|
MicrostockGroup Sponsors
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Messages - steppysteph
51
« on: June 12, 2008, 13:02 »
Hi, I was adding my vectors to the lightboxes and a thought suddenly occured to me... is it ok to add vectors to your lightboxes? Or you need photos only? If you don't accept please remove my vector. I'm new at this lightbox thingy and took days to figure out how to do it. Haha!
52
« on: June 12, 2008, 08:38 »
I was wondering the same thing the other day, will try a few searches later today. But I certainly won't keyword especially for fotolia. As you said it's risky to start using only 7 keywords due to the possible change in the search) but also since less keywords means less searches that bring customer to your file. What is better, to be 50 times on page 10 or 3 times on page 1?
My old images have more views than my new images, also because when I first started, I only have a few keywords. but my better vectors are my latest ones so I have to delete and re keyword the latest files. You can't rekeyword or delete keywords on FT. You can only mix the order of keywords.
Oh I meant I deleted my files in the queue and "re-keyworded" it! Haha! Anyway what I mean is I started fresh. It was easy because I only had 5 files in the queue and I would just have to pick 7-10 keywords for each. But if you have hundreds of files in the queue, it's probably not easy. Or you could just choose the best ones and re-do it.
53
« on: June 12, 2008, 04:40 »
I will do a few keywords only and try out if it works. At least I want to see improved "views" even if not "downloads". At least I know the problem is with me and not the search engine.
My old images have more views than my new images, also because when I first started, I only have a few keywords. but my better vectors are my latest ones so I have to delete and re keyword the latest files.
Ill see if it would work.
54
« on: June 10, 2008, 04:34 »
That would be easy to achieve! You'll get it in less than 24 hours! congrats!
55
« on: June 09, 2008, 22:37 »
I added some of my illustrations to lightboxes. Yes, of course it is always producing quality files that will make it sell. I guess I am still new at this and don't know what really sells. Sometimes its the easy files to create that sells. I have less than a month's experience in selling illustrations so hopefully I'll get better at this soon. Thanks!
56
« on: June 07, 2008, 10:17 »
I still don't have a niche so I don't know what lightbox to create... but I will do that! Thanks!
57
« on: June 06, 2008, 07:47 »
I also wanted to be part of a lightbox and trying to figure out how to do it... but I think you can only get into a lightbox if the moderator of the lightbox adds you or you are the starter of the lightbox. Not sure though...
Thanks for the help!
58
« on: June 05, 2008, 21:22 »
How do you improve vector sales in each of the following sites?
Currently, my best selling site is SS. As I understand, as long as you constantly upload in SS, you get better sales. So what about other sites?
Fotolia?
Stockxpert?
123Rf?
iStockphoto?
I get minimal sales in all other 4 sites. I am not sure what I could do to improve sales. Any styles?
59
« on: June 05, 2008, 13:19 »
Are the earnings same as or higher than credit sales?
60
« on: June 04, 2008, 23:52 »
I don't need an office or studio to be happy. There are only a few things I need.
1.) Most comfortable chair
2.) Big Monitor/LCD screen
3.) Well lit place
4.) Big Table
Currently, I just take my Macbook, place it on the bed, I lay on my stomach, grab the mouse, and start illustrating. I know, such a crappy way of doing it and my elbows and back hurts after 5 straight hours of illustrating! Hahaha!
61
« on: June 03, 2008, 23:41 »
How's your vector sales in Fotolia? I am having a bad time selling vectors in Fotolia. What's the style here? Is is like SS wherein you should constantly upload to get more views/ sales?
Even my views are even very low... so what's your style?
62
« on: June 03, 2008, 04:29 »
What! Was there a newsletter about it? Anyway still no sales.. darn.. what's the "style" in fotolia (in SS you should always upload).
Andresr, what's the name of the subscription site in Asia?
63
« on: May 31, 2008, 13:59 »
Wow ironarrow, 1500 in a month from vectors alone and in just 5 months? That is pretty good I think. Hope I could even reach 1000 a month. As most of you have mentioned, waiting until Gold will probably be the best time to go exclusive. But really, the most important thing for me to go exclusive is the faster review time and bigger limit. That is a big incentive.
How long before you see sales in IS? At least a month? Or maybe my vectors just aren't what the customer like, but it's just been a few days, maybe I'm just really excited. Hehe! I was just surprised with SS that downloads came just a few hours after approval.
I'm a long way from going exclusive at istock, though. I'd need to be at least Gold level and have istock represent 60% of my monthly total before I'd even consider it, and I tend to suggest people use a similar criteria. Anything less than that and you're pretty much taking a pay-cut by going exclusive. If you're over 60%, it's probably worthwhile and will definitely save on upload time.
I think this is a good strategy!
I went exclusive at IS when I reached gold and it was 64% of my total income. My total monthly income went up by 25% and I have to upload only to them. Can't be happier...
it all sounds good.. as long as the sales go good.. but what if it goes bad and there are no other sites to compensate it?
I am kind of new, I have been in this business for 5 months.. 140 images on all sites and make about 1500 dollars.. I have only 50 images on IS and it makes me 400 per month at the moment.. the thing is I never go down even if IS does 300 because somehow the other sites help.. but next year when I start making much more and consider going exclusive, the possibility of IS going down some times will be in my mind..
I used to work for a design company as a graphic designer.. We used to buy a lot from microstock.. That's why I know what will sell..
You need to know your customers are mostly designers.. And also should know they don't really want artistic cartoons.. I had my comics published 2 years ago for a small magazine and I can be a pretty good artist if I wanted to be.. But instead I go the other way and leave art aside.. Microstock does not need art.. it has basic needs to feed their designer customers..
