MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Microstock Services => Topic started by: Hoodie Ninja on January 19, 2009, 13:10
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I started doing microstock this past March. I had several years worth of photos that I could upload that had not been taken with stock in mind, but felt they could still be used. I am still going through all my photos, but have processed over 800 of them thus far. After being accepted to my first site and doing pretty decent, I decided to try other sites. I got a bit frustrated because each site has different uploading policies. Some are unlimited, some are based on your acceptance percentange, etc. I found that I couldn't get everything uploaded to each site in the same timely fashion, and the review times also varied. So, I went back to just using the one site.
Now I am back to trying to use the multiple sites, but was having a hard time figuring out how to keep track of which pictures have already been submitted/rejected/accepted so that I'm not duplicating or missing any pictures. Most people seem to keep track with a spreadsheet, but that seemed time consuming.
With such a large database of pictures to work with already, I was overwhelmed. Until yesterday.
I was on Yuri Acurs site reading about his keywording program and I saw someone had mentioned Cushy Stock. Not knowing what it was, I looked it up. It's a program that does it all! Organizes, keywords, and does FTP! There is a free version, but I chose to just buy the program and so far I am thrilled with it! I put all 800+ pictures into one folder and let it scan the folder. I entered all my login information for every microstock site I belong to, and then I tested out one photo.......first I added a title, description, and key words. Then I marked it ready to upload for each site, and then told it to upload. I sat and watched it log on to every site and upload the picture to each one. Then I went back to each site and finished the process of adding categories and doing the final submit. Now when I click on that picture, it shows that it's pending for each site. And the pictures that I've already uploaded can be marked as either accepted, rejected, or pending.
Why aren't more people using this program or talking about it? It's going to save me a ton of time! Granted, I still have lots of work to do, but I am just amazed at how much help this program is going to be to me. For once, I can't wait to get home tonight and start working on my stock stuff.
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Cushy Stock, in my opinion, is superfluous once you've thought about how you want to go about making money in this industry.
Using it would not save me any time at all.
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Cushy Stock, in my opinion, is superfluous once you've thought about how you want to go about making money in this industry.
Using it would not save me any time at all.
What would be a better way? How do you keep track of what you've uploaded to each site? I keep hearing people say they use Excel spreadsheets to keep track. I tried that and it was the biggest pain in the you-know-what. If there is a better way, I would love to hear it because so far, Cushy Stock seems to be a lifesaver for me...especially since I can keyword AND ftp everything with one program.
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Here's how I do it:
I have a folder for each agency, and sub-folders in each named Next Upload, Uploaded, Online, Offline, and Releases. I use unique folders for each agency so that I can accomodate the differences in image size between agencies (e.g. XL size on IS is not the same as XL size on FT, SS only gets 4MP images, ...).
I typically upload in batches of 10, and do this by simply moving the images I want to upload from the root of the folder to the Next Upload sub-folder. I then open an FTP connection by clicking on the My Documents folder and copying/pasting the ftp address of the site (e.g. ftp://ftp.shutterstock.com). I upload the images by copying/pasting from the Next Upload sub-folder to the just-opened ftp folder. Once uploading has finished I log on to the site and add categories, releases, etc. I then move the images from the Next Upload subfolder to the Uploaded folder and change the file modification date to the current date (to make it easy to tell at a glance when the image was uploaded). Once an image is approved/rejected it gets moved to either the Online or Offline sub-folder. I make a habit of regularly visiting Offline folders to see if anything worthwhile is in them.
That's it. Simple Simon, no additional software, spreadsheet, or maintenance required. Using this method simplifies management, too - I can quickly see the status of my various portfolios by simply opening up folders and looking at the thumbnails in them, sorted by either Name or Modified.
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I am one with the Excel spreadsheet, one tab per type of subject. It depends on what you want to track, I guess. I track edition process, submissions/acceptance/rejections for each image, number of downloads for each image, ELs appear as comments (not very practical), total downloads of each image. Then in one sheet I track sales in each site per month. At first I only put monthly totals in each site, later I started detailing earnings as something like "=6*0.31+8*0.35+3*1.05" so I can visualize also how sales are happening in each site (subs, sizes).
Regards,
Adelaide
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Here's how I do it:
I have a folder for each agency, and sub-folders in each named Next Upload, Uploaded, Online, Offline, and Releases. I use unique folders for each agency so that I can accomodate the differences in image size between agencies (e.g. XL size on IS is not the same as XL size on FT, SS only gets 4MP images, ...).
