MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Newbie Discussion => Topic started by: salaahkhayr on June 10, 2014, 06:01
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WHICH SITES WOULD YOU ADVICE A NEWBIE TO SUBMIT TO?
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The poll results on the right are always a great indication of where it is worth uploading to. Start at the top and work your way down. Also depends whether you are concerned with getting a fair cut of each sale or not.
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in fact my question is also based on that poll results....iv heard so much about people declining fotolia and istock! and those two are on the top four, thing i dont understand much...what would you peeps advice??
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in fact my question is also based on that poll results....iv heard so much about people declining fotolia and istock! and those two are on the top four, thing i dont understand much...what would you peeps advice??
They still sell well compared to most other sites, but the stem of the complaints is how badly they treat contributors.
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
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It depends what your individual portfolio is, and what particular way they treat contributors you find unacceptable.
Everyone's port is different; everyone's tolerance / point of unacceptability is different.
Easier to make the moral choice now, before you start (a LOT of reading to do); thereafter you just have to see how your portfolio fares on the agencies you choose. What works for others may not work for your port, and vice versa.
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If you're looking for extra cash to cure Gear Acquisition Syndrome just go for shutterstock and 123rd. If you're looking to make a living. Well.. good luck with that.
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Since you're an illustrator, the poll on the right doesn't apply. For the most part, anyway. Shutterstock is a top site no matter what your portfolio looks like. For me, Fotolia was never a top-tier site. Middle tier at best, and low in that tier really. Given the current state of things there, I wouldn't bother with them. I actually deleted half of my portfolio.
Veer is surprisingly decent for illustrations. GL used to be, but not so much lately. Still worth a try, though. They pay a fair commission, so they're worth supporting.
Clipartof is a site that I can't get into myself but wish I could. I've heard it's a pretty good earner.
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
are you leaving?
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
That's the advice I was thinking.
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Don't get into microstock.
Exactly, this train has gone long time ago.
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
Sad answer. If it's so bad, why are you still uploading?
Don't listen to these stupid advices.
I say focus on SS and IS which are the ones that really bring in the money.
And avoid DP, they are scammers.
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don't get into micro, well i too don't agree much with this statement. what i do agree is every ms sites is not the same. some are meant to waste time( you all know it better) and some are good revenue sources. i know people making over $5ooo monthly only through MS. i thnk for each of us its not the same.
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
Sad answer. If it's so bad, why are you still uploading?
Don't listen to these stupid advices.
I say focus on SS and IS which are the ones that really bring in the money.
And avoid DP, they are scammers.
I know this wasn't directed at me, but for the most part I'm not. At least not at the major sites. I recently rejoined some sites I previously left and the results at most of them were poor in comparison to the old days. And that was with a large batch of already completed images. I can't even imagine starting entirely from scratch today. I'd probably lose interest quickly and find something else.
Unless you find some new hidden gem, you probably aren't going to have success. I'm sorry if that is a pessimistic view, but I think it is a reality that most new contributors will face. Normally, I'm a glass half full kind of guy, and I wish new contributors the best. That said, I think they should prepare for the worst.
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I guess it all depends on where are your $$ expectations.
With U$ 500 / month people can live very well in most of the world.
I started 3 months ago, I set my goal and know I will reach it within one year.
After that is bonus because I have low expenses.
Well if you live in Norway or Australia, then yes don't get into microstock.
If you live in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa or Asia there's a good chance of success.
I could definitely make more with a regular job, but I choose freedom over money.
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1. Shutterstock
2. Shutterstock
3. Shuttererstock
4. Shutterstock
5. shutterstock
6. Shutterstock
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1. istock
2. shutterstock
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1. istock
For new files?
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You'll do nothing wrong if you start with top 6 based on poll results. You can later try adding other agencies to see how they work for you. In my case, top 6 agencies generate 89% of income. As for a newbie, focus on Shutterstock, it is the absolute No.1
As you browse this forum, you'll see that some agencies, although profitable, are not very popular among us, contributors. It is your decision if you want to support them or not. But if you have only some tens/hundreds of images you are starting with, I wouldn't worry about it too much yet, it'll come to you as time goes. Good luck :)
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"Sad answer. If it's so bad, why are you still uploading?"
I didn't suggest that I should stop. I was telling the OP not to start. I know enough about how things work to get by right now, thanks to experience.
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This is just my opinion. But I think these are the only ones where you can build up a regular payout in a reasonable amount of time.
Shutterstock
Dreamstime
Fotolia
Bigstock
123RF
Istock
Canstock
Deposit Photos
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I guess it all depends on where are your $$ expectations.
With U$ 500 / month people can live very well in most of the world.
