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Messages - nazlisart

Pages: 1 [2] 3
26
General Stock Discussion / Re: GraphicStock Has It Right
« on: August 02, 2017, 16:33 »
I'll try it.
This business model make sense and seems fair... I think...
But money speaks and what I think is irrelevant; we'll see

27
Sorry Guys, I'm not a videographer and I don't know this agency but reading through this post I keep wondering how the heck do these people make money if they give you 100% commission??? :o

Thanks

28
iStockPhoto.com / Re: $ 0.00077 Lowest Earning on Istock
« on: July 10, 2017, 12:33 »
are you a vector artist and thus getting 33% more return for every sale than indy photographers do?

Yes 95% of my portfolio are vectors... the rest, bitmap illustrations

29
iStockPhoto.com / Re: $ 0.00077 Lowest Earning on Istock
« on: July 09, 2017, 04:56 »
We either accept it and do the best with it or leave altogether...
What I'm trying to say is that I'm tired of all the nagging about iStock!
The nagging is part of the process of trying to understand what is happening (well, some of it is, anyway, another part tends to be mourning for the good times that there used to be). You either have to accept it or leave the forum altogether, I suppose.   ;D

I tend to agree with your psychological approach to the subject... I too like to nag (vent) from time to time ;D
The fact that I'm not into the "iStock nag" bunch is cause I chipped in to Microstock when the deteriorating of iStock was very well underway and I haven't experienced the "Good old Times" ;)

30
iStockPhoto.com / Re: $ 0.00077 Lowest Earning on Istock
« on: July 08, 2017, 17:30 »
It's time to accept the market we are in and make the most of it, or leave altogether and make a living in a more "fair" market...
Why?
Why should we have to leave altogether? As I said, I don't consider iStock to be worth uploading to any more but I don't feel inclined to leave when I'm still getting a little bit back for effort I made in the past.

I was referring to Microstock altogether and iStock is the pinnacle of the negative side of the conversation - somehow they represent everything wrong in the industry... Weather we like it or not they are one of the major players and also are part of the overall policy making. Having, even a few, commissions of 0.0something is sad and makes me furious but the overall picture is that their model works for both them and us.

I think worth uploading to iStock cause my spread sheet says so and so does for all their contributors. They are not going to change their approach unless the marketplace punish them for being out of balance. As long as they have happy customers, price/quality-wise and happy contributors return-wise they are going to keep on doing what they do, being major players & policy makers.

We either accept it and do the best with it or leave altogether...
What I'm trying to say is that I'm tired of all the nagging about iStock!

31
iStockPhoto.com / Re: $ 0.00077 Lowest Earning on Istock
« on: July 08, 2017, 13:27 »
All n' all iStock still is 20% of my income right after SS 33%...

Somehow they manage to do that while agencies with acceptable commission rate like Adobe/Fotolia comes after them and agencies with a fixed 50% commissions like GL do not even appear in my Excell graph... 

It's time to accept the market we are in and make the most of it, or leave altogether and make a living in a more "fair" market... Good Lack!

32
Quote
I understand, but why anyone would pay money for a recipe for inaction? I don't have to pay to learn to do nothing. I can do nothing all by myself, without a guru's advice. If I make an effort it is because I want something good out of it.

If you did not succeed in this particular venue, that's fine, it's life, but do you think trying to sell a book on "how to fail to be an actor, scientist, plumber, international spy etc" will work? Do you see many of those around? Perhaps people would like to read about a unique expertise rather than trying to start something they cannot finish because they only learn that they will fail?

You make some valid points. I've certainly approached drafting this guide in a rather unconventional way, but in a thought-provoking and accurate manner, nevertheless. So much so that we're having an interesting discussion on what it means to "fail" or "succeed". 

If the aim is to be "brutally honest", I cannot sugarcoat, how easy it would be to make money from Microstock to try to get more book-sales, because everybody here knows how tough this industry is - it would be a "brutally dishonest guide" and i'm sure there's many of those out there.

