What do people use stock footage for?

I am just about to start on making stock footage after my summer break, I have been looking for some inspiration in the ebook "shut up and shoot by Andreas Hohl" as I haven't read it for a little while. Andy points out something obvious but something you can forget about. "Stock footage is about saving money to get a production done." You need to think about what people are going to use the shots for. Is this shot really good enough to be in a production if it has a dodgy zoom or a camera shake. Many years ago I uploaded some old holiday footage I filmed which was handheld footage of the beach, every time I see it I cringe,recently I changed the title to amateur holiday footage, therefore now I am admitting that's what the footage is. Maybe someone will use it if they need to show holiday footage, however I'm not putting any more up. I will now go through the last 3 sales I got in the last two weeks. After a year this has sold this took allot of work to get this shot as it was filmed in a Coffee shop and I gave them a video in exchange for letting me film there. So I'm glad this has sold even if I only got 25 dollars (selling it for 50)so far for making the film. This clip was probably used for a health video on the use of caffeine or a video on the economy and people going to coffee shops.. Buckingham Palace, St James Park Many years ago I made this shot I have always thought that this day was a waste of time, an unproductive and innocent day when I filmed tourist destination shots believing that they sell(there is almost too much competition), not one person has bought this great shot till now, I believe it has been sold as an establishing shot for a tourist video of London. Maybe they bought some other shots of the Palace perhaps a close up. Man eating a fish and drinking beer in suit This shot has three elements to it, there is the suit,the fish and the beer. It is most likely about health, maybe about business people eating unhealthily he is drinking beer and eating a big deep fried fish. Another important element to this shot is it is anonymous you can't see the face I did another shot with the face clearly in view, and they preferred this, anonymous is always good. With each sale you learn more on what sells no matter how much you look at other peoples sales. I will leave you with two words from Andy Hohl from shut up and shoot, and these words make alot of sense when it comes to the Buckingham Palace clip which I made 3 years ago. Patience and Perseverance. The pondcast way!