MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Sites that no longer exist => SnapVillage.com => Topic started by: News Feed on May 28, 2008, 16:15
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A big part of getting sales at microstock agencies is creating images that are in demand.
Click here to read the full article.
I stumbled across this interesting website yesterday. I sometimes forget that not everyone knows about the microstock industry. I thought everyone knew where to buy & sell images, vectors & illustrations at the click of a button!
This blogger mentions that while his portfolio is relatively modest (80-130 images), [...]
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SnapVillage/~3/300080749/
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" People go to microstock photo agencies because they are looking for images to buy. Your job is to create images that are commercially in demand."
That's a newsflash?
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Yep, same old tired advice "look at the most popular images to see what subjects sell".
Which is why the sites are all flooded with redundant content.
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That's a newsflash?
More flash than news...
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"This blogger mentions that while his portfolio is relatively modest (80-130 images), he makes several hundred dollars a year."
Well holy crap, we better listen up, then. Clearly this is an authority speaking, someone who rakes in tens of dollars per month.
What . is going on at SV? Sales are nearly non-existent, and this is what they are spending their time on? We know what sells. They need to start getting on the ball with what it takes to build a site that people want to buy from.
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I personally think the quality of images within Microstock has risen so high that soon the average novice player will be left so far behind it will make it pointless to submit. Agencies may still allow anyone who can make the technical grade to play but I doubt that that it will be worth their while.
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That article qualifies as a big "Duh" for most of us contributors. I'd expect it to be in some grade school publication. The fact that it's on SnapVillage shouldn't be much of a surprise in that the staff is still at that learning level.
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Wow, Captain Obvious hung up the superhero belt to go work for SnapVillage. Another big part of getting sales at a microstock site is to move out of beta at some point and start attracting buyers.
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I personally think the quality of images within Microstock has risen so high that soon the average novice player will be left so far behind it will make it pointless to submit. Agencies may still allow anyone who can make the technical grade to play but I doubt that that it will be worth their while.
I think you are right Zeus. I remember how difficult it was for me to get up to speed 1 year ago. Lots and lots of rejections, and a ton of non-selling images. The quality has risen significantly in the year I have been active in microstock. I wouldn't want to be a newbie today, let alone 2 years from now.
I was just looking at the Critique Forum at Shutterstock. Some of the people trying to get their First 10 images together have absolutely no hope. The types of images they are submitting will never make it past the reviewers. They are starting from scratch - no idea of what sells, no idea about lighting, poor composition skills, weak exposures. But if you look at the databases of a lot of microstock agencies, those types of images were accepted 2 years ago. There are even sales for some of those poor quality images.
The quality is rising very fast. I hope our pricing power continues to rise too.
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You're so right. I have seen whole portfolios that I wonder how they ever got accepted where the photographer has just walked around their home taking photos of everything in sight from every possible angle making images with virtually no use to anybody. I'm glad that most sitesseem to be clamping down on this as it just clogs up the searches.
I was just looking at the Critique Forum at Shutterstock. Some of the people trying to get their First 10 images together have absolutely no hope. The types of images they are submitting will never make it past the reviewers. They are starting from scratch - no idea of what sells, no idea about lighting, poor composition skills, weak exposures. But if you look at the databases of a lot of microstock agencies, those types of images were accepted 2 years ago. There are even sales for some of those poor quality images.
The quality is rising very fast. I hope our pricing power continues to rise too.
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Wow, Captain Obvious hung up the superhero belt to go work for SnapVillage. Another big part of getting sales at a microstock site is to move out of beta at some point and start attracting buyers.
Ha! Good one...
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I have seen whole portfolios that I wonder how they ever got accepted where the photographer has just walked around their home taking photos of everything in sight from every possible angle making images with virtually no use to anybody.
On the other hand, one never knows what is going to sell and even the most mundane shots indeed do sell and are of use to someone. As the famous SJlocke once told me, "find a niche" and that's what i'm doin :)