I typically upload in batches of 10, and do this by simply moving the images I want to upload from the root of the folder to the Next Upload sub-folder. I then open an FTP connection by clicking on the My Documents folder and copying/pasting the ftp address of the site (e.g. ftp://ftp.shutterstock.com). I upload the images by copying/pasting from the Next Upload sub-folder to the just-opened ftp folder. Once uploading has finished I log on to the site and add categories, releases, etc. I then move the images from the Next Upload subfolder to the Uploaded folder and change the file modification date to the current date (to make it easy to tell at a glance when the image was uploaded). Once an image is approved/rejected it gets moved to either the Online or Offline sub-folder. I make a habit of regularly visiting Offline folders to see if anything worthwhile is in them.
That's it. Simple Simon, no additional software, spreadsheet, or maintenance required. Using this method simplifies management, too - I can quickly see the status of my various portfolios by simply opening up folders and looking at the thumbnails in them, sorted by either Name or Modified.
Thank you for sharing your workflow. I was doing something very similar before. I had folders for each agency with subfolders of new uploads (pictures ready to be uploaded), pending, accepted, and rejected. But this meant that I had six copies of the same picture on my hard drive and I had to manage each folder separately. I don't vary the size of my files so each site gets the same exact picture. But I found all of this a lot of work!
With Cushy Stock, everything is managed within the one program so I don't have to key word in one program and ftp in another and track everything in another. At any time, can see what has been uploaded/accepted/rejected by either clicking on the agency (to see what I have at that site) or click on a particular picture to see the status of it on each site. Plus, it organizes all the photos by category so I can easily look for specific pictures by looking in that category's folder or by searching the keywords that I entered.
I know everyone has their own way of doing things, I just feel like this one is really going to work for my style. It just makes things so much easier for me.
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I am one with the Excel spreadsheet, one tab per type of subject. It depends on what you want to track, I guess. I track edition process, submissions/acceptance/rejections for each image, number of downloads for each image, ELs appear as comments (not very practical), total downloads of each image. Then in one sheet I track sales in each site per month. At first I only put monthly totals in each site, later I started detailing earnings as something like "=6*0.31+8*0.35+3*1.05" so I can visualize also how sales are happening in each site (subs, sizes).
Regards,
Adelaide
Right now I'm just trying to keep track of which site has had a particular picture uploaded/accepted/rejected. I have 800+ photos and I can't remember which sites have gotten what.
I know the program I bought will track sales, but I haven't seen it in action yet to know how detailed it gets.
Mostly I'm just excited to have a program that's going to do everything....organize, keyword, ftp, etc.
BTW, have you seen the keywording program that Yuri Arcurs has on his site? I just found that yesterday, too, and between that and Cushy Stock, my workflow just got a lot faster!
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I upload the same images to all my sites at one time. I don't bother keeping track of who accepts what. For the most part I have the same images on all the micros, so it doesn't matter to me if the odd one is accepted here and rejected there.
For starting out with a large number of files to upload, though, not knowing what is where and having to go back and reupload to various sites, cushy stock sounds like a great solution! :)
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I upload the same images to all my sites at one time. I don't bother keeping track of who accepts what. For the most part I have the same images on all the micros, so it doesn't matter to me if the odd one is accepted here and rejected there.
For starting out with a large number of files to upload, though, not knowing what is where and having to go back and reupload to various sites, cushy stock sounds like a great solution! :)
The trouble I found, even in the beginning, is that I had more images to upload than some sites allow. IS only allows me 15 a week. I have a full-time day job, but even in my spare time I can produce and upload a lot more than 15 a week.
I may change to a different system someday if I outgrow this one. But for now, it's my knight in shining armor. ;D
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Right now I'm just trying to keep track of which site has had a particular picture uploaded/accepted/rejected.
This is easy with a spreadsheet and I do that in mine. File names in rows, site names in columns. Squeeze columns so the crossings look like squares (just for easier view). On each crossing, paint the cell yellow for submitted not yet reviewed, green for accepted, red for rejected, leave it blank for not submitted.
Regards,
Adelaide
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There is also Prostockmaster
http://www.prostockmaster.com/
I haven't tried cushystock but it sounds similar.
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Right now I'm just trying to keep track of which site has had a particular picture uploaded/accepted/rejected.
This is easy with a spreadsheet and I do that in mine. File names in rows, site names in columns. Squeeze columns so the crossings look like squares (just for easier view). On each crossing, paint the cell yellow for submitted not yet reviewed, green for accepted, red for rejected, leave it blank for not submitted.
Regards,
Adelaide
I tried the spreadsheet way, but it just wasn't working for me. Too complicated to figure out which picture belongs to which file name.
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There is also Prostockmaster
[url]http://www.prostockmaster.com/[/url]
I haven't tried cushystock but it sounds similar.
