MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Alamy.com => Topic started by: Artist on July 28, 2015, 00:25
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With a portfolio of 8k and online since 4 month.
I had no success with it.
0 sales, make me feel strange.
How did alamy goes for you?
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4 months is no time at all, give it a year and you should be seeing regular sales.
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With a portfolio of 8k and online since 4 month.
I had no success with it.
0 sales, make me feel strange.
How did alamy goes for you?
Is it your micro port?
They have officially said that generally successful micro pics don't do well there.
But otherwise, yes, four months isn't a long time.
Well done on suffering managing your 8k images there in such a short time. I can easily be all day doing half a dozen (I don't mean it takes me that long, I just mean I do a couple, have a long distraction break, do another one, another longer break and so on.)
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Alamy?! Hahahahahahahahaaaaaa! LOL. Oh my miserable gopher once again! Alamy to explain something to you, just forget about your port there for a year or two then check it again and maybe someone will have gophered one of your images. My Alamy sales graph looks like a one of those angular buildings in Egypt and it took a year to build it. That's why I stick to digging tunnels.
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I like Alamy because the prices and sales go up every year. Of course it it not one of the best stocks, but not even last one. For me it's better than Canstock, Panthermedia, Mostphotos, Pond5, Veer, Yaymicro, Zoonar and Depositphotos. Actually I dropped out CS, PM, YM, ZO.
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4 months is no time at all, give it a year and you should be seeing regular sales.
Thanks, lets see that stats for an year :) waiting.
With a portfolio of 8k and online since 4 month.
I had no success with it.
0 sales, make me feel strange.
How did alamy goes for you?
Is it your micro port?
They have officially said that generally successful micro pics don't do well there.
But otherwise, yes, four months isn't a long time.
Well done on suffering managing your 8k images there in such a short time. I can easily be all day doing half a dozen (I don't mean it takes me that long, I just mean I do a couple, have a long distraction break, do another one, another longer break and so on.)
Yes, its a micro vectors portfolio, Its good success in other agencies, being a RM website, I thought they'll go great. But alas!
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4 months is no time at all, give it a year and you should be seeing regular sales.
Thanks, lets see that stats for an year :) waiting.
With a portfolio of 8k and online since 4 month.
I had no success with it.
0 sales, make me feel strange.
How did alamy goes for you?
Is it your micro port?
They have officially said that generally successful micro pics don't do well there.
But otherwise, yes, four months isn't a long time.
Well done on suffering managing your 8k images there in such a short time. I can easily be all day doing half a dozen (I don't mean it takes me that long, I just mean I do a couple, have a long distraction break, do another one, another longer break and so on.)
Yes, its a micro vectors portfolio, Its good success in other agencies, being a RM website, I thought they'll go great. But alas!
I'm really not sure if vectors sell well there. There don't seem to be (m)any vector artists posting on their forum, and I don't see many posts here either.
You're not supposed to set RM there if you have the same or similar files as RF elsewhere.
Actually that may not be true. I've often read it, with the encouragement to 'read your Alamy contributor contract', but all I can see in the contract is:
"You cannot submit identical or similar images to Alamy as both Royalty-Free and Rights Managed. The licence type on Alamy for an image must be the same as the licence type for that image and similar images which you have on other agency websites. "
If anyone has official word, rather than peer opinion, about this, can they post the link, please.
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4 months is no time at all, give it a year and you should be seeing regular sales.
Thanks, lets see that stats for an year :) waiting.
With a portfolio of 8k and online since 4 month.
I had no success with it.
0 sales, make me feel strange.
How did alamy goes for you?
Is it your micro port?
They have officially said that generally successful micro pics don't do well there.
But otherwise, yes, four months isn't a long time.
Well done on suffering managing your 8k images there in such a short time. I can easily be all day doing half a dozen (I don't mean it takes me that long, I just mean I do a couple, have a long distraction break, do another one, another longer break and so on.)
Yes, its a micro vectors portfolio, Its good success in other agencies, being a RM website, I thought they'll go great. But alas!
I'm really not sure if vectors sell well there. There don't seem to be (m)any vector artists posting on their forum, and I don't see many posts here either.
You're not supposed to set RM there if you have the same or similar files as RF elsewhere.
Actually that may not be true. I've often read it, with the encouragement to 'read your Alamy contributor contract', but all I can see in the contract is:
"You cannot submit identical or similar images to Alamy as both Royalty-Free and Rights Managed. The licence type on Alamy for an image must be the same as the licence type for that image and similar images which you have on other agency websites. "
If anyone has official word, rather than peer opinion, about this, can they post the link, please.
Thanks, I think, I didn't wrote correctly, The files are still in RF, but Alamy is RM and RF both so I thought their customer base would be too strong for sales to pick up.
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I do really terrible on Alamy, and gotten worse over the years.
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4 months is no time at all, give it a year and you should be seeing regular sales.
Thanks, lets see that stats for an year :) waiting.
With a portfolio of 8k and online since 4 month.
I had no success with it.
0 sales, make me feel strange.
How did alamy goes for you?
Is it your micro port?
They have officially said that generally successful micro pics don't do well there.
But otherwise, yes, four months isn't a long time.
Well done on suffering managing your 8k images there in such a short time. I can easily be all day doing half a dozen (I don't mean it takes me that long, I just mean I do a couple, have a long distraction break, do another one, another longer break and so on.)
Yes, its a micro vectors portfolio, Its good success in other agencies, being a RM website, I thought they'll go great. But alas!
I'm really not sure if vectors sell well there. There don't seem to be (m)any vector artists posting on their forum, and I don't see many posts here either.
You're not supposed to set RM there if you have the same or similar files as RF elsewhere.
Actually that may not be true. I've often read it, with the encouragement to 'read your Alamy contributor contract', but all I can see in the contract is:
"You cannot submit identical or similar images to Alamy as both Royalty-Free and Rights Managed. The licence type on Alamy for an image must be the same as the licence type for that image and similar images which you have on other agency websites. "
If anyone has official word, rather than peer opinion, about this, can they post the link, please.
To my mind the wording in the contract seems clear enough (I've highlighted the relevant clause in green) The licence type on Alamy for an image must be the same...similar images which you have on other agency websites.
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^^ It is indeed perfectly clear. I don't know how I missed that! :-[
Tx.
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I've read, and my experience with Alamy seems to concur, (10 years with Alamy) it takes a year for your images to work their way up in the search rankings to a point where you get regular sales. Also, if you have many similar images with similar keywords, it would behove you to divide those images up into a number of different pseudonyms. Your search ranking can be affected by to many similar images. However, once you create a new pseudonym, it will "restart" the ranking for that pseudonym, so it will be on the bottom so to speak. So if you're going to break up your images into various pseudonyms, you should do it now rather than later before your ranking start to climb. Also, make sure you have NO duplicate words in your keywords. I'm sure you're familiar with how strict Alamy is with their word spamming algorithm, but this can't be overstated. Make sure there are no duplicate keywords in the "essential" "main" and "comprehensive" keywords fields. You can have the same words in the caption field. Unlike some of the micro sites, Alamy doesn't automatically delete the duplicates keywords. And as already stated, if an image is on another site as RF, it has to be RF on Alamy, cannot be RM. All this is based on things I've read from Alamy and from other Alamy contributors so take it for what it's worth. Maybe it's all BS. I know back in 2009 I re-keyworded all my images to weed out duplicate words (I'm a very lazy keyworder) and the following year my sales tripled. However, I did the same thing again a few months ago and haven't seen any uptick in sales yet, might be too soon to tell, so. Hope this helps a little.
-David
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I've not previously come across the notion that Alamy's search engine penalises duplicate search words- I don't recall it ever being mentioned on Alamy's own forums, who are usually quick to highlight that kind of thing. I'm checking through my keywords to delete the occasional duplicate which has slipped in. However, I'm hoping though that there is no penalty for repeat use of the same word in a phrase within quotes (e.g. "coloured glass", "colourful glass", "red glass" "stained glass" etc etc).
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I've not previously come across the notion that Alamy's search engine penalises duplicate search words- I don't recall it ever being mentioned on Alamy's own forums, who are usually quick to highlight that kind of thing. I'm checking through my keywords to delete the occasional duplicate which has slipped in. However, I'm hoping though that there is no penalty for repeat use of the same word in a phrase within quotes (e.g. "coloured glass", "colourful glass", "red glass" "stained glass" etc etc).
I didn't know about the repeat keyword penalty and was wondering about it too. I've got lots which have something like London Bridge in EssKeys, then in Main I'd have London and Bridge.
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If there is an duplicate keyword issue at Alamy all my files would be dead last. Almost all files have the ESSKeys also in both other keyword groups. Further, where it makes sense to make phrases, I have duplicates within each group (Niagara River Niagara Falls American Falls Canadian Falls Horseshoe Falls). I hope there isn't a penalty!
