MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Newbie Discussion => Topic started by: alexandersr on February 21, 2017, 14:52
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Alamy.com it's a good place for someone new in microstock business. Please, i would like to hear your suggestions. Thanks! :)
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Not really. I've sold three images in 8 months.
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Yes it's OK I sell between 2 and 6 images a month every month and make more than 123RF/DT/BS & DP combined and more than Fotolia or iStock
But they don't tend to sell the more usual microstock fair
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Yes it's OK I sell between 2 and 6 images a month every month and make more than 123RF/DT/BS & DP combined and more than Fotolia or iStock
But they don't tend to sell the more usual microstock fair
Hi Sammy the Cat, Thanks for your response. i would like to know the kind of photo than more sell on Alamy.com. They have a section as bestseller such as Fotolia.com ?
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All coments are welcome.
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Not really. I've sold three images in 8 months.
What kind of photos do you have on Alamy.com? How many photos do you have on Alamy.com?
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Sorry for my bad english, i'm triying to improving it.
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Yes it's OK I sell between 2 and 6 images a month every month and make more than 123RF/DT/BS & DP combined and more than Fotolia or iStock
But they don't tend to sell the more usual microstock fair
Do you mind me asking how big your port is and how long you have contributed there? I have also only had three sales in almost 12 months nut I like Alamy and hope to do better eventually. I only have about 450 images. I keep reading it's mainly editorial type images that sell well.
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Yes it's OK I sell between 2 and 6 images a month every month and make more than 123RF/DT/BS & DP combined and more than Fotolia or iStock
But they don't tend to sell the more usual microstock fair
Hi Sammy the Cat, Thanks for your response. i would like to know the kind of photo than more sell on Alamy.com. They have a section as bestseller such as Fotolia.com ?
No, nothing like that.
I'm only uploading stock to Alamy ATM. However I had no sales there until I had over 800 files (all RM and only sold on Alamy, though that's not a requirement). I see no pattern in what sells - it just seems to be what a buyer needed at the time. All my photos are either editorial only or don't need releases but most likely to be used as editorial. I don't have any experience about how set-up photos sell.
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Alamy is not a "typical" Mstock site....I think it really depends whether your style suits them and how patient you are ..you are unlikely to get instant returns. I only get occasional sales but when I do they tend to be reasonable amounts.
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They do OK with my microstock portfolio. Takes a long time for sales to start but worth it over the years. Editing the keywords seems essential, Perhaps a lot of people don't bother and wonder why they don't sell much?
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Yes it's OK I sell between 2 and 6 images a month every month and make more than 123RF/DT/BS & DP combined and more than Fotolia or iStock
But they don't tend to sell the more usual microstock fair
Hi Sammy the Cat, Thanks for your response. i would like to know the kind of photo than more sell on Alamy.com. They have a section as bestseller such as Fotolia.com ?
Go look on their site if you have an account you can see sales data.
My port is roughly 60% royalty free (also on other micro sites) 40% rights managed.
Sales split between the two types one of the biggest sales in the last 12 months over $300 for an RF image which was nice :D
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Yes it's OK I sell between 2 and 6 images a month every month and make more than 123RF/DT/BS & DP combined and more than Fotolia or iStock
But they don't tend to sell the more usual microstock fair
Do you mind me asking how big your port is and how long you have contributed there? I have also only had three sales in almost 12 months nut I like Alamy and hope to do better eventually. I only have about 450 images. I keep reading it's mainly editorial type images that sell well.
Over 3,000 images (photos and archive a mix of editorial and general stock) sales started not long after I started uploading but it's definitely a long haul, expect a year or two before you start seeing regular sales but you may have a portfolio that starts selling well from the get go.
Also don't make the mistake of key word spamming Alamy buyers are more savvy than general microstock and Alamy filters seem to do a reasonable job of putting the good stuff at the top of the searches (most of the time)
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Is it good? New contributors need encouragement = quick sales. I wonder how Alamy works at that.
I have small portfolio on Alamy and rather few sales too. I know, on Alamy you would need a large port to generate any substantial sales. Compared to the work it requires to get the images online (uploading, optimizing the images in the new AIM) it is sometimes frustrating to an old contributor...When you log in no new sales... Imagine how it feels to a new contributor!
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It is difficult to make sense out of what sells there and sales are more sporadic. Also, the dynamics is a little different, you need to be there for some time to work through their ranks and the more you sell the more all of your images seem to advance in the search results.
