Hi I am a newbie in microstock. I just started doing microstock last month. At first I tried photography, but it was just too much effort for me to post edit and I don't know much about the cameras. So, I switched to vectors instead because I noticed that a lot of best sellers are vectors.

I am not very good at drawing but I do like to look at art and I sometimes make arts and crafts at home so I think I am somewhat creative at the very least. Anyway, I learned Illustrator from scratch and about 1 month later, I have my first vectors ready to submit to the Big 6. I have high hopes for Istock but then I was sorely disappointed because although I got in at the first application, my first 15 uploads are mostly rejected, only a couple were accepted!

Shutterstock is doing okay with 25 files currently, I average only 5 DLs per day which is probably dismal because as I have read, sales will drop after the first month even if you keep on uploading.

In Stockxpert, I sold only 3 subscription in 1 week. Is that bad?

In Fotolia, I sold only 1 vector in 2 weeks. Is this normal?

I am waiting for approval in 123RF, how is the vector sales there?

I haven't uploaded in Dreamstime yet because I am afraid of the 6 months in case I would like to go exclusive in IS (although that is very unlikely now!) But is it worth the effort? Will Dreamstime give me enough vector downloads (credits and not subscription)?

In your case, what was the best site for selling vectors? Both in terms of money and downloads.  Thanks for reading this loooonggg post. Hehe!

Thanks! Currently, only SS is really performing. Hopefully I could get more from the other smaller sites.

for me, StockXpert & DT are not too bad for my vectors.

Hi and welcome to the microstock game.
For me as far as vector sales go IS followed by SS then a big drop off and all the rest do their bit.
I am on DT too, I wouldn't consider exclusivity because IS doesn't make up 50% of my MS income at the moment.
I wouldn't bother trying to keep track of numbers of sales, just pay attention to your overall income from each site.
Your vectors are very good, this is a numbers game, so just work on increasing your portfolio size and learn from those rejections!

This is definitely not a numbers game.. you would know it if you ever got 25-30 DL's a day for a single file.. Becase I did it tens of times.. If you say all your vectors get that then hats of to you

I just had 1 of those $5 vector sales! I was just checking if my subscription sale of that vector increased and then I saw that 1 person downloaded the vector credit sale! wuhoo!

Besides SS and IS, StockXpert is also pretty good for vectors. Mostly you get sub vector sales, but still those 5$ credit sales are awesome.

I just had 1 of those $5 vector sales! I was just checking if my subscription sale of that vector increased and then I saw that 1 person downloaded the vector credit sale! wuhoo!

Quote from: CofkoCof on May 30, 2008, 06:10

Besides SS and IS, StockXpert is also pretty good for vectors. Mostly you get sub vector sales, but still those 5$ credit sales are awesome.

I usualy get 1 in 2 days or something like that. Had a pretty awesome day when one of the buyers bought whole series of my web icons (6 times 5$  ).

Quote from: helix7 on May 30, 2008, 12:14

I'm a long way from going exclusive at istock, though. I'd need to be at least Gold level and have istock represent 60% of my monthly total before I'd even consider it, and I tend to suggest people use a similar criteria. Anything less than that and you're pretty much taking a pay-cut by going exclusive. If you're over 60%, it's probably worthwhile and will definitely save on upload time.

I think this is a good strategy!
I went exclusive at IS when I reached gold and it was 64% of my total income. My total monthly income went up by 25% and I have to upload only to them. Can't be happier...

it all sounds good.. as long as the sales go good.. but what if it goes bad and there are no other sites to compensate it?

I am kind of new, I have been in this business for 5 months.. 140 images on all sites and make about 1500 dollars.. I have only 50 images on IS and it makes me 400 per month at the moment.. the thing is I never go down even if IS does 300 because somehow the other sites help.. but next year when I start making much more and consider going exclusive, the possibility of IS going down some times will be in my mind..

I think this is a good strategy!
I went exclusive at IS when I reached gold and it was 64% of my total income. My total monthly income went up by 25% and I have to upload only to them. Can't be happier...

Very nice increase indeed. That is one of the wild-card factors at istock that bugs me. Don't get me wrong, any big bump like that is a welcome bonus. The thing that gets me is that it's not universal. Of course there can't be any guarantees in this business, but I think if istock is going to specifically mention this added jump in earnings as an exclusive perk, they need to put some kind of number behind it. Even if it's just to say something like "Exclusive members often see an increase of between XX% and XX% over previous earnings." That bump could be the difference between making more money or less money as an exclusive contributor, since often times the additional royalty percentage is not enough to compensate the difference. Without knowing roughly what that jump will be, or how likely it is that a contributor will see any added jump at all, going exclusive can be a roll of the dice.