I don't know whether i'm "failing" or "succeeding" at this game but all I know is that I quite enjoy it and would like to pass on my knowledge to others. I'm by no means a guru, just a travel photojournalist. In any case, I don't believe in "failure", as in life we must learn from our mistakes and try to improve with every minute. It's more like feedback than anything. To receive these feedback to improve, we must try try try try and try - the opposite of inaction. Oh and try some more. 
 
I don't want to give too much away as I'm hoping enough people will want to read it but here's the opening paragraph from Chapter 12 "Getting . Out of Microstock":

It may seem strange in a comprehensive guide to how to be successful at Microstock to end with a chapter on how to get . out of it, but please hear me out! This chapter is aimed at both those more experienced contributors and those just starting out, since both will face similar dilemmas, as I will outline in this chapter.I started in Microstock because my perception at the time was that it was the most practical and low-cost way to monetise my images. During the past four years, I have painstakingly put in the time and effort to keep learning how to make my images stand out from the herd. My experience of submitting to various Agencies has given me an education in the technical and commercial/editorial aspects of photography simply by participating in those markets....

Hope, fresh ideas and success stories is what sells. I have everyday life for "Brutally Honest Grounding"! Maybe have a chapter like "pitfalls and precautions" but overall keep it upbeat. Also something else to reconsider, I've read somewhere that 90% of internet book sales come from the tittle - intriguing and exciting is the key...

One more very important thing: Illustrations, vectors, video & audio is also considered Microstock, no Guide is complete without them (not to mention graphic and video templates, PSD actions and staff that you find in Envato that could be also considered Microstock). All those are far less expensive to produce (except video) and have, in average, far higher RPI & RPD from photos. I'd gladly give you my two bits about vectors but if you want to cover the whole subject you need to interview many more people...

I hope this was helpful
Wish you all the best!

33
General Stock Discussion / Re: Is $1000/months a big amount?
« on: July 01, 2017, 14:38 »


I'm more into vectors specially calligraphy. I know Arabic calligraphy and I'm trying to attract mid eastern customers. Don't know what to expect in the future with this niche.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not being a mid eastern customer, it's hard for me to relate or predict.  How much are you making now if you don't mind me asking?

I have 300
Vectors on Shutterstock. I'm making like $15\months.

What about you and with how many files ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

15$/m is way too low for 300 vectors... Find an additional niche

34
Dreamstime.com / Re: This is an robbery
« on: June 30, 2017, 13:09 »
I would like to close the subject here. My purpose is just to announce that I live. I closed my account in the following sites and they all paid the remaining money.

Bigstock
Deposithphotos
Signelements
Colourbox
123rf
The only site that does not pay the remaining money dreamstime. I think dreamstime is the robber
 It's absurd to me that some of them still dreamstime right.

Well, I think you should start contributing to Shutterstock before deciding to get exclusive with iStock/Getty....

35
What about vectors?

Obviously the 15MB restriction still applies.

Is this true??? I haven't uploaded any files larger than 15Mb lately to test it yet

36
GLStock / Re: Sales Plummet on GL since takeover
« on: June 08, 2017, 10:48 »
While constantly keeping our contributors in mind, we are committed to compensating them fairly.  We gave flexibility of pricing and have honored one of the highest commissions in the industry.  It is very challenging to make both contributors and sellers simultaneously happy, and I think that is very evident when reading through the tens of thousands of negative posts about the top tier agencies, where most contributors generate the majority of their revenue.  Most agencies are buyer-centric, and apparently the contributors here in MSG do not seem to believe they are fairly compensated for their work, despite those being their highest revenue sources.

I appreciate it. I'll continue to upload while the new site gets built.
+1 Me too!!!

37
GLStock / Re: Sales Plummet on GL since takeover
« on: June 06, 2017, 14:45 »
After the takeover I had a high and then almost dead for 2017. Still I will continue to support them for as long as they are alive cause, for me their philosophy represent how agencies owed to be regarding pricing, royalties and the relationship with contributors.

