MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: ouchie on June 28, 2009, 19:06
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hello.
i have been thinking about cutting down on the sites i contribute to.
I'm just tired of the uploading!
I submit to~SS, DT, FT, StockXpert, CanStockPhoto, 123, BigStock, SNAPVILLAGE, FP, VEER.
That's 10 freeken sites.
I just recently got accepted to ss.
IS keeps rejecting me.
anyone else been in this boat & what did you do.
I'm thinking of just keeping, SS,DT,FT,VEER,BigStock....AHHHH, i don't know.
and i still want to get into istock.
Any sugestions?
Thanks,
Nick
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SS, DT, FT, StockXpert and IS will do the trick. That's where most of your income would be generated.
Probably not a secret to you at this point...
Anyway, other agencies will make you some money but it's up to you to decide how much your time is worth. I assume you don't pay an assistant to upload your portfolio to 15 or 20 sites in the future just for the fun of it.
I do upload to Crestock, 123RF and all the others you mentioned but they won't compare to the big 5.
It depends on what type of images you upload and how much time you have at hand to upload.
Good luck!
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I have been submitting some images today and thinking about the same issues. I wonder if I should just submit to SS, DT, StockXpert, and IS and then maybe to the other sites if the images do well on those three sites.
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I was actively submitting to IS, DT, StockXpert, BigStock and FP, but I haven't uploaded anything in a couple of months.
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Thanks for the advice, click_click .
I guess i knew the answer all along.
But i keep thinking if i don't upload to the secondary sites (lets call everything but the big 5 or 6 secondary) i would be leaving "money on the table".
PLUS and/or more importantly, microstock in general is VERY volatile.
The big six might not be the same big six next year...
With that in mind i have been uploading to the secondary sites, looking at this as having my foot in the door when, lets say "featurepics" (yea i know) makes some maneuver & becomes the next #1 site!
Know what i mean?
BUT i guess you are right ~ what is my time worth to me?
Gotta think about it.
Maybe just upload to the secondary sites when i have the time or just feel like it.
Thanks again for the advice.
Nick
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I sorta split my uploading in two. Some sites I upload to as soon as I have the image ready, others I just let them stack up until I have a large batch and upload them all at once when I'm bored or have nothing better to do.
Regularly:
iStockphoto
Shutterstock
StockXpert
Dreamstime
Fotolia
Occasionally:
Bigstockphoto
123RF
Canstockphoto
Crestock
Not sure where Veer will fall. Waiting to see how it performs.
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Active:
SS-123RF-DT-FT-IS-CanStockPhoto-CUT-VEER
On Hold:
StockXpert-BS-CS-MSP-SV-YAY-FP
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One: Our own site...
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I regularly submit to SS,DT,FT,BigStock & StockXpert
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only istock
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You can probably take snapvillage off your list :)
I submit to IS,DT,SS,FT,StockXpert,123,BigStock and Veer in that order. I concentrate on the first 4 then just fill in the gaps when I've got some spare time when I don't want to think too much. i.e submit a couple of photos instead of browsing the net or something.
hello.
i have been thinking about cutting down on the sites i contribute to.
I'm just tired of the uploading!
I submit to~SS, DT, FT, StockXpert, CanStockPhoto, 123, BigStock, SNAPVILLAGE, FP, VEER.
That's 10 freeken sites.
I just recently got accepted to ss.
IS keeps rejecting me.
anyone else been in this boat & what did you do.
I'm thinking of just keeping, SS,DT,FT,VEER,BigStock....AHHHH, i don't know.
and i still want to get into istock.
Any sugestions?
Thanks,
Nick
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If you think the time you spend uploading could be better spent shooting, preparing, you have a good acceptance rate and you are expecting to recoup more than 3c after uploading an image to an agency, read this blog!
http://microstockinsider.com/guides/isyndicacom-one-upload-multiple-sites (http://microstockinsider.com/guides/isyndicacom-one-upload-multiple-sites)
I've just sent 8 different images to 12 agencies with isyndica, by the time I had finished uploading image number 8 (all 8 were done in a single step) and I clicked on the catalog tab to see the results I saw the first 7 images had already gone to all but one agency, the 8th was soon to follow - impressive stuff!