I briefly looked at that one before I bought Cushy Stock. The deciding factor was just visual appeal. I liked the way Cushy Stock looked. Can't say if it's better or not since I haven't tried PSM.
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You have 4 files online on iStock, do you really need this a complicated system to track your portfolio?
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With such a large database of pictures to work with already, I was overwhelmed. Until yesterday.
I was on Yuri Acurs site reading about his keywording program and I saw someone had mentioned Cushy Stock. Not knowing what it was, I looked it up. It's a program that does it all! Organizes, keywords, and does FTP! ... For once, I can't wait to get home tonight and start working on my stock stuff.
Are you employed by Cushy Stock? I'm writing commercials myself. I know one when I see one.
You can easily upload to multiple sites for free by Filezilla. Just use the site manager.
You can easily tag your pictures in batch by the free Irfanview.
To keep track of what you've uploaded or not, just work in small batches, one by one. There is a great organizer for that. It's called the Windows file manager.
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You have 4 files online on iStock, do you really need this a complicated system to track your portfolio?
His portfolio link is invisible or he removed it. Unless he puts up a link to his large port he needs to manage, I have the feeling this is an infomercial for Cushy Stock.
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I find that placing all my files ready for submission in a submit file, than uploading to all sites from there easiest for me. Once all are done, I then move them to another folder named Istock submit since I can only upload 20 per week there. After all have been uploaded there, I move them to my Microstock folder divided into subject folders. I don't pay attention to what site rejects or accepts. what gets rejected at some are accepted at others. This seems to me the least time consuming method for me.
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His portfolio link is invisible or he removed it. Unless he puts up a link to his large port he needs to manage, I have the feeling this is an infomercial for Cushy Stock.
Wow, are you ever conspiracy-minded!
Although her portfolio is small, you can be sure she's a real person and not a Cushy Stock employee (just Google "Paula Cobleigh" shutterstock, "Paula Cobleigh" dreamstime, ... to see for yourself ) .
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You have 4 files online on iStock, do you really need this a complicated system to track your portfolio?
If you read my original post, it says I tried several sites, but have only concentrated on one after my initial frustration with the different processes. iStock is not the site I concentrated on, so the four files you see there are from early last year. Try looking at my SS account and you'll see I have 368 images in my gallery. http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?gallery_id=190231&id=190231&sort_method=popular&rows_per_page=25&thumb_size=small I have a total of 803 processed images thus far, which I think definitely warrants wanting a program to keep it all organized.
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With such a large database of pictures to work with already, I was overwhelmed. Until yesterday.
I was on Yuri Acurs site reading about his keywording program and I saw someone had mentioned Cushy Stock. Not knowing what it was, I looked it up. It's a program that does it all! Organizes, keywords, and does FTP! ... For once, I can't wait to get home tonight and start working on my stock stuff.
Are you employed by Cushy Stock? I'm writing commercials myself. I know one when I see one.
You can easily upload to multiple sites for free by Filezilla. Just use the site manager.
You can easily tag your pictures in batch by the free Irfanview.
To keep track of what you've uploaded or not, just work in small batches, one by one. There is a great organizer for that. It's called the Windows file manager.
I am not employed by Cushy Stock and had never even heard about their program before this past Sunday when I read a reply by "Todd" http://www.arcurs.com/easy-keywording who said, "Tools like Yuri’s keywording utility along with Cushy Stock are a huge asset to my daily workflow." I immediately googled Cushy Stock to see what it was because I'd never heard about it.
My whole reason for starting this thread is I was wondering why more people aren't using programs like this or why they don't talk about them? As someone who is somewhat new to microstock, I wish I'd had this program from the get-go. Maybe everyone else likes to use separate programs for everything, but I like being able to use just one. This program is going to save me heaps of time and I figured other newbies would appreciate knowing about it, too.
But I also started this thread hoping to find out WHY other people don't use it....as in, is there an even better way? So far, the reponses I have gotten haven't told me any reason why I should do differently.
Again, I am not employed by Cushy Stock. I am not gaining ANYTHING by telling other people about this program. I paid for the full-version of the program on Sunday with my credit card.
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You have 4 files online on iStock, do you really need this a complicated system to track your portfolio?
His portfolio link is invisible or he removed it. Unless he puts up a link to his large port he needs to manage, I have the feeling this is an infomercial for Cushy Stock.
BTW, I am a SHE, not a HE...as in Paula Cobleigh. As I said to michealo, iStock is not where I have all my photos. It's Shutterstock. http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery.mhtml?id=190231 368 files accepted so far. I am also on Fotolia, iStock, Dreamstime, BigStock, and 123RF....but I haven't done anything on them since last year except for very recently. I have 803 processed pictures and am still going through past pictures looking for stuff that would get accepted as stock, as well as taking new pictures.
