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DT exclusive - advice wanted

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desdemona:
Hello,

I've been a DT exclusive since about 2010 (you can start laughing your heads off right now)

4000+ images portfolio (half illustration, half pictures)

Until 2013 earnings were very decent.
During that year the earnings gradually dropped to half of what they used to be (despite a growing port and a growing number of sales)
Earnings remained "stable" afterwards. So I learned to get used to it.

Until July of this year, when -suddenly- earnings fell off the cliff entirely.
Struggling and just making the minimum payout amount every month now.

So I'm considering to drop my exclusivity. Long overdue I suppose.

However, I have a daytime job (not photography/illustration related) and have only 2 to 3 hours per week to start uploading to a (one?) new site.

Which one would be the best? One of the Big 4 mentioned here? What are the pros and cons of each of those 4 (upload process, treatment of contributors, earnings of recently uploaded images, ...)?

Thank you in advance.

ibogdan:
I would say Fotolia, Shutterstock and 123rf not necessary in this order.

enstoker:
Dear Desdemona,

I want to reply you, but I have such a pain in my stomach.
Reason: as you already wrote LAUGHING, of course.

Whatever Merry x-mas.

THP Creative:
Hey desdemona, interesting to hear your experiences with DT exclusivity. Thanks for sharing, but sorry for the decline (seems not to be just DT, many agencies have declined lately).

I write about what I think are the best agencies to work with on my site https://www.microstockman.com which you may find useful.

But in a nutshell, I would say Shutterstock, Adobe/Fotolia, DepositPhotos, Alamy.

Personally, I wouldn't just try one as each persons portfolio has different success at different sites. If you have 3 hours a week I would spend 1 hour uploading to the first 3 I mentioned, and see which one begins showing the best results for your work.

Hope that helps.

Pixart:
As a non-exclulsive - my earnings are down around 95% the past two months.  In fact, last month it was very close to being more than 100% due to refunds.  Times are good.  Times are bad.  I don't think exclusivity anywhere is a good idea, even if you start with a mutually beneficial contract, each agency changes it whenever they want to buy a new fleet of Mercedes.

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