Getty Images, but only 20% of royalties.

I can't offer suggestions, but would direct you to reports of Corbis' recent financial troubles and layoffs. I wouldn't expect much from becoming a contributor there

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-04/corbis-said-cutting-about-15-of-workers-amid-photo-price-war

And current & former employees' veiws

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Corbis-Reviews-E4109.htm

There are a few, but Corbis and Getty is struggling.

It may seem like SS is giving away images for free, but we must understand that it's not SS that determines the market...it's the buyers. And the buyers are disagreeing with the macro stock business model.

It may seem like SS is giving away images for free, but we must understand that it's not SS that determines the market...it's the buyers. And the buyers are disagreeing with the macro stock business model.

Why wouldn't they disagree with the macro model? They're being offered a product for a few dollars that they were (at one time at least) willing to pay hundreds for.

The microstock model has a place in the market as there are a ton of graphic designers and small businesses that need images at a low price. In my opinion, however, they should get what they pay for. Micro buyers should be getting simple images and elements at these prices. Not ones taken with thousands of dollars of professional gear and worked on for hours in post processing. If they want high production value images and advertising concepts they should have to pay more. These are the images that shouldn't be found in micro. Unfortunately, we have all bent over backwards to create these images and sell them for a few bucks through micro.

Who in their right mind would still pay $5 to a local video store? Nobody which is why they no longer exist.

Off topic: I still rent from the video guy down the street. He's the last shop of it's kind in my area and he will close his doors once the lease is up. But still, it's a much nicer experience to go to this guys store. You get out of the house, talk to some people and support an independent businessman. It's good for the world and for me.

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on November 07, 2015, 15:03

Who in their right mind would still pay $5 to a local video store? Nobody which is why they no longer exist.

Off topic: I still rent from the video guy down the street. He's the last shop of it's kind in my area and he will close his doors once the lease is up. But still, it's a much nicer experience to go to this guys store. You get out of the house, talk to some people and support an independent businessman. It's good for the world and for me.

I'd agree. I live in a small town. We still have independent small businesses. Unfortunately they're slowly being replaced by the same franchise businesses you see in every town across the United States. Uniqueness is going away and nobody seems to care. People flock to the new Whatever Bread Company and avoid the independent sandwich shop that has better food. It's just brand marketing and people flock to it like bugs to zapper lights.

Photoshelter could be more user friendly but I have buyers willing to contact me directly, pay me via PayPal and I email them a file or a download link.  I've made more this year selling stock direct than from all the sites I'm on combined. I've also earned much more from Alamy this year than in the past and a bit from other small traditionally-priced agencies. My microstock income has increased too, but I think that direct licensing and traditionally priced agencies are the way to go.

Small boutique agencies are probably best. I'm with Alamy but their RPI isn't great.

I'd work on getting into places like Stocksy, Trevallion, and places like that. I'd also suggest licensing traditionally-priced images on your own. I'm happy with Photoshelter, despite any shortcomings in their customer interface, they bring in high-end editorial clients, I've licensed images to Smithsonian Magazine, Coastal Living, and many other advertisers and magazines who were searching Photoshelter and found my work, my images there are also found through google searches. 

I'd also suggest getting Photographer's Market - a good way to find direct clients to license your work to - and of course for assignments which pay better than stock, if that interests you.

Thank you all for the input! I appreciate it so much. I feel like I'm floating around since the SS watermark came out with no place to land...

It looks like Alamy provides a big file size as well when "right-clicking>View Image".

FYI, I really love the small town video stores but don't have any time to watch movies anymore ... I miss those Blockbuster days for sure!

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on November 07, 2015, 18:54

I also have a Photoshelter website which in my opinion isn't very user friendly and I just got a $250 RM license sale. It's the strategy behind the direct selling model that matters most.

Was that sale a direct result of your own promotion or a sale that came through their "Lattice" site (http://www.photoshelter.com/lattice/search/)?

Hard to say because I don't know if Photoshelter shows the source of a sale. I'd say it was probably from my own promotional efforts.

Moving back on topic a bit...

My only macro experience is with Alamy and Getty.

Alamy so far I'm on the fence about. I got four images accepted a couple months ago and just had a $100 sale. But they just rejected a submission of a few hundred images and gave me a timeout for a month from submitting which I think is pretty lame. From what I've seen most people say they earn $1 per image year with them. So if I had 5,000 images I'd expect $5,000 in a year. Not real good. And with this goofy one-bad-image-everything-gets-rejected model I'm leaning toward pass. I just did another smaller submission and if they fail it again I'm probably done.

Getty is kind of difficult to give an opinion on for me because I never really fully committed to them. I hear some people there make big bucks while others make micro money. My experience was a little of both. One thing to note is once you submit images there about the only way to deactivate any of them is to cancel your contract. So Getty still seems to be the macro leader and you'd probably need to try them to see if it's right for you.

Alamy are very lenient with reviews.  I've had 1 rejection in around 2,500 images.  Maybe they check new contributors more thoroughly, I did small batches at first because getting them all rejected for 1 image not being accepted would be annoying.