Keep this in mind.. your work is great but not what the designers really need.. Remember you are submitting for microstock, not for deviantArt or something like that..
I can tell you this much, you figure out the rest...
One more thing, keep up the good work, keep up your quality.. Quality sells.. But do what they would want.. Not what you would want..
Thanks so much for the advice! After pretty much a lot of rejections from IS, I figured I should just come up with elements that can be reused instead of complete art. So I guess it is still mostly icons and design elements then. I do often browse best sellers and try to do similar themed vectors.
64
« on: May 30, 2008, 23:47 »
Wow ironarrow, 1500 in a month from vectors alone and in just 5 months? That is pretty good I think. Hope I could even reach 1000 a month. As most of you have mentioned, waiting until Gold will probably be the best time to go exclusive. But really, the most important thing for me to go exclusive is the faster review time and bigger limit. That is a big incentive. How long before you see sales in IS? At least a month? Or maybe my vectors just aren't what the customer like, but it's just been a few days, maybe I'm just really excited. Hehe! I was just surprised with SS that downloads came just a few hours after approval. I'm a long way from going exclusive at istock, though. I'd need to be at least Gold level and have istock represent 60% of my monthly total before I'd even consider it, and I tend to suggest people use a similar criteria. Anything less than that and you're pretty much taking a pay-cut by going exclusive. If you're over 60%, it's probably worthwhile and will definitely save on upload time.
I think this is a good strategy!
I went exclusive at IS when I reached gold and it was 64% of my total income. My total monthly income went up by 25% and I have to upload only to them. Can't be happier...
it all sounds good.. as long as the sales go good.. but what if it goes bad and there are no other sites to compensate it?
I am kind of new, I have been in this business for 5 months.. 140 images on all sites and make about 1500 dollars.. I have only 50 images on IS and it makes me 400 per month at the moment.. the thing is I never go down even if IS does 300 because somehow the other sites help.. but next year when I start making much more and consider going exclusive, the possibility of IS going down some times will be in my mind..
65
« on: May 30, 2008, 23:41 »
Really? I'll see if I get that. Hopefully I will reach payout soon. If I get that 5$ credit sale even 1 in 3 days, that would still be great! Congrats on the $30 sale!! [/quote] I usualy get 1 in 2 days or something like that. Had a pretty awesome day when one of the buyers bought whole series of my web icons (6 times 5$  ). [/quote]
66
« on: May 30, 2008, 14:26 »
Thanks for all the info guys.. With all the rejections/resubmissions I get from IS, I now have a fairly good understanding of what they will accept. So hopefully, my second batch of 15 vectors will have a higher acceptance rate. The conclusion I came up with is that the simpler the vector, the more they'll accept it. Mostly icons and stuff with white/solid backgrounds.
I have read time and again that it really is IS which have good vector sales and hopefully in at least a month's time, I could start getting sales from IS.
As for Shutterstock, I have computed that yes you have to get at least 10 sales in SS to get almost the same royalty from 1 (10 credit) download in IS. I thought it would be easy, but it's not. Sometimes I get a total of 5 downloads for the whole day and sometimes 20 downloads for the whole day. In 11 days online, it's an average of 7 DLs per day. With 25 vectors in portfolio, is that good or bad? I do upload at least twice a week.
67
« on: May 30, 2008, 14:15 »
I just had 1 of those $5 vector sales! I was just checking if my subscription sale of that vector increased and then I saw that 1 person downloaded the vector credit sale! wuhoo! Besides SS and IS, StockXpert is also pretty good for vectors. Mostly you get sub vector sales, but still those 5$ credit sales are awesome.
68
« on: May 30, 2008, 06:02 »
Thanks! Currently, only SS is really performing. Hopefully I could get more from the other smaller sites.
69
« on: May 30, 2008, 02:22 »
That's bad news... I am relying on Istock and Fotolia to sell my "complicated" vectors since I don't want to give them away for a few cents... and now... Istock may be the only one left.. however, istock keeps on rejecting these complicated vectors... ugh!
Once the subscription start, I am only going to upload simple vectors and see if the sales would at least be half of SS, if it is, then maybe it would be ok.. but still.. $0.23?? That's bad!
70
« on: May 29, 2008, 21:24 »
Hi I am a newbie in microstock. I just started doing microstock last month. At first I tried photography, but it was just too much effort for me to post edit and I don't know much about the cameras. So, I switched to vectors instead because I noticed that a lot of best sellers are vectors.
I am not very good at drawing but I do like to look at art and I sometimes make arts and crafts at home so I think I am somewhat creative at the very least. Anyway, I learned Illustrator from scratch and about 1 month later, I have my first vectors ready to submit to the Big 6. I have high hopes for Istock but then I was sorely disappointed because although I got in at the first application, my first 15 uploads are mostly rejected, only a couple were accepted!
Shutterstock is doing okay with 25 files currently, I average only 5 DLs per day which is probably dismal because as I have read, sales will drop after the first month even if you keep on uploading.
In Stockxpert, I sold only 3 subscription in 1 week. Is that bad?
In Fotolia, I sold only 1 vector in 2 weeks. Is this normal?
I am waiting for approval in 123RF, how is the vector sales there?
I haven't uploaded in Dreamstime yet because I am afraid of the 6 months in case I would like to go exclusive in IS (although that is very unlikely now!) But is it worth the effort? Will Dreamstime give me enough vector downloads (credits and not subscription)?
In your case, what was the best site for selling vectors? Both in terms of money and downloads. Thanks for reading this loooonggg post. Hehe!
|
Sponsors
Microstock Poll Results
Sponsors
|
Show Posts
