You've got some good images, but maybe try looking at your portfolio and shoot subjects that have generated the most sales - iterate on the ones that are most profitable.

Try to distance yourself from the competition by constantly raising the bar of your photography - look at advertising images for inspiration.

Ask yourself - how can I make this image stand out (in a good way) to a buyer?

Hope this helps!

Quote from: shotupdave on March 22, 2013, 17:57
To tell you the truth I would have felt better if you would have participated in other conversations before trying to sell us your services.

Absolutely fair comment, and I can understand that totally. To be honest, it's more of a time thing...

Here's an open invitation to anyone to contact me with questions etc and Id be more than happy to respond and help...

Quote from: michaeldb on March 22, 2013, 16:51
IMHO getting how-to-succed-in-microstock advice from an iS exclusive is like requesting cruise ship recommendations from a passenger on the Titanic. 

:-) Im watching what happens like everyone else....

Thanks for all the positive replies everyone - I want to put something really good together and take you through the whole process from start to finish. Hopefully this will be done over the next few months.

@rubyroo - Im not trying to sell anything right now, just seeing what the interest is like....I wouldn't like to break the rules :-)

Quote from: sharpshot on March 21, 2013, 09:54
The site looks like the millions of other get rich quick scheme sites.  I think you should scrap it and make something that looks more professional that will make people think about paying you for professional advice.  But I do wonder why you have the need to do this at all?  Have earnings become that bad with istock?  Isn't it more fun to produce your own images than tell other people how to do it so that they can become your competitors and take away some of your earnings?

Perhaps you think that the get rich quick website will attract the kind of person that will part with their money but will soon realise its not easy to make good money and will give up?  That might make sense.

Thanks! Good to know this. I hear what you are saying, and believe it or not, was the opposite of what I intended! I wanted to it motivate people and get them interested but definitely make it sound like it's a make $million in 2 minutes with no effort.

Apologies on the spam - that was me pressing the wrong button by mistake. It wasn't even a formatted email!!

Thanks a lot for these comments, Im going to have a redesign/rethink....as someone said once...Ill be back!

@luissantos84 - If you do everything in that ebook (and also learn my compositing techniques :-) ), you could have the SAME income

Hi guys

Many thanks for the replies

@ruigsantos - thanks. I did consider whether to add in images, but deliberately just put a link to my portfolio rather than use images, so people would go and look. I hear you though, It may be stronger with images in there.

@goober - yes, no BS. If I didn't I would not feel like I had anything new to offer in an ebook/training

@luissantos84 - The simple answer is that if I can help other photographers that Im more than willing to share via training. Ive got the kind of mind that needs to do lots of things :-)

What Id like to do is provide training, both free and some at a low cost to those that are interested. As you can tell, Im a microstocker first, but also very entrepreneurial, so just exploring other avenues.

What I also want to do is provide something that I wish I had when I started, and also give something that is of real value back. Yes, you are right, it probably won't all be free, but I do hope to provide free content. Compare to other training such as DVD's from gnomonworkshop, Lynda.com or books on compositing.

Im more than happy to share technique and secrets and the price Im thinking is along the lines of the above, not $,000's. If Im going to be training the competition I want to get paid for it :-)

Im a full time contributor at istock http://www.istockphoto.com/peepo

Im thinking of putting together some tutorials on image compositing and retouching if people are interested.

Would anyone be interested in learning how to create images like this:

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-21868791-baseball-player.php?st=fa525a8
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-22436021-paris-lovers.php?st=fa525a8
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-20222165-american-football-action.php?st=fa525a8

That's a great question! I've been full time for 4 years now...

I've just written an ebook, Microstock Millionaire for beginners and advanced microstockers alike that has tips on how to increase your income (it's free too)

http://www.beaprofessionalphotographer.com

Im open to any suggestions, so please just let me know what you'd like to know about and Id be more than happy to help

Quote from: shotupdave on March 19, 2013, 23:37
Why do I feel like I just downloaded a infomercial by don lepre

haha! I hope I don't end up the same :-)

Im open to suggestions/comments - please just let me know if you think the style is off-putting, and let me know if there is anything else you want to know about - Im more than happy to put together a video/podcast/ebook on topics that are of interest

Quote from: sjlocke on March 19, 2013, 11:23
Nice compositing and lighting work, definitely.  The crowd and signage elements leave a bit to be desired in some places.

:-) Thanks mate!

Thanks for your comments guys and for taking the time to download and read the book. First off, Im a real microstocker and have been shooting full time for the last 3 years and yes ALL the claims that I have made are absolutely true. Im not trying to scam anyone or get their credit card details, although feel free to send me money :-)

The reason for the email address is in absolutely honesty, yes I am trying to build an email list, so that I can provide and offer more photography and microstock related content, much of it for FREE. ALL related to microstock and photography and also stuff that will be useful and helpful to others. If you don't want/need this, then feel free to put in a fake email, absolutely no problem at all.

But, why would I do that, what's in it for me? I remember when I started out and those times I emailed established photographers and I never got any help or advice from people that already made it. Also photographers tend to closely guard their "secrets" and not be that collaborative, so Id like to do a little bit to change that.

Please do let me know what you'd like to know more about and to those that did put a valid email address in, Id be more than happy to share anything to do with microstock, photoshop, techniques - just let me know what you would like!

@rckirk - Ill possibly produce some more stuff that is not free, but if you don't want this, please do not buy! Don't take what I say at face value, please test it yourself. Everything free will be totally self contained and you are very welcome to take it and use it to help you and your photography grow. I wish you all the best

Thanks for the kind comments!! I forgot the link!!

Here it is:

http://www.beaprofessionalphotographer.com

If you just fill in the email and name addresses, you'll get an email confirmation and them be able to download.

Im really interested to hear what subjects you are interested in, and what you would like to know about. Please feel free to contact me direct if you prefer...

Dont get too hung up on RPI - I never use it at all myself as I don't think it's useful to YOU, but just means people can compare their portfolios to others.

If I shoot 100 images, and upload them all, but only 10 start to make money, so $10, my RPI is $10/100 = $0.1

but what if I'd only decided to upload 10, and these made $2, then my RPI would be: $2/10 = $0.2 (2 x the RPI)

or, how about I then delete the 90 images that are not selling, then my RPI is $10/10 = $1

NOTE: In every case, you have not taken into account if you are making money or not from this shoot, so for that reason Id rather use ROI for the shoot.

If this shoot costs me $500 in model and prop fees, and I've made $10, then Im still $490 out of pocket. I would monitor these images, to see if (and how fast) I get a return from it. Then I know which shoots are most profitable..

Hope this helps...

Hi

I've been shooting stock for 3 years now full time, and have just put together an ebook for people new to stock. It's all free and contains all the things that I wish I had have known when I started, but have had to learn through trial and error and experience. There  is no "hidden secrets" but hopefully you will find it very useful.

I intend to produce more videos, guides etc - all for free, to help the stock community. Please contact me and let me know if there is anything you would like to know about.

My portfolio is here:

www.istockphoto.com/peepo

Thanks