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I do pretty good on Alamy. They average about 5% of my monthly totals. My port is all photos and mostly the same as my micro portfolio, so I don't buy that micro pics don't do good there. I also have duplicate keywords. My sales are okay so I don't know about that one either. I don't see it being worth going back over 5k+ photos changing keywords to find out for sure.
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This could explain my total failure. All my files contain duplicate kws accross the three fields. I didn't realise it was an issue. There you go. No way can I be bothered to clean up my whole portfolio so I guess alamy is destined to be a low earner for me.
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The duplicate keywords penalty is news to me too. I sure have plenty of them. If it would increase my sales it might be worth doing something about it, but I'd want to know for sure that it would.
Alamy has been my #2 earner for at least the last 3 years although I still get 0 months from time to time I also get rare ones that beat SS.
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Also, make sure you have NO duplicate words in your keywords. I'm sure you're familiar with how strict Alamy is with their word spamming algorithm, but this can't be overstated. Make sure there are no duplicate keywords in the "essential" "main" and "comprehensive" keywords fields.
What evidence or stated policy are you basing this on?
I am not saying that you are wrong. But what you are saying about duplicates seemingly goes against what Alamy themselves recommend with respect to the use of phrase, word proximity etc. Because a single keyword may have many potential pairings. Eg - "business team", "business meeting" etc. And we know, because they have told us (and we can all see from the search), that word order and word proximity matters. I know from the data they show us that duplicate words work for me.
I'm sure you're familiar with how strict Alamy is with their word spamming algorithm
I'm not. Do you have a link which relates to duplicate words. I know that CTR works against irrelevant keywords - but where is the evidence that duplication is an issue? Not saying that you are wrong - but it seems like it would be a contradiction with respect to how other aspects of the Alamy search work. Also - it wouldn't make much sense ... because weeding out duplicates would slow down the search and create overheads for no good reason. It doesn't really actually probably matter in a search if you say the same word twice - better than filling your allocation with irrelevant words.
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In my experience, they are good and lately getting even better at their core business - selling travel and editorial stock - and also sell some concept/lifestyle but the stuff that books, magazines and newspapers need in quantity is IMHO what sells best. I have a handful of similar RF photos on Alamy and the micros and have some that sell for me on both at widely disparate prices, so having the same port in both places, while not the best idea, isn't always bad.
I'm really impressed that you uploaded so much in such a short time especially given their complicated system. No luck selling the few illustrations I have on Alamy from when I started in 2008 and took a class in illustrator - they do sell on the micros - but I've been sticking to photography so I'm sure your illustrations are much much better, but that's my limited experience there. Give it time hopefully you'll have success.
My files with duplicate keywords - alone in EssKeys and in phrases below (not in quotes) get licensed and show up on page one of searches for two-keyword general searches, so I don't see a problem.
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I'll be honest with you, I couldn't find that info about the duplicate keywords. It may be very dated info. I remember this being discussed at length many years ago, things may have changed. I haven't been a very active contributor the last five years, I just upload a few images here and there. I emailed member services. I apologize If I spoke out of my ass, I will post Alamy's replay.
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Just to clear this one up quickly for you:
You're not penalized for having duplicate keywords and you never have been. It just takes up valuable space in your keyword fields so there is no need to do it.
:)
Cheers
Alamy
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Just to clear this one up quickly for you:
You're not penalized for having duplicate keywords and you never have been. It just takes up valuable space in your keyword fields so there is no need to do it.
:)
Cheers
Alamy
Thanks so much for clearing this up! Really appreciate it.
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I was wrong, sorry about that.
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This week I´ve made only one sell, but is was a very good price. So this agency moved to place 2.! on my agencies. I´ve currently only 200 images online there.
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy. Hopefully you are making your photo money elsewhere and the photos you have on Alamy are the ones you don't have a home for. If you can cover the upload, description and keyword time through sales then you are doing OK. Alamy cannot fund a trip especially now with the ridiculous image numbers 30% of which are similars
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy.
Speak for yourself. Some of us do pretty good on Alamy.
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I say be patient. Keep waiting. I'm an illustrator and I only send them JPG files. Their EPS process is too much of a hassle. It's an easy submission process. Sales are steady, but slow. I have a little over 4.5K over there.
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I don't know how well vectors sell there overall but I don't do many illustrations and I have sold a reasonable amount with them.
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy.
Definitely not true :)
One example: http://www.alamy.com/blog/selling-stock-photos-online-with-alamy-250k-and-counting (http://www.alamy.com/blog/selling-stock-photos-online-with-alamy-250k-and-counting)
Some do better than others, that's true, but we've paid out over $140million to photographers since we began, with many photographers getting healthy payouts month after month.
Cheers
Alamy
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Well I have fantastic success on Alamy this month alone 4K+ sterling no complaints here :D
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Well I have fantastic success on Alamy this month alone 4K+ sterling no complaints here :D
It's all relative.
Some might think that £4k from 556,781 files was a very poor return.
OTOH, it's better than the zero you get from files on your HD.
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I am an old but small player (7 years ~ 1100 files). In my case it didn't worth for the extra effort.
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This week I´ve made only one sell, but is was a very good price. So this agency moved to place 2.! on my agencies. I´ve currently only 200 images online there.
amazing and congrats, I wish you got a good number here :)
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy.
Definitely not true :)
One example: [url]http://www.alamy.com/blog/selling-stock-photos-online-with-alamy-250k-and-counting[/url] ([url]http://www.alamy.com/blog/selling-stock-photos-online-with-alamy-250k-and-counting[/url])
Some do better than others, that's true, but we've paid out over $140million to photographers since we began, with many photographers getting healthy payouts month after month.
Cheers
Alamy
One off successes do not represent the population. If you randomly sampled the population of Alamy contributors I think you would see completely different story, more like mediocracy at best. Sure, some do better than others, but those are the exception, not the rule.
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy.
Definitely not true :)
One example: [url]http://www.alamy.com/blog/selling-stock-photos-online-with-alamy-250k-and-counting[/url] ([url]http://www.alamy.com/blog/selling-stock-photos-online-with-alamy-250k-and-counting[/url])
Some do better than others, that's true, but we've paid out over $140million to photographers since we began, with many photographers getting healthy payouts month after month.
Cheers
Alamy
One off successes do not represent the population. If you randomly sampled the population of Alamy contributors I think you would see completely different story, more like mediocracy at best. Sure, some do better than others, but those are the exception, not the rule.
Even one success proves that there is such a thing.
Neverthless, I agree that the pie is sliced very finely there, and most of the people who report good sales have really huge ports. Even their RPI is probably pretty low.
However, there is obviously a high percentage of Alamy members who never post their figures, good or bad.
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy.
Definitely not true :)
One example: [url]http://www.alamy.com/blog/selling-stock-photos-online-with-alamy-250k-and-counting[/url] ([url]http://www.alamy.com/blog/selling-stock-photos-online-with-alamy-250k-and-counting[/url])
Some do better than others, that's true, but we've paid out over $140million to photographers since we began, with many photographers getting healthy payouts month after month.
Cheers
Alamy
One off successes do not represent the population. If you randomly sampled the population of Alamy contributors I think you would see completely different story, more like mediocracy at best. Sure, some do better than others, but those are the exception, not the rule.
If you look in their forum, there's quite a lot of people doing reasonably well with alamy. When I was earning very little, that gave me the motivation to carry on uploading and now its starting to pay off.
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From the Alamy blog interview with Keith Morris, the example Alamy provided on this forum: "After selling $250k worth of stock photography online with Alamy recently…" Keith has 27,000 files and that $250,000 in sales is total sales, based on the sentence in quotes, not his percentage after Alamy takes out their cut. After taking out Alamy's cut wouldn't Keith's average return per image per year be around 50 cents? That doesn't sound that great to me. My percentage on Alamy isn't that much lower than Keith's and my images are mediocre at best. (By the way, I think Keith's images are pretty good, definitely has some beautiful stuff, this is not meant to disparage Keith in any way.)
I have fared much better on istock alone than on Alamy. I submit to Alamy, but I've never had great success relative to the micros collectively or istock and Shutter Stock alone. My RPI is best with Getty but I have less than 200 images with them. My sales with Alamy mirror the micro stock poll results to the right.
Though I was wrong about the duplicate keywords (although I'm sure that information was correct many years ago) I think it still holds true that your images and pseudonym needs time to percolate up in the search results, however I wouldn't expect anything too great from Alamy.
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^^ to be bang up to date, KM's sales for July were 57 sales from a port of 23602 images (earnings not shared).
