Hi All,

 I just got a letter from Shutterstock asking if I want to have all my Shutterstock images available on Big Stock as well. No charge they will move all the files over and sell through both ports. They said they are only offering this to their best selling photographers, I do okay but I can't imagine I am one of their top sellers. Did anyone else get this e-mail and if so what do you think about it. They say Big stock sells on credit basis as apposed to Shutterstocks sub model. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Hi rubyroo,

 I have never cleaned house once in 14 years. I just let the agency move my old stuff down a tier, I figure if they are out there and I spent time to get them there I just leave them, you never know when someone might buy that image but that is just me some people are very good at cleaning house. Thanks for the response.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi Race,

 I guess that was what I was trying to say and you put it much better. Not my house because I am on a private drive but yes you are absolutely right about the bill from before 1990 however, as time moves forward more and more homes fall under that law so you have to be sure that the building is at least built before 1990 or didn't have any major architectural design changes after 1990. My focus that was poorly explained was if you want your agency to make you sales on your image of private locations they will sell your work a lot more and take a lot more content if you get a property release.
  You can shoot houses from the street all day and they might sell to smaller buyers but the the big sales to the big buyers is going to be Property Released.
 Thanks for all your information you posted that is very helpful stuff and good for everyone to know. I have been following this subject for the past three years and from my experience the images we represent that are Property released sell much better and for much larger sales than the non property released images we represent.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi Everyone,

 I was curious if people are interested in sharing their sell through rate from Isotck. That is the percentage of your files that have sold at least once on the site in their lifetime. I have a 77% sell through rate if you want to share please add to the list.

Cheers,
Jonathan

Thanks everyone,

 I just checked and mine are back to normal. Nice to know I wasn't the only one out there, I am glad it's fixed. If I need a question answered about Micro this is the best place to find the answer.

Thanks again,
Jonathan

Hi All,

 I was wondering if any of you have had your credits dropped this weekend. I just pulled my page up and it says I am now getting 15% after I have already accumulated 40,000 credits which I thought was supposed to leave me at 18% for the coming year. Can anyone help out on this issue? I have sent Istock a message but have not heard back yet. Can anyone explain what happened did I not understand that I had a year to make it top 40,000 credits to keep my 18% but today I am at zero credits and a 15% return. Thanks in advance to anyone that can shed some light on this.

Cheers,
Jonathan

Hi All,


 Istock keeps dropping and ShutterStock keeps growing. I am glad they are balancing themselves out. As my Istock sales keep dropping the other agencies are picking up the slack and my monthly return is staying the same, within 100 bucks every month. Here is to not losing money over the big picture.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi All,

 Some of my Micro agencies are dropping and that is expected since I have not uploaded any new work in three years. However, my ShutterStock is showing a 20% increase from this time last year. They are doing something right over there at SS, keep up the good work.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi Cobalt,

 I think it it is an excellent strategy. Instead of chasing the " Top Sellers " I think it is better to create what is  missing or low on content and fill it with useable imagery for buyers in that market. Mind you in Micro you still have to focus on a broad audience but I think through lighting, environment and technique you can recreate the same subject in a different way for the wide spread need of Micro. Just my two cents.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi Cobalt,

 Good question and I wish I could answer it simply for you. Multi distribution in Macro RF did not start until a about 8 years ago before that everyone sold their own content directly. or they were purchased by a larger agency and then those images was exclusive with the new agency until the photographer original contract was up and then the new owners would send out a new contract and offer the original shooter a chance to sign on and keep selling their work.
 Some agencies that started multi distributing their Macro collections were a bit frowned upon at one point by the large agencies. Eventually I think the big agencies realized if another agency with professionals doing the key wording and the editing as well as building a corral of contributors that are very good at what they do made their job much easier.
 A third party agency sends in very relevant imagery and key wording taking some of the work load off the large agencies shoulders. To offer this to every photographer on an individual basis would create a lot of work with no extra reward to the major agency. The big agency now no longer has to keep as big a staff and the supply of strong selling content makes it worth their while to let those agencies multi distribute.
 Another angle is these niche agencies are just that, focused on a particular angle and if that angle is of interest to the larger agencies it makes for a win/ win situation. The larger agency is having all the work more or less outsourced and it does not cost them much to add the content. That is far from the same as individuals coming in thousands to someone like Getty. If they can get the best content without having to spend a lot to organize and produce the content then their overhead per image drops dramatically.
  A give and take of sorts and when you launch an agency the big agencies will offer you a better cut if you go exclusive with them. That is one of the decisions an agency owner has to make, will one big agency bring my contributors as much revenue as 100. You would think that is a simple question but it really isn't. Building a niche stock agency is more work than most would ever imagine but it can be done if you know the recipe. I hope that helps a bit, long winded as usual but a tough question to give a straight single answer to.

Best,
Jonathan
'

 Hi All,

 This is not new in stock. Check out people like Ron Chapple and Jim Erickson, they have both been training photographers and having them shoot their stock for years. There are several that do this very successfully.

Best,
Jonathan

 Hi All,

 Very interesting posts thank you all for your opinions they are fascinating to read. I think the opinions on this post hold a great deal of what people are frustrated about. Thanks again for all the insight. Just to concur my Istock sales have dropped the most in the past year and Shuttersock is still selling as big as ever but that is just my experience, I never count a horse out of the race till it breaks a leg Are we in the home stretch?

Cheers,
Jonathan