You can also see my personal website www.paulacobleigh.com where you can see what I look like by clicking on the "About the Photographer" button.
I believe in word of mouth. If I find something that I think would be helpful to others, I tell people about it. I get nothing out of it but the satisfaction that I am trying to be a good person who tries to help others from time to time.
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I find that placing all my files ready for submission in a submit file, than uploading to all sites from there easiest for me. Once all are done, I then move them to another folder named Istock submit since I can only upload 20 per week there. After all have been uploaded there, I move them to my Microstock folder divided into subject folders. I don't pay attention to what site rejects or accepts. what gets rejected at some are accepted at others. This seems to me the least time consuming method for me.
Thank you for sharing your method. Hopefully, people looking for a way to manage their pictures will look at the way everyone does it and find the way that best suits them.
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His portfolio link is invisible or he removed it. Unless he puts up a link to his large port he needs to manage, I have the feeling this is an infomercial for Cushy Stock.
Wow, are you ever conspiracy-minded!
Although her portfolio is small, you can be sure she's a real person and not a Cushy Stock employee (just Google "Paula Cobleigh" shutterstock, "Paula Cobleigh" dreamstime, ... to see for yourself ) .
Thank you. Yes, I am on 6 microstock sites, although SS is where I have the most. I also have my own personal website www.paulacobleigh.com with a picture of me on it. I am a real person. I'm not a Cushy Stock employee. I was just trying to accomplish a few things. I figured if I talked about Cushy Stock, I would hopefully get some feedback from people as to a.) whether it's a good program or not b.)whether there is a better way...and c.) to let newbies who are struggling know about it because from my few days of experience with it, it's a lifesaver for me.
I see that most people are doing things basically the way I was doing it. Nothing wrong with that. I was just curious why more people don't use a program like this. So far, the only thing I wish this program did was track the pictures that I already submitted. I am slowly going through and marking them manually for each website (SS being the most time consuming). Once I am done, I can look at any picture and see where it's been uploaded and see who accepted or rejected it.
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I see that most people are doing things basically the way I was doing it. Nothing wrong with that. I was just curious why more people don't use a program like this. So far, the only thing I wish this program did was track the pictures that I already submitted. I am slowly going through and marking them manually for each website (SS being the most time consuming). Once I am done, I can look at any picture and see where it's been uploaded and see who accepted or rejected it.
No probs, I knew you were just looking to share your experience with software that's helped you out a lot. I responded just to let you know how I do things. As you said, to each his/her own.
If you're looking to track sales down to the image level, you may want to check out lookstat. They're currently in beta, so it won't cost you anything. Here's (http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?topic=6740.0) a recent thread about it. They advertise on this site, so if you don't currently see their ad, just hit the refresh button and you will.
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I am new at stock too and that also only for a few months. So there's lots and lots to learn!
I do agree with Paula about Cushystock.
I found myself in the same trouble!
When I read this: http://www.perrush.be/SYF_micro_E_1.html, it was the first time I even heard about microstock and that also non-professional photographers could get into that world. (You are now asking yourself in what cave I have lived? Well laugh loudly if you wish! ;D) Off course I knew about Getty's and so, but details about it lay far over my horizon.
So I found also this site, read and read and read and started with making photo's ready for upload and registering to a few sites. I am not familiar with Excel and then I found Cushystock.
Because I am from the Netherlands and there was no translation. I translated it and get a license key for free. What I found a friendly geste (or is it gesture? excuse for my bad english!) from Alex Bakulin, who is the maker.
The program is new (not even version 2) and the maker is doing hard work on it and likes to get reports about problems and bugs that are found and suggestions to make it a better program.
I am not payed by him too, by the way, but sometimes corresponding by e-mail about troubles I found! ;D
As far as I can see, it is a program with potention. If more people start using it and are going to report bugs, it will become a better program for me too, so it is part selfinterest so to say... ;)
I read about Lookstat too, but I also read that people don't like to get all their personal info on a website. Don't know if they are right and if it really works that way, I didn't try it myself.
And you can simply translate Cushy in your own language when that works best for you. (and get a license key if you send the translation to them if this language is not already translated ;D.)
Reading this site for months and learning a lot, I will even do in the future and hope and expect to learn a lot more! At least it is good for my english! :D
Thank you all for sharing your experience...One day I hope to reach a level to do the same for others.
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I am new at stock too and that also only for a few months. So there's lots and lots to learn!
I do agree with Paula about Cushystock.
I found myself in the same trouble!
When I read this: [url]http://www.perrush.be/SYF_micro_E_1.html,[/url] it was the first time I even heard about microstock and that also non-professional photographers could get into that world. (You are now asking yourself in what cave I have lived? Well laugh loudly if you wish! ;D) Off course I knew about Getty's and so, but details about it lay far over my horizon.
