MicrostockGroup
Illustrators Corner - Microstock Illustrators Forum => Illustration - General => Topic started by: Mrblues101 on March 11, 2015, 19:23
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I have noticed two things:
1- Most members of this forum upload photos, no illustrations
2- The sales statistics are different if you sell photos or illustrations
So if I have in mind the general post in this forum I will not have a real perspective which are the best sites to sell vector illustrations
I currently uploading my work to SS and DT and i want to upload to more sites but i dont want to waste time with very low earning sites, so i want to ask to people with more time and experience selling vector illustrations which are the best sites to sell my work.
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Istock still have some of the best Vector artists as exclusives....
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They are not very far from the list on the right, except obviously vectorstock will jump up the rank
Shutterstock 42
Fotolia 11
Dreamstime 9
123 rf 8
CanStockPhoto 8
iStock 8
VectorStock 4
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Being exclusive with iStock for 7 years, I'm also curious about the answers. Is it better to go indie with all other agencies? Subs are going up, which can't make up for the low credit downloads yet, and it's a long long way to go...
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So hard to say. But nothing iS has done lately has steered the ship away from the iceberg. Looking at the math in the poll, iS exclusives seem to make about twice as much as SS contributors. But people who contribute to a bunch of sites have reported SS as less than 50% of their income here. So it would stand to reason that you'd make more as an indie if you submitted to a lot of sites. Don't quote me on that, though. And I think even if that were true you'd have to expect a big dip in income as your earnings on iS would plummet as an indie, while you'd need time to upload everywhere else to start making up the lost income. And you wouldn't want to submit all at once in case everything got buried in search. It's a tough one.
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There are some usually overlooked benefits in going independent, besides the potential increase on earnings:
1- Different sites attract different clients (in different countries also!), and one of them might be more adequate for your portfolio.
2- Extra exposure: increases the odds of getting custom jobs for specific clients.
3- Deeper knowledge of the industry and how your images interact with it: I've learned a lot as my illustrations increased in views and sales in many sites, making it easier to spot some tiny niches
My guess is that exclusivity on microstock will eventually fade. With some extra work (not that much if you manage it properly) going independent might be the best way to revert or even the falling earnings.
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I upload to about 10 sites.
My Collection (http://www.shutterstock.com/g/aoshlick) size is 250 images give or take.
SS is best, DT is second, CS is (surprisingly) third
IS used to be good but has dropped dramatically, i make about a quarter of what i used to... (used to pull as much as SS)
FT is totally random, sometimes great, usually not...
VS, DP, 123, BS are all my low earners
But i dont have my whole collection on VS yet, so i cant vouch for that one.
GL and P5 are rubbish, dont even bother.
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...But i dont have my whole collection on VS yet, so i cant vouch for that one...
I wouldn't bother with them until/unless they ever up their pricing. Right now they're just the DollarPhotoClub of the vector world. I haven't uploaded anything new there in forever and I don't plan to.
It's a shame, really. They could have been a really good site if they just stuck to the pricing model they claim to use (up to 10 credits). But it's more of a bait-and-switch really. Lure in contributors with the promise of up to 10 credit pricing, but never price anything more than 1 credit.
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They usually mark every file as $1 by default, but their pricing tier says cartoons start at $3 (which pulls .75 per DL, which isnt too bad).
I contacted them about that whole dollar thing and they upped every file in my collection to at least $3, alot of them marked as $5. With only a few images on there, its already pulling enough to warrant me putting up the rest of my collection, which is 100% cartoons.
Of course, if you do more basic styles of vector, like icon sets or simple objects, its probably not worth it.
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I have noticed two things:
1- Most members of this forum upload photos, no illustrations
2- The sales statistics are different if you sell photos or illustrations
So if I have in mind the general post in this forum I will not have a real perspective which are the best sites to sell vector illustrations
I currently uploading my work to SS and DT and i want to upload to more sites but i dont want to waste time with very low earning sites, so i want to ask to people with more time and experience selling vector illustrations which are the best sites to sell my work.
Try Creative Market. But it is difficult to get there
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SS is really bad when i compare my downloads with other agencies. My absolute best agency is fotolia with my vectors
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For me SS is the best with IS as a close second. FT and DT and low earners for me.
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GraphicRiver?
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Why did he get a negative rating????
He is right. Shutterstock being on top, and the other sites bellow.
As for illustrators in this forum...
In this forum, there are only a handful of illustrators working professionally as artists and contributing to microstock...
You will find a very small group of photographers doing some vectors on the side, but they don't really make a lot of vectors because their focus is on photography.
I have not found any forum completely dedicated to illustration. Unless...you use the agencie's forums, like Shutterstock seems to be a big one.
They are not very far from the list on the right, except obviously vectorstock will jump up the rank
Shutterstock 42
Fotolia 11
Dreamstime 9
123 rf 8
CanStockPhoto 8
iStock 8
VectorStock 4
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My list:
1. SS
2. FT
3. DT, BS, 123, iS
4. VS, DP
For me atm SS is much better than all other agencies together (SS>FT+DT+BS+123+iS+DP+VS). IS was my second earner until 2014, but for some reasons sales dropped dramatically.