I used to call it blind loyalty. Now I'm willing to admit that it's more of a leap of faith. istock exclusives believe in the company, to the point where they are willing to roll the dice like that.

As for my strategy, well, I'm not sure I'd even call it that. Despite many people believing that microstock is about more than numbers, I prefer to be a simple guy about it and just make it a numbers thing. 60% or more from istock in a month as a non-exclusive, and I'll give it extra consideration.

Wow ironarrow, 1500 in a month from vectors alone and in just 5 months? That is pretty good I think. Hope I could even reach 1000 a month. As most of you have mentioned, waiting until Gold will probably be the best time to go exclusive. But really, the most important thing for me to go exclusive is the faster review time and bigger limit. That is a big incentive.

How long before you see sales in IS? At least a month? Or maybe my vectors just aren't what the customer like, but it's just been a few days, maybe I'm just really excited. Hehe! I was just surprised with SS that downloads came just a few hours after approval.

Quote from: latex on May 30, 2008, 18:27

Quote from: helix7 on May 30, 2008, 12:14

I'm a long way from going exclusive at istock, though. I'd need to be at least Gold level and have istock represent 60% of my monthly total before I'd even consider it, and I tend to suggest people use a similar criteria. Anything less than that and you're pretty much taking a pay-cut by going exclusive. If you're over 60%, it's probably worthwhile and will definitely save on upload time.

I think this is a good strategy!
I went exclusive at IS when I reached gold and it was 64% of my total income. My total monthly income went up by 25% and I have to upload only to them. Can't be happier...

it all sounds good.. as long as the sales go good.. but what if it goes bad and there are no other sites to compensate it?

I am kind of new, I have been in this business for 5 months.. 140 images on all sites and make about 1500 dollars.. I have only 50 images on IS and it makes me 400 per month at the moment.. the thing is I never go down even if IS does 300 because somehow the other sites help.. but next year when I start making much more and consider going exclusive, the possibility of IS going down some times will be in my mind..

Quote from: steppysteph on May 30, 2008, 23:47

Wow ironarrow, 1500 in a month from vectors alone and in just 5 months? That is pretty good I think. Hope I could even reach 1000 a month. As most of you have mentioned, waiting until Gold will probably be the best time to go exclusive. But really, the most important thing for me to go exclusive is the faster review time and bigger limit. That is a big incentive.

How long before you see sales in IS? At least a month? Or maybe my vectors just aren't what the customer like, but it's just been a few days, maybe I'm just really excited. Hehe! I was just surprised with SS that downloads came just a few hours after approval.

Quote from: ironarrow on May 30, 2008, 18:43

Quote from: latex on May 30, 2008, 18:27

Quote from: helix7 on May 30, 2008, 12:14

I'm a long way from going exclusive at istock, though. I'd need to be at least Gold level and have istock represent 60% of my monthly total before I'd even consider it, and I tend to suggest people use a similar criteria. Anything less than that and you're pretty much taking a pay-cut by going exclusive. If you're over 60%, it's probably worthwhile and will definitely save on upload time.

I think this is a good strategy!
I went exclusive at IS when I reached gold and it was 64% of my total income. My total monthly income went up by 25% and I have to upload only to them. Can't be happier...

it all sounds good.. as long as the sales go good.. but what if it goes bad and there are no other sites to compensate it?

I am kind of new, I have been in this business for 5 months.. 140 images on all sites and make about 1500 dollars.. I have only 50 images on IS and it makes me 400 per month at the moment.. the thing is I never go down even if IS does 300 because somehow the other sites help.. but next year when I start making much more and consider going exclusive, the possibility of IS going down some times will be in my mind..

I used to work for a design company as a graphic designer.. We used to buy a lot from microstock.. That's why I know what will sell..

You need to know your customers are mostly designers.. And also should know they don't really want artistic cartoons.. I had my comics published 2 years ago for a small magazine and I can be a pretty good artist if I wanted to be.. But instead I go the other way and leave art aside.. Microstock does not need art.. it has basic needs to feed their designer customers..

Keep this in mind.. your work is great but not what the designers really need.. Remember you are submitting for microstock, not for deviantArt or something like that..

I can tell you this much, you figure out the rest...

One more thing, keep up the good work, keep up your quality.. Quality sells.. But do what they would want.. Not what you would want..

Thanks so much for the advice! After pretty much a lot of rejections from IS, I figured I should just come up with elements that can be reused instead of complete art. So I guess it is still mostly icons and design elements then. I do often browse best sellers and try to do similar themed vectors.