Most of the world. Sorry thats very far from the truth. You cant live of 500$ in North America, Europe, parts of Russia, Australia, parts of the Middle East and parts of China and Japan. So leaves you with South America and Africa.
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I guess it all depends on where are your $$ expectations.
With U$ 500 / month people can live very well in most of the world.
Most of the world. Sorry thats very far from the truth. You cant live of 500$ in North America, Europe, parts of Russia, Australia, parts of the Middle East and parts of China and Japan. So leaves you with South America and Africa.
Yeah, I doubt $500 a month would get you very far in any place that has modern plumbing. So that probably leaves out a lot of South America, too.
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I guess it all depends on where are your $$ expectations.
With U$ 500 / month people can live very well in most of the world.
Most of the world. Sorry thats very far from the truth. You cant live of 500$ in North America, Europe, parts of Russia, Australia, parts of the Middle East and parts of China and Japan. So leaves you with South America and Africa.
And swathes of Asia.
OTOH, whether sales in these areas are buoyant, I couldn't say, which might be relevant if local content is what you plan to offer.
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Wow Japan is one country in Asia, add Singapure so 2. What about the other 45?
Do you have any idea of the average salary in China?
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
ditto
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I guess it all depends on where are your $$ expectations.
Yeah if you don't expect or need a ton, then there are still possibilities. Most of the market seems to be tenuously held together by the notion that SS will always be a great earner. I see a lot of cracks in that theory, but that's probably the place to start for any new contributor.
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Yeah if you don't expect or need a ton, then there are still possibilities. Most of the market seems to be tenuously held together by the notion that SS will always be a great earner. I see a lot of cracks in that theory, but that's probably the place to start for any new contributor.
There are a lot of cracks in that theory and there is also very little reason for any contributor to actually want that. Shutterstock has a lot to like in terms of sales volume. But that volume comes at a steep price to us. The percentages that Shutterstock pays out are nothing to be really happy about.
As a starting point, sure, Shutterstock is a must-have agency. But down the road? Let's just say I feel better seeing the percentage of my monthly income coming from SS dropping as opposed to rising.
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Let's just say I feel better seeing the percentage of my monthly income coming from SS dropping as opposed to rising.
I think that is a healthy goal.
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With U$ 500 / month people can live very well in most of the world.
Well if you live in Norway or Australia, then yes don't get into microstock.
If you live in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa or Asia there's a good chance of success.
I could definitely make more with a regular job, but I choose freedom over money.
You know nothing...
With $500/month you would NOT live well in Latin America. You would be very poor!
I started 3 months ago, I set my goal and know I will reach it within one year.
After that is bonus because I have low expenses.
Hope your goals are just getting some pocket money from time to time (if you are lucky).
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"You know nothing...
With $500/month you would NOT live well in Latin America. You would be very poor!"
Luckily for you, you seem to not have the notions of what it means to live very poor...
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"You know nothing...
With $500/month you would NOT live well in Latin America. You would be very poor!"
Luckily for you, you seem to not have the notions of what it means to live very poor...
Well, come to my country and try to live with $500 a month. You'll soon realize how poor you are.
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Well, come to my country and try to live with $500 a month. You'll soon realize how poor you are.
That sounds like a tourism board slogan. ;)
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Shutterstock best for newbies without doubt. So according to your experience there won't be any progress in the near future? Will microstock be a 'past' business soon?
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
Are you scared by competitors?
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"Don't get into microstock."
I don't understand this answer from the part of people working with microstocks, and people agreeing with it.
Just hypocrisy…
If the microstock world does not satisfy your expectations what are you doing here??
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(http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month-1.jpg)
"The white areas are a rough approximations of the 130 countries where you can live for under 500 US Dollars per month."
http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month.php (http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month.php)
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
are you leaving?
kind of as his major efforts go in to Stocksy AFAIK nowadays, and Stocksy is by no means microstock neither prices, style or ethical wise! Actually I do think Stocksy is pretty much the opposite of microstock!
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
Are you scared by competitors?
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"Don't get into microstock."
I don't understand this answer from the part of people working with microstocks, and people agreeing with it.
Just hypocrisy…
If the microstock world does not satisfy your expectations what are you doing here??
microstock made the very man who would have never qualified for macro stock once upon a time.
sounding more and more like yuri every day.
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([url]http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month-1.jpg[/url])
"The white areas are a rough approximations of the 130 countries where you can live for under 500 US Dollars per month."
[url]http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month.php[/url] ([url]http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month.php[/url])
i live in one of those countries and i'd sure like to know how you live on $500 or less. okay, maybe some of us need electricity and running water.
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You know nothing...
With $500/month you would NOT live well in Latin America. You would be very poor!
