Author Topic: Is it worth to be exclusive? (Read 10485 times)

sensovision · « **on:** January 25, 2008, 17:08 »

Hi folks, I'm new to stock photography business so would appreciate some advices.

what do you think about being exclusive to Fotolia? Maybe someone is working on this scheme, or did this in the past? Would appreciate your feedback on this matter.

Also I failed to find on their site about definition of being exclusive, does it mean that you can sell all your photos through them?(asking because I wish to sell my best photos through PhotoShelter and the rest through DreamsTime and Fotolia)

jsnover · « **Reply #1 on:** January 25, 2008, 18:24 »

I am fairly sure that Fotolia only requires image exclusivity, so you are entirely at liberty to sell other images elsewhere.

I don't think that Fotolia has the volume to make exclusive images there worthwhile, however. I sell there, but don't have exclusive images anywhere.

If your Photoshelter images are sold RM, you could even be exclusive at iStock and do that. iStock requires artist exclusivity for RF sales, but RM is OK.

If you do sell via Dreamstime, be aware that there's a 6 month commitment for uploaded images.

I have no idea what you've done so far, but before you decide to unload your less good images on the micros, you should see if you can get them accepted - standards on the micros have given some folks difficulty when they erroneously assumed that low price licenses meant low quality.

sensovision · « **Reply #2 on:** January 25, 2008, 19:19 »

Thanks for reply jsnover!

Quote from: jsnover on January 25, 2008, 18:24

I am fairly sure that Fotolia only requires image exclusivity, so you are entirely at liberty to sell other images elsewhere.

thanks for clarification!

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I don't think that Fotolia has the volume to make exclusive images there worthwhile, however. I sell there, but don't have exclusive images anywhere.

So you may confirm that same image could be sold on different sites at high rate and that buyer audience on these sites are quite different?

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If your Photoshelter images are sold RM, you could even be exclusive at iStock and do that. iStock requires artist exclusivity for RF sales, but RM is OK.

I decide to wait with registering on IStock for now as don't think that would have time uploading to all agencies at once. I also wish to get feeling of what stock agencies are looking for as guess that most of my photos aren't desired.

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If you do sell via Dreamstime, be aware that there's a 6 month commitment for uploaded images.

you mean that I need to have there images for 6 months at least?(I think that read it on some site but wasn't sure if it was DT, as I've studied a lot of stock agencies lately and have mess in my head

).

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I have no idea what you've done so far

I've registered with FeaturePics first as liked their price model, but after searching a bit on forums and looking at my own photos spot that FP got very low traffic, so I decide to look for alternative, otherwise I would stay with one agency.
Later I've registered with PhotoShelter and send them best works in my opinion which was matching their criteria.
While I'm waiting for approval in PS I decide to upload some pictures to Dreamstime.

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but before you decide to unload your less good images on the micros, you should see if you can get them accepted - standards on the micros have given some folks difficulty when they erroneously assumed that low price licenses meant low quality.

I'm not going to upload crappy photos of course

I've registered with Photoshelter to sell my works which have something special for me and I wouldn't feel good to sell them cheap as I've put a bit of myself in them. I wouldn't start to sell my photos at all, as I never going to do this but my camera is getting old and buggy and I don't have money to fund new one... So I thought that I have no choice here and need either start to sell my works or leave my hobby.

Regarding DreamsTime and possibly Fotolia, I'm not going to upload bad photos in them, I'm designer and web developer so know what kind of photos are required for templates and other things, so I'm going to specially do technical photographs for this purposes and sell them there.

BTW am I dreaming or it's possible to earn about 600 or 1000$ for dSRL in one year term?(Right now I've got Konica-Minolta Dimage Z3).

Thanks for your help!

jsnover · « **Reply #3 on:** January 25, 2008, 22:57 »

Quote from: sensovision on January 25, 2008, 19:19

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I don't think that Fotolia has the volume to make exclusive images there worthwhile, however. I sell there, but don't have exclusive images anywhere.
So you may confirm that same image could be sold on different sites at high rate and that buyer audience on these sites are quite different?

