I am new to StockXpert so have no idea how well I will go. DT has been going backwards for me in sales despite the fact I am building the portfolio, and SS sales are dependent on keeping the uploads going.

Where I want to go in the future is on the sites like Alamy.

Dude.... StockXpert has been picking up for me...  I'm seeing more and more sales with them going to Jupiter and ... the flippin name escapes me....  one of the other of their affiliates.   So just for round numbers... maybe I've jumped up in total sales ..roughly, guessing... 20-25% thru the affiiates? (if I wasnt so lazy, I'd go get some actual numbers for you.. but sufficient to say, I'm happy with the increase) 
         ...   hey, i'll take it. 

of all the sites I would bail out of...  StockXpert  is not on the list.  =tom

What has bothered me with the same IS emails I'm getting....  is the words they are objecting to...
          I never uploaded!!   Heck,  some of them aren't even in my vocabulary! So,where'd they come from?   I mailed back those sentiments several days ago but have not gotten a reply. =tom

p.s.  I agreed with their observations, the words weren't applicable,  but the fact remains,  those words aren't in my data base, I didn't upload them.

Guess I'm turning into one of them nasty "pro's" that all the microstockers hate.

Seren... I guess this is the point of the whole discussion as of late.  You can be a 'pro'  and not be nasty.
   You had mentioned that your grandfather was a photographer. Was he pro? Was he nasty?
      You are an accomplished, published photographer. I would venture to guess that you learned something if not much from your grandfather, whether by direct guidance or by observation of his work [ I don't know your circumstances],  but at the very least, you were probably influenced by him to some degree.
   If it was direct, how did he handle you.  If you were not fortunate to spend time with him,  do you know how he handled others that wanted to learn the craft, be it pro or just hobby?

      That's one of the problems universally on this planet.  Some who become accomplished have a tendency to  'look down'  on those that are not so accomplished.  Some are gifted and talented... some are not.  Just because one has become successful in  their craft is no reason to  be demeaning to those that aren't.
    In this case...  we don't know Kane,  the person who made the original comment in the thread.  Maybe he is a person who just got into the biz because he read he could make a quick buck with a point&shoot. Maybe he has no talent, no experience at all..... He could very well be one of those that thinks because a dige-cam can do a lot of the tech of photography, that    everything he shoots is utterly fantastic.....
    And then again, maybe he's a guy thats been shooting pro photog for decades and now decided to try his hand at stock photography.
    The point of that?   There are plenty of pro photographers out there and some on this forum who have been pro for years and years...  ones who had to attack the learning curve between film and dige. Some who made a good living but then wanted to get into this stock thing on the side and had to learn the idiosyncracies of stock.
 The fact is, there are lifelong,  high paid, successful pros right here on this forum that......   had  a  problem  getting  into  SS.  Getting shot down by SS once, twice, five times   IS NOT  indicative of ones professional talents as a photographer.   Like many, I was accepted on the first try at  IS, Alamy, StockXpert, ... 14 agencies... Jupiter is selling my work.. I have had featured magazine articles developed around my photography... books, national advertisments, gov't agencies, lobbying groups in D.C. , heck, the list goes on and continues to expand...   SO WHAT??    .... and it took me... I think, four times to get into SS.   This is not bragging,  I know there are many here that can say the very same and even more,even greater.

      SS reviewers are not the be all, end all  authority on how talented you are as  a photog.

     Seren,  Be all that you can be,  more power to you, may you have greater success than you even do now...    but please........   DON'T turn into one of those very things that we DO all hate around here.  A bitter, nasty 'pro'. Share your talent and knowledge and be encouraging to newbies....
     If they have no talent, sooner or later they will find that out on their own. On the other hand, you may by squelching someone that has talent and could possibly be the next ... Ansel Adams  or whoever...   
   If I came on too nasty myself in my comments to you... I apologize. Just trying to grab your attention on the matter... I wish you success in your new ventures.

 Peace.  =tom

 

Quote from: Dirk Diggler on September 13, 2008, 08:04

Take your photos honey and go RM and submit to say, Alamy and you'll be at your kitchen table with your camera and coffee alright pouting over your rash of rejections. Your statement and theory leads no credibility to your said statement and is self-appointed elitism and pompous without purpose.

quote Seren:
Honey, I already DO submit to Alamy.  I'm in the process of removing all my micro photos because they don't make me nearly as much as alamy and other specialist agencies for my sports and military work.

And I'll say this.  It was easier to get accepted at Alamy than iStock.  I've not had a rejection on Alamy yet.

geez... seren...    you're really knowing how to win friends and influence people. On the other hand,  it is obvious that you don't care to anyway.

