Sorry, hit the button a bit too soon. Stay tuned ...

Before coming to Stockxpert, I was the editor of the graphics.com network. There are two very active forums over there, graphics.com and graphicdesignforum.com.

It seems every forum goes through a period like this. We most recently went through this over in SXC's forums.

For SXC, I adapted Code of Conduct and Forum Usage Guidelines that were already in place at GraphicDesignForum, and it seems to have helped a lot. Feel free to use as a template if you feel it's what's needed here at this point.

http://www.sxc.hu/forums/topic/12788
http://www.sxc.hu/forums/topic/12787

BTW, when forums get to this stage in their evolution, I usually consider them to be officially successful.

And, as always, the members do a good job of steadying the ship.

-Steve

Berryspun,

that's a fair comment. In fact we do try and promote various artists in the newsletter, and I am going start featuring more artists on the site. That's part of our plan. Personally I think there are many photographers at StockXpert who have images that compete with Ron's (and are better) in terms of quality.

endicott, you may be right. Ron is not shy about admitting this is an experiment, and it just might not be worth it to him in the end. We'll see.

I don't understand why istock keep these low upload limits.  For those just starting, 15 photos a week is often not enough. 

Sharpshot, obviously I don't work for Getty, so I can't provide a definite answer, but I can provide a guess.

Oversupply is part of the problem. In theory iStock can continue to increase revenue with many more images while all individual photogrpahers see a decrease in revenue. While that is good for iStock in the short term, it is not so good for you guys, and therefore not good for them in the long run.

I'm sure they know how many images they need from contributors to keep a balance between supply and demand, to maximize revenue for each contributor, and to not overwhelm their inspectors.

Just imagine if all 30,000+ of their contributors started to upload 50+ images a day!

I think there is a critical mass threshold that all companies approach.

As you know, we were recently at Photoshop World exhibiting. We talked with many people. Some weren't familiar at all with microstock model, and some of those who were had only heard of iStock until they ran into StockXpert.

Supply is not the mid to long term problem for them. It's going to be demand, now that they have growing competition.

Just my two slightly biased cents.

If any of you will be at Photoshop World in Boston this week, stop by our booth (#109) and say hello. Who knows ... you may even be the lucky winner of  one of four 80 GB iPods we're giving away.

Hope to see you there!
-Steve

Lathspell,

I'm glad your experience at StockXpert has been a pleasant one so far. We've recently made some changes to the application review process. Applications are now being reviewed by a Jupiterimages Sr. Content Editor, who tries to review them within the same day that he receives them.

Thanks!
-Steve

My understanding is that copyright is automatically the property of the author, so if you have no contract, then you have no copyrights to the images:

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wccc

Rights have to be explicitly granted to you.

-Steve

Kngkyle,

Glad to hear sales have picked up for you. I'm very confident in and impressed with Peter's solution. I think it is a much fairer way to organize images. We'll of course continue to listen to your feedback and make improvements to it if necessary.


stevenk,

Sorry to hear StockXpert didn't work out for you. As for the accepted image that got rejected after its first sale, I will look into that.

Thanks!
-Steve

Guys,

Peter has implemented a new default ordering mechanism. You can read about it here: http://www.stockxpert.com/forum.phtml?f=showtopic&n=2134

Excerpt:

"The important thing is that popular new images (uploaded within a month) get special treatment which means that they may appear among the best sellers depending on their performance and competition."

Thanks and good luck!
-Steve

Guys,

just wanted to let you know stock photo veteran Ron Chapple (http://www.ronshoots.com/) has recently joined StockXpert and is in the StockXpert forum fielding questions about the biz.

Feel free to stop by, say hello, and ask him any questions you may have about the stock photo industry.

http://www.stockxpert.com/forum.phtml?f=showtopic&n=2111

-Steve

No problem. Like I said, I use a similar set up, so I'm curious to see how others manipulate the light from these puppies to capture their shots.

Good luck!

I've used a similar set up. I removed the wire cover (because it did cast shadows) and I've used all sorts of material. It will burn through if it is touching the glass. If you tilt the head down and hang the sheet or fabric over the handle so the material is away from the glass, it will be ok for a few minutes. You'll start to smell something burning eventually.

If you have a white ceiling, you can point the lamps up to bounce the light.

Good luck!

epixx,

You aren't having a very good week over at StockXpert, are you?

We are definitely listening. Peter has done an amazing job with StockXpert, but he his only one man. Therefore he put in place some policies that would ensure he could manage the site as it grew, even if it meant the site might grow slower than it should.

Now that Jupitermedia has added resources to the site, we have begun re-evaluating and revamping policies that are necessary to accelerate the growth of the collection and sales. But this takes a little bit of time. We want to make sure we implement clear and flexible guidelines for our contributors and our reviewers.

You guys have been invaluable to this process, both in terms of bringing it to our attention and how we should prioritize.

Thanks!