There is obviously some overlap between sites, but a number of us submit to 4 or 5 sites and find it a very reasonable way to increase our income. Fotolia sells more in Europe; iStock has some exclusive content, so some buyers start there; Shutterstock is subscription and some buyers like that model, etc.

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I decide to wait with registering on IStock for now as don't think that would have time uploading to all agencies at once. I also wish to get feeling of what stock agencies are looking for as guess that most of my photos aren't desired.

I agree that you want to be selective, but iStock is one of the big players in the microstock market. You can do well selling there.

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you mean that I need to have there images for 6 months at least?

Yes.

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BTW am I dreaming or it's possible to earn about 600 or 1000$ for dSRL in one year term

With decent images and a reasonable size portfolio, many of us are earning that in a month via the microstock sites. It really depends upon your portfolio.

fotografer · « **Reply #4 on:** January 26, 2008, 03:00 »

Quote from: sensovision on January 25, 2008, 19:19

BTW am I dreaming or it's possible to earn about 600 or 1000$ for dSRL in one year term?(Right now I've got Konica-Minolta Dimage Z3).

You'll be glad to know that it's possible to earn that and more each month once you get established and have several hundred good stock photos up at all the big 6 sites.

sensovision · « **Reply #5 on:** January 26, 2008, 06:55 »

Quote from: jsnover on January 25, 2008, 22:57

There is obviously some overlap between sites, but a number of us submit to 4 or 5 sites and find it a very reasonable way to increase our income. Fotolia sells more in Europe; iStock has some exclusive content, so some buyers start there; Shutterstock is subscription and some buyers like that model, etc.

thanks for info, it sounds reasonable. I knew that Fotolia was targeting audience from Europe so that's why I decide to participate there along with DT.

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I agree that you want to be selective, but iStock is one of the big players in the microstock market. You can do well selling there.

I've only submit pictures to DT and they should be reviewed in 68 hours, so I can still delete them. Do you think it's worth to try be exclusive on iStock or it probably wouldn't pay out as Big 6?

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you mean that I need to have there images for 6 months at least?
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yes

don't see a problem in this, the only complication is that I wouldn't be able to sell exclusive rights for image in other stocks. Or there are more hidden rocks in this rule?

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With decent images and a reasonable size portfolio, many of us are earning that in a month via the microstock sites. It really depends upon your portfolio.

nice, I could quit my job with such earnings

Quote from: fotografer on January 26, 2008, 03:00

You'll be glad to know that it's possible to earn that and more each month once you get established and have several hundred good stock photos up at all the big 6 sites.

Thanks for cheers up! I've seen earnings reports on the web but thought it could be trick to lure people to sign up through affiliate links.

fotografer · « **Reply #6 on:** January 26, 2008, 07:01 »

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I agree that you want to be selective, but iStock is one of the big players in the microstock market. You can do well selling there.

I've only submit pictures to DT and they should be reviewed in 68 hours, so I can still delete them. Do you think it's worth to try be exclusive on iStock or it probably wouldn't pay out as Big 6?

[/quote]

I upload to the big 6 agencies and get quite a bit less than 1/3 of my earnings from istock so to me it doesn't make sense to go exclusive there. Even at diamond canister level there (which means you have to have sold 25000 images) your commision would only double which wouldn't make up for the lost earnings. The only reason that I can think of for going exclusive is if you hadn't got time or couldn't be bothered to upload to multiple sites

sensovision · « **Reply #7 on:** January 26, 2008, 07:38 »

Quote from: fotografer on January 26, 2008, 07:01

I upload to the big 6 agencies and get quite a bit less than 1/3 of my earnings from istock so to me it doesn't make sense to go exclusive there. Even at diamond canister level there (which means you have to have sold 25000 images) your commision would only double which wouldn't make up for the lost earnings. The only reason that I can think of for going exclusive is if you hadn't got time or couldn't be bothered to upload to multiple sites

Thanks for info fotografer!

