Author Topic: Istock troubled waters my opinion (Read 33769 times)

hatman12 · « **Reply #50 on:** March 15, 2007, 02:45 »

Hey, calm down everyone. You know I was talking in a general sense. Sheesh...

Look at it this way. iStock has 1.5 mill images accepted out of a total of 3 mill sent in. Someone has had to pay good money to examine and reject half of 3 mill.

A diamond exclusive is allowed to submit 200 images a week. Why? Because they hardly need looking at.

A 30% profit from a diamond exclusive is a more valuable and reliable business asset than a 70% profit from the other 80% of contributors.

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #51 on:** March 15, 2007, 11:32 »

Quote from: latex on March 05, 2007, 22:37

I started with SS 02-19-2007 and 15 days after i made $29 with 50 images on line. Plus, on SS almost all my images sell and on IS i have one hit with 85 dls and the others hardly ever sell.
I owe IS the quality of my images, i learned a LOT there and still learning, they are relly helpfull on the forums... but SS wins when it comes to $$$, i get to shot what i want and it sells... so... learning to love SS

I just applied to IS last weekend... have heard nothing yet and based on what I've read here, I'm not holding out a lot of hope for being let into the club.
I can echo latex feelings. I have to say that the bulk (now upwards of 80-some %) of my portfolio on SS SELLS. No other site sells even 30% of my 'folio. Why? No clue, but I'm not complaing about it.
As far as the continual upload theory? Yeah, I think you do have to upload on a regular basis to SS. So I adopted a strategy some time ago of uploading small and I mean small batches 2 or 3 times a week. I am then getting a regular acceptance and posting of new shots. I have seen the pattern consistently. The day a new batch is posted, not only do I sell them but even shots months old sell too. I guess the buyers take the time to browse my old stuff. At any rate I see a dramatic increase in sales... then sales decrease over the next couple days until the new batch is posted. I'm not spending any more time in the upload process as I would uploading 50 in one shot, I'm just doing less more often, but it keeps the $$$ coming my way.
If I get into IS, who knows how it will go? Personally, for me now, IS has some big shoes to fill to match my sales at SS. Yeah, it's only 25 cents a pop, but I'm selling a whole boat-load of those 25 centers. For the last few months SS has accounted for 80+% of my total sales.

-tom

StockManiac · « **Reply #52 on:** March 15, 2007, 13:40 »

Quote from: hatman12 on March 15, 2007, 02:45

A diamond exclusive is allowed to submit 200 images a week. Why? Because they hardly need looking at.

In my opinion, that statement is totally off base for a number of reasons:

1. My understanding is that the difference between exclusives and non-exclusives is that exclusives are just non-exclusives that have over 500 sales and have decided to become exclusive. I have never heard of anyone being turned down for exclusivity. There is no other test that one needs to take to become exclusive.

To me the biggest difference is the 500 uploads, because this might show that they know what sells. But even this can be argued, because someone that joined at the beginning would have enjoyed a few years of sales with little or no competition.

So to say that exclusives are better than non-exclusives is a falacy. They are the same as non-exclusives with only minor differences.

Personally, I am at the silver canister level and have thousands of downloads on iStock, but have decided not to go exclusive because IS only makes up ~ 50% of my microstock income. There is no way that the exclusivity would be able to provide the other 50%.

2. There are plenty of non-exclusives that are better than many of the exclusives. A few of them have been mentioned in this thread.

3. There are plenty of exclusives that are not that great. I won't mention them for obvious reasons. There have been many posts that show some of the horrible photos from exclusives that get accepted by IS every day.

Finally, the reason that IS throws exclusives a few bonuses (extra uploads, higher royalties, etc) is because they have to give submitters something in order to make up for the loss that they get from going exclusive. If there were no extras for going exclusive, then why would anyone do it?

The goal of exclusives is to push out non-exclusives.

The goal of non-exclusives is to fight for all of the extra bonuses that exclusives get.

Hence the battle...

sim · « **Reply #53 on:** March 15, 2007, 13:48 »

I agree with you Stockmania, you raised some interesting points on the exclusive vs non-exclusive debate.

One question about going exclusive that has bothered me, what are you expected to do with your existing portfolios on other sites?

Surely you aren't expected to delete them all?

hatman12 · « **Reply #54 on:** March 15, 2007, 16:10 »

Interesting comments from everyone. I've just taken a look through the latest exclusive uploads, and - yes - there are lots of holiday snaps and many images which are borderline quality (IMHO).

