Geopappas - Big growth would be expected though as in that time, Andrer, Forgiss, shatteredlens, Rinder and many others with 1000's of photos joined and uploaded all their photos.

Especially with how easy it is to upload, they could increase very quickly as the big players come on board and dump their portfolios in.  Other sites which are more of a hassle wont increase as quickly.

It has been a good month.� Not quite as good as last month but is better if you exclude the two extended license sales that I got.

Below are percentages for the month and since I began so you can see that they are pretty consistant:

32%� �28% shutterstock
19%� �23% dreamtime
14%� � 9% fotolia
 7%� � 6% istockphoto�
 6%� �12% bigstockphoto
 5%� � 5% 123RF
13%� �10% StockXpert
 0%� � 0% Canstock
 4%� � 6% Featurepics
 
shutterstock and dreamtime� are still my best two.
 
However, my pick of the month is fotolia.� Sales are increasing and they are growing at a great speed - they will probably be the first to 1 million photos so that whould attract buyers.

Thanks for your reply.  I have submitted my first three and will probably put up a few more to test the water.However I will probably wait on uploading the bulk of them until IPTC so keep us informed.

Good luck - lets hope your site is anotehr winner.

A 30% royalty is extremely low for a new (unproven) microsite without any real business (as of yet).

Jumping on a bandwagon, 123RF which is also a new site is offering a start up special that all new phototags (not just exclusives) get 50%. They will only drop to there normal scale(with existing still getting the 50%) once they beleive they have a good base of photos.

What is the deal with Luckyoliver.  From memory you only got paid from per picture sales, not subscription sales.

Are y ou getting any sales??

Geopappas - I see you point but as the categories are quite wide, wouldn't designers just use keywords, and therefore if designers only use keywords, then all the categorisation that is done is completely in vain.

I can only assume that the sites monitor if the category system is being used and if it wasn't, they would get rid of it.

I have just done the rounds on the forums today and noted that someone has posted the below quote on SS, Fotolia and Dreamtime (haven't cheaked any others).

What is everyones opinions on categories.� I personally dont see the point,� searching by keywords is surely more helpfull??

do we really need categories anymore? On other sites categories are already optional why not on Dreamstime. If a buyer really wants to browse through categories there are already more than enough pictures in the categories. If a contributor thinks he can improve his selling chances he/she should still be able to add categories but again why not optional. For the serious non-exclusive contributors time for uploading and categorizing really become an issue and i personally can't see any sense in the categories anymore. Dreamstime categories are one of the hardest and most timeconsuming categories and costs me a lot of time therefore i didn't upload for months. Please help me to save me some time it's really in your own interest.
Instead of (IMHO useless) categories it would be great to spend the time to add thumbnails under a picture to show buyers a full serie.
Best Regards

Depends on the shot.  ie if they add 1000 photos a day, it wont be on the new photos page for very long but it will be at the top of a keyword search for a while.  ie. submit a photo of a "car". only once a page full of new "car" shots are added will it be bumped onto the next page.

you have to factor in the "new image effect" plus the "regular image effect".  "regular image effect" should be constant give or take the ebb and flow and being superseeed by a simalar but better shot.  new image declines quickly.  So on average, it will be on a declining basis.

And remember, it is easier to double your portfolio when it only has 10 photos in it compared to 1000.

iStocks one only applies if you go exclusive.

123rf also do it but they are currently giving everyone the top ranking of 50%.  Once that expires it goes down to 20% and you will need dl to increase from there.

Most others are giving you 50% or more already so unlikely to increase.

They have extended liscense that they sell via their site for $20. 

They also license to other sites that sell on a per picture basis.  You get 20% of the royalty for these per picture sales.

Since no one could answer the last question, have a go at this one:

What sites does Shutterstock license too?

They wont kick you off for ratios but they do give warnings.  If you receive (6 I think) they make you reapply.  If you get warnings then investigage more carefully but for now you are safe.  My ratio is probably about 605 as well as I try to get as much on to SS as possible as it always amazes me what sells.  I also use it as a test for the IS which I find stricter and is more difficult to upload (though I have just started using imagemanager).

Wouldn't work on a SLR since the sensor is only visable for a fraction of a second.  On longer shutters it might effect but depends on how fast their processor is to detect the sensor amoung all other shiny objects.  Also not sure about beaming a blinding light at people (could be some good personal injury cases in the US)

I am doing better this month than last.  However I am still trying to get half way towards my Bronze badge.

Congrats on the Silver badge.  I cant wait to get the larger payout increment - it goes up 2% per badge.