To KANE and the original question... YES,  keep trying. I too went 2, 3 rounds with SS before getting in  and....  in the end, it really had nothing to do with taking  10  good shots, as someone once said.
  I'm not 23. I'm 60 and I've been shooting 35mm since I was 13. I think I take a 'pretty good' photo and evidently so do many others that give me good money(4 digits for a dozen shots) for my stuff.  Wow, some are with Alamy, gee golly.  SO? I also am at Alamy and I also sell with Jupiter now too....  and I wouldn't even dream of pulling my SS account!!  Dude, free money and lots of it!!!  Anyone not making money with SS must have one of two things, mediocre photos or an miniscule folio.
 I also make a great deal more money free lancing and contract sales direct to publishing companies...   SO WHAT?  Who doesn't on this forum, a minority I believe and most likely because they are new to the biz and if they stick with it they will too. .
Most of the folks here on MSG all make big bucks outside of microstock. Many here are with the big macro agencies ( Jupiter, Getty, Corbis...). Most here are professional photogs in that it is their only source of income, their career.  Yet here we are pushing material into microstock. Why? It's easy money with little effort.
  And many here have been photogs for decades!!  Not a few years. You may do as you please. As for me, when I got into the micro biz specific, I learned most of what I needed to know right here on MSG. There  is plenty of wise counsel and long term experience to draw on.  Listen to it.

AND back to the original point... SS  is worth it. Once you are in and build up your folio, you too will be cashing checks on a regular basis. ....for no work beyond the intial upload. Keep trying, you'll get in!!

P.S.  to Seren...   it's a shame. Just before I came on this thread,  I actually complimented you in another.  There,  you were telling folks how foolish they were to pull their photos from nonproductive sites in the short term.  They should stay and have patience, you implied.   Yet in this thread... you tell us you are now removing your photos from microstock....
       Humm..I don't understand... Guess I took too many drugs at Woodstock... and I'm now just a confused old man......                yeah, right. 

Perhaps  YOU should go away for a few months and learn how to be a better person. =tom

sales as usual,  but extremely fast reviews. =tom

bit off topic, but I didn't see any recent threads on this........ but....

I haven't uploaded to StockXpert in some time.... just did so and saw approval within a couple hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the immortal words of Darth Vadar, 'Most Impressive"    KUDOS TO StockXpert!!!!!!!!!!!   =tom

Sorry, Tom.  I didn't see your question until someone revived this thread today.  "Out this way" is the Rocky Mountains of Colorado - Colorado Springs to be more specific.  Pikes Peak is my "backyard."   

Ah... now you're talkin'!!    I totally enjoyed Colorado last time I passed through in 05.  On the way out we were on the California Zypher, what a ride in the Rockies (the sierra nevada was sweet as well).  We passed back thru via SUV and it was just non-stop beauty!!  My whole family are outdoors freaks...our vacations and any time off, we are in a state or national park,  or picking our way thru the wilds.
..... of course me shooting pix all the way!! =tom

I got 100% of them rejected as overabundant and at the same time they took couple of my object photos. I guess need to switch to macro of objects.

You may have hit on a bad day.....     While my association with FT was limited...   they did accept some of my landscape work... but as Peter said.... it has to be exceptional...  not that I thought mine were...
You might try again in a couple weeks, see if the mood has changed. I've always found it amusing how  what is and what is not stock/commercial/whatever...  changes from week to week..  same with "got too many".....

Landscape will sell... it's the bulk of my portfolio,  you just have to find a niche with a landscape customer base.    Keep at it.  =tom

Tom, you don't mention Fotolia.  They are one of my better sellers.

Are you not seeing sales there?  Just curious why they aren't on your list of keepers...

Not to bad mouth FT  and keep beating a dead horse...  sufficient to say, I started out with FT back in the day, I think my 3rd agency..   I'm primarily a landscape/travel shooter...which has its own niche and doesn't do well with some agencies... I understand and accept. No prob.

However I have enough 'other'  shots to round out my folio... and started to sell  at FT on a limited basis...  but... one day..  my credits all disappeared. They were being spent buying...  of course not by me.

This happened twice. To be fair... after emails and phone calls to NYC,  I got my credits restored,  however not without hassle and expense, which expense wasn't even covered by the photo sales..  I also couldn't get an explanation as to why it happened once, let alone twice.  On the    second time,  I pulled all my pix except for one.  And as of this day, once in awhile it sells,  sitting there all by itself.

Maybe one day FT will get tired of having server space set aside for my one picture account,  close it and send me a check for $15 bucks or whatever. And if not... perhaps my granddaughter will some day collect when the one pic hits payout.... LOL LOL...... and THAT  is why I didn't mention FT.

