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Messages - Shelma1
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226
« on: October 11, 2019, 10:14 »
Got mine today! Ha ha! Just kidding! Im a worthless illustrator!
What about animating your illustrations and uploading it as video? If your subject matter is suitable, you could try that.
Are photographers required to animate their photos to get Photoshop? Please explain why only one group of contributorsa very successful group that consistently brings in a lot of sales for stock sitesare left out of this.
227
« on: October 09, 2019, 20:11 »
I don't know who mj007 is or where he/she lives, but I have noticed that it's usually people who live in the taker states and use our "socialist" programs the most who yell the loudest about "socialism." I rarely hear anything about fear of "socialism" from the giver states that pay the most in federal taxes and prop up the taker states...in fact, we're willing to pay a little more for the betterment of society, and that includes helping the "socialists" who are currently using up the tax dollars we're already donating to them but are simultaneously terribly afraid of so-called "socialism."
Texas...We have a great economy. Our unemployment is almost zero. The housing prices are going up because of all the California folks moving to Texas. Why move to Texas, We have jobs, no State income tax, cheap housing cost and we love and carry guns. The folks that are moving to Texas which is about 50,000 people a month love the fact they can buy a 4000 sq foot home under 300K. Try that in California.
Texas gets about $1.40 back in federal benefits for every $1.00 paid in federal tax. Taker state. That's why you can buy a house dirt cheap there...we're supporting you. California gets 90 back for every dollar. Giver state. Delaware gets back less than 50 per dollar. Giver state. New Jersey, where I live, gets back 85. Giver state. New York, 80...giver state. You suck up all our tax dollars and then whine about socialism. I say secede and fend for yourselves.
228
« on: October 09, 2019, 16:14 »
I don't know who mj007 is or where he/she lives, but I have noticed that it's usually people who live in the taker states and use our "socialist" programs the most who yell the loudest about "socialism." I rarely hear anything about fear of "socialism" from the giver states that pay the most in federal taxes and prop up the taker states...in fact, we're willing to pay a little more for the betterment of society, and that includes helping the "socialists" who are currently using up the tax dollars we're already donating to them but are simultaneously terribly afraid of so-called "socialism."
229
« on: September 14, 2019, 17:02 »
Got mine today! Ha ha! Just kidding! Im a worthless illustrator!
230
« on: September 08, 2019, 05:59 »
What a depressing thread. Adobe replaces your keywords and then shows you different versions of keywords depending where you look? Insane.
231
« on: August 29, 2019, 10:14 »
My apologies if this article has been posted previously. The company reported anemic revenue growth figures, and revenue growth deceleration is becoming a major problem. Enterprise revenue growth has fallen off a cliff and actually shrunk this quarter after being a prior source of optimism. The $1.2B company has $260M in cash, but the business is struggling. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4288413-shutterstock-continues-deteriorate
232
« on: August 24, 2019, 03:11 »
..
So I was wondering if essentially 'owning' your own site that was as easy as creating an account would be appealing.
always promised, never realized
I will give some thought to the marketing aspect though - just as I was writing this had an idea that might be appealing, going to think about it to see if it would work...
are you saying you HAVEN'T yet given 'some thought' to marketing!??! and you wonder why no one takes your proposal seriously .
The original question was with respect to setting up the site itself, nothing to do with marketing. As an aside though, something occurred to me that might work marketing wise as well.
The number one question here is, do you have buyers lined up? Because as others have pointed out, marketing the site is our number one concern. And as others have pointed out, someone shows up here every few weeks with the idea of starting independent sites, but not one has ever thought about marketing and each one gets miffed when asked about it and complains that were negative or whiny. Dozens of us have tried it and spent time and money on it and the end result was a loss of time and money because there was no coordinated marketing. The title of your post is how much would you pay for your own site? The answer is zippo. All the big sites charge us nothing and have marketing in place. Your goal is to make money for yourself by selling us sites. Our goal is to make money for ourselves, not for you.