38
Shutterstock.com / Re: single photo sell today US$6,352.80
« on: June 02, 2017, 10:33 »
Have you checked the whole amount, prior to that sale. In some occasions I've seen the whole amount in my unpaid earnings (Thousands of $$). Usually they correct it after a day or so... Huge turn off...

39
This are great news for vector illustrators. I can't see how a JPEG gets to 50Mb but EPSs can easily get there for some files. We had to do all kinds of tricks to bring it down to 15Mb. This makes our work easier.

40
Hi to all!

Recently I'm interested on selling print-on art on t-shirt and other products. I've looked around and found 4 sites that seems serious and made an account there. Those sites are: DESIGN By HUMAN, Society 6, TeePublic and Threadless.

I believe that, contrary to Microstock, Print-on product deem self-marketing and advertising (facebook, google etc.) but to be efficient I think I'll need to promote only one of 4 sites...

My questions are:
1. Does anyone have any experience with this way of selling their work? Is it worth my time?
2. Which of these sites/agencies have more traffic, better and more reliable services?
3. Do you have any other site to suggest?

Thank you!!!
G.



41
General Stock Discussion / Re: about fonts using!
« on: May 20, 2017, 11:20 »
Do as you please as long as they are not editable fonts but outlines. If this is a vector illustration make sure to say that they are on a separate layer/group, in case someone wants change it into another font.

42
General Stock Discussion / Re: Where are my Stats?
« on: May 16, 2017, 04:49 »
Thank you!!!!

I didn't know about "todayis20" and I'm pretty excited to have register and finally have some clue on how I'm doing on IS!

I can not fathom how IS/GI is still my second earners (and in the top 4 for almost everybody) having a business that has outsourced to volunteers their everyday relationship with their contributors (Uploading & Stats is mostly why we visit their site).

43
General Stock Discussion / Where are my Stats?
« on: May 15, 2017, 23:17 »
Since yesterday I can't seem to find the Stats page on iStock.
What little daily feedback I had from this agency is gone...
ESP updates our stats monthly and for some time now I
have no clue which files are selling and how successful or not
are my latest files.

My income from iStock/Getty has gone up lately but I have lost
my connection with them... (I see no need to have their site pinned
in my browser as I have for every other major earner to check out daily)

Did you also loose access to your IS stats page? and more importantly:
Do you know what are they planing to do about daily stats and image sales info?

Thanks

44
Here we go again!

Blah-Blah-Blah.... AKA "Nothing ground-braking - Nothing exciting... We Just want your pictures to gamble"

Being there - Done that...

45
Shutterstock.com / Re: duplicates in portfolio
« on: May 14, 2017, 03:25 »
396 pages of junk!!!!
The question is: Is the joke on him or people who give their time, effort and talent to offer value?
The answer is in his sales...

46
I downloaded and checked it out. Impressive graphics and well structured BUT... With time I have built and refined a very elaborate EXCEL sheet covering all my needs, I guess the same stands for all professional Microstockers. I keep my statistics manually spending no more than half an hour per week and it is far more accurate. The reason being that I contribute to agencies that are not provided in the app and that I include commissions and other sources of income in my excel. This means that as an income or even a statistics tool this app (or any other for that matter) is inadequate for me.

On the other hand, having a portfolio of 800+ illustrations, it is impossible to keep track of how individual images or series do in their total capacity. I do have a general idea of what works best or worst but I loose it in the middle tiers. Some sites like SS give you some options but the overall picture is lacking.

I see that you have done a pretty good job in this area. Although some features like folders/lightboxes don't work in the version I downloaded I expect there will be improvements and debugging in the future.

I would suggest you emphasize this part of the app with some more options and more graphics (trends, selling curves, etc.). If this is done I would definitely be a customer. Even if no more agencies are added having these statistics will be an invaluable tool for planning and asses that is impossible to custom-make and manually track.

I hope this was helpful
Best of luck
G.


Hey Nazlisart,
thanks for your feedback, much appreciated.