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I Joined Alamy since March 2014, just 146 photos online because no sales then I stop uploading, yesterday suddenly got one sales, earned $18.18 after deduct 50% royalty($36). :o
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I sold images there with 175$ and it is nice when you see that, but it happens very rarely.
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From the Alamy blog interview with Keith Morris, the example Alamy provided on this forum: "After selling $250k worth of stock photography online with Alamy recently…" Keith has 27,000 files and that $250,000 in sales is total sales, based on the sentence in quotes, not his percentage after Alamy takes out their cut. After taking out Alamy's cut wouldn't Keith's average return per image per year be around 50 cents? That doesn't sound that great to me. My percentage on Alamy isn't that much lower than Keith's and my images are mediocre at best. (By the way, I think Keith's images are pretty good, definitely has some beautiful stuff, this is not meant to disparage Keith in any way.)
I have fared much better on istock alone than on Alamy. I submit to Alamy, but I've never had great success relative to the micros collectively or istock and Shutter Stock alone. My RPI is best with Getty but I have less than 200 images with them. My sales with Alamy mirror the micro stock poll results to the right.
Though I was wrong about the duplicate keywords (although I'm sure that information was correct many years ago) I think it still holds true that your images and pseudonym needs time to percolate up in the search results, however I wouldn't expect anything too great from Alamy.
You have to factor in that alamy don't reject on non-technical grounds, other sites might reject half of those images for things like similars or LCV. Perhaps he could make more money with the microstock sites but I find uploading editorial and the sort of images that no longer sell on the micros to just alamy saves time and its great to have a source of income that isn't microstock.
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You have to factor in that alamy don't reject on non-technical grounds, other sites might reject half of those images for things like similars or LCV. Perhaps he could make more money with the micro stock sites but I find uploading editorial and the sort of images that no longer sell on the micros to just alamy saves time and its great to have a source of income that isn't microstock.
That is a good point. Probably the only place to upload unrealesed people shots (other than celebs) and make some money from them. I upload everything I have on the micros to Alamy along with images that were rejected by the micros or is editorial. Fortunately I have a pretty high acceptance rate on the micros so I really don't factor that. Roughly about 13% of my sales on Alamy are from images that are not available on the micros, mostly landscapes that I decided to license as RM. So the vast majority of my sales on Alamy are the same images that are on the micros. But I do mostly commercial / conceptual still life, very different than KM's images, he has a TON of unreleased people shots, so it's probably apple to oranges here.
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For a while, I was doing better with editorial pics sold on iStock, and indeed what little I'm still selling there as credit sales is predominatly editorial images uploaded in 2011 (not since!).
However, Alamy has been picking up a bit for me, and currently my August sales and $$ are better there than iS. This morning I got a repeat sale in, a great advantage of RM. I've got one particular file which has resold several times, each resale for a small amount, but adding up to a decent total. I wonder how many micro/RF buyers tot up all uses to make sure an EL isn't needed for cumulative prints.
On the downside, in July, I got a small value distributor sale, reported as used on June 1st. I googled it and it was legitimately used much earlier, and several copies of the article, in various online locations and various languages were already up dating back to April. Not sure how to chase them up with DCMA irrelevant (neither Alamy, I, nor the offenders being in the US) and the language barrier ... Thinking about it. ::)
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Wooouhuuuu!!!. First sale on Alamy after 11 months since I first registered and started uploading. This must be some kind of miracle, I already gave up on alamy.
30$, but I don't know if this is Net or Gross.
Ok I got it, its gross, 15$ net.
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I agree Alamy sales are picking up, but still far behind IS. But I have a lot more images on IS.
I wonder if you have more images on IS or Alamy.
For a while, I was doing better with editorial pics sold on iStock, and indeed what little I'm still selling there as credit sales is predominatly editorial images uploaded in 2011 (not since!).
However, Alamy has been picking up a bit for me, and currently my August sales and $$ are better there than iS. This morning I got a repeat sale in, a great advantage of RM. I've got one particular file which has resold several times, each resale for a small amount, but adding up to a decent total. I wonder how many micro/RF buyers tot up all uses to make sure an EL isn't needed for cumulative prints.
On the downside, in July, I got a small value distributor sale, reported as used on June 1st. I googled it and it was legitimately used much earlier, and several copies of the article, in various online locations and various languages were already up dating back to April. Not sure how to chase them up with DCMA irrelevant (neither Alamy, I, nor the offenders being in the US) and the language barrier ... Thinking about it. ::)
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I have more images on iStock (3857 vs 2808 on Alamy), and have been with iS for longer. The files are different, and all RM on Alamy, obviously, so it's not a direct comparison.
However, this slight uptick on Alamy (from a very low base) is only the past three months, and I can't see any pattern in my sales (so that I could try to build on them), they just seem to be what people happen to need.
The downward slope on iStock has been going on for much longer.
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I also had a few sales on Alamy in the last month, after selling nothing for several months. Maybe they've implemented some sort of rotation, to try and encourage contributors who have given up.
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I also had a few sales on Alamy in the last month, after selling nothing for several months. Maybe they've implemented some sort of rotation, to try and encourage contributors who have given up.
It's quite possible. I've seen my files faring well in the relevant search - actually better than BHZ would suggest.
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Alamy has really picked up for me this year. With 750 photos online, I've had a string of sales the last six months anywhere from $70-400 per license with half to me. Last year I had fairly consistent sales but most were around $35-70 ($17.50-35 to me) so the higher prices are good to see. Perhaps there is a lot more call for RM images to help differentiate from the micro images that are all over the place and a lot of my portfolio is RM, so not on the micros, I also have a fair number of RF files on Alamy that are not on the micros either - the overlap is mainly studio concept shots which do better on the micros but ok on Alamy. Most of my licenses are travel and some editorial, with a few of my concept images that are similar to what I have on the micros selling from time to time, generally for lower prices.
I've had photos that are similar on both Alamy and the micros zoomed on Alamy and purchased on the micros which is why for the most part my portfolios are different, but with a few overlapping images that have sold on both. My guess is that about half their clients look for the cheapest image, and the rest don't bother, but having the same portfolio on both will probably affect your sales. I was at a meeting in NY years ago where one of the speakers (a buyer) said his company looked on Alamy first but checked fotolia before purchasing to see if they could get the same image for less, and as I mentioned I have seen zooms on Alamy purchased on fotolia in the past.
I've also noticed more of my files showing up on page one in searches and landing in the "Creative" collection and I'm guessing that as they go through and pull images into "Creative" this is making a difference.
Had hoped to upload a lot to Stockimo, their iPhone app, but despite upgrading my IOS and insuring that all my settings are set the way they advised, deleting and re-uploading the app, I have not been able to get the app to work and am disappointed that after their first suggestion didn't work customer service seems to have given up on me or perhaps they are just super slow in responding, Generally their customer service people are prompt and helpful.
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I have roughly the same photos on Alamy as on micros. One just sold for $150 ($75 my cut) that sells quite regularly on micros for much, much less. I don't have a portfolio that sells with regularity on Alamy, but I certainly like the sale prices and royalty level a lot.
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I have 1700 images on IStock and 4200 on Alamy. I started with both back about 2003. RF "commercial" at IS and RF editorial at Alamy.
At iS I uploaded hard through 2006 and then pretty much flatlined with small increments. I caught some good income 2005-2009 and some great income 2009-2011. In early 2011 my income tanked with the site changes. In the recent couple of years I'm drifting down at well under half my best periods.
I went Exclusive as early as I could but I certainly don't recommend that for someone these days. I keep debating when to cut exclusivity and put the effort into other sites. But I'm at the 30% point and have a hard time with the pay cut to go non-Ex. Where I once had periods above $14 PIPY (per image per year), I'm now around $3.50.
Alamy is a whole different market for my output. I do not share images with microstock. Here are more editorial and travel and tourism for me (the things that iS won't take before they introduced editorial). Even with higher file count and percentage of each sale, my income is less than 1/4 of iS. Between 2005 and 2007 I had some periods above $2 PIPY but a couple of high value sales had very positive influence and those higher prices are being seen less. I've had some decent sales times between 2009 and mid-2014. Sales for me seem to be slowing and income is dropping to roughly $0.30 PIPY. Granted, I've sent a lot of stuff I didn't know if it would ever sell - looking for niches.
So, once again, there is a lot to be said for finding your niche and hitting a viable market. For quite a few years my living circumstances included some travel where I was feeding Alamy more than iS. Because of that I could write off some business expenses for the images that in the end returned less income. But the write-off was still useful to my overall stock photo business. Everybody's circumstances are different, both on the image capture and the image sales ends. So you have to probe, find, and plot your own course in this business. I hope you all find some useful perspective in all this discussion, but you will not be likely to duplicate any one persons experience for your own path. In this business we often talk about income from various sites but we rarely talk about the equally relevant expenses in image gathering and processing.
