MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: sgcallaway1994 on March 30, 2009, 00:33
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I've read that IStock is one of the top sites for sales in Microstock. I've had great success as a newbie with Shutterstock. I've just been uploading for 1.5 months and I have over 88 sales. For me, this is a big deal. I've been uploading to DT since Aug. and I've only seen 26 sales there. I was really hoping Istock would be similiar to SS for me. I've uploaded about 15 images so far and have only had 1 sale. Do people think my portfolio is just too small to see sales, yet.
I guess I was really spoiled by SS, I only had a 2 photos on-line there and already had 7 sales. I was shocked. I was sorta thinking IS would go that way too, but so far, not happening for me....
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How much have you got from SS?
How much have you got from IS?
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Depends on what you have. Care to show us? I think you need 100-150 pictures there ( if itīs not supergood peopleshoots) to see steady sales. Steady sales for me is 1/day, for others itīs 300/day...
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iStock tends to start slow but sales continue for a long time, at least, that's my experience.
And you'll need a lot more images in your portfolio there to see regular downloads...
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I think you're doing pretty well.
I'm subscribed to 9 sites yet iStock won't even accept me.
I've tried 3 times and they keep rejecting my applications without much reason.
I'm also pretty new at this (overall) and from what I gather, there's a simple formula to this:
No. of Sales is directly proportional to the number of quality images on your portfolio. :)
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Depends on what you have. Care to show us? I think you need 100-150 pictures there ( if itīs not supergood peopleshoots) to see steady sales. Steady sales for me is 1/day, for others itīs 300/day...
some even say 500
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I've read that IStock is one of the top sites for sales in Microstock. I've had great success as a newbie with Shutterstock. I've just been uploading for 1.5 months and I have over 88 sales. For me, this is a big deal. I've been uploading to DT since Aug. and I've only seen 26 sales there. I was really hoping Istock would be similiar to SS for me. I've uploaded about 15 images so far and have only had 1 sale. Do people think my portfolio is just too small to see sales, yet.
I guess I was really spoiled by SS, I only had a 2 photos on-line there and already had 7 sales. I was shocked. I was sorta thinking IS would go that way too, but so far, not happening for me....
See #12 here : http://seanlockedigitalimagery.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/youve-been-accepted/
Also, actually linking to your images would help people point out issues.
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iStock seems a tough nut to crack. Most of my images tend to get ignored, but the few that do take off put up huge numbers. So at least for me, iStock is very much a "numbers game," even more so than the other micros. You will hit it out of the park on your share of images, so you need to keep plugging away and stay patient.
Shutterstock is great for overall sales, although the glory days of 1-2 years ago appear to be gone. Just too many images online, so your exposure is always falling fast. Sales attenuate quickly too. My own statistics show about a 50-60% dropoff between month 4 and month 12 for images online. So the bulk of your money will be made in months 1-4, then slower but steady sales for the next year. Then, not so much. :-\
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Sean, I've never seen your blog for newbies....it is great, and particularly funny now that I'm a pseudo vet, having been on iStock since Jan '07, in my third year now....wow.
"I'm a terror".....roflmao....at times you have had me quivering pitifully in the forums....
to the OP - I hate to be too critical, so let me begin by saying the airdale shot with the red scarf is adorable.....but otherwise, generally speaking...you really need to read about shooting stock and upload much betetr quality images than those in your initial portfolio if you expect to be successful on iStock. good luck.
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Shutterstock started strong for me but as I have added to my portfolio earnings have steadily decreased over my 16 months there. My BME was my first month there and I had only 40 images I now have over 260 and just had my WME. Very difficult to figure this out.
Over my 22 months with iStock is has been up and down for me seemingly fluctuating with changes in the best match. This was my BME there with double what I made at Shutterstock with only 117 images.
I got in on my first try with IStock but it may have been easier then. It took me 4 tries for Shutterstock so if you got in there you should be able to make it in iStock.
c h e e r s
fred
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Fred - your images are beautiful, I'm surprised you had problems at SS.
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Itīs same for me Fred. Started may08 at SS. No I have almost 400 pics and less dl:s than the first couple months. It seems they push the search engine for newbies. Istock is definitly coming slowly. $/dl is much better.
