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Newbie Discussion / Initial thoughts on Microstock
« on: December 13, 2009, 13:17 »
Although a long time macro stock guy, I'm new to this micro business and just wanted to share a few observations and see what experiences fellow newbies are having.
First uploads were in late September, now have several hundred nice enough people images on 15 sites. From looking around the sites I would say that my portfolio has a narrow focus compared to most...many contributors have still life, landscapes, backgrounds as well as people.
Shutterstock...they are wiping the floor with everyone else for sales, both subs and On Demand. 62 percent of images have made a sale...some several dozen times. 614 images to date, 999 downloads in 10 weeks.
Dreamstime...second place...only a few cents ahead of iStock but 4 times as many images.
iStock...3rd place...only 144 in port so far...second highest average sale. Thank the Lord for DeepMeta as their upload system is arduous.
Veer...4th place...slow but the highest average sale...high hopes for them as their site is great
Fotolia...5th place...a disappointment for me, do not come through yet as they seem to for others...can't get the hang of their categories and the keyword priority system is a pain...would be further ahead financially had I not bought the Starbucks lattes I needed to keep myself awake while submitting.
123rf...6th place not far behind Fotolia...same number of sales but a little less money.
BigStock...lacklustre...others swear by this site...I swear at it.
CanStock...only joined 3 weeks ago and a few sales already...most people seem disappointed by them but they seem off to a reasonable start for me.
No sales at all yet on others but am persisting...will give it 6 months and see where to keep uploading.
What are other artists finding? What strategies do you follow? Is it better to focus on one area or spread your wings to other types of images?
First uploads were in late September, now have several hundred nice enough people images on 15 sites. From looking around the sites I would say that my portfolio has a narrow focus compared to most...many contributors have still life, landscapes, backgrounds as well as people.
Shutterstock...they are wiping the floor with everyone else for sales, both subs and On Demand. 62 percent of images have made a sale...some several dozen times. 614 images to date, 999 downloads in 10 weeks.
Dreamstime...second place...only a few cents ahead of iStock but 4 times as many images.
iStock...3rd place...only 144 in port so far...second highest average sale. Thank the Lord for DeepMeta as their upload system is arduous.
Veer...4th place...slow but the highest average sale...high hopes for them as their site is great
Fotolia...5th place...a disappointment for me, do not come through yet as they seem to for others...can't get the hang of their categories and the keyword priority system is a pain...would be further ahead financially had I not bought the Starbucks lattes I needed to keep myself awake while submitting.
123rf...6th place not far behind Fotolia...same number of sales but a little less money.
BigStock...lacklustre...others swear by this site...I swear at it.
CanStock...only joined 3 weeks ago and a few sales already...most people seem disappointed by them but they seem off to a reasonable start for me.
No sales at all yet on others but am persisting...will give it 6 months and see where to keep uploading.
What are other artists finding? What strategies do you follow? Is it better to focus on one area or spread your wings to other types of images?