Wonder which agency except shutterstock bring most exposure to your images?

helix7 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 27, 2008, 11:43 »

My general rule has been that if my istock earnings ever reached 60% of my total monthly earnings, I would consider exclusivity. Emphasis on "consider it", though. It would still be a tough decision since I would be nervous about fluctuations, the pending Getty sale, etc. In a good month, istock still doesn't even represent 50% of my earnings, and in a bad month it is sometimes 1/3 of my earnings. I would lose a ton of money each month if I went exclusive, even at a diamond cannister level. It just isn't worth it.

louoates · « **Reply #9 on:** January 27, 2008, 12:07 »

I would never promise not to sell an image to whomever I want. That's just my basic philosophy.

From a pure business point of view microstock as a category is so dynamic I see no benefit in tying my work to just one. Who knows which is the next Titanic? I don't think you can micro-manage the numbers too closely though when calculating how much you make on just, say, iStock as an exclusive vs. what you can make as a non-exclusive plus the other sites. In other posts on this subject I haven't seen much weight put on the risk of being exclusive.

I'd rather have all of my images on all the worthwhile sites and let the sites duke it out with each other. I'm a winner either way. And I have the opportunity to add any up and coming sites.

sensovision · « **Reply #10 on:** January 27, 2008, 17:13 »

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Who knows which is the next Titanic? I don't think you can micro-manage the numbers too closely though when calculating how much you make on just, say, iStock as an exclusive vs. what you can make as a non-exclusive plus the other sites.

guess you're right on this as any scenario is possible in our world and any agency may possibly go out of business so it have sense to diversify income sources.

yingyang0 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 27, 2008, 23:51 »

Quote from: sensovision on January 26, 2008, 06:55

I've only submit pictures to DT and they should be reviewed in 68 hours, so I can still delete them. Do you think it's worth to try be exclusive on iStock or it probably wouldn't pay out as Big 6?

You have to have 250 dowloads and 50% or better approval to be exclusive at iStock, so stick with submiting to a bunch of sites.

Be aware that DT requires you to keep your images for sale at their site for at least 6 months.

DanP68 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 28, 2008, 06:54 »

Exactly Denis. If you catch fire with a good image, you can get to 250 DL at IS a lot quicker than you would think. They really are great sellers of images.

I'd advise you at this point to contribute to all of the Major sites. And yes, DT locks in 70% of your images for 6 months. However that gives you a bare minimum of 6 months to learn the positives and negatives of all these sites. You may find you love IS...or not. Exclusivity is a pretty big commitment as it requires you to pull all your images from other MS sites.

sensovision · « **Reply #13 on:** January 28, 2008, 08:23 »

Quote from: DanP68 on January 28, 2008, 06:54

Exactly Denis. If you catch fire with a good image, you can get to 250 DL at IS a lot quicker than you would think. They really are great sellers of images.

I'm already applied to them and now waiting for review of my initial submission it was told it could take up to 2 weeks

I also wait for response about allowed resolution for Fotolia, for review from PhotoShelter, and plan to check 123rf and StockXpert.

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I'd advise you at this point to contribute to all of the Major sites. And yes, DT locks in 70% of your images for 6 months. However that gives you a bare minimum of 6 months to learn the positives and negatives of all these sites.

Is there any reason to remove images except that it was buy out?

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Exclusivity is a pretty big commitment as it requires you to pull all your images from other MS sites.

yeah I now realize how tricky it could be and exclusivity doesn't sounds as big fun. I maybe consider it some day in future but only after see which stocks are working for me and which don't.

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Author Topic: Is it worth to be exclusive? (Read 10485 times)

sensovision

jsnover

sensovision

jsnover

fotografer

sensovision

fotografer

sensovision

helix7

louoates

sensovision

yingyang0

DanP68

sensovision

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