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Topics - Monkeyman

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1
Print on Demand Forum / Help with tax form 1042-S
« on: March 22, 2016, 15:56 »
I recieved tax form 1042-S (from Getty Images) in the mail today for my income at iStock during 2015. I live in Sweden which has a tax treaty so I don't have to pay any taxes in the US. Do I still have to send this form to the american IRS?

And why do I get this from Getty when no other agency is sending out this form?

2
I've noticed that quite a few design bundle sites have popped up lately. I've also been contacted by a couple of these sites offering me to be part of their bundles, but I've said no.

The prices of their bundles are insanely low (but I'm getting used to that in this business...) and I don't know how careful they are when it comes to legal matters so it feels a bit risky. Some of the sites looks pretty fishy as well, so who knows if they would report their sales honestly, or rip you off.

But I suppose if they get thousands of downloads during the short time the bundle is for sale it could still give you a few hundred/thousand dollars, assuming they're not crooks.

So, has anyone tried these sites? If so, which of them are trustworthy? And how much did you earn?

3
I want to create my own portfolio site and I'm sick of coding myself so I thought I'd try one those all-in-one sites. I don't need the possibility to sell digital goods directly from the site. Instead I'll just add links to one of the microstock sites.

Squarespace seems to be popular. Portfoliobox looks pretty good too but it seems a bit slow. So, which sites are you people using?

4
I've been asked to create 25-30 icons, and I'm thinking about doing it since my microstock income is very bad at the moment. But I have no idea what to charge. Any experienced graphic designers here who could recommend a reasonable price?

And how much do you add to the price for selling the copyright to the customer, instead of just selling the right to use them?

5
Bigstock.com / 504 Gateway Timeout when uploading
« on: March 08, 2015, 17:27 »
Anybody else getting 504 gateway timeout all the time, when uploading with the web upload? I've had this problem for several days now, and it's the only way to upload vectors at Bigstock for some reason, so I can't upload anything at the moment...

6
Shutterstock.com / Best weekday to upload?
« on: February 20, 2015, 08:36 »
I'm going back to Shutterstock after a few years as exclusive. Does it still matter when you upload you images or have they changed their search algorithm?

I remember that it was usually a good idea to try and get the images approved in the beginning of a workweek to get the most out of that intitial search boost.

7
Illustration - General / Making EPS files smaller
« on: January 30, 2015, 09:55 »
I'm struggling trying to make my complex files smaller than 15 MB. How the heck do people do it? I have a file (somebody else's) that is 14,8 MB and I believe it was saved in CS5 (it says version 15 in the eps file).

When I'm just trying to save a copy of it, with no changes at all, the new file is 313 MB. I've tried CS5, CS6 and CC, all with the same result. So what magic trick am I missing?? This is driving me insane.

I've checked the file, and nothing has been rasterized. And there's no preview image. And I know that reducing the artboard size reduces file size but that shouldn't matter with the file I'm experimenting with, since I should get the same result as the original creator.

I did however try to make the artboard so tiny I can hardly see it at 6400% zoom (which wouldn't be accepted at the microstocm sites) but the file size only went down to 44 MB, which is still too big.

What am I missing???

8
Illustration - General / Should I upload EPS8 on any site?
« on: January 28, 2015, 14:10 »
I have been iStock exclusive for years, and when I'm now looking around a bit at the other sites (I'm soon back to independent) I've noticed that pretty much all of them seem to accept EPS10 now. Some sites maybe even require EPS10 instead of EPS8?

I'm a little confused. Should I go with EPS10 all the time, even if the file doesn't contain any transparency, or is it still a good idea to upload EPS8 if possible? How do you indies reason?

9
I'm trying to create an action in Illustrator to save AI6 files to EPS8. But when I record the action and chose "Save As..." it becomes "Save A Copy" in the action, which gives the saved file an .AI extension instead of .EPS. Why does this happen and how do I fix it??

10
Illustration - General / Safe payment as freelancer?
« on: November 30, 2014, 16:47 »
Since the microstock business is slowly dying I'm thinking of going into freelancing. But I have a couple of questions that I hope somebody can answer.

1. Which method do you use to get paid? Sending the material first and then wait for payment doesn't feel very safe. And the buyer probably doesn't want to send the money first either. So is there any middle hand service one can use for safer payments?

2. What about contract? Can I find a standard contract somewhere to start with? What do you guys use?

11
Illustration - General / Software for uploading to all sites?
« on: March 24, 2014, 07:33 »
I'm thinking about going independent again after a few years of exclusivity.

Which is the easiest way to upload vectors to all sites nowadays? I've heard of Picworkflow, Stock Uploader and GoStock. Which is better? The perfect solution would an application that automatically uploads the files the right way for each site (creating a zip file etc.). I want to be able to just create a JPG and an EPS file and then upload everywhere with one mouse click.

What method are you vector independents using?

12
I wonder how much longer this business is going to stay the same... it has to come to a point when vector artists give up and stop uploading because the return per image is just too low (I'm getting closer and closer to that point every day...  :( ). What will happen to the microstock sites then? In the long run they're doomed without new images.

Will they raise prices? Start deleting hundreds of thousands of the ugliest low sellers and get rid of all the amateur contributors? Or will we all be ousted by talented illustrators in developing countries who are willing to work 15 hours a day for a few dollars?

As contributors we could of course "protest" by stop selling at the cheapest sites (like Yuri did a while ago), but there will always be too many masochistic contributors who like to give away their work for nothing at sites like Shutterstock and Vectorstock.

13
iStockPhoto.com / Increase in vector prices again...
« on: June 12, 2013, 07:22 »
I just noticed that all my best sellers have been raised to 20 credits from 15. Don't know how it will affect sales yet, but it doesn't seem like a very smart move to me... Some of the files have only had one or none sales in June, compared to around 10 downloads in May (altough I can't tell for sure when they raised the prices).

This desperate hunt for short term profits is stressing me out... there is NO doubt any longer that iStock is on its way down, and yet they're pushing prices up to get whatever profit they can before the ship has sunk completely.

Any other vectorians who have noticed price increases? And can you see any difference in sales after the increase?

14
iStockPhoto.com / "Credit" button gone
« on: November 19, 2012, 17:39 »
For a short while the price at iStock was only showed in USD. The credit button was gone. I logged in and the credits button where there again. Logged out and it was still there. Very mysterious indeed. :)

Did anyone else see it? Doesn't seem like a possible browser error to me.

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