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on November 07, 2015, 23:54

But they just rejected a submission of a few hundred images and gave me a timeout for a month from submitting which I think is pretty lame. From what

More than pretty lame. Alamy must have hired the photo curator from Pond5.

Although it's daft, it is their officially-stated policy.
However, their managing images system is such a PITA that having any more than a dozen files waiting to be managed would be like a black cloud hanging over me, so now I drip up really small numbers at a time anyway.

Quote from: Zeus on November 08, 2015, 11:39

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on November 07, 2015, 23:54

But they just rejected a submission of a few hundred images and gave me a timeout for a month from submitting which I think is pretty lame. From what

More than pretty lame. Alamy must have hired the photo curator from Pond5.

Although it's daft, it is their officially-stated policy.
However, their managing images system is such a PITA that having any more than a dozen files waiting to be managed would be like a black cloud hanging over me, so now I drip up really small numbers at a time anyway.

I've got something like 11,000 images on Alamy so understand their process. I just don't understand the "why" of the process. I've had the pleasure of looking at some of Paulie's work and I don't see someone who is at all careless. If he is getting rejections, then the process is broken and flawed.

Heres a concept. How about Getting a Book together of your best commercial work, Having ZED cards made. 4 on the front and one on the back with your info/website and send it to Potential commercial Clients. Just Like Models and actors have to do. I still shoot for some clients I've had for 30+ years. This is what you have to do, stock in any form is residual Income. always has been except for the Ones who Made it a profession. If ya want it, Ya gotta go for it. No other way I know of.

I think Getty is still the Gorilla in this realm although not 800 pounds anymore. Just a pale shadow of what it was. With many thousand images you have a chance to make a decent income instead of the few hundred needed only 3 or 4 years ago. So the decline of the leader in macro has been ultra fast. Blend, Cultura, Image Source,.... might be a good option if you are into model shoots......Alamy you need to have tens of thousands to make any significant income and at the actual growth rate I would say that in a few years you will need to have more than 100.000 images to make a significant income with them......Corbis is facing difficulties and I wouldn't be surprised if any of the big players (Getty,Adobe or Shutter) will swallow them up no so far in the future. They have a great archive collection that might interest those agencies.

I might sound very negative but the time to enter a macro mid or micro agency is a tough goal nowadays......I think focusing in a unique style use social media to promote and attract direct clients will be a much better proposition financially than to waste efforts in any agency if you are starting now.

Photoshelter could be more user friendly but I have buyers willing to contact me directly, pay me via PayPal and I email them a file or a download link.  I've made more this year selling stock direct than from all the sites I'm on combined. I've also earned much more from Alamy this year than in the past and a bit from other small traditionally-priced agencies. My microstock income has increased too, but I think that direct licensing and traditionally priced agencies are the way to go.

Small boutique agencies are probably best. I'm with Alamy but their RPI isn't great.

I'd work on getting into places like Stocksy, Trevallion, and places like that. I'd also suggest licensing traditionally-priced images on your own. I'm happy with Photoshelter, despite any shortcomings in their customer interface, they bring in high-end editorial clients, I've licensed images to Smithsonian Magazine, Coastal Living, and many other advertisers and magazines who were searching Photoshelter and found my work, my images there are also found through google searches. 

I'd also suggest getting Photographer's Market - a good way to find direct clients to license your work to - and of course for assignments which pay better than stock, if that interests you.

How much is Photo Shelter to join? I was looking at their site but couldn't find anything specific. I am really looking for a new home for my underwater stuff.

Quote from: wordplanet on November 07, 2015, 21:17

Photoshelter could be more user friendly but I have buyers willing to contact me directly, pay me via PayPal and I email them a file or a download link.  I've made more this year selling stock direct than from all the sites I'm on combined. I've also earned much more from Alamy this year than in the past and a bit from other small traditionally-priced agencies. My microstock income has increased too, but I think that direct licensing and traditionally priced agencies are the way to go.

Small boutique agencies are probably best. I'm with Alamy but their RPI isn't great.

I'd work on getting into places like Stocksy, Trevallion, and places like that. I'd also suggest licensing traditionally-priced images on your own. I'm happy with Photoshelter, despite any shortcomings in their customer interface, they bring in high-end editorial clients, I've licensed images to Smithsonian Magazine, Coastal Living, and many other advertisers and magazines who were searching Photoshelter and found my work, my images there are also found through google searches. 

I'd also suggest getting Photographer's Market - a good way to find direct clients to license your work to - and of course for assignments which pay better than stock, if that interests you.

How much is Photo Shelter to join? I was looking at their site but couldn't find anything specific. I am really looking for a new home for my underwater stuff.

It starts at $10 per month for the basic plan. http://www.photoshelter.com/tour/all-features/

I'd also suggest checking out Photodeck. I use both. They both offer trials. Neither do marketing. Photoshelter does have a buyer search but they don't promote it. I think it's leftover from back in the day when they tried to start a stock agency.

How do you apply to Getty?
I applied once when they had a "contest" and they sent me a congratulatory email asking me to join iStock. Is there any other way than those contests?