Great idea but the biggest showstoppers at the moment are expiring credits, and it does not support IS and SS.
David ;D
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Any sugestions?
Well you could kill two birds with one stone if you produce quality rather than quantity - that will solve both your uploading problem and probably your reason for being rejected at IS ;)
Good luck
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20 agencies total.... 16 actively uploading an selling.
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Well you could kill two birds with one stone if you produce quality rather than quantity - that will solve both your uploading problem and probably your reason for being rejected at IS ;)
Wow. Nice.
I would not automatically assume he/she is not uploading quality. Istock is tough to get in to and a lot of people get rejected the first time(s) they submit there.
FWIW, my advice would be to stick to the Big 6 or 7 and forget about the piddly little sites if you are concerned about time.
And I can't imagine it would really be cost effective to pay a third party to do the uploading. The sites that service covers are the ones that are easy to upload to via FTP anyway.
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I counted 18 agencies total, 15 with regular uploads. I didn't even realized it was this many, but I can do it because I'm not submitting hundreds if images every week. I don't see much overhead also because additional time spent submitting to a few more sites is negligible.
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I started as a newbie one and half years ago and went nuts with 17 sites including Photo Shelter and Alamy. But now I am down to like 5. By the end of 2009,
I like to end up with 3 , if not 1.
It's a bit crazy thinking that more is better. At first as a newbie it's nice to get accepted everywhere but later you realised only a handful actually sell for you.
Nowadays, I am almost convince that finding one site or 3 at the most , sites that will work hard to sell your images , is better than 17 . Less trouble more effective.
That's for me, though. Others I am sure will disagree.
As I 've been saying lately, I am not interested in 100% approval, just more sales.
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Two active agencies, iStock for RF and very recently, Alamy for RM, mostly editorial; plus a dormant account (haven't uploaded anything for 2 1/2 years) at fotoLibra (RM).
No time to consider submitting anywhere else and became iStock exclusive as soon as I qualified. If I was doing this full time, I might rethink, but effectively I'm now putting my main effort into Alamy, because Editorial is where I always wanted to be! 8)
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Well you could kill two birds with one stone if you produce quality rather than quantity - that will solve both your uploading problem and probably your reason for being rejected at IS ;)
Wow. Nice.
I would not automatically assume he/she is not uploading quality. Istock is tough to get in to and a lot of people get rejected the first time(s) they submit there.
FWIW, my advice would be to stick to the Big 6 or 7 and forget about the piddly little sites if you are concerned about time.
And I can't imagine it would really be cost effective to pay a third party to do the uploading. The sites that service covers are the ones that are easy to upload to via FTP anyway.
You're right! Sorry. But the point I made is probably true and I think even more so these days because the standard is getting so high.
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I sell at SS. iS, DT, StockXpert, Fot, 123R, BS, CS and FP.
I also have portfolios at Yay, Albumo and Mostphotos, but I see the topic is where do I sell, and I have never sold anything at the last three, I just have some photos there.
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In my opinion, and from experience, you should really keep within the TOP 6 ( on the right of this page)
Outside of that you could be wasting much time for very little gain!
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all big 6 + BigStock
but most my income come from SS, DT, FT
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13 micro + Veer about to start + Panther that are sort of on hold or very uploading to. (+ 2 no longer submitting too).
ftp the lot excluding istock. so set and forget for that bit.
I then open them all in tabs and go through the process of whats needed for that site, changing tabs when one is loading. I can get through 9 sites in less time than it takes me to upload to dreamstime. Those 9 and add BigStock and perhaps ft (would depend on the images - lots of same category then yes) and it would be a close call for the amount it takes to get 25 images onto istock
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Personally only one, IS.