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I submit to six sites, and istock is my favorite of the bunch. I find the reviews are fair and the community of contributors is alive and vibrant. My portfolio is small - just 166 images currently, but I see sales daily - usually between two and five downloads per day and growing. I live in Calgary where the istock HQ is located, and I have gotten to know people who work for istock. I believe they are a solid and ethical company. In my opinion, if you can get in, it is worth it. They are in it for the long term. IS and SS make up 85% of my monthly sales. BS and FT make up 12%. DT and SX compete for last place. I understand my port is small and some of the sites take time before they start to perform - so I keep at it and hope for the best. Thank goodness IS and SS are there to keep me motivated to continue shooting and uploading. Without them I would have thrown in the towel!
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Fred - your images are beautiful, I'm surprised you had problems at SS.
Thanks Stacey. I think my appeal is to narrow for this economy. My best work is travel industry oriented and the slump is being felt there very badly. (Doesn't really explain my success at iStock though.)
I need to work harder and do more images that are imaginative and more generally stock oriented.
Your portfolio is a good example - lots of variety and very well done. Thats where I need to be.
c h e e r s
fred
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Itīs same for me Fred. Started may08 at SS. No I have almost 400 pics and less dl:s than the first couple months. It seems they push the search engine for newbies. Istock is definitly coming slowly. $/dl is much better.
Wow! Your portfolio is great and where I thought I should be heading. Surprised you have any problems selling anywhere.
c h e e r s
fred
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Itīs same for me Fred. Started may08 at SS. No I have almost 400 pics and less dl:s than the first couple months. It seems they push the search engine for newbies. Istock is definitly coming slowly. $/dl is much better.
Wow! Your portfolio is great and where I thought I should be heading. Surprised you have any problems selling anywhere.
c h e e r s
fred
Thank you much :) I do what I can... I feel that people-shots are the "secret", wich I donīt have much of unfortunately. Also, Iīm a little young in this business as well, since pictures need to mature a bit in searches it seems. time will tell.
Your stuff is truly one of a kind!! vivid colors, depth and composition. Letīs hold our thumbs for the future ;)
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to the OP - I hate to be too critical, so let me begin by saying the airdale shot with the red scarf is adorable.....but otherwise, generally speaking...you really need to read about shooting stock and upload much betetr quality images than those in your initial portfolio if you expect to be successful on iStock. good luck.
I don't mind the constructive criticism at all. I would rather have someone be honest with me, than not. I'm confused though, with "much better quality images". Do you mean the pictures have bad technique or the subject is not right for microstock? Please expound on your meaning of "quality" so I can try and improve.
Thanks! :)
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to the OP, hi there - sorry for confusion, changed my username yesterday....I was yecatsdoherty. okay, constructive criticism...you obviously have a good eye, but lighting is flat and colors dull....on some of the images I am guessing you used on camera flash, which I really would never do.
the overall composition of your images seems fine, but they come across as snapshottesque. do you post process? I think reviewing levels and other processing tools would be helpful.
it took me about a year to learn what would sell on istock, I uploaded snapshot-type stuff in the beginning also.....good luck
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Sean, I've never seen your blog for newbies....it is great, and particularly funny now that I'm a pseudo vet, having been on iStock since Jan '07, in my third year now....wow.
It's like the real me, but on demand ;) .
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iStock is my 4 place site...personally SS and DT are far above them. But they are still a must if you have more then one site.
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Sean, I've never seen your blog for newbies....it is great, and particularly funny now that I'm a pseudo vet, having been on iStock since Jan '07, in my third year now....wow.
It's like the real me, but on demand ;) .
Get a room.
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In related news, it looks like the IS techies are having a little too much fun with the best match sort today. Take a look at your ports with best match sort selected. Hopefully this is just an experiment. ::)
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Get a room.
Oh, geez.
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What is going on with the best match, Sean? Do you think they are just experimenting? I don't know what your sort looks like, but mine is non-sensical. I remember last year when they brought a bunch of low sellers to the top of best match in an effort to study the data.
