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Messages - Monkeyman
26
« on: March 12, 2015, 13:23 »
I opened a shop at Creative Market recently. I like the concept, but of course I also see a lot of problems and potential future problems. What's gonna happen when they have 50000 contributors? Competition will push everything down to 2 dollars and you have to sell bundles with 5000 images to stand out...
I've also noticed that a handful of contributors seem to dominate the search results, even though there are 7000 contributors. I understand that CM want to promote the best sellers but it seems a bit extreme at the moment.
And why isn't the site using responsive design? Most designers are using high res monitors that could fit six columns of images instead of three. Annoying. And is it really a good idea to allow text on the preview images when the image description is right below the picture? It's pretty much the same text twice.
I also have a question for people who have been selling at CM for a while. What's you download/view ratio?
And lastly, shouldn't Creative Market have their own part of this forum?
27
« on: March 11, 2015, 10:04 »
I wouldn't recommend anyone to join this business today. It's dead.
But if you're already making a living as a photographer I suppose you could make a few extra dollars from microstock. It doesn't take that much time to upload if you stick to the big sites only.
28
« 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...
29
« on: March 03, 2015, 14:07 »
Haha. Wow. Corporate greed and stupidity never ceases to amaze me. It's fascinating how large corporations expect us all to cheer and dance of joy when we see this, and how they get all surprised and shocked when we don't.
To make a vector sell at Shutterstock you have to spend many hours on it since the low quality stuff don't sell any longer (and even the high quality stuff seems to be buried amongst the millions of files today). So if I spend a day on vector and I want to earn 15 dollars an hour (which is pretty low for a freelance graphic designer...) it has to be downloaded 315 times. And there's no way to know if it will sell that much, or sell at all.
So I'm not applauding their massage room.
30
« on: March 01, 2015, 15:54 »
It's really strange and confusing. Since Envato collects the VAT, handles refunds and are the ones responsible for the license sold, it would seem to me like it's business as usual, which means that the contributors could just ignore the invoices and only keep record of the chunk of money that they withdraw every now and then. And consider that money as in income from Envato, not the actual buyer.
As far as I know (could be wrong here, though) there's no such thing as a "supplier for VAT purposes only" in the EU. And so far I haven't found any information stating that somebody else can pay my VAT. This is why I think they will have to change the system, otherwise it's impossible to follow the rules in the EU (pretty much the same problem in the US I suppose).
Personally I don't even sell there yet. I was just about to start uploading when I read about this change, so I guess I'll wait and see what happens.
31
« on: March 01, 2015, 07:06 »
Why are you leaving so fast? The way I see it it's legally impossible for them to claim that the contributors are the sellers. So things will probably change?
32
« on: February 28, 2015, 11:09 »
I don't know if this happened after the redesign, but have the previews always been blurry at Stockfresh? The zoom looks sharp but the standard view looks pretty bad because of the blur.
Yeah, they're definitely blurry. Hope they can fix that.
I asked this on their forum. Peter said they are still using the old small previews. They will be regenerating new previews for all existing images at some point soon.
Ok, that explains it. Pretty bad idea to stretch images while waiting for the new previews, though... hope they'll fix it quickly. And using a watermark with lines and text across pretty much the whole image would be nice too. It's quite easy to steal icons and other small design elements now when the previews is getting bigger.
33
« on: February 27, 2015, 11:19 »
I don't know if this happened after the redesign, but have the previews always been blurry at Stockfresh? The zoom looks sharp but the standard view looks pretty bad because of the blur.
34
« on: February 26, 2015, 19:12 »
I heard from Alamy a while back that you need at least 500 vectors to be able to become a contributor. But in this thread I see that 250 is the minimum. So which is it?
35
« on: February 25, 2015, 14:42 »
Shutterstock was the downfall to stock with their ridiculous 25 and 39 cent payouts for subscriptions!
It is my opinion they ruined the stock industry for everyone! All of you that submit there deserve what they pay!
I agree, but it's not just Shutterstock. There are a few other lousy sites selling on demand licenses for peanuts. And every sale there is a lost sale at a site with fairer prices.