So I found also this site, read and read and read and started with making photo's ready for upload and registering to a few sites. I am not familiar with Excel and then I found Cushystock.
Because I am from the Netherlands and there was no translation. I translated it and get a license key for free. What I found a friendly geste (or is it gesture? excuse for my bad english!) from Alex Bakulin, who is the maker.
The program is new (not even version 2) and the maker is doing hard work on it and likes to get reports about problems and bugs that are found and suggestions to make it a better program.
I am not payed by him too, by the way, but sometimes corresponding by e-mail about troubles I found! ;D
As far as I can see, it is a program with potention. If more people start using it and are going to report bugs, it will become a better program for me too, so it is part selfinterest so to say... ;)
I read about Lookstat too, but I also read that people don't like to get all their personal info on a website. Don't know if they are right and if it really works that way, I didn't try it myself.
And you can simply translate Cushy in your own language when that works best for you. (and get a license key if you send the translation to them if this language is not already translated ;D.)
Reading this site for months and learning a lot, I will even do in the future and hope and expect to learn a lot more! At least it is good for my english! :D
Thank you all for sharing your experience...One day I hope to reach a level to do the same for others.
I guess I was in the same cave because I didn't know about microstock until I read an article about a woman who started taking pictures of her baby. At first she was only making about .10/day. Now she pays all her bills and does it full time. That sounded good to me!!! I don't know if I'll ever quit my day job and do this full time, but I'd at least like to be able to pay for new equipment (like the Canon 5D Mark II)! I've been doing this since last March so I'm not a total newbie, but there's so much to learn and I split my time with stock type photography to make money and landscape photography which is what I actually enjoy more.
I agree that if more people started using the program and reported bugs and ideas, the creator (Alex) could make it better thus it would help me, too!
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I upload the same images to all my sites at one time. I don't bother keeping track of who accepts what. For the most part I have the same images on all the micros, so it doesn't matter to me if the odd one is accepted here and rejected there.
For starting out with a large number of files to upload, though, not knowing what is where and having to go back and reupload to various sites, cushy stock sounds like a great solution! :)
for micro's - 2 folders
istock
all
put a copy of each image into folder. when I ready to upload I create a folder of the date under all and move the images for that day into the folder. then like Lisa it goes to each agency and I dont bother tracking acceptance etc etc from there. istock has it is own folder because of the upload limit and I pick through images in it decide what I am in the mood to upload and then delete them from the folder.
Phil
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I am not employed by Cushy Stock and had never even heard about their program before this past Sunday
OK, in that case I stand corrected. It just sounded like a product-placement commercial, that's all.
I tried it yes, but removed it quickly. I have been working in IT for a long time and I witnessed software disasters by small businesses using niche-software. My advise has always been to stick with mainstream software and certainly not to rely on a proprietary database that can be buggy or can be lost. Filezilla and Irfanview work fine and they are mainstream, and free. Data (in our case images) integrity is always the first priority. But whatever suits you...
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I tried CushyStock and I deleted it the same day. The interface doesn't allow effective management if my entire portfolio; and the upload isn't better than direct FTP upload because I still need to get to every site for entering categories.
It would be great to have a tool that would not only transfer the files but place them into the queue for multiple sites; just similar to DeepMeta
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I see that most people are doing things basically the way I was doing it. Nothing wrong with that. I was just curious why more people don't use a program like this. So far, the only thing I wish this program did was track the pictures that I already submitted. I am slowly going through and marking them manually for each website (SS being the most time consuming). Once I am done, I can look at any picture and see where it's been uploaded and see who accepted or rejected it.
No probs, I knew you were just looking to share your experience with software that's helped you out a lot. I responded just to let you know how I do things. As you said, to each his/her own.
If you're looking to track sales down to the image level, you may want to check out lookstat. They're currently in beta, so it won't cost you anything. Here's ([url]http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?topic=6740.0[/url]) a recent thread about it. They advertise on this site, so if you don't currently see their ad, just hit the refresh button and you will.
I've heard a few people mention lookstat, but I'm not tracking picture sales at the moment. I do pay attention to which images sell the most (in a general sense) so I know which area to focus on, but that's about where my sales tracking ends. I only look at the bottom dollar....how much money did I make this month...that's it.
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I upload the same images to all my sites at one time. I don't bother keeping track of who accepts what. For the most part I have the same images on all the micros, so it doesn't matter to me if the odd one is accepted here and rejected there.
