Skipping the Profile tab forever and never claiming a memorable nickname

    Apiway auto-publishes a minimal storefront on first listing so you are not blocked, but the auto-allocated nickname is generic. Spend 2 minutes in Profile to set a memorable nickname (becomes the URL — studio.apiway.ai/<nickname>), upload an avatar, and write a one-sentence bio. Trust signals on the storefront measurably lift pickup velocity.

  • Mixing two different shoots into one set to hit 30 images

    Buyers don't reward 'more images', they reward cohesion. A 12-image set from one tight session out-earns a 28-image set Frankensteined from two shoots. If you have two sessions, publish two sets.

  • Skipping the AI listing copy edit pass entirely

    The AI scaffold is good but generic. The single highest-ROI override is the H2 title and the first sentence of the description — those are what render in search snippets and social previews. 30 seconds of editorial review per listing measurably lifts pickup rate.

  • Setting an unusually high creator pool on a first listing

    Pricing too high before you have pickup history is the most common reason a strong session sits idle. Start at the default 83-credit pool, get pickups, then test higher pools on later sets once buyers know your work. Pricing down later signals weakness; pricing up later as quality compounds is normal.

  • Not adding the photographer / model as co-authors when the shoot was collaborative

    Splitting credits at publish time is much cleaner than reconciling payments off-platform later — and the co-authors get notified and credited on the public listing, which is good for everyone's portfolio. Use co-authors any time more than one creator contributed to the shoot.

Troubleshooting

  • Where exactly is the photo-set upload form in the product?

    Creators (sidebar in the app) → Sell tab → Sell a photo set. Direct link: /app/creators/sell-photo-set. There's also Sell an avatar (single-image listing) on the same Sell tab; both go through the same publish + AI-listing-copy pipeline.

  • What URL do I get after publishing, and can I share it externally?

    Two URLs: your storefront (studio.apiway.ai/<your-nickname>) which lists all your sets, and the deep listing link (studio.apiway.ai/<your-nickname>/photoshoot-idea/<itemRef>) which points at the specific photo set. Both are public, indexable, and shareable on Instagram, Twitter, portfolio sites, link-in-bio, anywhere. The success page after publish copies both for you.

  • How is the listing description written, and can I rewrite it?

    Gemini 2.5 Flash auto-generates the listing description, the H2 title, and per-frame SEO (caption + title + subtitle for each image) within a few minutes of publishing — see lib/marketplace-listing-copy-regenerate.ts. You can override every field on the Edit Photo Set screen. The system is idempotent: once you've typed real content into a field, retries won't overwrite it. The AI is a starting point; your edits are final.

  • What if the description still says 'We are generating…' after 10+ minutes?

    The watchdog retries up to 4 times every 5 minutes (LISTING_COPY_MAX_ATTEMPTS = 4). If it's still stuck after ~20 minutes, open the Edit Photo Set screen — the system runs a self-heal regeneration on mount, and there's an explicit retry endpoint behind the scenes. If the listing copy genuinely fails (rare), it falls back to a human-readable failure message and you can write the description manually; saving any real content takes priority over further retries.

  • What's the difference between creator pool credits and buyer price?

    The creator pool is what gets split among you and your co-authors per buyer generation. Apiway adds a platform markup on top to produce the buyer price the buyer pays. The Sell form shows both numbers live (and the USD-equivalent in parentheses) so you can model what a typical buyer charge produces in your pool. Co-author splits run automatically inside the pool; the platform markup is computed on top before checkout.

  • How do I split credits with the photographer or model who shot the set with me?

    Add them as co-authors during publish. If they already have a published Apiway profile, search by their nickname; if they don't, send them a private invite code they redeem by DMing the @apiway_official bot — no pre-existing account needed. Each gets a role label (photographer, model, stylist, etc.) and a share of the creator pool in whole credits. The form validates that the splits sum to the pool. Splits run on every pickup — no monthly reconciliation, no off-platform payments. Both your name and theirs render on the public listing as authors.

  • Can I add or remove images after publishing?

    Yes — the Edit Photo Set screen supports reordering, deleting, and adding new images up to the 30-image cap. New images get their per-frame SEO generated by the same Gemini pipeline. Re-ordering changes which frame becomes the storefront preview, so put the strongest frame first.

  • What if I want to take a set down?

    Toggle the listing to inactive in the Edit screen, or delete it outright. Inactive listings stop appearing in search and Explore immediately; previously-licensed buyers retain rights to imagery they already generated under the prior license (standard creator-economy backstop). Delete is permanent — use inactive when you're not sure.

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