It remains the case that iStock appears to have the customers. Where else can an image get 1,000, 2,000 or even 3,000 downloads in a three month period (looking at the top downloads list).

vicu · « **Reply #55 on:** March 15, 2007, 16:38 »

Quote from: sim on March 15, 2007, 13:48

One question about going exclusive that has bothered me, what are you expected to do with your existing portfolios on other sites?

Surely you aren't expected to delete them all?

Um, yes, you are. Otherwise you would not be EXCLUSIVE.

I do agree that crap comes through the exclusive queue, just as frequently as it does through the non-exclusive queue.

I do not agree that exclusive=better photographer.

I DEFINITELY do NOT agree that "the goal of exclusives is to push out non-exclusives". I'd love to hear your evidence for making such a ridiculously broad generalization. Is it such a shocking concept that there are photographers in existence with better goals and things to do than worry about what everybody else is doing? Getting ahead by tearing others down will only get you so far. At some point talent and hard work do actually factor into the equation.

marcopolo · « **Reply #56 on:** March 15, 2007, 22:17 »

Quote

It remains the case that iStock appears to have the customers. Where else can an image get 1,000, 2,000 or even 3,000 downloads in a three month period (looking at the top downloads list).

That depends on how thier best match algorithim decides to treat your images

madelaide · « **Reply #57 on:** March 17, 2007, 12:57 »

Quote from: phildate on March 06, 2007, 01:13

My suspicion ever since the DA'ing fiasco and Best Match algorithm changes is that the search engine is favoring exclusives.

It is favouring me, a non-exclusive, as my sales increased highly since the disambiguation started. Maybe it's an "advantage" I'll lose along the time, as all new images are being disambiguated, but still, results have been great to me since November.

Nevertheless, I have no intention of becoming exclusive to IS or any other agency.

Regards,
Adelaide

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #58 on:** March 18, 2007, 11:46 »

Quote from: madelaide on March 17, 2007, 12:57

Nevertheless, I have no intention of becoming exclusive to IS or any other agency. Regards, Adelaide

I am not entertaining the idea of becoming exclusive anywhere myself. BUT... as time goes by, I am seriously considering pulling out of more than three quarters of the sites I'm currently on and 'exclusively' dealing with just a few that produce reasonable sales.
I'm not with IS yet. Still waiting on my app to be reviewed ( one week today). However, I won't be going exclusive with them even IF they do let me in the gang. If it is a real pain in the backside to upload and survive as a newbie, I probably won't stay there either. I'm just testing the waters with them.
I'm still only doing photography part-time. My 'comfort zone' in life demands that I do not give up my day job.... yet. Happily, and surprisingly, our little family photography business is picking up much faster than we anticipated. We actually cannot keep up with what is offered to us now. Since they won't be adding any more hours to the day, something has to go and it's going to be those low producing stocks. I will probably always work the micros... I like it. And while I will never go exclusive with any one, I am pretty much decided to cut the pack down to 3 or 4 only.

hatman12 · « **Reply #59 on:** March 18, 2007, 13:41 »

That sounds like the right approach to me Tom. I am not convinced that uploading to munerous agencies is efficient use of time and energy; oarticularly the small ones who make only occasional sales. Better to invest that time in creating images.

I have always believed that IS would produce the goods over and above all the others, and my initial experience is that those thoughts were correct. It is slow and tedious (and frustrating) getting established there, but it is the only agency where I have had designers write to me about my images. Istock seems to have a massive customer base, and that is what is needed to produce sales.

I started with DT and IS at the same time (first week of February). Although I have many more images up at DT, IS has produced double the income and is already producing downloads at an average of 2.2 per day (which I am pleased with after only six weeks).

My third agency is SS following your recommendation. 156 downloads in my first eight days. But I suspect that this will tail off as per everyone else's experience on this board, unless I can upload like a furious maniac (but I do not have the library to be able to do that).

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #60 on:** March 19, 2007, 15:33 »

Well I hope IS is not in too deep of troubled waters...

I just got accepted by them.

-tom

sharply_done · « **Reply #61 on:** March 20, 2007, 01:14 »

My IS portfolio has really taken off this month - to the point where it's beginning to rival SS, which has me tinkering with the notion of going exclusive there when I have enough images there.

Freezingpictures · « **Reply #62 on:** March 20, 2007, 04:59 »

Well sharply, I advice you think a lot about the decision to go Exclusive at IS. You sales are so much affected by BestMatch search. When they first changed it, my sales went up and it was beginning to rival SS, however now they changed it again, and if it were not because of 4 ELs I had there in one day, my earnings this month would have been more than 30% less than last month, just because they changed BestMatch I believe. And even with that 4 ELs it won't be too easy to reach last month earnings.

hatman12 · « **Reply #63 on:** March 20, 2007, 06:42 »

Nice portfolio sharply. Something makes me think you might live near an airport....

