MicrostockGroup

Not long ago I retired, and had wanted to ge more active in microstock.  My tiny portfolio (about 150) has actually done pretty well over the last 2 years, considering that it's mostly oddball shots of objects.  

But during that time, IS only got weirder.  The difficulty of getting photos accepted there, the tedious keyword process,  the sinking commissions,  deteriorating search placement - there's no future.

That left DT, SS GL and CC.

At GL I made a bunch of nice sales at the start, but it went dead months ago.  In 2 years at CC I've made 20 cents.  

My acceptance at SS was always very high. Until now.  But I've just had a bunch of rejections that have left me completely baffled.  (I won't bore you with the details).   My feelings are hurt.  I don't like SS any more.

Meanwhile DT has consistently accepted all my stuff, and my sales have been steadily increasing.  After their recent search changes and the 'level 0' thing, photos that had been stone cold for months started making an occasional sale.

I'm burned out on fighting with IS, SS has changed for the worse; CC and GL are just not going to happen.   So now I'm thinking - maybe I should just go exclusive at DT.  

Holy smoke.  A year ago, I would have ridiculed this idea...

The same will only happen to you at DT - why not analysis your work and compare it with those who do succeed - and then adapt!

I was exclusive with DT for about a year and a half (2006 to 2007 I think).  I will say that I have corresponded with Serban personally in the past and believe it or not, he cares about the contributors at the agency.  If you ever meet him personally, or correspond with him, you will know what I mean.  I've found the same from image reviewers that were there at the time - especially Ioana.

I busted exclusivity because I wanted to dabble in RM and at traditional agencies.

The reason I chose exclusivity in the first place was because DT has always (and continues to be) my best selling microstock agency.  The buyers and editors prefer my style there.  I don't do as well at other places.  This is consistent.

It's a very personal decision and you have to decide for yourself whats best for your business.

I had hoped that by this time, some new site like GL or CC would be getting some traction, but at least for me, nothing has happened at those sites.   I suppose that being small, they find niches, and my stuff just isn't the right thing.

Yeah, easy to get into harder to get out of although, as images climb the levels, the RPD starts to get relatively good and more so if exclusive.  On the downside, if you have stuff already on IS, SS these are presumably earning and this would be gone, some sites won't let you back if you quit (and you might change your mind), DT's technical standards are broadly similar to SS and FT but sometimes one site will reject but the other 2 accept so you might have homeless marketable files.

so what is your stuff? can you show us?

Looks like there's another new thread about DT exclusivity.