For you, if you really want to limits to the most popular among designers I would recommend, in order:
#1 IS
#2 SS
#3 DT
#4 FT
#5 StockXpert (here we need to see what strategy Getty's management decide to follow...)
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I wouldn't go that far to insist that IS and SS are the best sellers. For some it's not true. I agree that if you cut short, it should be 4 of the Big 6. It used to be 5 before StockXpert got screwed up by Getty, JUI, mess. I would say the one that you should concentrate is the one that sells for you.
Asking others which one is really out of the point. Because, if I am selling really well , would I be telling you which one?
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You're right! Sorry. But the point I made is probably true and I think even more so these days because the standard is getting so high.
Oh, yeah, I see your point. We can sure all work on improving our quality.
Sorry if I misinterpreted your prior post. :)
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Only iStockphoto, Shutterstock, StockXpert, Dreamstime, Fotolia- but Im looking at Bigstock
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Only iStockphoto, Shutterstock, StockXpert, Dreamstime, Fotolia- but Im looking at Bigstock
I wouldn't spend a lot of time on Bigstock. Sales are steadily dwindling there even though I keep uploading new material. I just had my worst month there in about two years even though I more than doubled the portfolio I had back then.
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Only iStockphoto, Shutterstock, StockXpert, Dreamstime, Fotolia- but Im looking at Bigstock
I'm on those as well. But if I had to drop one Bigstock would be it. I wouldn't really notice the loss.
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I'll stay with BS,IF I DROP ANY IT WILL BE FT AND FP
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SS, IS, StockXpert, DT, BigStock, FT, FP AND ALAMY.....
Best results for me. SS by volume of sales
IS by size vs $
StockXpert.... much of it is thru Jupiter subs
BigStock and DT... slow but regular
FT, FP, ALAMY.... small portfolios...so i can't complain about low sales.
I have not actively uploaded in over a year now.... maybe a dozen or so pix...and I bailed out of several sites... most recently 123rf in May... I was as high as ... I believe 15 agencies... but the tracking work wasn't worth the return... so I 86'd them all. Of course two of them LO and NLS went belly up.... although NLS restructured and is now back up.
Last time I talked with Darrell (a while ago), he was looking for images to be exclusive to NLS, you didn't have to be, but the image did.
to each his own.... it all depends on how much time you want to put into it and if you have a port that sells. 8)=tom
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20 at the moment - soon to be 19 (no I'm not mad - I kind of have to for my site), but any agency that gets about 200 uploads and no sales in three months gets dumped - I stop uploading but leave the images there and just keep and eye on what's happening
As for getting fed up of uploading, FTP or isyndica, and you won't be fed up of the uploads, + in the past couple of weeks a few sites have streamlined their categorisation making the whole process take about an hour for a batch of 7 or 8 images to those sites. only IS and StockXpert are a pain now.
It's the little things in your workflow like having a list of links to each site when you submit (or having firefox bookmarks in a folder and clicking "open all in tabs".
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I sorta split my uploading in two. Some sites I upload to as soon as I have the image ready, others I just let them stack up until I have a large batch and upload them all at once when I'm bored or have nothing better to do.
Regularly:
iStockphoto
Shutterstock
StockXpert
Dreamstime
Fotolia
Occasionally:
Bigstockphoto
123RF
Canstockphoto
Crestock
Not sure where Veer will fall. Waiting to see how it performs.
yeah same here. Sites that are easy to upload and have at least ok earnings I upload to right away. The others get stockpiled until I'm bored and have extra time on my hands, or for some reason thing that the site is going to improve (like what happened with Canstock recently)
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iSyndica (.com) was specifically created to address that issue. You upload your file once, the platform takes care of distributing (syndicating) the files to all the sites you want (and stores them on the cloud). You will soon be able to send them to flickr or facebook accounts as well.
As mentioned elsewhere in this post, aside from the big channels, the small ones individually contribute a little bit to your revenue. However, if you add all the small ones up it can be a good amount (sometimes 40% of revenue), it's just not worth the time generally unless you can reduce the time to submit/upload.