Did you get a chance to use the Collections? We implemented them to be the equivalent of Folders/Lightboxes on agency sites. The only difference is the app does not automatically take them from an agency site, but rather you have to create them on your own and add pictures manually. You only have to do it once though and you can add pictures from different agencies too.

Also, did you try the Match All feature which automatically groups the same image on different agencies? It makes life a lot easier.

In any case, feel free to suggest new helpful features since we're very open and implement a lot of the things users request of us.

Cheers.


Hi again

I tried to use the collections but it doesn't give me any images to put in (I guess this is a bug).

In any case to elaborate a bit more about my previous post. I definitely agree with dirkr above. Here are some features that, I think, would also be very VERY useful concerning sales by image/collection:

- Image/Collection life-cycle projection curve. With some simple statistics you can have an approximate prediction of what a project (image or collection) will make in it's microstock lifetime. This way you know if it did worth your time before it completes it's cycle and assess if you want to work more on it. Read this post for more info about image life-cycle to see in length what I refer to: http://blog.microstockgroup.com/the-tyranny-of-the-microstock-lifecycle/
- Trending - Images/Collections, RPI and Overall Income/Downloads. 3 to 5 values (up - middle - down)
- Automatic retrieval of SS Collections and their statistics
- Option to select & compare Images/collection in some graph with different colors and different options like income, RPI, views etc.
- Pie charts for selected images/collections

Furthermore
- You can also add "blank fields" of manually adjusted inputs  that would be named (like "Commissions", "Day Job", "Trust Fund" etc.) and filled by the user on a weekly/monthly basis and that would be integrated into the overall statistics.
- Pie charts showing what percentage of your income comes from which agency and/or other income sources.
- Conversion of all the different values to a single currency (and not only Dollar or Euro) retrieving data from the Forex Exchange

All this would convert your app into a very powerful income tool and would allow the user to assess where to emphasize their business and adjust accordingly.

I know that what I suggested means a hell of a lot more work but you can compensate by offering your app into a basic/professional/premium subscriptions (or something like that) with different options. You will also have the basis to expand to a much wider audience than mickrostockers. Musicians, print/t-shirt artist, audio/web book writers, YouTubers and other professionals that combine internet (meaning automatically retrieved) income and real world (manually filled) income would love to have a tool like this.

If you do this right and with a little luck in a couple of years of hard work GOOGLE will buy you out to an early retirement!!!!

Then you will remember your good friend "Nazlisart" and you will sent him 3% of your buy-out money for his suggestions... ;)
Have a Good one!
G. 

48
I downloaded and checked it out. Impressive graphics and well structured BUT... With time I have built and refined a very elaborate EXCEL sheet covering all my needs, I guess the same stands for all professional Microstockers. I keep my statistics manually spending no more than half an hour per week and it is far more accurate. The reason being that I contribute to agencies that are not provided in the app and that I include commissions and other sources of income in my excel. This means that as an income or even a statistics tool this app (or any other for that matter) is inadequate for me.

On the other hand, having a portfolio of 800+ illustrations, it is impossible to keep track of how individual images or series do in their total capacity. I do have a general idea of what works best or worst but I loose it in the middle tiers. Some sites like SS give you some options but the overall picture is lacking.

I see that you have done a pretty good job in this area. Although some features like folders/lightboxes don't work in the version I downloaded I expect there will be improvements and debugging in the future.

I would suggest you emphasize this part of the app with some more options and more graphics (trends, selling curves, etc.). If this is done I would definitely be a customer. Even if no more agencies are added having these statistics will be an invaluable tool for planning and asses that is impossible to custom-make and manually track.

I hope this was helpful
Best of luck
G.

 

49
I'm curious; does this make these images more discoverable?
I think Adobe/Fotolia suggests that it is more efficient/discoverable to have 30 keywords in spite the fact they allow 50...

50
Photo Critique / Re: An Unique Stock Photos Website!
« on: March 17, 2017, 07:28 »
Great Photos and a rare niche. One observation: I think you should take any color away from your watermark cause it interferes whith the composition of some photos, especially in the smaller thumbnails.

I wish the best of luck!

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