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Messages - sgoodwin4813

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1326
iStockPhoto.com / Re: DA: Am I missing something?
« on: April 11, 2012, 07:44 »
I wish iStock would drop the DA bit - it's a nice idea in theory but doesn't work in practice.  That one is especially bizarre.  The only thing I can figure is that some animals (e.g., fish) have markings that look like eyes on their rears to fool predators into biting the wrong part - rather have them snip off a bit of your tail than take your head off.  For example, many butterfly fish - here's one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foureye_butterflyfish).  Also caterpillars, some moths, probably more.  But it's pretty rare and would be weird if it made it into the iStock DA scheme.

1327
Alamy.com / Re: News: Alamy allows 'breaking news' uploads
« on: April 11, 2012, 07:35 »
Thank you all for the information.  If I get any pics of breaking news, it sounds like it would be worthwhile to submit to Alamy News just to get it done since it would go to the regular collection anyway.  I have a Demotix account but have never submitted.  Based on your comments if I do I at least won't have any expectations of sales so if I get anything it will be a plus.  It would be interesting to compare those to the micros to see which is likely to give a higher return.

1328
Alamy.com / Re: News: Alamy allows 'breaking news' uploads
« on: April 10, 2012, 10:28 »
Now that Alamy News has been running for a few months, has anyone tried it out?  Any downloads?

I live in Indiana where nothing newsworthy ever happens (not necessarily a bad thing) but want to be prepared just in case...

1329
Dreamstime.com / Re: DT Pricing Changes? Stay tuned...
« on: April 10, 2012, 07:15 »
I had a pretty good day of sales yesterday (Monday) considering it was the day after Easter.  Actually pretty normal for a recent Monday.  Hard for me to notice big differences from the pricing change, since prices are typically all over the map.  All the pics sold yesterday appear to be level 2 thru 5.  Maybe my 1s became 2s?  Hard to tell.  I don't really track that.  Can you tell by number of sales?  For instance, one of my 2s has had 4 downloads.  Would that have been a level 1 before the change?  I'm not sure what is going on.

Yes.

I've had no sales there this week so haven't seen any effect of the altered pricing.  Last week it was normal subs sales and a few credit sales - hopefully it will pick up.

1330
Dreamstime.com / Re: DT Pricing Changes? Stay tuned...
« on: April 09, 2012, 11:33 »
Something going on with levels.  My 3s are now 4s; One sales jumps to level 2. 
Yep:  can't figure out yet what will be level 1 or level 0?

Could be the answer to my question about the 28 cent subs?

I think you're right - mine have changed levels as well.  If the change is to get us more money then I hope it will be successful.

1331
Dreamstime.com / Re: Upload DT files not being processed
« on: April 09, 2012, 07:46 »
I submitted a batch on Saturday and they were just processed this morning, so they are going through just taking a while.

1332
CanStockPhoto.com / Re: Canstock Balance?
« on: April 06, 2012, 09:28 »
I've never had any problems with them either.

1333
Manual if the subject isn't moving, otherwise mostly auto.

1334
General Stock Discussion / Re: Do you like your bestsellers?
« on: April 02, 2012, 12:38 »
I mostly like mine.  Have a couple that I thought were boring but sold well and some that I thought were great but buyers mostly ignored.  Still have difficulty predicting what will sell. 

1335
123RF / Re: Sales
« on: April 02, 2012, 12:35 »
Jan-Mar 2010    30% subs (on very few sales)
Jan-Mar 2011    50% subs, DLs 6x higher, revenue 16% higher
Jan-Mar 2012    50% subs, DLs 2.8x higher than 2011, revenue 450% higher

Lifetime sales for me at 123 subs are 49%.  Still get regular DLs at larger sizes and the occasional EL so not sure whether downsizing would be a good idea.

1336
General Stock Discussion / Re: March 2012 Earnings
« on: April 02, 2012, 08:16 »
Only about 50% compared to last month when I had a lot of ELs and a big sale on Alamy, but still very strong and should be a second BME once iS sub sales are in.  SS #1 (BME for DLs but not $$$), then iS, 123, DT and Canstock.  BMEs on FT and DP at #s 6 and 7.  Others much lower but hanging in there.  No ELs anywhere for the first time this year but overall can't complain.