On Alamy you don't keep watching the contributors dashboard for the next .25c but when sales happens they are usually worth the wait. As with every site, you need to calculate the amount you have earned over a period of time divided by your average number of images during that same time to have an idea of how much you are getting per image. My port on Alamy is twice as big as my port on SS, for example, since Alamy also holds my rights managed collection, and I have earned about 3 times as much there than on SS. So far Alamy it is my best earner.
Now, the photos that sell on Alamy are not the same that sell on SS for me. I would almost venture to say that uploading your micro stock portfolio there is a waste of time except for editorial images and images of places, animals and plants that are properly key worded with place names and scientific names of living things.
My 2 cents hope that helps.
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Alamy vs Microstock
Pros:
- Alamy live news
- Accepts almost everything
- RM = usually higher commission and more control over your images
- Also higher commissions with RF, generally
- First step up into Midstock
Cons:
- Takes ages for images to start getting noticed, which can be discouraging
- Need large portfolio
- Confusing as to which types of images will do well (stay aware of trends)
Verdict:
Depends on your types of images. If you're shooting generic potato on white background stuff stick with Micros, but if your images are becoming more "premium", please don't license them as RF at Micros (imo). In addition, if you're venturing into editorials, it's worth checking out Alamy's Live News feed (images must be taken within a 48 hour period).
Overall, personally, I'm sticking with Alamy even if it's taking a while to get some momentum. The short-term subs download at a Micro is deceiving since it's so little, but better than nothing. However, I rather ignore those short-term subs for real commissions in the longer-term but this requires patience and discipline.
I wrote about this recently and made a parallel with the marshmallow test:
"Take the Marshmallow test
This test was devised in the 1960s by researchers at Stanford University, who gave children the choice between one reward (such as a marshmallow) they could eat immediately, and a larger reward (two marshmallows) for which they would have to wait for up to 20 minutes. Years later, researchers found that the children who had waited to get two marshmallows in the initial experiment generally fared better in life. They concluded that the children who win the marshmallow test are those best able to make the leap into abstract symbolic thinking and actually “picture” the benefits brought on by delayed gratification.
Under RF at Microstock, it should begin to license almost immediately, but your commission would be relatively small (usually only subscription licenses at 25cents). However, if you delay gratification by uploading the image into a Macrostock RM Agency, you may wait a while, but you will earn considerably more commission when it is finally licensed. This is certainly true of my experience at Alamy where it generally takes about one year and at least a 1,000 quality-image portfolio before images are finally licensed."
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Yes it's OK I sell between 2 and 6 images a month every month and make more than 123RF/DT/BS & DP combined and more than Fotolia or iStock
But they don't tend to sell the more usual microstock fair
Do you mind me asking how big your port is and how long you have contributed there? I have also only had three sales in almost 12 months nut I like Alamy and hope to do better eventually. I only have about 450 images. I keep reading it's mainly editorial type images that sell well.
Over 3,000 images (photos and archive a mix of editorial and general stock) sales started not long after I started uploading but it's definitely a long haul, expect a year or two before you start seeing regular sales but you may have a portfolio that starts selling well from the get go.
Also don't make the mistake of key word spamming Alamy buyers are more savvy than general microstock and Alamy filters seem to do a reasonable job of putting the good stuff at the top of the searches (most of the time)
Thanks Sammy. For images not on the micros do you usually choose RM? How about now that editorial is a choice? I would really like to go with Alamy and drop the cheaters and low earners. I would rather spend the time uploading to Alamy if it was going to pay off in the end.
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Yes it's OK I sell between 2 and 6 images a month every month and make more than 123RF/DT/BS & DP combined and more than Fotolia or iStock
But they don't tend to sell the more usual microstock fair
Do you mind me asking how big your port is and how long you have contributed there? I have also only had three sales in almost 12 months nut I like Alamy and hope to do better eventually. I only have about 450 images. I keep reading it's mainly editorial type images that sell well.
Over 3,000 images (photos and archive a mix of editorial and general stock) sales started not long after I started uploading but it's definitely a long haul, expect a year or two before you start seeing regular sales but you may have a portfolio that starts selling well from the get go.
Also don't make the mistake of key word spamming Alamy buyers are more savvy than general microstock and Alamy filters seem to do a reasonable job of putting the good stuff at the top of the searches (most of the time)
Thanks Sammy. For images not on the micros do you usually choose RM? How about now that editorial is a choice? I would really like to go with Alamy and drop the cheaters and low earners. I would rather spend the time uploading to Alamy if it was going to pay off in the end.
