Firstly, it's a learning process, that's for sure!
Getting to focus your eye on what "Stock "is and what is required.
Each time thinking as you shoot - "This can sell as" - and so on.

You get knocked around by rejections and have to pull yourself up again many times, but as your portfolios grow, along with sales, so will your own confidence.
Yes! It is very different from Art photography and it's almost like having a switch that you have to switch on and off when you move between the two.

As time goes by you will no doubt get into it, and will be glad of the extra income and the satisfaction of people actually buying your work regularly.

Best of luck to you!

How about the site's Forum David?
When do you think it will be up and running?

I think for us contributors it would be good if sites limited the number of contributors -  but that is unlikely to happen as agencies are always looking out for new fresh material.
You see it's always beneficial to take on new people, even if they only uploaded a few images and never returned again.
Keeping thousands of artists doesn't seem to cost them any extra -that's the way it seems anyway!

I think a fairer way would be along the lines of having contributors to earn their " Tour Card" you could say, by how they perform over a year to retain their membership. Something like that - but will you ever see?

Quote from: Achilles on July 08, 2009, 14:18
@gostwick: yes, there is an element of luck that relates to the game and to the image download, only at a certain extent. This is why I said that the relevancy comes after playing many games. 72-78% is a significant difference when someone has hundreds of games played. Nevertheless, there are hundreds of users below 60% so the numbers really depend on each user's knowledge. But it is a learning process.

And to further answer some of the critiques above, we're trying our best at creative destruction (thank you Joseph Schumpeter). It's the secret ingredient of microstock and Dreamstime was always innovative. Some features are better, some are less. It's sad to see good intentions qualified as a waste of time. Behind all these, like them or not, there is work and sweat, so if you dislike them, simply move on instead of throwing rocks.

Yes! the game and the intentions are good - but I fail to see why it is necessary for everyone's rank to be public and that there should also be an option whether to have it displayed or not.

Nice update-  but I wish it would translate into sales for me!

Remaining steady for me - touch wood!
But I could do with a serious boost at BigStock.

DT remains consistent for me.
I never think about views - why bother! It's sales that count. Anyway, if your images are well keyworded they will look after themselves.

Quote from: disorderly on July 08, 2009, 02:10
Still uploading, and still getting sales.  I expect that to change when the partner program ends, at which point I'll decide if the minimal effort to upload and submit is no longer worth it.

Same here - Still uploading and getting regualr sales - 6 today in all ( 1 jupiter,the rest StockXpert)
Can't complain!

How many real "star" images have you got on Microstock?
I mean, images that continue to sell regualrly and far outshine others in your folio.

For me - I can say 2 and I think I have one in the making.

Quote from: nosaya on July 07, 2009, 23:40
It will certainly get your files more views.
Sales on the other hand? Not so much.

But will these views improve your search position?

For those who have donated free images to sites - have you thought it to be beneficial  to your sales or a negative move by giving away your work for free.
Let's have you vote!

Quote from: RT on July 07, 2009, 23:21
For some people it helps - it helps to take their mind off the desperation to sell something.

Most likely they believe in the extra exposure of their work, but are buyers watching the forums?

Does it help in any way, do you think. Making posts on forums such as "Show us your newest", "your latest download", "best selling image" etc.

So many seem to submit to these threads. Just wondering of your opinion  - if the is a plus or even minus to contributing to such threads.

Would you go along with "Active Forum = Active Sales" when it comes to Microstock sites, meaning if the site's forum is active it means more downloads for the contributor.
From my observations around, it looks that way anyway!

I find SS good, particularly if you have a landmark in landscapes.

I just keep going and probably find more opportunities in Summer as I shoot only in natural light.

Albumo gets the vote!

Primarily I use Sandisk, but have also used Kingston and Toshiba.

Quote from: davidm on July 04, 2009, 16:00

Quote from: takestock on July 04, 2009, 12:57
I believe also that keeping your members regularly informed will sustain interest and that they will continue to upload.

