The question is if we as photographers could do a more coordinated effort to promote FP. It would be in everybody's interest, even those who don't submit to them, since success for FP would put a pressure on commissions.

I agree that McGetty won't care though, and that probably goes for McCorbis as well. As much  as I like the system at SV, they are surprisingly unresponsive to feedback.

The G9 is noisier than my A620??? give me a break... I don't have the G9 but it's got to be much better than that camera.

The G9 isn't necessarily better with regards to noise. With 12MP vs. 7MP on nearly the same sensor size, it's hard to keep the noise at the same low level. I used the even older A95 for my first microstock photos. Never had a single reject for noise, and at least one of my top sellers are taken with that camera. The top models of the A-series have always been very good cameras.

What may save the G9, is the RAW format, but then it will be a question of which RAW converter etc.

It is absolutely time to do  some thinking. IS is a tricky case, since they sell well, and generate a decent income for many, in spite of the 20%.

One of my targets for 2008 will be to get rid of all subscriptions sites, and that includes SS. The problem is DT, which does well for me with non-subscription sales, and has no opt out possibility. The way I see it, subscription sales are much more destructive for the business as a whole, than microstock in general. Subscriptions enable customers to build large image archives that reduces the need to download photos in the future and thus our profit potential.

One thing that we can all do to help, is to stop linking to those agencies that pay the lowest, and at the same time use all available means to promote sites where we have a higher cut and/or can choose pricing structure ourselves. FP is an obvious choice, but SV is in my view also a positive contribution, although 30% is too little.

But a good third from my income at LO comes from EL-sales you don't need a sideshow for that.

Unfortunately, since I've 1 - one - sale at LO between 10 October and 25 December, generating the impressive amount of 00.30 American Dollars, your argument about EL's doesn't hit me as particularly relevant for my future there.

The reason may obviously be that my photos are crap, which is unfortunate for those friendly customers who buy them at other agencies.

Karimala pointed that out already. It's the search engine, stupid. Me thinks that LO relies too heavily on the commenting game for ranking the search results. Bad move. I never liked their commenting game. Have no time for that.

I agree. I'm not opposed to do marketing work on my stock portfolios, but then it has to be direct, and targeted towards my complete portfolio, like on FP, not some children's game that may or may not have positive influence on my sales.

The agency I think will show the greatest DECLINE in 2008 (relative to the industry) is Shutterstock as it becomes a victim of its own business strategy.

I don't agree with you on every point, but on this one, I'm with you. SS used to grow like an explosion. Now, I'm looking at my worst month this year, and the reason is obvious: they have flooded the market with ultra-cheap images. Now, everybody have them, and don't need to download more.

Snapvillage has an obvious potential. I just had my first 10 dollar sale there, and they're still in beta.

Featurpics, but only if photographers helps by promoting their portfolio there. For me, that's an obvious thing to do since they generate the best profit per sale.

Bigstock has been developing nicely, and with their new price structure, they have the potential to become a proper earner.

And as for Lucky Oliver: to me, the only thing they have proved so far, is that they are good at designing websites. Unfortunately, their abilities to sell my images are close to zero. It's like driving a Ferrari with no engine: completely useless.

Seems to me they have a problem. Thumbnails are not showing up.

Speaking of SS - I have been unable to log in for the past 24hrs

Anyone else having problems?

Nope, works great here.

My most sold photo at SS has 205 downloads and has earned $73.90
At IS, the same photo has 161 downloads, but has earned more, $98.57

My most sold photo at IS has 175 Downloads and has earned $117.28
That photo has sold 107 times at SS, earning $30.10

This is absolutely food for thought, and the headline "Feeding the Beast" is very appropriate. Although SS is still my biggest earner, the lead is shrinking rapidly, and my best photos earn much more money elsewhere.

If this trend continues, it's just a question of time before I have to ask myself how to handle this, either by limiting uploads at SS to medium quality volume sellers, or by planning an exit some time in the future. I can't see myself uploading photos to SS on a daily basis for the rest of my life, and even if older photos sell well also, they apparently need new uploads to spur new interest in my portfolio.

My earnings at FP the last 30 days have been $8.03. Not much, but compared to my earnings at LO, which are $8.40 the last 12 months, it's relatively good. More than 10 times as good, to be more precise.

Comparing agencies that way doesn't bring more money in the bank, but it does show which ones to leave first, if changes are to be made. Uploading to sites that have low sales and pay less than 50% to the photographer is probably just a waste of time. For me, that places LO firmly on the "cancel list". If they can't make any progress after one year, they probably never will.

Although FP is not perfect,  and their marketing must be somewhat lacking, the 70% cut and the photographer-friendly system makes me stay. A friendly, generous attitude buys them a lot of time. LO's fancy interface and big mouth don't.

Still, there is something happening. Last year, I had a BME at SS in December, in spite of low sales the last week.

This is interesting. Until a couple of months ago, SS was only outsold by one of the other for one or two single days the last 18 months, except when there was an EL involved.

Now in December, it has been outsold by one of the others a few times already, and so far today, it's trailing way behind IS and DT with FT just 0.10 behind.

Statistically, this is my worst month at SS since January this year, while my total sales is currently the second best ever, month to date after the 12th.