MicrostockGroup

Yes, Alamy is not Microstock. Business Handshake, sliced vegetable or <object> isolated on white, are poor sellers and mostly a waste of time to upload.

On the other hand, travel shots, scenic view, and things that don't sell on Micro, do much better on Alamy.

Different buyers, different market.

I'd assume from the stats and people who do well, that even with the marketing and offices spreading out around the world, the UK and next European market is the majority of sales.

While SS is my best and continues to outsell all the rest of Microstock combined (until I dropped "all the rest" except IS), Alamy still makes more dollars annually on many fewer sales. Different files, that wouldn't even get accepted at SS or IS last year. Maybe now as Editorial, but why would I want to sell a limited interest image for 25c or $1.50 on IS, when I can get $80 on Alamy for the same?

Simply put, you don't go to the farmers market for a Prime fillet Mignon and don't go to a butcher shop for cantaloupe.

All of Alamy doesn't seem to be ALL of Alamy. Also after watching for awhile, it's kind of like predicting a horse race after it's over. Too late, the buyer already has the shots they wanted. The next time, the results will be different. Yes, you can find general ideas of what type of shots will sell, what kind of subjects will sell, but the specific searches appear to be after the fact information. That's why you'll see someone searching for something very obscure and buying 3-4 images. Then watch for a year and you'll see that word never come up in the search results.

Look for conceptual and general ideas of what sells there and you'll find it more helpful. Microstock is different, in that the same shots, subjects, searches and keywords selling over and over.

I'll believe you, but the funny part is I've never had one of those "novelty-use" sales. Not a novel use either. One RF because I listed something that way, probably wouldn't have mattered. But my sales are mostly RM. Obviously different subjects and directions, produce a different result.

100% on the "all this BS" part. If it's a good quality image, they take it. Exactly like, let the market decide what to buy, not the reviewers. And 23 Million images. Whoa! That's BIG!

Please leave me out of the 95 cent sales though.

Well, I like the English trad-agencies, I was with Pictor and Stones and they were really great, they run things differantly from the Yanks, they pay a lot more attention to the human aspect of photographers and everything is not just down to dollars and cents, the same old square thinking.

I might be old fashioned but there you go.