For starting out with a large number of files to upload, though, not knowing what is where and having to go back and reupload to various sites, cushy stock sounds like a great solution! :)
for micro's - 2 folders
istock
all
put a copy of each image into folder. when I ready to upload I create a folder of the date under all and move the images for that day into the folder. then like Lisa it goes to each agency and I dont bother tracking acceptance etc etc from there. istock has it is own folder because of the upload limit and I pick through images in it decide what I am in the mood to upload and then delete them from the folder.
Phil
It appears from the responses that most people are fond of the folder way of doing things. That's how I was doing it, except I had one for each agency with a sub-folder for pictures to be uploaded, one for pending, one for accepted, and one for rejected. Too much duplicating of the same pictures for my taste, but it does seem to be the "taste of choice". ;)
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I am not employed by Cushy Stock and had never even heard about their program before this past Sunday
OK, in that case I stand corrected. It just sounded like a product-placement commercial, that's all.
I tried it yes, but removed it quickly. I have been working in IT for a long time and I witnessed software disasters by small businesses using niche-software. My advise has always been to stick with mainstream software and certainly not to rely on a proprietary database that can be buggy or can be lost. Filezilla and Irfanview work fine and they are mainstream, and free. Data (in our case images) integrity is always the first priority. But whatever suits you...
I can understand how my original post could come off as a commercial, so no worries. I was just trying to be informative for newbies.
I back up everything, so I probably wouldn't lose much if the software went "buggy". I process my pictures on a separate computer, back them up to an external hard drive, and copy them to the computer I use for the internet. I back up the internet computer periodically on a separate external hard drive. Plus I have my pictures stored off-site just in case there's ever a fire or burglary. I couldn't stand the thought of losing all my pictures :'(
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I tried CushyStock and I deleted it the same day. The interface doesn't allow effective management if my entire portfolio; and the upload isn't better than direct FTP upload because I still need to get to every site for entering categories.
It would be great to have a tool that would not only transfer the files but place them into the queue for multiple sites; just similar to DeepMeta
Could you be more specific about your comment that it "doesn't allow effective management of my entire portfolio"? Also, if I used Filezilla or some other ftp program, would it enter the categories for me? I'm a bit confused by your response and would like some clarification. I'm also a bit confused about your comment about files "place them into a cue for multiple sites" because in Cushy Stock you can mark a photo as being ready to upload for each site and once you tell it to upload, it logs onto each site and uploads them.
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Paula, do you know that there is a file in your Cushystock folder named: CushyStock.dat? (Mostly you can find it in: C:\Program Files\CushyStock.) When you do a daily backup of that single file to an external harddisk or so, you will have all the settings in your CushyStock database backupped. After a reinstall of the program simply copy that file back and overwrite the newer one. I use the freeware program Syncback for doing that automatically, like I do with all my photo's.
The only point: Cushy has to know where the original jpg's are (like in Lightroom).
So if you replace images of maps of them, you must tell CushyStock where to find them (like in Lightroom).
When I started using the program I didn't know about the backup and I lost all my settings about acceptance and rejections. A lot of work to put it back by hand!
Temporarily I use Filezilla for some stocksites, because they do not work well at this time, or they do not allow FTP uoloading. After uploading I go to CushyStock, select all the uploaded files and set them pending. Even the same when they are accepted or rejected.
Also not for all the sites there is the possibility to set financial state. But they worked on it.
When there are thousands of thumbnails are in Cushy, I am afraid that the program will get slower and slower, so I plan to ask Alex if it is possible to choose for smaller thumbnails.
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Paula, do you know that there is a file in your Cushystock folder named: CushyStock.dat? (Mostly you can find it in: C:\Program Files\CushyStock.) When you do a daily backup of that single file to an external harddisk or so, you will have all the settings in your CushyStock database backupped. After a reinstall of the program simply copy that file back and overwrite the newer one. I use the freeware program Syncback for doing that automatically, like I do with all my photo's.
The only point: Cushy has to know where the original jpg's are (like in Lightroom).
So if you replace images of maps of them, you must tell CushyStock where to find them (like in Lightroom).
When I started using the program I didn't know about the backup and I lost all my settings about acceptance and rejections. A lot of work to put it back by hand!
Temporarily I use Filezilla for some stocksites, because they do not work well at this time, or they do not allow FTP uoloading. After uploading I go to CushyStock, select all the uploaded files and set them pending. Even the same when they are accepted or rejected.
Also not for all the sites there is the possibility to set financial state. But they worked on it.
When there are thousands of thumbnails are in Cushy, I am afraid that the program will get slower and slower, so I plan to ask Alex if it is possible to choose for smaller thumbnails.
I did see a posting on the Cushy Stock forum about being able to back up Cushy Stock and also put it on a USB drive to be able to use it on multiple computers, but hadn't tried it yet. I'm in the process of marking my pictures so tonight I'll back up that file you mentioned. Thanks!
