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Messages - cthoman
Pages: 1 ... 61 62 63 64 65 [66] 67 68 69 70 71 ... 145
1626
« on: December 05, 2012, 12:40 »
Good to know the abuses Istock has heaped on contributors have noticeably affected their bottom line.
Rather than sending out maudlin e-mails, they should just scrap the RC system, and go back to paying people as they were originally contracted to do. That should take care of the problem. 
That ship has sailed. It would take a lot more than 20% to entice me back.
1627
« on: December 05, 2012, 11:04 »
They're sending ex- or non-currently-uploading contributors 'we miss you' emails?! I thought they had heard of contributors but wanted no truck with them (thanks to Douglas Adams).
Well, it made me laugh. It's been about 2 years since I've uploaded any files and over a year since I deleted all my files. So, I guess they just got around to noticing and decided to send me a form letter to express their concern. 
1628
« on: December 05, 2012, 10:33 »
The upload limit was increased recently.
Non-Exclusive Upload Limits
Default now 28/week (was 18)
Bronze now 30/week (was 20)
Silver now 40/week (was 24)
Gold now 50/week (was 30)
Diamond now 60/week (was 38)
Black Diamond now 70/week (was 40)
I got an email with that recently too. It was a "we miss you" email. It was geared towards vectors though. It looks like it is right. Mine says 50.
1629
« on: December 04, 2012, 16:03 »
RPD
1630
« on: December 04, 2012, 10:45 »
The rest: Gone.
I can pretty much guarantee this isn't going to happen.
1631
« on: December 03, 2012, 19:11 »
They aren't going to find me through some future "Google Stock" search site.
You could always try regular Google. It works pretty well and already exists. 
1632
« on: December 03, 2012, 10:23 »
Submitting to microstock agencies since 2005, over 10,000 images in portfolio.
Comparing to November 2011:
Shutterstock - down 8%
Istockphoto - up 3%
Fotolia - down 48 (!) %
Dreamstime - down 10%
123rf - up 16%
That Fotolia drop really is shocking.. even if we have been discussing it for the last few months in several threads. Also surprising that Shutterstock is down as much as it is. How much has your portfolio increased since 2011?
I don't have my numbers on this computer to report my stats - I'll do so on Monday morning.
I haven't increased my micro portfolio much since last year, I think less than 500 images went to micros... been testing the macro market a bit (and I am not impressed with returns so far). But with Shutterstock I always had some weird dynamics - I was stuck at certain level of income for a couple of years despite of submitting a lot of new content, then - BAM! it jumped to almost double that, and now it's stuck again... 8% down on my portfolio size can be just normal fluctuations; to see a real increase I need to produce a few thousands of images a year...  it's easy to see a 50% increase when you double your portfolio of 200 images.... try that with 10,000:)
I hear you. My income went flat (despite uploading) and hit the wall at SS a couple of years ago, so I decided to focus elsewhere too. This year, I had no uploading, and I can definitely see it slowly sinking there.
1633
« on: December 03, 2012, 10:09 »
Ladies nad gents,
one small step down in Your RCs,
BIG step up in IS total earnings.
Simple ...
More shoots, less talk ...
Enjoy.
I went with the no istock, more peace of mind approach.
1634
« on: December 01, 2012, 21:51 »
Live to see New Years Day 2014
I do agree with Lisa's discovery. I figured the same for myself a few years back. (and why people here sometimes criticism me) Everything isn't about how to monetize and market everything you take. I was driving down the highway thinking, can I shoot that, will that be good stock. And I said to myself, I'm not seeing things anymore. I don't enjoy nature, and the fresh air. I'm not enjoying the scenery or the ride. I'm only thinking MONEY!
That's when I decided I'd upload one new photo a month and stop thinking about "can I sell that" Now I take what I like and some days I actually get something for Micro.
It's a trap. When art or enjoyment and why I started taking photos in the first place, becomes all about work, money and business, I lost the energy and love for making pictures. I do admire the people here who have worked so hard and fought through adversity (yes there is that, the agencies, the cuts, the reviews, the standards and more) to make a good collection that produces some useful income. Good work!
So go ahead call me a hobby shooter. It's true. I'm not offended by the truth.
When I'm going for a walk down a hillside, through a tunnel, and across a stream, just because I want to see "what's on the other side", some of you will be lining up lights, standing inside, behind a tripod, worrying about any tiny flaw or shadow, that will cause the image to be rejected. I'll come home and laugh, show my photos to friends, and maybe print a couple. Does anyone print their Micro and hang it on the wall. Probably not much or often.
So enjoyment trumped money, I'm back where I was in about 1968. Wide eyed and Snap Happy, just looking at things and being amazed at the world around me. [ Oh yeah and taking pictures of stinky, loud, gas guzzling, tire burning race cars! And railroad equipment. ] I always liked that since I was a kid. Hey, maybe it's just a second childhood, or third or fourth in my case.
I agree, but... I took a break from stock for a few months in 2009 and realized I missed it and really enjoyed making new images. Also, I've worked on the other side doing freelance and working a 9 to 5 doing illustration and design. I find creating stock has a lot more freedom to do whatever you want. I think it is really about finding a balance between what you enjoy and what sells.