I'm from South America and now living in Europe, and spent the last 4 years on long term travel around 5 continents. But apparently you know better... fine by me.
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([url]http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month-1.jpg[/url])
"The white areas are a rough approximations of the 130 countries where you can live for under 500 US Dollars per month."
[url]http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month.php[/url] ([url]http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month.php[/url])
i live in one of those countries and i'd sure like to know how you live on $500 or less. okay, maybe some of us need electricity and running water.
yeah, I think it depends how you want to live or can afford, even in the UK you can find a room for 300 pounds (all bills included) if you don't mind living with 3 or 4 persons, even if you want to live alone you can still find places for that same price but then you have council, tv license and other bills, I am not talking of London of course (but places not far away, like 1h)
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I don't see anything at all unusual about someone advising another not to go into the job they're in.
I've heard if often for all sorts of jobs and careers.
True, usually it's followed up by all the frustrations of that particular job, as in "Don't do X unless you ...", but they have all been well-rehearsed on msg already.
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([url]http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month-1.jpg[/url])
"The white areas are a rough approximations of the 130 countries where you can live for under 500 US Dollars per month."
[url]http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month.php[/url] ([url]http://www.hobotraveler.com/budgets/list-of-countries-where-you-can-live-for-500-dollars-per-month.php[/url])
i live in one of those countries and i'd sure like to know how you live on $500 or less. okay, maybe some of us need electricity and running water.
yeah, I think it depends how you want to live or can afford, even in the UK you can find a room for 300 pounds (all bills included) if you don't mind living with 3 or 4 persons, even if you want to live alone you can still find places for that same price but then you have council, tv license and other bills, I am not talking of London of course (but places not far away, like 1h)
As I live in one of these countries what I can say is that if you are a middle class native you can probably live for less than $500.
But if you are a middle class foreigner, American, European, Japanese or Australian with different habits and different standards of life you will need probably more that what you will need in your country of origin.
Simple examples: a similar flat to one that I pay 500 € a month in Italy here will cost around 1000 - 1500 €. For the food it is the same thing, if you eat "their" food you will not spend a lot, but if you want to eat "your" food you will spend a fortune… Here I pay the same bottle of wine 4 times more than in EU…
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
Are you scared by competitors?
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"Don't get into microstock."
I don't understand this answer from the part of people working with microstocks, and people agreeing with it.
Just hypocrisy…
If the microstock world does not satisfy your expectations what are you doing here??
microstock made the very man who would have never qualified for macro stock once upon a time.
sounding more and more like yuri every day.
Lol. I don't care if he starts if is qualified or what his reason is. And it certainly isn't about competition - he'd be a drop in the bucket. Unless he wants to be full in and totally dedicated, I don't know why anyone would want to start from zero. There's too much frustration in all aspects, as evidenced here, and the return isn't worthy the trouble.
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People from Europe or the USA always tend to think that in underdeveloped countries life is cheaper. That may be true maybe for some zones of Asia.
But in fact in Latin america or eastern Europe you can not live of 500 $. Especially in South america everything costs more and oftenly twice as much as in the USA (which is the cheapest country for food and electronics IMHO). Missing infrastructure, low quality, high customs fees for anything which gets importet from other countries drives cost of living high. Healthcare is cheaper than in the US though (which is not a difficult task to achieve).
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"what would you peeps advice??"
Don't get into microstock.
Are you scared by competitors?
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"Don't get into microstock."
I don't understand this answer from the part of people working with microstocks, and people agreeing with it.
Just hypocrisy…
If the microstock world does not satisfy your expectations what are you doing here??
microstock made the very man who would have never qualified for macro stock once upon a time.
sounding more and more like yuri every day.
Lol. I don't care if he starts if is qualified or what his reason is. And it certainly isn't about competition - he'd be a drop in the bucket. Unless he wants to be full in and totally dedicated, I don't know why anyone would want to start from zero. There's too much frustration in all aspects, as evidenced here, and the return isn't worthy the trouble.
and you started at the top? i for one won't kneel and worship you.
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"and you started at the top? i for one won't kneel and worship you."
Um, ok? You certainly know that 04-08 was a totally different atmosphere in micro than today, where all we do is discover new hidden programs and discuss falling sales and royalties.
You go ahead and mentor him though.
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My hunch is that things are going to potentially be more interesting and rewarding for people who forget trying to shoot for what they think might sell as microstock and get back into thinking about why they got into photography in the first place.
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I got into it for the money, ha :)
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I got into it for the money, ha :)
One of the things which sets Stocksy apart as a collection is that much of the content doesn't look like stock.