1337
123RF / Re: 123 agreement
« on: March 27, 2012, 12:22 »
I have not had the problem of the OP, but I do have to look at the new commission rates very time I log in.  We've already complained about the commission cuts and I imagine 95% or more of all contributors will get a reduction next year.  Very annoying, however, 123rf can do what they want and obviously feel that lowering commissions is necessary to stay in business; at least 30-60% commissions are still better than a lot of other sites.  But I do have one comment if Alex is listening:  please think about the subscription commissions - $0.216 per download to start is too low.  Currently 123rf has about the highest starting subscription payout at $0.36, but $0.216 is lower than any other agency - the others have a minimum of $0.25 or $0.30.  Alex, do you really want to be known as the agency with the lowest subscription payouts in the industry?  Not really a great attraction for new contributors.  If you made the minimum $0.252 and went up from there you would at least be competitive with the other agencies.

1338
Veer / Re: Average subscription earnings on Veer?
« on: March 25, 2012, 08:34 »
I've only had one sub, for 50 cents.

1339
I have never had a "not newsworthy" rejection on SS so far, but have had some rejected for captions (revised and resubmitted).  However, yesterday I had a batch of ten all rejected on BigStock for "not newsworthy".  Not sure if that is a new policy for them or just a rogue reviewer.  The same batch was reviewed the same day on SS and had no problem except for a couple with caption issues.  So it sounds like the issue is reviewer inconsistency rather than a new policy on SS (and hopefully BS as well).

on Big it is inconsisentcy, but on SS it's more than just rogue reviewers - my captions conform to SS nitpicking caption riles

it just defies coincidence to think that entire batches can be rejected for "not newsworthy" or LCV when other sites disagree

what subject matter are you submitting to SS?   my images are street scenes & other daily life, active non-models, often with trademasrks such as automobiles, street advertising, etc

Mine are similar.  Just had three with the "not newsworthy" rejection.  Maybe with the others that were accepted I did a better job of tying the caption into a news event.  In the future I might just save the trouble and send them all to Alamy instead...

1340
I have never had a "not newsworthy" rejection on SS so far, but have had some rejected for captions (revised and resubmitted).  However, yesterday I had a batch of ten all rejected on BigStock for "not newsworthy".  Not sure if that is a new policy for them or just a rogue reviewer.  The same batch was reviewed the same day on SS and had no problem except for a couple with caption issues.  So it sounds like the issue is reviewer inconsistency rather than a new policy on SS (and hopefully BS as well).

1341
General Stock Discussion / Re: Best downsizing size
« on: March 15, 2012, 13:08 »
I would recommend 6-8Mpx for SS and maybe 12 for the others.  That's what I usually do if I decide to downsize.

1342
General Stock Discussion / Re: Panorama and 360 scenic
« on: March 13, 2012, 11:57 »
Might have been thinking of this one. Whatever it was, I never joined.  http://www.worldpanoramastock.com/photographer_signup.php


That looks like an interesting site - has anybody tried it?  Does it get any sales?

1343
But as well all know you usually get over 5$ even if you're getting only 15% royalties


Wow, you're doing a lot better than me - a $5 DL at iS for me is very rare.  Over the past three years, my lifetime return per DL at iStock is $0.83 including partner program sub sales and ELs.  At 123rf my lifetime RPDL over the same period is - $0.83.  The same.  At DT it is $0.84 and at SS $0.46.  For me the sites with the highest RPDL are: BS: $1.00; CanStock: $1.60; Crestock: $1.71; and Veer: $2.61.  So for me the sales prices at the smaller sites seem to be higher.  My experience does not support your thesis.

1344


I don't recall it being a crime to copy keywords or titles. And who exactly is copying who?
[/quote]

I'm too lazy to verify this, but I'm pretty sure that direct copying of titles and keywords is expressly forbidden by SS and other agencies, as it should be.  Not a crime exactly, but definitely forbidden by the agencies and a reason for termination of an account.  If this one had identical title, description and keywords then closing the account is justified.  It's a bit harsh to do it for one image but maybe there were dozens in there - we don't know.  For SS, they probably don't have time to investigate these things too carefully so will terminate with one good instance.  The problem, as many have pointed out, is that it is easy to inadvertently generate similar images.  However, independently coming up with identical titles, descriptions and set of keywords is much less likely so I assume instances of wrong termination are very rare.