1635
« on: December 01, 2012, 15:48 »
This is kinda like a new years resolution thread about what you are going to do next year right?
So here it is plain and simple.
First thing is dont plan on anything because life happens and there is nothing you can do about it you just have to be like water.
Live and enjoy the day because you may not make it to the next, it can all change in the blink of an eye.
Work to live never live to work, it will ruin your life and you will loose many never to be had again first moments in your journey not to mention the time lost as well.
It's a one man operation over here, so if I don't make the plans... nothing gets done.
1636
« on: November 30, 2012, 14:53 »
Maybe istockreefer.com?
1637
« on: November 30, 2012, 10:45 »
I haven't firmed it all up, but I'm thinking...
- An image goal. I did 4k last year, but I may tone it back to 2k this year.
- A financial goal. I always have one of these and I don't think I met my one from last year, so that will probably get rolled over.
- I need to work on my SEO and marketing, so that definitely should be a priority. Is setting a goal to have some goals in this a goal?
1638
« on: November 30, 2012, 10:38 »
Looks good. Congrats.
1639
« on: November 29, 2012, 16:01 »
Hi Folks,
With all the strings of how bad iStock is paying you all I am concern that if I apply and get accepted by iStock that the sales on their site will actually hurt my sales say on Shutterstock. For example, say a sale goes for 36c on Shutter could the buyer purchase the same image on iStock and I get paid 10c instead thus losing 26c on that sale. Your thoughts?
Thanks
Tom
I'd say if cannibalizing your sales is a concern, then Shutterstock should probably be your biggest concern. They've been my lowest RPD site for a long time.
1640
« on: November 29, 2012, 15:56 »
I always think that when people complain about the search changes or rank. Someone else is getting all their sales and I'm one of those people. Do I need to apologize to you for stealing your income?
At least you know, it's not the whole site that's broken and you can recover in some other month. I really can't understand why you would have such a drop, when I have some pretty weak offerings and they just produce a flat rate, pretty much all year long. Maybe good work has more fluctuations?
No. I don't really blame anyone. Besides, I abandoned ship, stole the life raft and started rowing toward a nice looking tropical island when I saw a couple storm clouds in the sky.
1641
« on: November 29, 2012, 13:31 »
I love Shuttersock!!
I just passed last month's BME (which had been lifted by a $79 single/other license) so November is now another BME. In all the effing gloom of larcenous agencies, it's nice to be getting some good vibes
I love Shutterstock - did I mention that?
Congrats! Incredible sustained growth from SS. My earnings at SS are projected to be 38% higher than Nov 2011, which itself was 32% higher than 2010. Unfortunately every other agency, apart from BigStock, will be well down on last year but I guess the events are closely related.
This must be where all my sales are going.
1642
« on: November 29, 2012, 12:41 »
I was going to put down 'Texas' since they want to become their own country within the United States...
Don't let them fool you. We aren't leaving the US anytime soon.
1643
« on: November 29, 2012, 11:01 »
My Istock download numbers are now about 1/3 of the PP ones, so yes, they've been very successful at migrating buyers from higher cost Istock site to dirt cheap Thinkstock. Still don't understand the motivation there.
Wow! This is exactly what I was worried about when I left. iStock's last redeeming quality was a good RPD (on the illustration side). I guess that is gone now too. It's a shame.
1644
« on: November 28, 2012, 15:01 »
I can't say I have any experience with being exclusive, but iStock went from my number one agency to the garbage can in about a year. Now, my earnings are back up without them and this should be my best year. So if there is life without iStock at all, I'm sure some of you exclusives will land on your feet as independents.
1645
« on: November 28, 2012, 11:54 »
Yeah, that's kind of weird looking. Looks like a mistake.
1646
« on: November 28, 2012, 11:50 »
It's kind of crazy that not going down is an accomplishment. I guess that is just part of reality now.
1647
« on: November 28, 2012, 10:45 »
Why not price everything the same? But, I agree with the others that the pricing is too low. I know I never joined GR because of the low prices and low royalties. It didn't seem worth it.
1648
« on: November 27, 2012, 13:50 »
I'm not sure, but I think the big improvement was to the templates (being better and easier to work with). Also, you get updates and any improvements made for 4. With 3, you are pretty much on your own.
1649
« on: November 27, 2012, 13:46 »
You can say I have a budget of so and so. We are going to do Google Adds. We are going to do page spread adds in top photo magazines. We are going to send out emails to our existing email database. We are planning on doing some discount promotions. We are working on best SEO placement. All this is going to happen in the next 6 months. Etc etc. Thats a marketing plan.
This is kind of my point. You can say all that and actually go out and do it, and still not bring in enough customers. None of what you said would make me have any additional confidence that it would bring in customers.
1650
« on: November 27, 2012, 12:11 »
Yeah, kind of tricky to fill out. I tried to answer them the best I could. The ranking thing was tough. I'm not on a lot of those agencies, and I wanted to use Other for 1 and 3.
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