Yeah, I know things will get slower as I get more images on there. One option would be getting a faster computer...lol! The one I'm using right now is actually a reject from someone else's upgrade so I have to be patient with it. But I process my pictures on a better computer that's not hooked up to the internet.
I don't use Lightroom (or Adobe) so I guess I'm one of the "odd" ones. :-\
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Thank you all for sharing your experience...One day I hope to reach a level to do the same for others.
I basically do like Lisafx and I use the free FTP program FileZilla to upload to all sites except iStock. Integrated programs like Cushy Stock or whatever might give you a false sense of security and control, but it's better to be in control yourself, and to know what you're doing with mainstream proven software.
Given time, I will write a short tutorial how to use Filezilla to upload very easily to different sites.
The only third-party niche program I'm actually interested in is LookStat since it brings something totally new, like tracking the same image on different sites. It also helps that the developer of LookStat shows his presence here, his address, his business, as a trust-building measure. The guy of Cushy Stock never showed up here (as far as I know). There is no business info nor address on his site, no contact info, just how to pay. He is Russian, if you do a /whois on his site/IP. Yes SharpShot, I'm paranoid ;-)
Deepmeta: I know the guy. He lives in Brussels too. He has his own company and DeepMeta is just a hobby. If he fools around with passwords, he gets busted easily. Honestly, I don't know how to reach somebody in Russia. They cut off the European gas in mid winter and they invaded Georgia. Fine with me, but no site passwords... never. Sorry.
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I have portfolio at SS, DT and IS and some midstocks. Folder for stock photos where are "to process" pics, then subfolder for each stock agency with "to upload", "pending", "accepted" and "rejected" subfolders. Uploading to SS and DT via ftp, to IS with DeepMeta (IS website and uploading process is a complete disaster). Keywording with Exifer (postcardware).
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Flemishdreams: There's nothing wrong with being paranoid to the internet these days! I understand your point and do agree. I know something about computers and programs, but not enough to be really sure that I not could be misused. And I think most people on the internet can't. But if you do not want to take that risk: stay out of the internet. If you want to be connected, you have to take risks. And you are right to be careful...
It is difficult to know for sure if people are really to be trusted.
For what my opinion is worth: I think Alex Bakulin is simply a man who thinks there's a hole in the market for a kind of program like Cushy Stock, he wrote one and is working on it to make it better. And is hoping to make a living out of it. A lot of people do things like that (even stockphotographers ;D) and it is allways difficult to get a place in the market.
It is not realistic to hold one person in a country responsable for the things the government of his country does. I don't know where you come from, but in that case: don't trust any american citizen, for USA also does things a lot of people in the world don't agree with! And USA is a democracy, Russia isn't, so people there have less influence on their gouvernment than americans have. Of course also in democracies things are not what they ought to be, but I hope you get my point...
CushyStock doesn't use an internetconnection. Only for FTP-upload and for getting financial status from the stocks. And that are connections you have to made by yourself. There is never an automatic connection made as far as I can see. There's a warning in the program when you make logs of FTP-uploads that usernames and passwords are in in it. I once need to send Alex a part of an FTP-log (because of a bug) and before I removed that info from the log.
I don't know anything about the people who made Lookstat and I have to put my personal info on a website? How can I know that they can be trusted? It is allways a choice you have to make and possibly you sometimes make wrong ones. But I don't want to stay in my bed all day to avoid making mistakes... ;D ;D
But you're longer in this "stocky-thing" than I am, so I keep your opinion in mind. :D
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I tried CushyStock and I deleted it the same day. The interface doesn't allow effective management if my entire portfolio; and the upload isn't better than direct FTP upload because I still need to get to every site for entering categories.
It would be great to have a tool that would not only transfer the files but place them into the queue for multiple sites; just similar to DeepMeta
Could you be more specific about your comment that it "doesn't allow effective management of my entire portfolio"? Also, if I used Filezilla or some other ftp program, would it enter the categories for me? I'm a bit confused by your response and would like some clarification. I'm also a bit confused about your comment about files "place them into a cue for multiple sites" because in Cushy Stock you can mark a photo as being ready to upload for each site and once you tell it to upload, it logs onto each site and uploads them.
Paula, I tried it some time ago - although not very long but don't remember exact details. Basically, I didn't see a general table view at all my images in all agencies with their status (ready to upload, pending, accepted, rejected); and I didn't see an easy way to manage my model releases. That was enough for me to not waste any more time with that software.
It isn't completely clear to me if cushystock can completely place the files to the queues, i.e. whether I still need to login so each site after the upload, assign categories and attach model releases; or cushystock will do it for me. I understood from the other posts in this thread that I still need to do it myself thus my comment. I deleted the program before I came to the point of checking this part by myself.
