Has anybody of late dropped their crown at IS to explore the other sites, willing to share there news, success, etc.

I do realise this is an old subject, but considering recent events at IS I'm looking for some current info on what likely to expect now, or could anybody point me in the direction where people are discussing this.

Thanks

Has anybody of late dropped their crown at IS to explore the other sites, willing to share there news, success, etc.

I do realise this is an old subject, but considering recent events at IS I'm looking for some current info on what likely to expect now, or could anybody point me in the direction where people are discussing this.

Thanks

To be honest, youve got very few files and dls, independant or exclusivity shouldnt be your top priority right now, it wouldnt matter. However for the ones who have turned independant, it does seem to have worked out for the better.

Quote

it does seem to have worked out for the better.

I can't say I have seen anything to suggest this is true, at least in financial terms.

+1, most ppl struggle for a year, they get 25% of their usual earnings in the first few months and it looks like most don't reach their previous numbers or even exceed it. Perhaps jsnover made it, but I haven't heard of anyone else and I'm here all the time. On top there's just so much hassle, re-keywording all the images as the biggest PITA (I know, since I didn't input IPTC data for over a year and I did it for just over 100 images and I almost lost my mind doing it)

Quote

it does seem to have worked out for the better.

I can't say I have seen anything to suggest this is true, at least in financial terms.

----------------------------------
I'm a diamond and dropped exclusivity in early 2011 and I'm ahead financially for dropping the crown, despite the fact that only about 40% of my Istock files are uploaded to other sites. 

It is critical that you submit to Shutterstock if you want to be successful as a non-exclusive.  If you aren't already accepted as a contributor there,  I'd try and pass the test before giving up istock exclusivity.  If you don't pass, wait on giving up exclusivity until you do.

Agree 100%.  Anybody even thinking of dropping this crown,  SS, is a must and for most of us indies, I bet SS, stand for half of our turnover.

Here's some views from the other side of the fence

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=344503

There are going to be success stories and there are going to be failure stories. And neither really matter, because the success of any one contributor's port depends on whether there's a market for those images at the other agencies. You could be selling gangbusters at istock and yet bomb at SS. There is no way to compare any one contributor's success or failure to anyone else's.  You have to be willing to take a chance and try it, or stay where you are. Unfortunately.

Anyone that has dropped the crown in the last couple of months wont likely have much to report. It takes time to build a presence. You dont drop today and show a huge increase in money tomorrow. jsnover should be able to give a report, I think its been at least a few months since she dropped.

If you're not prepared to give it at least a year to get established everywhere (and in particular to get your earnings up at SS which requires you get beyond the basic levels), then perhaps hang out some more with IS. I became independent again June 2011, but I had been independent from fall 2004 to August 2008, so I had a very clear idea of what I was returning to - I was gold at IS when I became exclusive.

One of the things you lose once you make a shift - in either direction - is what the alternative would have been. I see lots of doom and gloom reports for IS exclusives in the monthly sales threads (with a few exceptions, typically for those with lots of E+ files). After a few months of independence I was down in earnings, but then so were a lot of IS exclusives. Was I worse or better off?

A few months ago I had a month that beat my prior year IS earnings for the first time. What I am really after is establishing a solid platform for earning money from my photos - where I don't see a freefall in earnings because one site has changed best match, lost customers, raised prices, etc. I think H&F and Getty have been very bad for IS and don't bode well for its future, but IS is still either my #1 or #2 each month, so I want it to keep going until someone else can knock it off that perch.

And yes, if you can't get accepted at SS then financially you might as well not bother

A few months ago I had a month that beat my prior year IS earnings for the first time

That's exactly what I meant in my previous post. Virtually no one earns as much or even more after dropping the crown, I thought jsnover could be the only exception I know of, but as we can now see she isn't. And to imagine all the hassle of re-keywording and reuploading images, it's a huge loss of time, not just money. Just stay exclusive unless you really have nothing to lose and if you don't depend on ms earnings

Quote from: wut on July 12, 2012, 10:07

Quote from: jsnover on July 12, 2012, 09:09

A few months ago I had a month that beat my prior year IS earnings for the first time

That's exactly what I meant in my previous post. Virtually no one earns as much or even more after dropping the crown, I thought jsnover could be the only exception I know of, but as we can now see she isn't. And to imagine all the hassle of re-keywording and reuploading images, it's a huge loss of time, not just money. Just stay exclusive unless you really have nothing to lose and if you don't depend on ms earnings

I guess you didn't see this post...

Quote

Posted by: Sadstock
I'm a diamond and dropped exclusivity in early 2011 and I'm ahead financially for dropping the crown, despite the fact that only about 40% of my Istock files are uploaded to other sites.

Just because only 1 or 2 people post here of their success, doesn't mean "virtually no one". There must be tens of thousands of contributors who don't post here OR on the istock forums, or any forums, for that matter. So the evidence present here, pro OR con, is anecdotal.

In such an anti-IS atmosphere, believe me, everybody who's doing better after dropping the crown would be very loud about it, as well as lots of ppl would point to him . I know assumption is the mother of all mess ups, but logic dictates that given the evidence we have (or lack of it) suggests most ppl are doing worse after dropping the crown. The conclusion is clear, it's inadvisable to do so

In such an anti-IS atmosphere, believe me, everybody who's doing better after dropping the crown would be very loud about it, as well as lots of ppl would point to him . I know assumption is the mother of all mess ups, but logic dictates that given the evidence we have (or lack of it) suggests most ppl are doing worse after dropping the crown. The conclusion is clear, it's inadvisable to do so

I can't say I have any evidence one way or the other, but I would think most exclusives would have trouble because they are unprepared to deal with the rest of the market. It's very different. Your images don't get all the special favors and perks that exclusives used to get. Maybe, that is why Jo Ann did well with the transition. She knew exactly what to expect.

Obviously can't speak from experience so let's layer some assumptions on top of each other:

Assume relative earnings on the top right are accurate, then that as exclusive you double the number for IS and then that you get roughly the same number of images on the top 4, in the LONG term you should replace $120 with $100 + $60 + $40 + $30.

After that, there is a the extra work but also some safety net in case the basket holding all your eggs gets dropped.

It is a lot of extra work indeed to not be exclusive, but I am glad I took the non exclusive road especially in the face of what the agencies like Istock, DT, 123, and ft have done to their contributors.

+1

And really, once I had FTPs set up for all the sites I was contributing to, the extra work was what, 5 or 10 more minutes? istock was the only one with different keywording. All the other sites can be keyworded in PS and uploaded. Maybe some differences here and there, like the sites that split multiple words. The bulk of the time is spent on post processing and you have to do that for all of the sites.

But please, if anyone thinks exclusivity is the way to go, I'm all for it for you. Especially if you are going exclusive at istock. 

"I can't say I have any evidence one way or the other, but I would think most exclusives would have trouble because they are unprepared to deal with the rest of the market. It's very different. Your images don't get all the special favors and perks that exclusives used to get. Maybe, that is why Jo Ann did well with the transition. She knew exactly what to expect."

But she didn't :s

Only one month has surpassed exclusive earnings in over a year now...

She said it was the first month, not the only month.