Sure, we'll do our best trying to keep you informed.

Here is the current status:

- we see a very nice stream of uploads, much larger than we expected for the first week. That's so great, thank you guys!

- we are working on making the uploads easier. Soon: PSM uploads and acceptance of DVDs, like it was proposed in this thread and by other contributors who send us emails about that. In fact, since the delivery of DVD will take a few days you are welcome to send them right away. Mail them to our postal address. FTP uploads will be implemented a bit later

- categories: we plan experimenting with shrinking them down to primary categories only, plus auto-suggestion of the first category

- 'advanced search' will be available soon in its initial version. If you have any specific suggestion for the advanced search functionality we'll be happy to hear. More stuff is on its way

- marketing, sales & business development: we are very active in this field and we have a nice marketing plan & many ideas how to do the things right. Obviously, none of them I can share in a public forum, even if I would love to hear your feedback. When the time comes you will see the things moving. We do not plan sitting for 2 years in the office waiting for the buyers, like some others micros did in the past. We are full of energy and we know exactly what we want, and how to get there.

- openness, information and service: we love to be in the direct contact with our members, listening to you, learning from you and giving you any help you might need. People who work with ProStockMaster know that we typically react very fast to any customer's inquiry and this is an important part of Pixamba customers service policy.  For any matter, it's easy to reach me directly by email, Skype or phone, and it always will stay this way.  
@cevapici
- there is no such thing like 'taken market', particularly when we are speaking about just a 5-6 years old microstock industry.

Thanks for the quick response David!

Quote from: tan510jomast on July 03, 2009, 23:06
Sales are down 4 folds, except for Fotolia.
Guinness intake is up 4 folds... no exceptions.
Stock Images production is out of the question for now , except for Fotolia and maybe Veer Marketplace.
Summer's here in Halifax, and I don' t intend to do anything but get out and enjoy the heat and good looking girls in shorts, ha!ha!...

So you won't be shooting the scenery -just enjoying it!

Hi David and all at Pixamba.
I do realise that you are busy getting the site up and running, but it would be nice, specially for those who have signed up to keep us informed of developments as we go along.
It would be good to hear when the forum will be open,maybe a few words about membership, sales, sales strategy etc.
So many other sites have opened up, got submissions and just left contributors hanging - checking in occasionally to find "zero" sales and eventually closing their account.

I believe also that keeping your members regularly informed will sustain interest and that they will continue to upload.

Gawd! it's a big place now!
You could easily get lost in here - roll on MSG!

Quote from: madelaide on July 03, 2009, 22:06

Quote from: lclark on July 03, 2009, 16:47
I like the game but I think they shouldn't mix illustrations with photos. I always pick the photo for some reason.

Also they should not mix images of very different subjects.  Once I was presented a smiling-business-people photo x an excellent clean glass-window building façade.  I picked the smiling-business-people, but I am not sure that this particular image would necessarily do better than the other.  It's easy when you have two images of people, one with lighting problems and the other perfectly lit.

Tell me Madelaide - and you have been around for some time in stock, what is the purpose of this?
I know it can be educational and may help submitters realise what type of image sells, but why has it to appear on everyone's profile,blogs etc.

Quote from: Whitechild on July 03, 2009, 11:14
Interesting game. I'm always in 73%-75%. I already see the selling potential pattern:

1. Vectors with beautiful people
2. Vectors of banners, borders and backgrounds
3. Beautiful people doing something
4. Beautiful people just posing
5. Isolated shots
6. Interiors
7. Exteriors

With some subcategories of course.
I also think DT should leave us an option to make our rank invisible, or to simply erase it, and start again if we want to.

Agreed! There should be an option if contributors want it visible or not.
The thing is - is it fickle, or does it have some bearing on the contributor within the site?

I'm not sure also why they want to make your rank public - as they say it is only a game and that you are "guessing" the results!