I choose RM for better and more unusual images. Isolated tomatoes on white go RF :D but high class and travel images always go RM.
I usually decide on RM or RF before I do the shoot. If I have a few odd photos left over I might submit them to RF so long as they are sufficiently different to the RM shots.
Now Alamy take RF editorial all the editorial stuff I had on micro is being uploaded to Alamy too.
You need to go look in the Alamy forum some people have reported sales of $500 $300 and several sales per day or week. But if you look at their portfolios you will understand why they get those sales.
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Yes it's OK I sell between 2 and 6 images a month every month and make more than 123RF/DT/BS & DP combined and more than Fotolia or iStock
But they don't tend to sell the more usual microstock fair
Do you mind me asking how big your port is and how long you have contributed there? I have also only had three sales in almost 12 months nut I like Alamy and hope to do better eventually. I only have about 450 images. I keep reading it's mainly editorial type images that sell well.
Over 3,000 images (photos and archive a mix of editorial and general stock) sales started not long after I started uploading but it's definitely a long haul, expect a year or two before you start seeing regular sales but you may have a portfolio that starts selling well from the get go.
Also don't make the mistake of key word spamming Alamy buyers are more savvy than general microstock and Alamy filters seem to do a reasonable job of putting the good stuff at the top of the searches (most of the time)
Thanks Sammy. For images not on the micros do you usually choose RM? How about now that editorial is a choice? I would really like to go with Alamy and drop the cheaters and low earners. I would rather spend the time uploading to Alamy if it was going to pay off in the end.
I choose RM for better and more unusual images. Isolated tomatoes on white go RF :D but high class and travel images always go RM.
I usually decide on RM or RF before I do the shoot. If I have a few odd photos left over I might submit them to RF so long as they are sufficiently different to the RM shots.
Now Alamy take RF editorial all the editorial stuff I had on micro is being uploaded to Alamy too.
You need to go look in the Alamy forum some people have reported sales of $500 $300 and several sales per day or week. But if you look at their portfolios you will understand why they get those sales.
I do read the forum over there and try to decipher what is best to do but I think I will follow your lead with the RM. I'm also uploading my editorial to Alamy. My head spins when I see portfolios with 20 or 30K images but when I look at those ports there seems to be a lot of similars in them. I don't see the point to having images with just a slight difference, but maybe I'm wrong. Thanks for your advice :)
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Bear in mind that RF costs more on Alamy, which makes sense because it can be used over and over for many purposes.
Most RM on Alamy carries no exclusive restrictions, so it's just a one-off, so costs/pays less. As in business, it's not the uniqueness, cost or quality of your file which necessarily earns the highest money, it's how much of a discount the buyer has negotiated. OTOH, now that the iniquitous Daily Mail has stopped buying there, my RPD has gone up considerably over the past few months, though I'm still waiting for my unreported DM files to be paid for.
Also, with hybrid licences, files designated RF can be sold for the lower RM prices, if that's all the buyer needs (check out any RF file there as though you were a buyer to see what I mean).
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Bear in mind that RF costs more on Alamy, which makes sense because it can be used over and over for many purposes.
Most RM on Alamy carries no exclusive restrictions, so it's just a one-off, so costs/pays less. As in business, it's not the uniqueness, cost or quality of your file which necessarily earns the highest money, it's how much of a discount the buyer has negotiated. OTOH, now that the iniquitous Daily Mail has stopped buying there, my RPD has gone up considerably over the past few months, though I'm still waiting for my unreported DM files to be paid for.
Also, with hybrid licences, files designated RF can be sold for the lower RM prices, if that's all the buyer needs (check out any RF file there as though you were a buyer to see what I mean).
Thanks ShadySue... after a year of this I'm still trying to figure it all out because there seems to be so many different views. I guess time and sales are the only way to decide for myself. Until then I appreciate hearing everyone else's point of view.
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Bear in mind that RF costs more on Alamy, which makes sense because it can be used over and over for many purposes.
Most RM on Alamy carries no exclusive restrictions, so it's just a one-off, so costs/pays less. As in business, it's not the uniqueness, cost or quality of your file which necessarily earns the highest money, it's how much of a discount the buyer has negotiated. OTOH, now that the iniquitous Daily Mail has stopped buying there, my RPD has gone up considerably over the past few months, though I'm still waiting for my unreported DM files to be paid for.