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I agree with Stan's assessment that you have to look at all the pros and cons, not just sales but learning curve, exposure, and cost to produce your images among them. For me the intangibles are definitely part of the assessment. I look at SS with daily sales practically from day one, and how much that helped me learn about stock as well as at how much I've made from my best -sellers, and weigh that against the pennies I get for so many subscription sales. At Alamy, I'm pleased that their News wing has helped me get credentials for some excellent events, from two of which I've had print sales and an invitation to show my work at a prestigious gallery, not something I expected from either one. When I started with them in 2008 I had to uprez my 6MP files from my old D70 to 48MB, which meant everything had to be tack-sharp and it pushed me to think about the technical end of things, not just the aesthetic. I also learned a lot from seasoned travel and nature photographers there and had images appear in significant national publications which helped me get other assignment work. So, despite not earning as much PIPY as I might had those 750 images been on the micros, the benefits have been worth the effort IMHO.
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You are certainly more productive than I am with both agencies. I imagine your success with Alamy can also be a result of your geological location as a part of UK.
I have more images on iStock (3857 vs 2808 on Alamy), and have been with iS for longer. The files are different, and all RM on Alamy, obviously, so it's not a direct comparison.
However, this slight uptick on Alamy (from a very low base) is only the past three months, and I can't see any pattern in my sales (so that I could try to build on them), they just seem to be what people happen to need.
The downward slope on iStock has been going on for much longer.
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Every year my earnings drop from 20%-30% on Alamy. Yet another blaring instance of market saturation. I have about 75% of my portfolio uploaded there so far. It's probably not even worth my time for me to submit the rest, unless things pick up. It's more likely that I will grow a third nipple from accidentally eating a moldy piece of fruit.
That's around 6000 images out of almost 62 million... If my math is correct, that means I'm personally holding .000096 % of the market share, baby! Talk about domination. Anybody want to buy me out? LOL I crack myself up. :o ;D :D
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I will grow a third nipple from accidentally eating a moldy piece of fruit.
I hate it when that happens
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Every year my earnings drop from 20%-30% on Alamy. Yet another blaring instance of market saturation. I have about 75% of my portfolio uploaded there so far. It's probably not even worth my time for me to submit the rest, unless things pick up. It's more likely that I will grow a third nipple from accidentally eating a moldy piece of fruit.
That's around 6000 images out of almost 62 million... If my math is correct, that means I'm personally holding .000096 % of the market share, baby! Talk about domination. Anybody want to buy me out? LOL I crack myself up. :o ;D :D
So basically in 4 years you sales at alamy dropped to 0%
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Every year my earnings drop from 20%-30% on Alamy. Yet another blaring instance of market saturation. I have about 75% of my portfolio uploaded there so far. It's probably not even worth my time for me to submit the rest, unless things pick up. It's more likely that I will grow a third nipple from accidentally eating a moldy piece of fruit.
That's around 6000 images out of almost 62 million... If my math is correct, that means I'm personally holding .000096 % of the market share, baby! Talk about domination. Anybody want to buy me out? LOL I crack myself up. :o ;D :D
So basically in 4 years you sales at alamy dropped to 0%
That's one way of doing math. Here's the correct way though, 30% drop every year (at 20% it would be $51):
Year 1: $100
Year 2: $70
Year 3: $49
Year 4: $34.30
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Hehe, I guess you're right. My bad.
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Hehe, I guess you're right. My bad.
Give it a few more years and it will be pretty close to 0 though.
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Most of the sites have the same competition problem, the only way to increase earnings is to upload images that most people aren't supplying. Being in the UK is an advantage with alamy but I'm sure if I lived in another country I could still find something that sells there that hasn't already been done to death.
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Hehe, I guess you're right. My bad.
Give it a few more years and it will be pretty close to 0 though.
I see it the same. Lost 30% then 50% of that and now I have left about 20% income of 2012 for 2015. Next year it will be close to 0 as you predict.
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How do people think it works for news content? I have submitted fast recent news content before and had no sales.
I just wonder how many people who regularly submit large amounts of news photos makes any money off those? If I was making a lot of effort and submitting lots of news photos I'd want to be getting a nice return from each submission.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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How do people think it works for news content? I have submitted fast recent news content before and had no sales.
I just wonder how many people who regularly submit large amounts of news photos makes any money off those? If I was making a lot of effort and submitting lots of news photos I'd want to be getting a nice return from each submission.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Haven't had any luck with live news haven't submitted a ton but got in when they first started - when I split the images between Alamy and SS (picked very different ones since some were RF and other RM) I sold a lot on SS and none on Alamy but I'm based in the US. Some of my live news images sold later as secondary editorial so still worthwhile but I've heard that for UK-based togs it can work well.
Give it a try and see how you do.
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So, I have a question regarding editorial images.
If I upload an image to SS as editorial can I upload this same image to alamy? If I understand correctly editorial images must be uploaded on alamy as RM? So that means that I can't upload same editorial image on SS and alamy. Am I getting this right or not?
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That's right, you can't. You have to choose.
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Ok, thanks.
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Dumc - I've split images from an event - most to Alamy and some to SS - but chose very different ones for SS. You can't use the same ones but if they are different enough I think IMHO you'd be ok.
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ok, got 1 sale in 5 months.
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I have 900 on Getty and make about $7/month. I'm starting to regret submitting all those exclusively to Getty. I think I would have done far better with those photos even with microstock. So now I'm looking into Alamy, 500px, etc as an alternative for future photos.
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Not yet. However, I love it there. My favorite site. They are friendly, the quality control is fair, they don't try to guess which images will sell, and managing images is a breeze. But I have been there only for two months and only have about 150 images.
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So, I have a question regarding editorial images.
If I upload an image to SS as editorial can I upload this same image to alamy? If I understand correctly editorial images must be uploaded on alamy as RM? So that means that I can't upload same editorial image on SS and alamy. Am I getting this right or not?
You can upload an image is RM to Alamy and as editorial to other sites if you don't have the proper releases and Alamy's will not sell as RF.
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy.
Speak for yourself. Some of us do pretty good on Alamy.
I agree there is no such thing as success on Alamy. I do OK with Alamy from 7000 photos, however Alamy is a perenial under performer compared to my other agencies including Getty. They just never really hit their straps in the marketplace.
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This month I've seen an uptick on Alamy. It is coming back from the dead. But still many low priced sales and none over $100. 3 or 4 years back you could get one or two big sales there and your month was made. Now a dozen or so sales barely equal a payout.
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy.
Speak for yourself. Some of us do pretty good on Alamy.
I agree there is no such thing as success on Alamy. I do OK with Alamy from 7000 photos, however Alamy is a perenial under performer compared to my other agencies including Getty. They just never really hit their straps in the marketplace.
Wrong my friend. There is. If you dont it will not count for everyone. There are many that make good money there. If you have micro photos there then you ask to loosw money. Alamy you have to thread unique. Then you will see rewards.
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So, I have a question regarding editorial images.
If I upload an image to SS as editorial can I upload this same image to alamy? If I understand correctly editorial images must be uploaded on alamy as RM? So that means that I can't upload same editorial image on SS and alamy. Am I getting this right or not?
You can upload an image is RM to Alamy and as editorial to other sites if you don't have the proper releases and Alamy's will not sell as RF.
You can upload RM files to Alamy if you have them RM elsewhere. You cannot have fRM files at Alamy which you are simultaneously offering as RF elsewhere.
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy.
Speak for yourself. Some of us do pretty good on Alamy.
I agree there is no such thing as success on Alamy. I do OK with Alamy from 7000 photos, however Alamy is a perenial under performer compared to my other agencies including Getty. They just never really hit their straps in the marketplace.
Wrong my friend. There is. If you dont it will not count for everyone. There are many that make good money there. If you have micro photos there then you ask to loosw money. Alamy you have to thread unique. Then you will see rewards.
Hmmm.
No matter how unique an image, it might net 《$10.
I also have found that large value sales are almost a thing of the past.
Although only a tiny proportion of the community uses the forum, it's salutary to note the port sizes of those reporting decent earnings - and even then you have 4to remember they're quoting gross.
Still, with IS moving to subs and none of the alternatives looking attractive to me, I'll be focusing on Alamy for a while.
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Besides all the micros giving good earnings i still think that Alamy is doing a very good job. It has plans to change the contributor area and more. There is no sign that they are not doing good business despite giving a fair provision comparing to micros.
People on the forum are indeed a small part of the total but this part is showing relative good results openly. I see here and then people reporting four figure sales. The last 1 week ago for over 2000 brutto for a image that could be taken by anyone. The problem only it would not be accepted by micros since it is not generic enough.