233
« on: August 22, 2019, 06:07 »
A lot you have shared your thoughts and I appreciate it.
I wanted to respond to a few questions in particular
Yes perhaps $5 sub is too low, but who knows. Im not a marketplace with hundreds of million of images, whereas Shutterstock and others are. Yes a two buck site for each download would also work. Though the initial thought was looking for a way to draw traffic/customers to me.
Regarding selling myself short at $5 sub plan. Obviously that amount is silly, BUT unfortunately the entire industry is forever moving downwards in price. We all understand the only way to compete now is by price. There is no reason for a graphic designer to come to my site if it isnt a lot cheaper. Otherwise their time is better spent going to Shutterstock or wherever.
I use to be a graphic designer. Ive worked for 3 different very large advertising firms in New York City. I used to buy stock photos while I was a graphic designer. I have a good understanding what graphic designers are thinking when they buy images. Given how busy I used to be as a graphic designer, I would never go to someones personal site to find images, it would be a waste of my time. I was very busy and I worked on multiple accounts. Thus I already understand the bar to get busy graphic designers to go to a non-mega big stock site is quite high. Hence the thought of $5 sub plan. Plus look at the math, 4,000 accounts at $5 per month is $20,000. Which is more than I make now.
Regarding cold calling Ad agencies. I use to work for large agencies. For the biggest agencies, I could just stand outside on the road with a sign and business cards to give out. For the smaller agencies, it would be easy to just walk in and talk to front desk and drop of some cards. I can also reach out to very old contacts from the past. Though the most time effective way to market is to get on design blogs.
Anyway, I started this thread to sound off thoughts in my head and to see what others opinion might be. It is fairly obvious to me that the odds me trying it out are close to zero at the moment. Mostly because Id have to cancel the exclusive contract to try it out and the drop in income would be too much for me to bare. Though perhaps in 2 years time I might be in a better position to test it out. That is when an unrelated investment (non-stock photo) that Ive made in might bare fruit, and if so, it should pay out quite nicely.
If youve worked in advertising and know people in the business and have had success standing outside handing out cards, why would you not try to get custom shoots? I would think that would be much more lucrative than selling $5 sub plans to 4,000 people.
234
« on: August 21, 2019, 16:43 »
Wheres my code?
Oh wait...Im an illustrator. No soup for you.
235
« on: August 21, 2019, 16:42 »
Shutterstock used to encourage this, and afaik they havent changed their policy, but maybe green reviewers would see them as similars now with their supposed crackdown. There were a few times they rejected my vectors as being identical to rasters when they allow it.
Thank You, I searched and didn't find anything about whether vectors were available as rasters, doesn't mean it's not there... 
So from what I can guess, they might be considered a similar, even though they are different formats? AS must assume that anyone who downloads a vector has a way to convert it to a simple JPEG file or GIF.
Its best to upload both versions at the same time. But theres no guarantee a reviewer will be familiar with their rule about being able to sell both raster and vector versions of the same illo. Unfortunately a few reviewers have accepted my raster, then rejected the vector, and of course vectors generally sell much better.
236
« on: August 20, 2019, 13:24 »
Shutterstock used to encourage this, and afaik they havent changed their policy, but maybe green reviewers would see them as similars now with their supposed crackdown. There were a few times they rejected my vectors as being identical to rasters when they allow it.
237
« on: August 20, 2019, 10:37 »
Having worked in ad agencies for 30+ years (and sitting in one now), Id say your chances of calling an ad agency and stopping in for a chat are zero to nil. Youre dealing with huge corporate structures with a thousand layers of approval and set budgets and approved vendors with legal indemnification in place and millions of images. Even established custom-only photographers and illustrators with well-known, seasoned reps are having a hard time now. Gone are the days of a fabulous catered lunch spent flipping through gorgeous photography and illustration portfolios...sadly.