Also, with hybrid licences, files designated RF can be sold for the lower RM prices, if that's all the buyer needs (check out any RF file there as though you were a buyer to see what I mean).
Thanks ShadySue... after a year of this I'm still trying to figure it all out because there seems to be so many different views. I guess time and sales are the only way to decide for myself. Until then I appreciate hearing everyone else's point of view.
That is really all you can do. Everyone's port is different and will fit different agencies' buyers better.
I should have added that an advantage of RM is that you can get repeat sales, e.g. I've had repeat sales in periodicals as well as double sales for school textbooks abdominal the corresponding teacher's book. I'm actually relieved I don't have to make the RF/RM decision, at least for now.
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I had a $5.73 sale today, the first this year…
30% for Alamy, 40% as Distributor commission and 30% ($1.72) for me!
Yeah, Alamy is great!!
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I had a $5.73 sale today, the first this year…
30% for Alamy, 40% as Distributor commission and 30% ($1.72) for me!
Yeah, Alamy is great!!
Distributor sales are not common and 30% is on par with the other agencies and a whole lot better than 15% Getty with 2.7 cent sales.
Alamy still give you 50% on normal sales!
Why you complaining?
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I had a $5.73 sale today, the first this year…
30% for Alamy, 40% as Distributor commission and 30% ($1.72) for me!
Yeah, Alamy is great!!
Distributor sales are not common and 30% is on par with the other agencies and a whole lot better than 15% Getty with 2.7 cent sales.
Alamy still give you 50% on normal sales!
Why you complaining?
Also we can opt out of distributor sales, even country by country (some countries, e.g. Italy, seem to have particularly low value distributor sales.
Still, under the UKNS (also opt-outable) I complained about the $2.xx I was netting from the DM*, but now they're buying from SS where the contributors get 25c - 38c.
*but they also didn't always report re-uses, and I don't like their politics, so once they've paid me for the unreported RM re-uses, I'll be glad I'm not there any more.
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I had a $5.73 sale today, the first this year…
30% for Alamy, 40% as Distributor commission and 30% ($1.72) for me!
Yeah, Alamy is great!!
I'll take $1.72 over 25 cents any day! :D
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I had a $5.73 sale today, the first this year…
30% for Alamy, 40% as Distributor commission and 30% ($1.72) for me!
Yeah, Alamy is great!!
Distributor sales are not common and 30% is on par with the other agencies and a whole lot better than 15% Getty with 2.7 cent sales.
Alamy still give you 50% on normal sales!
Why you complaining?
They are about half of my sales, in quantity not in $$$ of course, so I cannot say that, for me, they are not common.
By the way if 2016 has been an more than an enough good year for me in Alamy, 2017 has started very very badly… :(
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I had a $5.73 sale today, the first this year…
30% for Alamy, 40% as Distributor commission and 30% ($1.72) for me!
Yeah, Alamy is great!!
I'll take $1.72 over 25 cents any day! :D
Hmm, yes, but I'll take 10 a day at 25c, over one a month at $1.72, any month...
Of course, if you're GETTING 10 a day at $1.72, that's great :)
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On Alamy I find it varies a lot from month to month, both number of dls and net $$ per dl.
This month I have only 3 dls, but almost $110 net. Sometimes I've had a lot more dls with a lot less $$. Sometimes I've had more for one licence.
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On Alamy I find it varies a lot from month to month, both number of dls and net $$ per dl.
This month I have only 3 dls, but almost $110 net. Sometimes I've had a lot more dls with a lot less $$. Sometimes I've had more for one licence.
Hi ShadySue, i´m not a native english speaker, what's mean net $$ ?
Thanks! :)
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On Alamy I find it varies a lot from month to month, both number of dls and net $$ per Dl.
This month I have only 3 dls, but almost $110 net. Sometimes I've had a lot more dls with a lot less $$. Sometimes I've had more for one licence.
Hi ShadySue, i´m not a native English speaker, what's mean net $$ ?
Thanks! :)
In the context of my post above, 'net' is the money you get, which on Alamy is 50% of the sale price for Alamy sales and 30% for distributor sales.
That's opposed to 'gross', which is the total value of the sale. On Alamy, the sales are reported gross on the sales history page, so people often get overexcited about their first sale, think that's what they earned. Also, on the forum, people in the monthly sales thread quote the gross value of their sales, unless they specify 'net'.
In another context, 'net' earnings is the profit you make after you deduct all expenses of making the image - e.g. equipment, model etc fees, location hire, travel and taxes.