Deb, you have thoroughly embarrassed me . But let me try to explain.

First of all, if we are modest its because we know you dont have to be talented to do well in microstock. You just have to know the ropes.

The other thing is that people like Mihai, myself, Doug Jensen, and remember Iain Campbell with the great model release video port? - are just a few people that come to mind. The common thing is that we all started about the same time - around 2012 to 2013. Why is this important? For one thing, it was a great time to start. There was still quite a bit of competition back in those days, which is important because you need that in order to keep upping your game.

On the other hand, the people who started before us were used to easy street. Back in the beginning when a good stock pic went to the top of the search - it stayed there (forever) depending solely on how many dls it had. So, when things got tough, a lot of them were not willing to change.

When we came along, was the time SS first changed their algorithm and boy did that hurt a lot of people. But the newcomers like us, learnt from it. Also, I remember having all these arguments with Lauren at the time about what sold and what didn't. I started getting 1,000+ DLs on SS a month, and he was trailing behind me, but we still had these arguments. Long story. The older group were not willing to change.

The other thing about the people I know who started then and did well, was we learnt from reviewers rejections. They were even tougher back then, and it was another thing that made or broke you.

And thirdly, we played to our strengths, and we got better and better at knowing how to use them for microstock. Mihai of course is an engineer and brilliant at technical stuff, I come from a business and graphic design background, Iain started off as a model and then learnt video from one of the top video contributors in the industry at the time. Doug had a strong background in video.

So, the question is, can it still be done again if you start today? I know its getting more and more difficult.  SS pulling the rug out of people's feet with their rates restructure has made it even worse. But there is still money to be made with new uploads, and ways to get around all the low subs I have found. And it all comes back to what you shoot, and how to be just that bit different to the rest of the crowd.

So in a nutshell: Play to your strengths, always check with what's already on the database, don't shoot what everyone's shooting, keep learning, keep improving your skills, keep upping your game, and do research. In fact there's heaps and heaps of subject matter that I find every day that is popular on social media and not well covered on the microstock databases.**

And dont listen to all the complaints. It will bring you down. Productivity and negativity don't go well together.

And finally, always remember you are not competing against a million other contributors. You are only competing with those who shoot the same subject matter as you - or rather, those who have the same keywords as you. Puts it all in perspective then.



ETA: ** This is important because advertisers know they have to follow social media trends to sell their products to them - and we (as the stock providers) are there to provide them with that content. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! lol

Quote from: MotionDesign on February 04, 2021, 14:50

Ok, thanks Matt!
Tomorrow i'll contact the customer service 

OK good luck. I asked around and it sounds like you may incur a penalty for early cancelation of your single app subscription. There is an FAQ at the bottom of the page I shared. This is a relevant statement for others with similar questions.

If your paid plan is different from the selected Creative Cloud bonus, it may make sense to delay the redemption until the paid plan is up for renewal, because otherwise both plans run in parallel and you may not get the benefit from the complimentary plan.

Mat

Quote from: k_t_g on October 27, 2020, 22:44

I know how to do them my self. But I've only uploaded some pretty simple ones, since I don't have the right graphics and probably sound card for more elaborate animations.

 Then again I never bothered to make any more or upload simple animations to SS since they really weren't profitable for me any how. Probably most stock places want more elaborate looking ones anyways.

Free or cheep software is not too much of a problem to find. Set up is no problem these days either. Fairly easy to put together yourself. 

Can you recommend a free software that can create animations suitable for stock? I would give it another try if I find the right tools. Thanks!

I propose that you limit the maximum number of downloads to 10 photos per day, 2 videos, 5 illustrations ... and add 1 extra free per photo purchased with real money

I have a question, i'm new user in Cinema 4D, Could i use free textures for my models and sell the renders of models on microstock? Sorry for my bad english. I speak spanish.

Quote

isn't profitable, just do
something else

if you dont like the wage just **** off
unfortunately this is the mindset of all corporations ...
if theres no legally minimum or etc you will end at zero,
so yes, you can do something else for zero ...