What I would like to see is the software similar to DeepMeta. It would record all my pictures, keywords, categories and model releases; upload the images fully automatically to all agencies; check status of my upload.
My current process is Filezilla (except iStock with DeepMeta ) and Excel table to track images and uploads (which I update manually).
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I have downloaded Cushy Site and do not like it, I have found Prostock Master useful though, and the free 5 dl a day version suits my purposes well! :)
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The main reason I'm not using CushyStock is that I thought it cost money, and I'm not very flush these days. If there's a free version I may check it out. I've been using a folder system and AceFTP, but it's a pain.
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Cushy is a good software and i'm using it, but unfortunately there was not much developing lately and it certainly need some further development. I still prefer Cushy over PSM for some reasons but there is no doubt that PSM does some things better than Cushy, both have useful features that you only have in PSM but not in Cushy and vice versa.
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I haven't tried Cushystock but I believe this will be a hot commodity when it opens. According to their site, there will be a subscription option that's free so you can try the site. You can register for more information at the link below:
http://www.isyndica.com/coming-soon/
For the record, I am not an employee of this company ;D
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Cushy stock shows great potential but the developer needs to keep at it and fix the numerous bugs such as, if you move an image from one folder to another using Cushy then the majority of times that image loses its status info.
The DB is not the best as on many occasions you will see and image in an agency folder with its status info but if you look at the same image in its folder location it may have NO status info.
Recently due to agencies changing their process cushy can no longer get financial data from DT and istock, and cushies multiple thread uploading is a nightmare.
I'm told the developer is working flat out on version 2.0 I hope it comes sooner than later or I'm back to the multiple folder option. ::)
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Cushystock is great - sure it's buggy, but it saves me a heck of a lot of time. no multiple folders or drag and dropping one after the other into ftp windows. I've been using it over a year now, and don't know what I'd do without it. I'm sure in time the minor kinks will get worked out. I love how I can just set it and forget it, and go enjoy the rest of my evening (or just go to bed and know that everything's uploaded in the morning). My batches are normally 20-25 in size, and I try and upload at least 2-3 batches of that size each week.
Sometimes the IPTC data gets screwy, other times the uploads will fail for no apparent reason. I find that if I run the scan wizard on each folder before editing the IPTC or uploading any of the images, it works a lot better.
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I name folders by date, and all my batches are saved in those folders. When I make new folder and save new batch in it, I put images in FTP and star uploading to all sites. When I'm finished, I make a new folder and name it by new date and so on. I never got confused about what I uploaded no matter I upload to 12 sites
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I made the mistake of buying Cushystock, but at least it has a useful keyword generator. What I've been doing now is in the Lightroom Library module I go to the "Label" line and add in abbreviations of where the given image has been uploaded, so a label for an image might look something like "SS DT StockXpert IS" and so on.
That way I can tell through Lightroom what images have been submitted where.
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I only created two folder, one for FTP upload one for uploaded file.
I Use pyrobatchftp at http://www.emtec.com/pyrobatchftp/index.html (http://www.emtec.com/pyrobatchftp/index.html) this FTP program can upload to all agencies when I sleeping.
here is how to use pyrobatchftp: http://stockphoto-shop.blogspot.com/2009/07/uploading-file-to-multiple-agencies.html (http://stockphoto-shop.blogspot.com/2009/07/uploading-file-to-multiple-agencies.html)
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I entered all my login information for every microstock site I belong to, and then I tested out one photo.......first I added a title, description, and key words.
Hi Paula,
This is not about tracking but the keywording, most contributors only add the metadata, like the keywords just the once inside the image, they do this in Bridge, Photoshop or Lightroom, if you have Photoshop then you do this retro-spectivly via the Image Information menu item, there is a plug-in you can use and save template for editing the image information, then saving it again is not an image edit so will not downgrade the image, each time you save a jpg you loose pixels as it re-compresses the image but editing metadata has no effect.
I have blogged about the Keyword tool here: (http://www.digitalweblogistics.com/blog/?p=41)
If you value your time then you might want to look at Isyndica.com (http://www.isyndica.com/) it is a paid service but you only upload once, when you send the images the Isyndica service sends them all at once to the selected agencies, so when the first upload is completed the other are not that far behind, the only issue at the moment is with ShutterStock and their API blocking the data.
David :D
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I put my pictures in folders (about 20 - 25 photos each) and then upload each folder to all sites using FTP.
So I only have to keep track of folders, not files.
By the way, I use an old fashioned paper sheet instead of a database - however low-tech this may sound: there are already too many programs running while editing pictures, no need to use a spreadsheet