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What are you seeing Dan? My port looks like it has for a number of weeks.
It is heavy on old flaming images in the first few pages, with a sprinkling of newer ones mixed in.
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Get a room.
Oh, geez.
that wouldn't have been the post if he had read our exchanges a month ago...it would have been more like get a ring...as in a boxing ring...lol, you just can't win ;-)
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What is going on with the best match, Sean? Do you think they are just experimenting? I don't know what your sort looks like, but mine is non-sensical. I remember last year when they brought a bunch of low sellers to the top of best match in an effort to study the data.
Dunno. I hardly ever look at it. Checking it now, I see a pretty good mix of high recent sellers at the top, some new, some old in the middle.
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It totally switched back. Take a look at the IS Discussion Forum. A bunch of people noticed, and there are already 2 threads locked.
All's well that ends well ;D
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It totally switched back. Take a look at the IS Discussion Forum. A bunch of people noticed, and there are already 2 threads locked.
All's well that ends well ;D
I see it now. Eccchhh.
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It totally switched back. Take a look at the IS Discussion Forum. A bunch of people noticed, and there are already 2 threads locked.
All's well that ends well ;D
I'm not sure if this is part of the April Fools thing (someone in a forum post alluded to that). But it certainly seems to be switching around. A sort by best match this morning brought my oldest file to the front -- and a refresh brings it to something else -- switch to "by age" and it resorts correctly -- but every switch to best match or a refresh is changing it back and forth, with every second or third refresh bringing the old one to the front. I'm afraid to bring it up in the forums. If it is an April Fools thing, I would wonder of the effect on search results for buyers (not necessarily for me, I'm a low producer, but for big sellers).
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No, it's not an April Fool's prank. I can't imagine them crippling their own sales and turning off customers just for a few laughs. My guess is they are just testing some things out. I see my sort is already back to "normal" again.
Sales have been much better there since mid winter. I'm really looking forward to full implementation of the new best match idea. Their treatment of keyword relevance based on searches converted into purchases is absolutely brilliant. Other agencies should consider the same.
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iStock seems a tough nut to crack. Most of my images tend to get ignored, but the few that do take off put up huge numbers.
... Is the right answer.
Due to all the exclusive contributors (90%+ of the Top 100 are exclusive if I remember) the standards at IS are exremely high. You need to be producing images that are amongst the best in their subject for them to be successful ... but if you do then the rewards can be very worthwhile.
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to the OP, hi there - sorry for confusion, changed my username yesterday....I was yecatsdoherty.
I wonder why you opened a new account instead of just changing the username for the other one? You don't have to answer... just curious.
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I didn't realize I could change my username like that.....and my membership was up for renewal and I was not renewing premium membership. I'm just basic now.
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Let's be honest, IStock is barely and I mean barely holding on to the #1 slot for microstock sites. They are so desperate, have you seen their new advertising campaign, they are literally grasping at straws. They are throwing their garbage ads everywhere, even my Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) forums, Sherdog.net, and god knows everywhere else, it's sad really...... That's why their CEO quit, he knows they can't hold ground to the better sites (ie. Fotolia, ShutterStock, Dreamstime, etc.). The only chance you have there is to be an early contributor (Lise Gagne.. et all). Take it from my, their over inflated prices will be their downfall... watch and see.........
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Itīs same for me Fred. Started may08 at SS. No I have almost 400 pics and less dl:s than the first couple months. It seems they push the search engine for newbies. Istock is definitly coming slowly. $/dl is much better.
Wow! Your portfolio is great and where I thought I should be heading. Surprised you have any problems selling anywhere.
c h e e r s
fred
sorry for the OT, but that avatar picture of yours (sunrise and two acrobates on the top of the church with the fog covering the background) is one of the most iconic images I've ever seen! Bravo!
Thank you much :) I do what I can... I feel that people-shots are the "secret", wich I donīt have much of unfortunately. Also, Iīm a little young in this business as well, since pictures need to mature a bit in searches it seems. time will tell.