238
« on: August 08, 2019, 21:05 »
I notice Mat doesn't even bother responding to the illustrators. We're worthless, why make an effort? Why even offer Adobe Illustrator? We can draw sh!t by hand.
Sorry Shelma, I'm not ignoring you. We don't have a standalone version of Illustrator available as a bonus at this time. You would need to submit 300 videos in addition to your vectors to receive a complimentary code for the full Creative Cloud which does have Illustrator in it. Your feedback has been noted. I'm sorry you are disappointed.
Best regards,
Mat
Ridiculous. Adobe now expects illustrators to become videographers or animators as well. Imagine walking into a roomful of people and offering everyone a gift except, for no particular reason, one person. And then telling them they need to become a different person if they want a gift. I see that vectors are top sellers across all stock sites, but whatever. Between Shutterstock's ridiculous new submission requirements for illustrators and Adobe's refusal to acknowledge us, I'm really not into contributing anything any more. No biggie....I've only been using your products since their inception.
239
« on: August 08, 2019, 20:48 »
I notice Mat doesn't even bother responding to the illustrators. We're worthless, why make an effort? Why even offer Adobe Illustrator? We can draw sh!t by hand.
240
« on: August 08, 2019, 14:18 »
And for illustrators....nothing. Again.
241
« on: August 07, 2019, 13:59 »
Ive gotten messages from people who wanted my work for free, wanted to pay a dollar, and wanted a five dollar custom logo. Im back to freelancing in advertising again. 
242
« on: August 05, 2019, 14:14 »
You could leave a page up that directs people to whichever stock site gives you the biggest royalties per sale, and maybe an email address if you are available for custom shoots. I shut my symbio site down after losing a decent amount of time and money on it, and I doubt anyone ever noticed.
243
« on: June 09, 2019, 15:58 »
I disagree with many of the opinions here. Many subjects have been done to death, and its virtually impossible to compete. Maybe people folding laundry will sell well because there arent many depictions of it. (I havent checked.) The only way to find out is to upload and see.
244
« on: June 02, 2019, 13:22 »
Im not making much at my job, so I think Ill march into my bosss office and tell him Ill work for free. Thatll show him!
245
« on: May 31, 2019, 15:41 »
The big image factories will just adjust their workflow and keep uplaoding. Its the individual conributors wholl be squeezed out. Maybe they want it that way.
Can they though? Keywording seems like half the job sometimes. I can't say I've sat down and tried to work on a good workflow for tagging eps files, but it seems like the options are limited.
If youre a business with a number of employees, youll find a way to make it work...otherwise you have to fire everyone and go out of business. Earnings from other sites wouldnt make up the loss. I think SS has instructions about adding keywords to eps files.
246
« on: May 31, 2019, 10:07 »
The big image factories will just adjust their workflow and keep uplaoding. Its the individual conributors wholl be squeezed out. Maybe they want it that way.
247
« on: May 21, 2019, 08:51 »
Yeah, I'm not uploading either. They need to feel some impact...obviously complaining gets you nowhere.
248
« on: May 15, 2019, 11:30 »
also, shutterstock has begun rejecting many hand gesture signs and also words.
EDIT: soon they'll reject any white male imagery or footage because the feminists said we are misogynist and we must die.
249
« on: May 12, 2019, 17:53 »
It's really unfortunate that anyone can sue you for pretty much any reason, and even if they have no case you're forced to hire an attorney and you lose money no matter what. I've been sued twice now, for completely un-stock-related things, and though neither case had any merit whatsoever it cost me more than $10,000 overall to defend myself against nonsense. It makes me really glad I don't own a gun.
Edited to add: My last attorney came right out and said that lawsuits are a form of "legal extortion" and nobody makes money but the attorneys.
250
« on: May 11, 2019, 11:06 »
Heres an even wilder theory....the change has something to do with the new feature that allows some customers to resell our work. Maybe that requires that all jpg files be similar sizes or something. The fact that theyre doing both things at the same time must have a connection. Tinfoil hat is working fine.
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