No offense friend, but your posts are getting a bit spammy. It's time to reign it in a bit and find other channels to market your book.

Quote from: Minsc on June 29, 2017, 15:32

No offense friend, but your posts are getting a bit spammy. It's time to reign it in a bit and find other channels to market your book.

He means well. His intent isn't to take our hard earned dollars. He actually listen to our suggestions which is more that I can say about the folks that own the micro-stock companies 

Are they giving away the books for free? I thought they were for sale. Seems to me they are shamelessly using this forum to do exactly that. 

Same to you! Happy fourth of July! 

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I understand, but why anyone would pay money for a recipe for inaction? I don't have to pay to learn to do nothing. I can do nothing all by myself, without a guru's advice. If I make an effort it is because I want something good out of it.

If you did not succeed in this particular venue, that's fine, it's life, but do you think trying to sell a book on "how to fail to be an actor, scientist, plumber, international spy etc" will work? Do you see many of those around? Perhaps people would like to read about a unique expertise rather than trying to start something they cannot finish because they only learn that they will fail?

You make some valid points. I've certainly approached drafting this guide in a rather unconventional way, but in a thought-provoking and accurate manner, nevertheless. So much so that we're having an interesting discussion on what it means to "fail" or "succeed". 

If the aim is to be "brutally honest", I cannot sugarcoat, how easy it would be to make money from Microstock to try to get more book-sales, because everybody here knows how tough this industry is - it would be a "brutally dishonest guide" and i'm sure there's many of those out there.

I don't know whether i'm "failing" or "succeeding" at this game but all I know is that I quite enjoy it and would like to pass on my knowledge to others. I'm by no means a guru, just a travel photojournalist. In any case, I don't believe in "failure", as in life we must learn from our mistakes and try to improve with every minute. It's more like feedback than anything. To receive these feedback to improve, we must try try try try and try - the opposite of inaction. Oh and try some more. 
 
I don't want to give too much away as I'm hoping enough people will want to read it but here's the opening paragraph from Chapter 12 "Getting . Out of Microstock":

It may seem strange in a comprehensive guide to how to be successful at Microstock to end with a chapter on how to get . out of it, but please hear me out! This chapter is aimed at both those more experienced contributors and those just starting out, since both will face similar dilemmas, as I will outline in this chapter.I started in Microstock because my perception at the time was that it was the most practical and low-cost way to monetise my images. During the past four years, I have painstakingly put in the time and effort to keep learning how to make my images stand out from the herd. My experience of submitting to various Agencies has given me an education in the technical and commercial/editorial aspects of photography simply by participating in those markets....

I just got started in stock photography 2.5 months ago.  At my onset, I had never wanted to take photographs or do anything artistic.  My entire goal was to learn a new hobby, enjoy it, and learn to make money taking pictures.  I am a PhD in engineering and very analytical, so I know the value of a good reference book.  I was looking for both references to improve my workflow, general approach to the industry, and resources to learn about taking better photos.  I read your entire book, enjoyed it very much, and have found the advice to be helpful in many ways as a newbie.   In particular, I found much of the advice helpful in altering/refining my approach to the industry and other references more helpful for technical aspects of taking pictures.  Having never taking a picture to sell, I have already broke even on the cost of your book.  In summary, I know writing books sucks, but they can be wonderful resources for others new to an area and I appreciated your book as a newbie.

My entire goal was to learn a new hobby, enjoy it, and learn to make money taking pictures.