Everyone else seems to love 'em..   that's cool.  May the force be with them.  I bear no hard feelings, it's just business.  LOL    =tom

VISTA!!!!!   AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH....    I just  got a new  work-horse for my office geared and built for the photo  biz!!!!    Vista!!!   I hate it!!    I deeply regret that I did not spend the extra few bucks and go MAC.....

VISTA!!!!!!!!!!!    AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH

I'm back on the older faithful XP machine and happy. One thing I never considered is the 64 bit.  Can't get some of my fav fat 32 programs to run on it.... and....can't get 64 versions......  maybe it's just me? 

Must admit though...it does put up a pretty pic  on the 26" flatscreen...

VISTA!!!  AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!    LOL     =tom

It's a wild ride with lots of turns....   you know,  every comment above contradictory as some may be...  are correct in some form or another.  You all have valid points.

Isn't the whole thing a crap shoot anyway?  We have some that can't stand SS or IS, they feel like they are floundering there...  while others are making 90% of their income off of the two or even one.  Some DT is tops,  me, DT is one of the lowest.  It all depends on your folio and what the customer base is at the agency.

I first went with  USPS...   for me,  biggest mistake I made since being in the biz.  With them..  what? well over a year,  made a couple bucks that I never got.   Lucky Oliver, I had high hopes, invested a lot of time and effort....   they went belly up.  Incidentally,  my payout from them back the end of June still isn't in my bank account... lost in limbo somewhere between them, paypal and my bank.... so I'm still paying the price for my LO investment.   I'm assured it will be found....we'll see.  I know I've already spent far, far more in my time than the eighty some bucks I have coming....  or not.

I went with  a few others....  didn't see squat in sales....   Read others horror stories with the start-ups  (including so-called name brand associates like snappy).....  and decided no to them.

frankly,  I'm more than gun-shy now.  I have no plans to upload to 123,  been there over a year and haven't hit payout yet. Once I hit payout, I'll be shutting it down.  ...  and a couple more... I'll load to no more.   I'm sticking with IS, SS, StockXpert, DT & BigStock,  that is, they are the only sites  I'm uploading to now.  And of them,  IS & SS  will get first shot... in my spare   time I'll load the other three.  The rest,  soon as I hit next payout,  I'm shutting each of them down.  Some,  my folio is so small and sales so little,  I'll probably just 'eat' the money and pull the plug anyway. It's not worth my time to go checking them.

This is my view.  I'm not fulltime stock shooting.  I'm doing well shooting assignment for mags. Spreading myself over a dozen or more micros,  I just don't have the time and my portfolio just doesn't bring the return.  I'll be sticking with my big five.

On the other hand... I understand the views of those that see potential in the upstarts.   To you guys,  may the force be with you.   I must admit that   IF....   IF  I see all the things in place that I want to see in an upstart.... maybe, perhaps, could be...  I might consider it.

Never say Never.  =tom

sorry...  i'm on my way to work and i don't have time to read all seven pages of this thread...... but i just read an email from StockXpert  thanking me for my participation in the 'town hall' meeting....... and my comments....

which i did not participate in and obviously, didn't comment.

question:  was this just a blanket email to all members? did you all get one even if you did not participate?     curious.   =tom

I know this is going to come across  a la MIZ (and let me say, that's not a bad thing for me, I'm a fan of MIZmania)...... and I'm sure I'll tick off someone somewhere.... but
 
I clicked onto Photos.com.... searched up some 'nature' shots, specifically National Parks.....  and I have to say (with all ego aside).... I WAS NOT impressed with a good majority of the pix I found.

Steve,  what is the criteria for the selection process to move from the StockXpert base into Photos.com???

One more point to that end...  I am primarily a nature shooter. I have had a boatload of images shot down simply for  "not stock", "don't need"....la la la...   And see those very types of images here on Photos.com.... and not very good ones at that.  I'm not a rejection complainer...   if StockXpert/Jupiter/Photos...whatever, don't want nature shots... fine.   I can deal with that. I understand that micros are not  a particularly good vehicle for nature sales.
     But when I see stuff there and sorry, ....but specific images that I have superior work...    I wonder about many reviews in the past couple years.

rant done.   and please MSG guys and gals,  I am truly a humble guy and do not walk around with the misconception that I am a world class photog.  I'm not.  Far from it!!!  But you don't have to be the world's expert to tell the difference between a technically lousy shot and one that isn't. Or, poor composition.  We do that with our own work every day.  And in the nature fields, while there are fantastic images for sale there....   there are also  some pretty unimpressive, poor quality pix there,  even... the dreaded... snapshots.

 Just MHO   =tom