MiguelAngelo · « **Reply #64 on:** March 20, 2007, 19:59 »

Hi

I'm doing at least 4x more at IS when compared to SS. I've had those thoughts about going exclusive and maybe I should go. But after some thinking I prefer to maybe loose some money but go with the secure way.
I've found to much people complaining about sales decreasing here and there, and if most of them are because of disambiguation some others can be related with search engine behavior.
So I'll wait to have some more experience about download numbers and watch the regularity of sales at IS before trying some commitment.
Hope this helps.

Karimala · « **Reply #65 on:** March 21, 2007, 09:47 »

My sales at IS are twice that of SS, even though my portfolio is half the size. For whatever reason, the search tweeks haven't affected me a bit since the one tweek that doubled my earnings overnight.

red_moon_rise · « **Reply #66 on:** March 21, 2007, 10:35 »

Anybody knows if I could keep my editorial images on SS without interferring with exclusivity on IS?

sharply_done · « **Reply #67 on:** March 21, 2007, 19:24 »

hatman12: If you look more closely you'll see that my aircraft shots are made from only 10 or so airplanes that I use with different backgrounds and crops; I try to squeeze every last penny out of everything I shoot.

vicu · « **Reply #68 on:** March 21, 2007, 22:53 »

Quote from: red_moon_rise on March 21, 2007, 10:35

Anybody knows if I could keep my editorial images on SS without interferring with exclusivity on IS?

You cannot have any royalty free images of any kind anywhere. period.

KiwiRob · « **Reply #69 on:** March 22, 2007, 09:44 »

Quote from: vicu on March 21, 2007, 22:53

Quote from: red_moon_rise on March 21, 2007, 10:35
Anybody knows if I could keep my editorial images on SS without interferring with exclusivity on IS?

You cannot have any royalty free images of any kind anywhere. period.

I was pretty sure you could keep editorial images on other sites.

Greg Boiarsky · « **Reply #70 on:** March 22, 2007, 10:28 »

Vicu is correct. If you go to the Istock exclusive agreement page (http://www.istockphoto.com/asa_exclusive.php), you see this under "Exclusions":

"(2) Content that is produced for "Editorial" purposes except to the extent the Supplier retains in such Content any royalty free rights of the type outlined in the Content License Agreement, where "Editorial" means visual reporting to illustrate general interest and specialty stories for information, documentary or photojournalism (but not advertorial) purposes only;"

In other words, as Vicu said earlier, you must be exclusive with Istock for all RF content. You can offer editorial content RM, but not RF, if you're exclusive.

Quote from: vicu on March 21, 2007, 22:53

You cannot have any royalty free images of any kind anywhere. period.

Bateleur · « **Reply #71 on:** March 22, 2007, 13:25 »

iStock's exclusivity deal is very restrictive.

That's why I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. I want to retain my freedom to sell my images whatever way I want, when I want.

Greg Boiarsky · « **Reply #72 on:** March 22, 2007, 15:32 »

I agree with what you say, which is why I won't go exclusive when the time comes. However, there are advantages to exclusivity, including greater control over your portfolio, an easier time tracking down usage violations, and increased payouts from Istock. And, it would be a lot easier to manage one site instead of six or eight or more.

The point is to make an informed choice that fits with your business plan and available time.

Quote from: Bateleur on March 22, 2007, 13:25

iStock's exclusivity deal is very restrictive.

That's why I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. I want to retain my freedom to sell my images whatever way I want, when I want.

roman · « **Reply #73 on:** March 28, 2007, 19:06 »

4 downloads today on istock for a grand total of 86 cents! I ll be laughing all the way to the bank.

madelaide · « **Reply #74 on:** March 28, 2007, 19:11 »

My fives sales today got me US$2.57. My four sales yesterday got me US$2.67. Some days ago I had four sales that got me US$3.37, what was much better.

Regards,
Adelaide

MicrostockGroup Sponsors

Author Topic: Istock troubled waters my opinion (Read 33769 times)

hatman12

a.k.a.-tom

StockManiac

sim

hatman12

vicu

marcopolo

madelaide

a.k.a.-tom

hatman12

a.k.a.-tom

sharply_done

Freezingpictures

hatman12

MiguelAngelo

Karimala

red_moon_rise

sharply_done

vicu

KiwiRob

Greg Boiarsky

Bateleur

Greg Boiarsky

roman

madelaide

Related Topics

Sponsors

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors