I don't think anyone is suggesting a raise in prices. Any raise should come from the agencies, not the buyers end of things. Because we all know that there is still room there for contributors to get more. 20%, 30%, even 50% of each sale is low. I can't help mentioning the Apple App Store example again, where developers get 70% of each sale.

That said, I don't expect to ever see a raise in contributor royalties. I just don't think any of these companies care if it's impossible for any of us to have a long-term career in this business. I can't do this 10 years from now if I can't grow my income to keep up with increasing costs of living. But do any of these companies care about that? So I have to drop out of microstock in the next five to ten years. Big deal. Why should they care?

That's the real problem. Not whether or not anyone deserves a raise or whether these companies can afford it (they all can, it's a fact). The real problem is that these companies have zero incentive to helping us make this a sustainable (sorry to use that word) business for contributors.

A raise will never happen, that's just how it is. So we can either struggle to keep up by constantly cranking out more content faster, or expect to be doing something else to make a living in the next several years.

August will pick up at the end as folks get back from their summer vacations than Sep, Oct, Nov and Dec simply ROCK! 

Mine got reviewed faster than expected and rejected faster than expected. Sure, maybe some deserved it, but isolated objects with almost no blank space around them rejected for composition? Silhouettes rejected for lighting? I wonder if this is courtesy of some new software?

It is a shame because it almost seemed like new images might be selling again.

Thanks for your reply. I wrote them again. Let's see 

BTW, what is the type of your batch content? photos, vectors... etc?

Hey CGartist!

I use DeepMeta (http://www.deepmeta.com/) for my vector uploads on iStockPhoto. It's not perfect, but it makes things a lot easier as I'm able to copy descriptions and keywords, save work-in-progress stuff and much more.

It's not very well optimized for vector uploads though. (in fact, you'll notice that it says that it does NOT support vector uploads) As such, I have to upload everything via the usual route first, and then edit their information via DeepMeta. I then complete the submission via the iStock website, and then re-update the keywords/descriptions. It's a little cumbersome, but it's better than nothing... especially when you're uploading 20-30 vectors at one shot -- every little bit of help counts!

Hope this helps!

3D Software + X amount of machines is the simple answer.

I use 3DS Max and Vray myself. I could network render with it as the licenses provide up to 1000 networked machines, but I use a render farm instead and charge it to the client.

As for the spec of the network machines obviously the more power the better, but I'd research the exact details.

What is your current set-up?