1345
General Stock Discussion / Re: Panorama and 360 scenic
« on: March 08, 2012, 15:59 »
I've made a few panoramas recently but haven't gotten around to submitting them.  Some of them are 8-10 images stitched together giving files of 50-80 Mpx, sometimes more.  Of course I'll have to downsize for submission, but the thought of having those large images downloaded for 25c on some sites dampened my enthusiasm.  Now you've got me curious as to whether they will sell so will try to submit a few during the next week or two and will see what happens...

While I was typing it looks like corepics just summed it up - may not be worth the effort.

1346
Computer Hardware / Re: Travel Ultrabook
« on: March 02, 2012, 08:56 »
I have a Macbook Air and it's great - light weight and fairly durable.  They just came out with a new one that sounds even better but I haven't seen it yet.  Don't know anything about the Zenbook.

1347
General Stock Discussion / Re: February 2012 Earnings
« on: March 01, 2012, 08:55 »
Excellent month overall for me - up 350% from last year due to multiple ELs and a nice sale on Alamy.  I'm sure it's a statistical anomaly but I'll take it when I can get it.  By Agency:

#1 SS: BME for DLs and $$$, almost 2x better than previous BME, which was last month.
#2 Alamy: BME.  One large sale put it in 2nd place.  Definitely need to increase my uploads there.  Was expecting no sales with my small portfolio there so to get one was a nice surprise - wish I had started with them from the beginning.
#3 iS: One large EL kept it in 3rd place.  Regular sales were OK, on par with DT and 123.  For the first three years they were #1 by far, now they usually fight it out for a distant 2nd place.
#4 123: BME for DLs but not $$$.  Trend is still up.
#5 DT: BME for DLs but not $$$.  Very close to 123.
#6 FT: BME for DLs and $$$.  Hopefully this indicates an upward trend.
#7 CS: Tied my BME for DLs but not $$$.
#8 DP: BME for DLs and $$$.  Almost all subs so lowest RPDL of all agencies.  Nice upward trend.
The rest: Small sales on minor sites.  Big and Veer lower than last year, slow trickle on Crestock.  Still some sales on StockXpert.  No sales on two sites (won't bother to name them).

Portfolio growth has been modest - too busy at my real job - so I hope this indicates that the economy is turning around and things are looking up.

1348
Dreamstime.com / Re: Is DT alive ?
« on: February 28, 2012, 08:58 »
DT is holding steady for me at a solid #4 after SS, iS and 123.  It's been basically that way for the past several months.  In lifetime earnings DT is my #3 but if current trends continue they will be overtaken by 123 by the end of the year due to increases at 123 and steady sales at DT.

1349
iStockPhoto.com / Re: January PP
« on: February 27, 2012, 12:44 »
I'm up to the 23rd as well.  Hold on - I'm sure you'll get your sale.  I imagine the rest will show up during the next couple of days.

1350
wow that sounds complicated

i just have a spreadsheet where i track submissions and site earnings
I don't have time to track individual photo earnings.

+1

I just use Excel.  I have one worksheet for submitted images with fields for dates of submission, decision and the result for each image, plus keep track of the titles, descriptions and keywords which I then copy into the image file in PS.  Next time I have a similar image I can copy and paste all of that information from a previous one and add any needed modifications.  In a second worksheet I have a sales summary by agency with totals for each month, year, etc.  I have a third worksheet for sales by photo, which I tracked for the first few months, but once I had more than 50 or 100 images it was too much trouble to bother so now I only record submissions and total sales.

is the worksheet with the sales summary a lot of work????
Does it make sense writing all this info? What do you use it for?

It's not a lot of work once you have it set up if you have a rudimentary understanding of Excel.  It automatically makes totals, and I can see what percentage is coming from each site.  I use it to track trends and just for my own information.  I also use it to keep track of which images have been sent where and the rejection reasons - sometimes I resubmit them later if an agency changes their reviewing.  It's also useful when submitting to a new agency to know which from the past were successful.  If you're only at a couple of agencies and don't care about monthly totals it may not be worth it, but if you like to see trends over time or keep track of submission to a lot of agencies then it is great.  And definitely use DeepMeta for iStock - it's free and works great.

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