Your stuff is truly one of a kind!! vivid colors, depth and composition. Letīs hold our thumbs for the future ;)
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Let's be honest, IStock is barely and I mean barely holding on to the #1 slot for microstock sites. They are so desperate, have you seen their new advertising campaign, they are literally grasping at straws. They are throwing their garbage ads everywhere, even my Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) forums, Sherdog.net, and god knows everywhere else, it's sad really...... That's why their CEO quit, he knows they can't hold ground to the better sites (ie. Fotolia, ShutterStock, Dreamstime, etc.). The only chance you have there is to be an early contributor (Lise Gagne.. et all). Take it from my, their over inflated prices will be their downfall... watch and see.........
If you look at www.istockcharts.de you will find that your prediction of their demise is to say the least premature. Also many contributors here both exclusive and non exclusive have reported an uptick in sales over the last month at IS.
And Bruce wanting to do something different is not an indication that the writing is on the wall.
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Let's be honest, IStock is barely and I mean barely holding on to the #1 slot for microstock sites. They are so desperate, have you seen their new advertising campaign, they are literally grasping at straws. They are throwing their garbage ads everywhere, even my Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) forums, Sherdog.net, and god knows everywhere else, it's sad really...... That's why their CEO quit, he knows they can't hold ground to the better sites (ie. Fotolia, ShutterStock, Dreamstime, etc.). The only chance you have there is to be an early contributor (Lise Gagne.. et all). Take it from my, their over inflated prices will be their downfall... watch and see.........
Hardly.
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Take it from my, their over inflated prices will be their downfall... watch and see.........
Over inflated? This is microstock we are talking about. Given the high quality images many are producing, I'd say iStock images are still underpriced relative to their worth. At least they are pushing prices in the right direction, unlike some competitors.
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Let's be honest, IStock is barely and I mean barely holding on to the #1 slot for microstock sites. They are so desperate, have you seen their new advertising campaign, they are literally grasping at straws. They are throwing their garbage ads everywhere, even my Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) forums, Sherdog.net, and god knows everywhere else, it's sad really...... That's why their CEO quit, he knows they can't hold ground to the better sites (ie. Fotolia, ShutterStock, Dreamstime, etc.). The only chance you have there is to be an early contributor (Lise Gagne.. et all). Take it from my, their over inflated prices will be their downfall... watch and see.........
I started in 2007, well after Lise Gagne and I'm soon to hit gold. iStock has been a great income earner for me, though sales slowed between October and Feb, things have been picking up. iStock has continued to make decisions that keep them ahead of the game, and they continue to evolve. iStock will be around for a very long time, your statement is basically speculative, inaccurate and insubstantial.
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I'm not sure if this is part of the April Fools thing (someone in a forum post alluded to that). But it certainly seems to be switching around. A sort by best match this morning brought my oldest file to the front -- and a refresh brings it to something else -- switch to "by age" and it resorts correctly -- but every switch to best match or a refresh is changing it back and forth, with every second or third refresh bringing the old one to the front. I'm afraid to bring it up in the forums. If it is an April Fools thing, I would wonder of the effect on search results for buyers (not necessarily for me, I'm a low producer, but for big sellers).
I am seeing the same thing. First it shows files from 2007... refresh and it goes back to normal... refresh again and back to 2007?!? It's bizarre.
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The only chance you have there is to be an early contributor (Lise Gagne.. et all). Take it from my, their over inflated prices will be their downfall... watch and see.........
I started in 2007, well after Lise Gagne and I'm soon to hit gold. iStock has been a great income earner for me, though sales slowed between October and Feb, things have been picking up. iStock has continued to make decisions that keep them ahead of the game, and they continue to evolve. iStock will be around for a very long time, your statement is basically speculative, inaccurate and insubstantial.
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I agree with Stacey. People were saying that about being too late to the party back in 2005 when I started.
I guess the people who listened to the negativity have not done well, but the ones who ignored it and worked hard have seen it pay off. That will hold true across most aspects of life IMO.
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I agree with Stacey. People were saying that about being too late to the party back in 2005 when I started.
I guess the people who listened to the negativity have not done well, but the ones who ignored it and worked hard have seen it pay off. That will hold true across most aspects of life IMO.
yes, exactly