There are always people that try Alamy out and then they dont see any sales coming and directly give up with the message Alamy gives poor earnings. Its just an error made by microstockers. Alamy needs a different approach. It is not a microstock agency in the sence of selling generic images through subscriptions. If you put on Alamy your microstock collection of 500 photos and expect fast money then you will be dissapointed. It is not a place for isolated photos in general.
Alamy needs to be approached with non-microstock images and patience. Catgories like Travel, editorial, reportage etc will do well on there. As far as i know the main market for Alamy are publishers, magazines, newspapers. Once the wheels are rolling you will be pleased about the income they generate. Problem is just that most give up very early (expecting that the sales happens directly like on micros).
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I had a relatively fast first sale on Alamy in December with just 14 files online, it encouraged me to upload more and now I have over 200 files and keep uploading but my December sale is still the only one that has happenned to my port.. I don't want to give up, my port is still small, I know one day it will pay back (right?) but I feel just a bit less enthusiastic than a couple of months back.
I only have travel images and while on the micros some of my photos are rare and even a few are unique (for location or landmark), that's not the case for Alamy as it is much more saturated for travel content, so even though it sells a lot of travel photos the competition seems tense :-\
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There is no such thing as success on Alamy.
Speak for yourself. Some of us do pretty good on Alamy.
I agree there is no such thing as success on Alamy. I do OK with Alamy from 7000 photos, however Alamy is a perenial under performer compared to my other agencies including Getty. They just never really hit their straps in the marketplace.
Wrong my friend. There is. If you dont it will not count for everyone. There are many that make good money there. If you have micro photos there then you ask to loosw money. Alamy you have to thread unique. Then you will see rewards.
You have me qouted in the above mess and none of those comments were mine. Here's my contribution to the conversation :
This month I've seen an uptick on Alamy. It is coming back from the dead. But still many low priced sales and none over $100. 3 or 4 years back you could get one or two big sales there and your month was made. Now a dozen or so sales barely equal a payout.
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With a portfolio of 8k and online since 4 month.
I had no success with it.
0 sales, make me feel strange.
How did alamy goes for you?
less than 2000 images and 800 not indexed yet (because is VERY time consuming on their site).
a few sales but promising sales: high earnings compared to every other site.
To make a realistic comparison: it's worth uploading on alamy and spend some time and effort there rather than doing the same thing on your worst 5 low-earners agencies.
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I don't know why people complain about Alamy and their upload process.
I have 2250 images a mix of the RF micro stuff available on every other agency and a pools of RM stuff which is more obscure/unique.
I get sales usually every month and the value of those sales equals or betters the combined sales from all the none iS/SS agencies.
Both RF and RM items sell equally well and RF often sells for more than the RM images.
The upload process is straight forward and it only takes a few minutes to add attributes and main keywords.
The other great thing about Alamy is that you can put in huge numbers of relevant keywords compared to the 50 word limit imposed by most Micro agencies.
You also get 50% of the sale (better than the rest)
And Alamy aren't perpetually finding new and exciting ways to screw the contributors.
I also get a good chunk of cash from Alamy sales through the DACS scheme which is a nice Xmas bonus.
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I don't know why people complain about Alamy and their upload process.
Let me explain why.
Because all saved keywords appear on the lower box.
1. Expressions are broken into individual words and you have to recreate the original expressions using quotes.
2.Then you have to select (copy and delete) the most important keywords to be pasted on the upper box
3. Then you have do go through another tedious selection for the middle box.
4. Moreover, instead of having limits based on number of keywords, like all other agencies, the limits are based on number of characters. You have to carefully select, sometimes more than once, what you want to move, in order to stay below these limits.
5. You have to go through a few additional tabs and click through more selections than required by any other agency.
It takes 5 minutes for each photo, instead of nothing (or a few seconds in the worse case)
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
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I don't know why people complain about Alamy and their upload process.
Let me explain why.
Because all saved keywords appear on the lower box.
1. Expressions are broken into individual words and you have to recreate the original expressions using quotes.
2.Then you have to select (copy and delete) the most important keywords to be pasted on the upper box
3. Then you have do go through another tedious selection for the middle box.
4. Moreover, instead of having limits based on number of keywords, like all other agencies, the limits are based on number of characters. You have to carefully select, sometimes more than once, what you want to move, in order to stay below these limits.
5. You have to go through a few additional tabs and click through more selections than required by any other agency.
It takes 5 minutes for each photo, instead of nothing (or a few seconds in the worse case)
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
And you only have so many characters in description and it automatically truncates it so you have to either shorten it or delete it and go with the second tab where you can put in longer descriptions. Then there is the model release. If you have someone's finger in the photo (just their finger, no other identifying features) you have to take the time to create, upload and submit a model release. Then if you accidentally say yes to property release the system automatically sets your sales type to RM. When you change change it back to no property release required, the system will not change back the license to RF, so if you forget and submit, you have to delete the image and start all over. Otherwise you have to remember to manually change it back to RF.
Just a few more hassles to add on to what mr. talent posted.
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I don't know why people complain about Alamy and their upload process.
Let me explain why.
Because all saved keywords appear on the lower box.
1. Expressions are broken into individual words and you have to recreate the original expressions using quotes.
2.Then you have to select (copy and delete) the most important keywords to be pasted on the upper box
3. Then you have do go through another tedious selection for the middle box.
4. Moreover, instead of having limits based on number of keywords, like all other agencies, the limits are based on number of characters. You have to carefully select, sometimes more than once, what you want to move, in order to stay below these limits.
5. You have to go through a few additional tabs and click through more selections than required by any other agency.
It takes 5 minutes for each photo, instead of nothing (or a few seconds in the worse case)
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
Exactly! Especially taking into consideration Alamy warns against spamming with the same keywords in different sections (boxes)..
It takes me about an hour for a batch of 10-15 photos just to submit.
IStock submission through DeepMeta now takes about the same since they offered to place keywords in order of importance (painful, but I do it ;D
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Then there is the model release. If you have someone's finger in the photo (just their finger, no other identifying features) you have to take the time to create, upload and submit a model release.
Is it that strict really? I just had a photo accepted with some crowd in the distance, as RF without a model release..
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Then there is the model release. If you have someone's finger in the photo (just their finger, no other identifying features) you have to take the time to create, upload and submit a model release.
Is it that strict really? I just had a photo accepted with some crowd in the distance, as RF without a model release..
Yep. I have had dozens of images taken offline later as "requires model release" that are feet, hand, etc. I had several deactivated by them of a close up of a business suit & tie, but the suit was on a hanger and stuffed with plastic bags to fill it like a human was wearing it. No body parts at all, only inferring that a person was actually wearing it. DEACTIVATED for "needs model release".
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personally, i liked Alamy... (past tense).
i had pretty close to 100% approval no matter what from their inception. i only deleted my account
after i joined shutterstock because after so many years with 100% approval ,
i had zero dl, and when i examined my views, i had almost single digit views.
as i mentioned before, i checked my name in the photographers list and i was literally invisible.
so i deleted my account because it was absurd to have so many images plus 100% approval
and no dl and worse very little view.
even my worst accounts crestock... had dls and views and i only had what??? 4 images there a long time ago.
needless to say, as soon as i got 100 dls with shutterstock in my first month with only a handful of images, i deleted alamy and all the rest of the deadbeats.
if things have changed with Alamy since then, i would like to know , as i said, i did like them
as their upload and methods are fine with me. but looking at the right column,
17% after so many years. i don't think i would bother... since i don't even bother with
fotolia and istock being 2nd and 3rd.
iow, i won't lift a finger anymore , no more how wunder the new wunderkin is
until i see some ratings close enough to ss,
or even 50% is a margin i would move my butt
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Yep. I have had dozens of images taken offline later as "requires model release" that are feet, hand, etc. I had several deactivated by them of a close up of a business suit & tie, but the suit was on a hanger and stuffed with plastic bags to fill it like a human was wearing it. No body parts at all, only inferring that a person was actually wearing it. DEACTIVATED for "needs model release".
Hilarious. Obviously someone paid to hunt through the archive for problem images, and flipping through them so fast they don't even know what they're seeing. I think this might be a good example of how these agencies are now struggling with enormous archives of material of unknown quality. Once you have 10s of millions of images you know nothing about, it's a bit too late to do anything about it.
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It is interesting to hear all of your stories and views. I just joined and waiting to see how it goes. I have about 1200 photos to migrate over (some I will make RM with them). I will definitely let you all know how the first year goes for me. I'm realistic that it may be possible I get zero revenue for my efforts ...
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The licence type on Alamy for an image must be the same as the licence type for that image and similar images which you have on other agency websites. "[/i]
If anyone has official word, rather than peer opinion, about this, can they post the link, please.
To my mind the wording in the contract seems clear enough (I've highlighted the relevant clause in green) The licence type on Alamy for an image must be the same...similar images which you have on other agency websites.
It is curious that Alamy has never seemed willing to give a straight answer on this, and it's even more curious now that they are selling RF images as either RF or RM (I'm not sure if RM images are also being offered as RF).
The whole RF/RM thing is a bit of a farce, anyway, since every license is subject to restrictions, so if RF is defined as unlimited, unrestricted use then it is a license that doesn't exist in the real world. There are just some licenses that have more restrictions than others.
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It is interesting to hear all of your stories and views. I just joined and waiting to see how it goes. I have about 1200 photos to migrate over (some I will make RM with them). I will definitely let you all know how the first year goes for me. I'm realistic that it may be possible I get zero revenue for my efforts ...
Just be prepared that one year still will not show always the real potential of Alamy. For most people the second year shows a very big jump of sales. This is because many sales on alamy are reported after months, can be even six months. Next to that the images needs some time to find their position on the search engine. So a realistic view of sales shows often after one year.
I had for six months as good as no sales but then the next six months sales where coming in. Every month more. The period before is usual the period where people give up because they dont see sales. The remove the photos or stop uploading. They will never experience the sales and leave with a bad thought about Alamy potential. Very pitty..... Next to that it helps also to concentrate on editorial also and not just placing microstock images over there.
Mirco
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It took me about 5 years to start to see more regular sales with alamy. I like that it puts people off using them, there's already enough competition from patient people.
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Almay for me has been cyclic, but worth it. I was grossing between $400-$800 a month (before my cut) years ago. Then it slowly started cycle downward to $25 to $400 a month gross today. Yes, some months are definitely better than others. All my images on Alamy are micro stock, and that could obviously be one of the areas to pump up my long term revenue ......building an RM port.
BTW, I was accepted as a video contributor and my port just went live a few days ago. I DO NOT expect any big wins but the best way to know is to try. Very cumbersome. You have to do a CSV that's every bit as difficult and preparing an image ....same stuff. But much more tedious on an Excel file. They only accept HD, not 4k. So I have to convert about 500 videos. I sent them a thousand on a small hard drive. They pull them off and send you back the drive. There is no file management. The only way to see your port is to do an advanced search on your name. Not sure yet how a sale looks on the financial side, whether it is reported manually of within my image financials. A learning curve for sure and they are far behind in technology probably because video isn't a core competency of theirs.
See what happens over the balance of this year.
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...
And Alamy aren't perpetually finding new and exciting ways to screw the contributors.
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That's absolutely true and that's why I don't think I'm going to spend my efforts even if I don't love their online indexing system at all.
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I don't know why people complain about Alamy and their upload process.
Let me explain why.
Because all saved keywords appear on the lower box.
1. Expressions are broken into individual words and you have to recreate the original expressions using quotes.
2.Then you have to select (copy and delete) the most important keywords to be pasted on the upper box
3. Then you have do go through another tedious selection for the middle box.
4. Moreover, instead of having limits based on number of keywords, like all other agencies, the limits are based on number of characters. You have to carefully select, sometimes more than once, what you want to move, in order to stay below these limits.
5. You have to go through a few additional tabs and click through more selections than required by any other agency.
It takes 5 minutes for each photo, instead of nothing (or a few seconds in the worse case)
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
And you only have so many characters in description and it automatically truncates it so you have to either shorten it or delete it and go with the second tab where you can put in longer descriptions. Then there is the model release. If you have someone's finger in the photo (just their finger, no other identifying features) you have to take the time to create, upload and submit a model release. Then if you accidentally say yes to property release the system automatically sets your sales type to RM. When you change change it back to no property release required, the system will not change back the license to RF, so if you forget and submit, you have to delete the image and start all over. Otherwise you have to remember to manually change it back to RF.
Just a few more hassles to add on to what mr. talent posted.
That's exactly what I mean.
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My two cents----I don't like if you have one image wrong out of the whole batch of images submitted, you have to go to Time Out for 30 days. Please--give me a break. I never had to go to Time Out even as a Kid. Do you like going to Time Out?
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My two cents----I don't like if you have one image wrong out of the whole batch of images submitted, you have to go to Time Out for 30 days. Please--give me a break. I never had to go to Time Out even as a Kid. Do you like going to Time Out?
Don't get the one image wrong then. I much prefer their reviews to any microstock site.
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My two cents----I don't like if you have one image wrong out of the whole batch of images submitted, you have to go to Time Out for 30 days. Please--give me a break. I never had to go to Time Out even as a Kid. Do you like going to Time Out?
Don't get the one image wrong then. I much prefer their reviews to any microstock site.
I totally agree with you. Their review system is very good to me also. It forces the photographer to be more alert to the technical quality. Alamy expects that you submit technically correct photos. If they find one they expect there could be more so they reject the rest also. It is not the agency that has to check for you if your photos are correct. It should be done by you.
Mirco
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I don't know why people complain about Alamy and their upload process.
Let me explain why.
Because all saved keywords appear on the lower box.
1. Expressions are broken into individual words and you have to recreate the original expressions using quotes.
2.Then you have to select (copy and delete) the most important keywords to be pasted on the upper box
3. Then you have do go through another tedious selection for the middle box.
4. Moreover, instead of having limits based on number of keywords, like all other agencies, the limits are based on number of characters. You have to carefully select, sometimes more than once, what you want to move, in order to stay below these limits.
5. You have to go through a few additional tabs and click through more selections than required by any other agency.
It takes 5 minutes for each photo, instead of nothing (or a few seconds in the worse case)
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
Exactly! Especially taking into consideration Alamy warns against spamming with the same keywords in different sections (boxes)..
It takes me about an hour for a batch of 10-15 photos just to submit.
IStock submission through DeepMeta now takes about the same since they offered to place keywords in order of importance (painful, but I do it ;D
Alamy DOES NOT "warn against spamming with the same keywords in different sections"
In fact if you bothered to read this thread you will find this direct from Alamy:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/alamy-any-success/msg427524/#msg427524 (http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/alamy-any-success/msg427524/#msg427524)
Do some research before you spool out stuff you think you may have heard. ::)
As for the it takes 5 minutes per photo??? What! Are you typing in keywords or something?
It's a quick copy and paste job it takes me 5 seconds per image and the same for batches of similars. It takes less time than the crappy Deepmeta route for iStock with there CV
and less time than Fotolia where you genuinely have to order keywords to get them in order of importance, plus having to select their categories, amend credit values, and add in a proper description (as FT only use the image title)
As for breaking up keywords well guess what SO do Shutterstock, Dreamstime, 123RF. Bigstock, Pond5
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You don't get it, obviously.
You have to pick and choose the important keywords. Copy pasting is not the issue, selecting them is, if you care about their system. And you have to calculate which ones to select in order to avoid exceeding the limits and finding yourself with truncated words. And the bottom box is too small to accommodate 50 words or expressions. I always found myslef scrolling down to find the right words to copy.
You don't have to jump so high to defend the undefendable. Alamy has the worst keywording system in the industry.
Unfriendly and annoying.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
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My two cents----I don't like if you have one image wrong out of the whole batch of images submitted, you have to go to Time Out for 30 days. Please--give me a break. I never had to go to Time Out even as a Kid. Do you like going to Time Out?
Time out??? I've had batches rejected before and they never place a timeout.
Out of 911 media submissions I had 12 fail/rejected not once was there a time out.
30 day time outs apply to repeat and persistent offenders or producers of rubbish photos. But you would have to go a long long way before that was applied.
And if it was you would need to ask yourself ~ Am I really a photographer of any merit to consistently produce rubbish.
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You don't get it, obviously.
You have to pick and choose the important keywords. Copy pasting is not the issue, selecting them is. And you have to calculate which ones to select in order to avoid exceeding the limits. And the bottom box is too small to accommodate 50 words or expressions. I always found myslef scrolling down to find the right wards to copy.
You don't have to jump so high to defend the undefendable.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
You ain't doing it right then are you? and neither do you understand the Alamy keyword process.
You will find it does not matter where the keywords are Alamy still searches for them and uses words from the two description boxes, and location tab too.
But you carry on believing what you want to believe and I'll carry on selling through Alamy.
I don't jump high to defend the undefendable. I don't put up condescending twaddle.
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You don't get it, obviously.
You have to pick and choose the important keywords. Copy pasting is not the issue, selecting them is. And you have to calculate which ones to select in order to avoid exceeding the limits. And the bottom box is too small to accommodate 50 words or expressions. I always found myslef scrolling down to find the right wards to copy.
You don't have to jump so high to defend the undefendable.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
You ain't doing it right then are you? and neither do you understand the Alamy keyword process.
You will find it does not matter where the keywords are Alamy still searches for them and uses words from the two description boxes, and location tab too.
But you carry on believing what you want to believe and I'll carry on selling through Alamy.
I don't jump high to defend the undefendable. I don't put up condescending twaddle.
I'm afraid you are the one who misunderstood the system.
Alamy states that "essential keywords" (with "Very High" significance in search) matter more than "main keywords" (with "High" significance), which mater more than "comprehensive keywords" (with "Medium" significance).
Besides they also made clear that they are NOT using the location tab ("not searchable"), anymore (the location must be a keyword). Same goes for the description box: it is NOT searchable.
Check this pdf: http://www.alamy.com/contributors/captions-and-keywords-for-alamy-images.pdf (http://www.alamy.com/contributors/captions-and-keywords-for-alamy-images.pdf)
and update your knowledge.
They have also made clear that expressions between quotes matter more than the individual keywords (e. "New York" is preferred against "New" + "York" when someone is looking for "New York")
This is not the case for other agencies choosing to split expressions in individual words.
So it is your decision if you don't want to maximize your search potential by not complying with this convoluted system.
You can always simply select some random words for the mandatory "essential keywords" and leave all the rest on the bottom box, only because Alamy still searches them with "medium" efforts ;)
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And Alamy did make clear they don't want the keywords spamming i.e. having the same keywords repeated in different boxes. It is definately everyone's choice whether to bother about it or not..
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It's simple. Keyword in order of importance and then you dont have to hunt for the most important words. Their right there at the top. Cut and paste. Done.
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It's simple. Keyword in order of importance and then you dont have to hunt for the most important words. Their right there at the top. Cut and paste. Done.
Unfortunately, Lightroom re-orders all keywords alphabetically.
Even if ordered by importance, you still have to recreate the original expressions with quotes, then make sure you select less than 50 characters for the first box, and then less that 300 for the second. Very annoying. Only after that you can say "cut and paste. done"
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I don't bother recreating expressions. Can't see its hurt me. And for the cut and paste, their boxes will truncate what you paste to what will fit. Once in awhile it cuts off half a word, so I just delete that one and put the rest in the second box. A little secret, they don't punish you for reusing same words in more than one box. I keyword in order of importance, then on the site I copy ALL the words, then paste in first box, delete half word that doesn't fit, then paste in second box. Fill out the page with number of models, check if it's a photo or not (it always is), add releases, on to the next. Plus you can do this in batches for a series. Is it the easiest upload system? Nope. But it's not torture if you get a system down.
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And Alamy did make clear they don't want the keywords spamming i.e. having the same keywords repeated in different boxes. It is definately everyone's choice whether to bother about it or not..
Quote from Alamy earlier in this thread
"Just to clear this one up quickly for you:
You're not penalized for having duplicate keywords and you never have been. It just takes up valuable space in your keyword fields so there is no need to do it.
:)
Cheers
Alamy"
http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/alamy-any-success/msg427524/#msg427524 (http://www.microstockgroup.com/alamy-com/alamy-any-success/msg427524/#msg427524)
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Anyway i just noticed that alamy made it to the top 3 passing Fotolia.
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I agree. Strange times are coming.
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OT: Alamy is not the world’s largest stock photo collection anymore?
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OT: Alamy is not the world’s largest stock photo collection anymore?
Possibly but more than 65mil could be 80mill or something. In any case there is way way more variation at Alamy than in Shutterstock.
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OT: Alamy is not the world’s largest stock photo collection anymore?
Possibly but more than 65mil could be 80mill or something. In any case there is way way more variation at Alamy than in Shutterstock.
Or, maybe by saying "the largest stock photo colleciton" they mean photos and not images in general? Their database seems to be mostly photos, not too many vectors nor footage..
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OT: Alamy is not the world’s largest stock photo collection anymore?
Possibly but more than 65mil could be 80mill or something. In any case there is way way more variation at Alamy than in Shutterstock.
Or, maybe by saying "the largest stock photo colleciton" they mean photos and not images in general? Their database seems to be mostly photos, not too many vectors nor footage..
What is the difference between a photo and an image?
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Image is a collected word. It can be a photo, illustration..... any still visual material.
Mirco
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Although this link is to an article on Forbes.com about the Best Places to Retire in 2015 - what's really interesting is that there are two images by the same photographer - one from Shutterstock and one from Alamy - and there are also a handful from Getty and from iStock - so it shows that even big magazines are looking for the least expensive photo but will pay more for the right image. There are more Alamy images than others but if you have the same images with Alamy and the micros, you'll be likely to get far fewer sales on Alamy.
http://www2.forbes.com/investing/the-best-places-to-retire-in-2015/?utm_campaign=Top-Tier&utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=45396874&utm_term=740537 (http://www2.forbes.com/investing/the-best-places-to-retire-in-2015/?utm_campaign=Top-Tier&utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=45396874&utm_term=740537)
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Although this link is to an article on Forbes.com about the Best Places to Retire in 2015 - what's really interesting is that there are two images by the same photographer - one from Shutterstock and one from Alamy - and there are also a handful from Getty and from iStock - so it shows that even big magazines are looking for the least expensive photo but will pay more for the right image. There are more Alamy images than others but if you have the same images with Alamy and the micros, you'll be likely to get far fewer sales on Alamy.
[url]http://www2.forbes.com/investing/the-best-places-to-retire-in-2015/?utm_campaign=Top-Tier&utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=45396874&utm_term=740537[/url] ([url]http://www2.forbes.com/investing/the-best-places-to-retire-in-2015/?utm_campaign=Top-Tier&utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=45396874&utm_term=740537[/url])
This image:
http://www.alamy.com/search.html?qt=DR6E1D&imgt=0 (http://www.alamy.com/search.html?qt=DR6E1D&imgt=0)
is also in his Shutterstock portfolio:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-172296803/stock-photo-athens-georgia-usa-downtown-cityscape.html?src=gLX_zWyKSi7tHIOGrgYuxw-1-7 (http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-172296803/stock-photo-athens-georgia-usa-downtown-cityscape.html?src=gLX_zWyKSi7tHIOGrgYuxw-1-7)
That example does not prove much...
Nice portfolio though, both on Alamy and on Shutterstock.
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OT: Alamy is not the world’s largest stock photo collection anymore?
Possibly but more than 65mil could be 80mill or something. In any case there is way way more variation at Alamy than in Shutterstock.
Or, maybe by saying "the largest stock photo colleciton" they mean photos and not images in general? Their database seems to be mostly photos, not too many vectors nor footage..
What is the difference between a photo and an image?
Every photo is an image, but not every image is a photo
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Prices for web use with Alamy can be as cheap as microstock.
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Woohoo. 200$ sale at Alamy. Thats my highest earning sale so far from all agencies. It feels like Christmas.
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I do not mind Alamy's keywording process. I like the next and previous image directions. Much easier than the agencies where you web upload and have to go one by one without being ale to see the others uploaded in same batch.
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Congrats on the 2k sale! Was that RM?
I only have RF on Alamy, and usually sell pretty well there this month so far zero sales. It has never happened since I started there in more then 5 years that I had a no sale month.
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Congrats on the 2k sale! Was that RM?
I only have RF on Alamy, and usually sell pretty well there this month so far zero sales. It has never happened since I started there in more then 5 years that I had a no sale month.
If you mean Dumc it was 200$ not 20000$
Alamy is rubbish for me this month too. 5 sales but only 62$ total.
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Alamy Top Tier? Well 0 sales here! Down Tier for me. Other agencies excellent.
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Congrats on the 2k sale! Was that RM?
I only have RF on Alamy, and usually sell pretty well there this month so far zero sales. It has never happened since I started there in more then 5 years that I had a no sale month.
If you mean Dumc it was 200$ not 20000$
Alamy is rubbish for me this month too. 5 sales but only 62$ total.
Atleast you got 5 sales.. I am use to 0 sales a month now :)
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Congrats on the 2k sale! Was that RM?
I only have RF on Alamy, and usually sell pretty well there this month so far zero sales. It has never happened since I started there in more then 5 years that I had a no sale month.
If you mean Dumc it was 200$ not 20000$
Alamy is rubbish for me this month too. 5 sales but only 62$ total.
Atleast you got 5 sales.. I am not use to 0 sales a month now :)
I guess so but by the time they take their cut from the 62$ I won't have made much more than you.
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Congrats on the 2k sale! Was that RM?
I only have RF on Alamy, and usually sell pretty well there this month so far zero sales. It has never happened since I started there in more then 5 years that I had a no sale month.
If you mean Dumc it was 200$ not 20000$
Oh, oops! Thanks for clearing that up. Still beats me. I finally had 3 $10 sales netting me a grand total of $15 for April on Alamy. Meh.