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In india you would be very poor if you had USD 500 a month. You'd want to die if you had a family. Two old folks can live on that much though. If you don't pay rent and eat only flat bread and pulses that you cook. If you fall sick, relatives and children would take care. They dont want you to die, not really :). Indians are sentimental that way ! I am aware that the govt poverty line is much much lower. Don't believe them, all lies and fabrication. They just want the votes BTW, those of you who think indian salaries are low, lemme tell you wages of indian programmers are quite a bit higher than the US average salary. I know both. I have lived and worked both in usa and india
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
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don't get into micro, well i too don't agree much with this statement. what i do agree is every ms sites is not the same. some are meant to waste time( you all know it better) and some are good revenue sources. i know people making over $5ooo monthly only through MS. i thnk for each of us its not the same.
You mention knowing people who make over $5000.00 a month off MS. I think you need to ask them where they upload to and what their opinions are on the sites. You also need to ask when they got into microstock because the ones who got in early have the larger ports and many are in the top search results which results in more money. A lot of new content gets lost in the searches because of this and the over saturation of images.
A lot of newbies wanting to get into this business don't understand it isn't like it use to be. It is over saturated with images and unless you find a niche these days...it would be hard to earn big money. It all depends on rather you want this income to be hobby income or make a living off it.
Good luck with what you decide to do.
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If you have talent and are dedicated, if you are smart, and if you have pacience, it is possible.
work, strategies, time.
I think this is not for everyone.
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And remember that any agency, no matter how good it seems right now, might turn round and kick you in the goolies next week, next month, next year.
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"and you started at the top? i for one won't kneel and worship you."
Um, ok? You certainly know that 04-08 was a totally different atmosphere in micro than today, where all we do is discover new hidden programs and discuss falling sales and royalties.
You go ahead and mentor him though.
yes the sudden devaluation of imagery is over now (what you call a gold rush i imagine), and it's the new accepted price of images. i personally rejected the micros till 08 cause i would have never imagined the new reality we are in now, selling work for a pittance. never saw that one coming. mentor or not sean, you started at the bottom just like we all did, the only difference is that some of us actually had to know what we were doing to get in, unlike your day of just owning a camera made it possible. just sayin. anyway, glad you have always been a legend and started at the top. if you want, i can lend you a ladder to get over yourself.
"I don't know why anyone would want to start from zero"
with all due respect, starting your career in the micro world was pretty much starting from zero cause it most likely meant you did not have the skills to get accepted in any of the many macro agencies at the time. - this is where you can use the closed door clause if it makes you feel better.
please, don't forget where you started and your humble beginnings mate and the fact that without the acceptance of everyone with a camera into the micro world and submitting three silly photos that automatically made you a pro and a few very very stupid multiple choice questions.
you really crack me up man.
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I think you're reading faaaar too much into what I'm saying, but I'm on my phone so I don't feel like typing more to try and clear it up.
Bon soir!
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with all due respect, starting your career in the micro world was pretty much starting from zero cause it most likely meant you did not have the skills to get accepted in any of the many macro agencies at the time. - this is where you can use the closed door clause if it makes you feel better.
I can't speak for photos, but it didn't really seem like macro was doing what I do. So, I saw micro as a more relatable model. Besides, does it really matter where you started or how you got there?
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I think you're reading faaaar too much into what I'm saying, but I'm on my phone so I don't feel like typing more to try and clear it up.
Bon soir!
and a very good bon soir to you too
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Shutterstock and iStock, in that order.
After you get accepted to the two top sites, then you might want to spend time on the next ones down the list. If you can get accepted and active on those two, you can work for any of the rest at your choosing.
If you start at the bottom and the easy review places that don't pay back for your work, you may get a false impression of the standards needed for success.
Accepted images, doesn't equal income. Aim high!
WHICH SITES WOULD YOU ADVICE A NEWBIE TO SUBMIT TO?
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1. istock
For new files?
started 2months ago with non-exclusiv. So yes, new images at istock works great for me.
Similar to SS with less images (15% rejected at IS).
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I´m also a newbie and tried out several agencies now. My topic is currently only landscape and architecture. Income is monthly ~ 50 bucks with that. And here are my Top 6...
1. Shutterstock
2. iStock
3. dreamstime
4. depositphotos
5. 123rf
6. Fotolia
It´s very similar to the Microstock Poll Results on the right side here.
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I´m also a newbie and tried out several agencies now. My topic is currently only landscape and architecture. Income is monthly ~ 50 bucks with that. And here are my Top 6...
1. Shutterstock
2. iStock
3. dreamstime
4. depositphotos
5. 123rf
6. Fotolia
can you link me to your shutterstock portfolio
It´s very similar to the Microstock Poll Results on the right side here.