MicrostockGroup

I went back to page 1 of this topic when you first posted, which was the end of November. So if I am correct, you have only had images up on SS for a couple of months? If that is correct, I don't think that you are being entirely fair to SS. I started with these sites in 2005, and even back then, when things were going great, I never started seeing good returns until after I had about 500 images up, and that includes on IS too.

It is, of course, your decision as far as being non-exclusive or exclusive, but I don't understand your expectations. Of course you aren't going to see great returns with that few of images in that short amount of time. It sounds like you were expecting almost instanteous returns and microstock, really, is all about quantity and a slow build.

I totally agree with Shady Sue:


You should at least give it a year. And increasing your uploads and as others have stated, maybe branching out into other subjects.

Maybe someone who knows how keywording works on SS will chip in on this specific:
You've got a photo of a Herring Gull, keyworded inter alia Seagull, gull, herring.
Herring can't possibly be correct, as there isn't a herring in the photo.
I don't know if SS has keyword phrases, so if you put , Herring Gull, does that make a keyword search term? Or do you need to put "Herring Gull"? Or ... ?
Also you should put the scientific binomial, in case people whose first language isn't English are looking for a photo of that species. (though IME, most people seem to search on 'seagull'    )

Similarly, you've got a photo of a marsh marigold, which is tagged marigold and marsh. You do have the scientific binomial, but it's split, as each individual word seems to be in alphabetical order - is that how SS works? Other bizarre keywords you've got for that flower are mother, direction, sun, water and Easter (detail and detailed are debatable, but I wouldn't have put them on that photo).

Like I said before, it seems you didn't look at the portfolios of those who said they were doing well at SS to see what sells well there.

First off all you must have calibrated monitor. Without that any software RAW converter will not be accurate...
Dont be so trustworthy this days/months at acceptance ratio at IS because they desperate needs any files for feeding ThingStok, so in my case I have nearly acceptance ratio on both sites which isnt be same few years ago.

Some good points I will take on board. Thanks.

Since SS doesn't have a CV, you can enter most anything that's relevant.  It's up to the reviewer to catch spam and such.  The trick is to enter it the way SS wants it to be entered.  If you enter "Herring Gull", with the quotation marks, in your IPTC, when uploaded, the SS system will break that into two words (dumb, but that's what it does).  When you are in the preparation window, selecting categories and such, you can type in the two or more word phrase, put the quotation marks back in and the system will accept the phrase.  It's often advisable to leave the two words split up, even though there may not be a herring in the image, as designers will often enter each word by itself (gull, herring).  As for scientific names, you don't want those split up.  Re-enter those with the quotation marks and delete the individual words.  Some other wording may be a judgement call as to how to enter, but at least you can go back in after the image has been accepted and add/delete keywords.  They used to review the image again when this was done, but I believe that is no longer the practice today.  Leaves open the danger of spamming the daylights out of an image, but whether or not that is actually happening I can't say.  Honor system ... what are your ethical standards?   

Lord that would be wonderful if they did.  We've only been asking for that for what seems like forever.  If I remember correctly, it used to be that if you submitted an image and it came back for spelling, the quotation marks were dropped again and you had to go in and put them back.  PITA     I haven't had occasion to enter a two word phrase in some time.  Maybe I'll put a couple of test words together on my next upload just to see what happens.  I can always pull them apart before submitting.

Not quite sure why you think my images need such drastic filtering. The smoke image in itself has enough impact. SS will def fail images overfiltered like this anyway as they don't even like it if the WB is out.

Well the theory is that vibrant, over saturated images are more eyecatching at thumbnail size and thus more likely to be selected and bought. All I'm suggesting is you experiment with this theory and think about ways your images can stand out from the crowd.

Things seem to be picking up a bit so there is some light. 

Stick with it. I think this will pay off in the long run. Just as a single example of what you might hope to get out of this... My istock earnings for February were 9% of my SS earnings. Imagine if you get to a similar point. If you're earning $200 at istock and if that only represented 9% of your SS earnings, your SS take would be over $2200.

Granted using my percentages against your earnings may illustrate a bit of an extreme case. Not many people see their SS earnings outpace istock by that much. But even if you fall somewhere in the middle of that. You get the point. The potential at SS is significant, and while it may take some time for things to pick up speed, I think you will come out of this better off.

One last bit of info: February was my BME at SS by $900 over my previous BME (January). A lot of people are seeing huge growth and back-to-back BMEs. Just my opinion based on my personal experience, but I think you're making the right move by getting into SS.

Did SS raise their minimum rate? I thought it used to be a quarter per sale until you reached a certain sales threshold ($500?). Or were you independent and with SS before? Anyway, I hope things pick up for you there. How much of your IS portfolio is on SS now?

But aren't you an illustrator?
I'm noticing that there are certain ports in SS which are doing well, and some which aren't. It seems that SS buyers are looking for a narrower range of images than iStock's. Or maybe nowadays they are accepting a narrower range of images.

I'm not saying Herg has made a bad move, necessarily - I guess he'll know after another four months; but SS isn't wonderful for everyone - even more than iStock it seems to depend on your port.