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Congrats on the 2k sale! Was that RM?
I only have RF on Alamy, and usually sell pretty well there this month so far zero sales. It has never happened since I started there in more then 5 years that I had a no sale month.
If you mean Dumc it was 200$ not 20000$
Oh, oops! Thanks for clearing that up. Still beats me. I finally had 3 $10 sales netting me a grand total of $15 for April on Alamy. Meh.
<Pollyanna mode>The month isn't over yet! </>
I'm on 5 sales, two distributor, netting $57.72 so far in April. Proportionate to size of port, that's actually currently beating iS credit sales for $$, which have sunk almost without trace (for me) this month. Who will crawl past the month's finishing line ahead?
Congrats to Dumc: it's a very long time since I've netted $200 on Alamy (best, $300 net, was years ago), and a pretty long time since netting >$100.
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8 sales in April, so far, netting $352 (616 photos online)
Nice, but far form Alamy #2 ???
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8 sales in April, so far, netting $352 (616 photos online)
Nice, but far form Alamy #2 ???
Oh please, that sad face is just unappropriate ;D ;D your digits look beautiful ;D
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8 sales in April, so far, netting $352 (616 photos online)
Nice, but far form Alamy #2 ???
Oh please, that sad face is just unappropriate ;D ;D your digits look beautiful ;D
??? That's not a "sad face"! That's a "Huh?"!
This is a "sad face": :(
I could also use "shocked" :o when it comes to Alamy #2 ;)
;D
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My sales at Alamy are very poor, anyone seeing progress?
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Downward progress. Years ago i would make 500 or so per month. Sometimes a grand. Today i am lucky to make 200 but i usually make 25-75 nowadays.
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After a year plus with Alamy they started to throw rare but attractive sales at me (between 40-80$ each, gross), better than what I get at dt, 123 and BS anyway. I have about 550 files (250 are with "poor discoverability"), more zooms lately and my ctr is higher than before, although i'm not sure whether it affects anything
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No single sale for three months now.
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Does anyone know why Alamy sells some pictures more expensive?
I found that many photos on Alamy as RF the Large and XL sizes are more expensive than in my and other cases.
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-portrait-of-a-smiling-boy-147801897.html?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid=42B8B314-CCF7-45EE-8FB5-CB37F268C40B&p=245468&n=113&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=12&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3Dbar%26st%3D12%26sortby%3D2%26qt%3Dautumn%2520forest%26qt_raw%3Dautumn%2520forest%26qn%3D%26lic%3D3%26mr%3D0%26pr%3D0%26aoa%3D1%26creative%3D%26videos%3D%26nu%3D%26ccc%3D%26bespoke%3D%26apalib%3D%26ag%3D0%26hc%3D0%26et%3D0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3D0%26loc%3D0%26ot%3D0%26imgt%3D0%26dtfr%3D%26dtto%3D%26size%3D0xFF%26blackwhite%3D%26cutout%3D%26archive%3D1%26name%3DRooM%2520the%2520Agency%26groupid%3D%26pseudoid%3D%7B236FF1EF-3C23-4332-9093-815B2E137364%7D%26userid%3D%26id%3D%26a%3D%26xstx%3D0%26cbstore%3D0%26resultview%3DsortbyPopular%26lightbox%3D%26gname%3D%26gtype%3D%26apalic%3D%26tbar%3D0%26pc%3D%26simid%3D%26cap%3D1%26customgeoip%3DHU%26vd%3D0%26cid%3DRTWGEB5Y79TYPFG3ERXZK7NTR75H7W6WKRTTN6E64HFXU9VXPPD5KX3JYF8EP8KE%26pe%3D%26so%3D%26lb%3D%26fi%3D0%26langcode%3Den%26saveQry%3D%26editorial%3D1%26t%3D0%26edoptin%3D (http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-portrait-of-a-smiling-boy-147801897.html?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid=42B8B314-CCF7-45EE-8FB5-CB37F268C40B&p=245468&n=113&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=12&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3Dbar%26st%3D12%26sortby%3D2%26qt%3Dautumn%2520forest%26qt_raw%3Dautumn%2520forest%26qn%3D%26lic%3D3%26mr%3D0%26pr%3D0%26aoa%3D1%26creative%3D%26videos%3D%26nu%3D%26ccc%3D%26bespoke%3D%26apalib%3D%26ag%3D0%26hc%3D0%26et%3D0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3D0%26loc%3D0%26ot%3D0%26imgt%3D0%26dtfr%3D%26dtto%3D%26size%3D0xFF%26blackwhite%3D%26cutout%3D%26archive%3D1%26name%3DRooM%2520the%2520Agency%26groupid%3D%26pseudoid%3D%7B236FF1EF-3C23-4332-9093-815B2E137364%7D%26userid%3D%26id%3D%26a%3D%26xstx%3D0%26cbstore%3D0%26resultview%3DsortbyPopular%26lightbox%3D%26gname%3D%26gtype%3D%26apalic%3D%26tbar%3D0%26pc%3D%26simid%3D%26cap%3D1%26customgeoip%3DHU%26vd%3D0%26cid%3DRTWGEB5Y79TYPFG3ERXZK7NTR75H7W6WKRTTN6E64HFXU9VXPPD5KX3JYF8EP8KE%26pe%3D%26so%3D%26lb%3D%26fi%3D0%26langcode%3Den%26saveQry%3D%26editorial%3D1%26t%3D0%26edoptin%3D)
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Alamy is absolutely awfull for sales. Once in a blue moon, and those blue moons are getting fewer, with more images added and less pay for any sales I do make over time.
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Get multiple sales every month and this year is better than last year :)
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Alamy is absolutely awfull for sales. Once in a blue moon, and those blue moons are getting fewer, with more images added and less pay for any sales I do make over time.
They're a predominately editorial agency, so the usual stock stuff on micros won't cut it on there. They also have some keywording particularities.
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Alamy is absolutely awfull for sales. Once in a blue moon, and those blue moons are getting fewer, with more images added and less pay for any sales I do make over time.
They're a predominately editorial agency, so the usual stock stuff on micros won't cut it on there. They also have some keywording particularities.
I have submitted a lot of what I think are good editorial images with all the relevant keywords. All to no avail.
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I have submitted a lot of what I think are good editorial images with all the relevant keywords. All to no avail.
I would recommend posting on their contributor forum and they'll be happy to give you some tips.
They're generally a friendly bunch (as long as you don't mention Microstock). :D
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Lukewarm, although I started to upload only this year the chunk of my portfolio. 4,000 files now. In order to achieve 'green' status for a photo requires almost 50 keywords, which in case of some photos is just about pushing it to marginal keywords.
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Lukewarm, although I started to upload only this year the chunk of my portfolio. 4,000 files now. In order to achieve 'green' status for a photo requires almost 50 keywords, which in case of some photos is just about pushing it to marginal keywords.
There is absolutely no need to go green. If a file only needs ten keywords, that's all you should put.
It's a stupid thing they've introduced, with no evidence shown (via their forum) that there is any advantage in going green, as with quite a few of their introductions over the years.
But the so-called 'discoverability' thing is really encouraging spam, so has to count as one of their most stupid moves.
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Lukewarm, although I started to upload only this year the chunk of my portfolio. 4,000 files now. In order to achieve 'green' status for a photo requires almost 50 keywords, which in case of some photos is just about pushing it to marginal keywords.
There is absolutely no need to go green. If a file only needs ten keywords, that's all you should put.
It's a stupid thing they've introduced, with no evidence shown (via their forum) that there is any advantage in going green, as with quite a few of their introductions over the years.
But the so-called 'discoverability' thing is really encouraging spam, so has to count as one of their most stupid moves.
Good to know as it's quite annoying reaching the green light. I did some photos then gave up. The photos are brought up by their search engine anyways. Alamy seems to be more comprehensive and their search is way better than SS. The sales are low though, even compared to Dreamstime.
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I have submitted a lot of what I think are good editorial images with all the relevant keywords. All to no avail.
I would recommend posting on their contributor forum and they'll be happy to give you some tips.
They're generally a friendly bunch (as long as you don't mention Microstock). :D
On the contary, I find a lot of them sardonic and clicky. One or two helpful though.
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I have submitted a lot of what I think are good editorial images with all the relevant keywords. All to no avail.
I would recommend posting on their contributor forum and they'll be happy to give you some tips.
They're generally a friendly bunch (as long as you don't mention Microstock). :D
On the contary, I find a lot of them sardonic and clicky. One or two helpful though.
Just like on this forum.
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Get multiple sales every month and this year is better than last year :)
Multiple means "more than one". It's so vague that it's not very helpful.
Can you be more specific? Tens? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?