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Smart move Shutterstock, much better than the google deal!

Professionals deal with professionals 

My motto is: if I don't try, I will never know.

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Only time will tell if it's going to work out or not.

+1000

Exactly my take. IMHO there's a much better chance to succeed with Symbiostock then there is with any other self-hosting option out there.

One part of my port is more or less all over the micros. How would I justify an e.g. 5 times higher price on my own site if a buyers finds out and sends me a nasty e-mail? So, I feel my Symbiostock site pricing needs to be in line with what the micros are charging. IMHO Leo's "default" price setting of the Symbiostock theme is right at that spot.

I kept the other part of my port off the micros. I am glad now that I can experiment on ImagoBorealis how that exclusive content will be doing in comparison. Original size price range for this "premium collection" is between $80 and $96 (for a RF type license).

I had one sale so far. It was an exclusive premium collection photo for $40 at 1600px medium size. I like to take this as encouragement to expand my premium collection, although I know that 1 sale is hardly a statistically reliable base to build on.

For me most work after a shooting is PS cleanup, keywording, titles, descriptions etc. When that work is done I think it would be foolish not to upload/submit even to a very low earner as long as submitting to a particular site doesn't take too much time. Then, of course, you might want to keep certain photos from the micros and sell them exclusively on your own (Symbiostock) site or RM through Alamy/macros for strategic reasons. But that's a whole different story...

Quote from: Anita Potter on August 14, 2013, 14:53

I've gotten 20 out of 550 done.  They're all yellow and I'm okay with that.  None of them will probably go green I just can't get that wordy.
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I guess we just keep plugging away

If it's any comfort, Anita, I'm plugging away on the same thing. It gets easier, but since I have a lot of variations on a theme (20+ red-winged or yellow-headed blackbirds in the exact same marsh, for example), it takes a lot of work to come up with individual titles and not repeat all the text verbatim. Forces creativity, which isn't all bad. Just takes time.

Good luck!

+ 1
That's a good way to look at it!

This has been discussed before. I think there is general agreement that a unified database for network access doesn't really fit the spirit of Symbiostock unless some hub site volunteers to maintain such a database. However, the problem of multiple registrations for buyers is recognized. I am not sure, though, if Leo is working on a cookie based system that doesn't need registration at all for the premium plugin or if that's something for later down the road.

In any case, I agree that this issue has to be tackled if we want to see Symbiostock fly high.

I had my Photoshelter site for 3 years and had 2 measly photo sales. VERY disappointing. I definitely had to bail out and try something different. Organic search traffic on my Symbiostock site is already by far outpacing what I had last seen for my Photoshelter site. If that continues to grow with uploading more photos, with the network becoming bigger and reaching a point of "critical mass", and with the continued joined effort of this great community, then the sky is the limit. The hard part is that it needs some (on-going) work and patience. 

Hi Guys, Just about to take a dive into the world of Symbiostock. I've setup my hosting, just wondering if there's a major update on the horizon or if i'm best just to roll with the 2.5.6 version. Thanks

Roll with 2.5.6 by all means. It's stable, nice and workable. A new version is always on the horizon as minor issues keep creeping up. A major upgrade will be the paid premium plugin/version (?) Leo is working on. However, I'd start with the free basic version, anyway, and upgrade to premium if you like it AND miss the premium features.

Good comment by TL.
Guys, if you're looking for somebody promising good income, by all means stay with the agencies! They won't deliver, but at least you have someone to blame.
Nobody can/will give you any guarantees that your Symbiostock website will be successful. But at least the success of your site is in your own hands. And the earnings are as well.
I'm a little tired of people asking how much they can make. Or like "Show me the money first before I bless you with my great work". Seriously? You want others to test the waters until you feel the system might be good enough for you?
Hard to believe.

Go for it or don't! But don't ask others to take all risks for you. Symbiostock is NOT another agency. It is taking responsibility for your own stock image success.

Exactly! - And as for the "I don't have the time"argument: Just look how much time is wasted on those 20 pages+ threads "agent x cut royalties again" or "microstock site y is giving away our pics for peanuts". - Just imagine if all that time was spent on developing Symbiostock sites instead...

Amazing! Symbiostock gets better by the day. 

Hence Photoshelter 

Similar concept to Symbiostock...you can license images RF if you'd like. You can also license RM images based on whatever percentage of Fotoquote you want.  You can also do a "print on demand" through various labs.  Completely seamless....you can integrate a blog....you have SEO analytics and statistics.  Each image stands on its own via search browser listings.

This can supplement the agencies you contribute to, it can replace Fine Art America, etc.

If you want, you could even set up a "novel use" license for personal use of images with a limited size (500 pixel long edge, 1500 pixel long edge, etc.)

Similar concept to Symbiostock? - No, I don't think so.

I have been 3 years with Photoshelter, spend a small fortune for it and sold a total of 2 images (at RF microstock price level). For me it was a colossal waste of work/time and money.
Symbiostock is a lot of work as well, but I just pay for hosting and one-time sums for plug-ins and stuff that is not free as the open-source basic Symbiostock WP theme is.
The new networking feature of Symbiostock has huge potential. Time will tell how it'll play out. - So far Symbiostock has been a lot more fun than Photoshelter 

I understand that plugins are a strength of the WP world. I don't mind at all running a basic theme and a bunch of plugins that provide exactly the additional functionality I want.
And if something doesn't work (like after a major WP upgrade) it's relatively easy to pinpoint which plugin causes the trouble. If it was all in one theme I'd be stuck.

Anita, I've been wondering the same thing. Glad you asked the question!

I've still got a ton of images left to upload, but what's already up is quite respectable. I'm ready to network but not sure if I should do that now or wait until my port is fully uploaded. Advice on that would be appreciated.

And then there's this question...  My port is 95% North American nature plus about 5% historical sites (but no people, high-tech, "lifestyle", sports, etc). Most buyers will come to my site looking for natural subjects from North America.

I've been assuming I should network only with other nature photographers, since it doesn't seem logical to branch out too far from that subject. Is there any reason to drop that assumption?

And... are there other nature specialists in the SYS system who would like to network with me? Even from other countries and continents, it might be an interesting and synergistic mix.

I might be a good match for nature networking. Take a look at my site. Although I have only app. 450 photos of 3000+ online you'll get an idea. Note, however, that I am NOT strictly photographing nature. I basically shoot everything that strikes my eye while roaming outdoors. That means I basically don't have any studio, people, food, staged etc. shots (with very few exceptions, maybe).

Let me know what you think.