36
« on: February 24, 2015, 10:29 »
The industry is dying I suppose. Which isn't exactly a new and unique analysis.  I've been independent a few days now and it seems that I made more money at Shutterstock back in 2010 with fewer and uglier vectors. And if Shutterstock sales are bad I can't imagine that the other sites will boost my sales... so maybe I've should have stayed at iStock. Time will tell...
37
« on: February 23, 2015, 10:37 »
I think the microstock sites have different policies for these kind of images. Shutterstock used to allow them but they don't any longer if I'm not mistaken?
In most countries the copyright of a book or a piece of art seems to last 70 years after the death of the creator. But somebody else may have bought the copyright during this period, so it's hard to be absolutely sure that the copyright has really expired.
I think it's a bit weird that some sites allow these images. There must be thousands of illegal vectors and photos on Shutterstock and other sites that allow (or used to allow) these images.
38
« on: February 23, 2015, 09:19 »
@David/Envato another question:
Envato pays only in its own name VAT.
Then I do not have to pay (as Eu-contributor) again VAT in my own name (for EU-buyers) on the whole income?
This is the absurd bit. If we are the sellers, as Envato claims, we should collect and pay the VAT in our name. There's no way I can register the full price that the buyer pays to Envato as if it was me setting the price and arranging the transaction, and then deduct VAT and the fee to Envato. If I did, the tax authorities would expect me to pay the VAT. So legally it seems to me that nothing has changed, really. Envato are still the sellers, and our "customer" is till Envato. Which means that I can flush the invoice down the toilet and consider my income at Envato as export to Australia.
39
« on: February 21, 2015, 15:59 »
Could somebody from Europe please explain these changes to me like I'm a five year old?
As far as I know I would personally have to collect and pay VAT from every EU customer if I'm the seller. But apparently Envato is going to do it for me? Is that really legal?
40
« on: February 20, 2015, 16:35 »
Could somebody explain the difference from before (I've never sold at Envato)? As I understand Envato pays the VAT, so what's the difference?
41
« 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.
42
« on: February 18, 2015, 19:52 »
It says "Descriptions will be de-emphasized on the page, and only shown to first time visitors", so it won't go away completely as I understand it.
43
« on: February 17, 2015, 16:33 »
I was pretty excited about this business back in 2008 when I was new and sales were growing with the number of uploads. But those days are over. Prices are going down and our royalty hasn't even been adjusted for inflation. Sales are going down as well. So it's pretty hard to stay positive. But I'm glad for you if you still have faith in this business. 
44
« on: February 12, 2015, 20:40 »
Any point in uploading vectors to Canva? Most of the vector elements seems to be free. And when you search you mostly get photos, even if you include the keyword "vector". And what format (page size) should I go for if I make complete designs? There are so many to chose from. Which ones sell the most?
We have a massive backlog of vectors and we're not yet working through it at a meaningful pace. If you already have a contributor account you might as well upload as part of your regular workflow, but don't expect your files to come online any time soon. If you don't already have a contributor account you're welcome to apply, but we're being extremely selective now.
I presume the second part of your question relates to the layouts in the Canva designer. As a contributor you don't need to worry about that. All images can be used in any layout.
Thanks for a quick answer! Yes, I noticed that all images can be used in any layout, but if I create something in american letter format (a full page with another background color than white) for instance, it won't be very useful in a square layout since it would leave white areas on the sides. I was just wondering if any layout are extra popular. And what about sets of design elements? A set of icons for instance. Would I have to separate them and create one vector file per icon? I guess it would be quite a lot of work for the staff at Canva to do that... unless you have some smart software. And a final question. I saw that EPS or SVG are acceptable formats. Does the EPS files have to be EPS8? Or can I use transparency and upload EPS10 files?
45
« on: February 12, 2015, 18:25 »
Any point in uploading vectors to Canva? Most of the vector elements seems to be free. And when you search you mostly get photos, even if you include the keyword "vector". And what format (page size) should I go for if I make complete designs? There are so many to chose from. Which ones sell the most?
46
« on: February 07, 2015, 16:43 »
I agree with Striving. Adobe and Fotolia will treat contributors any way they want, to make as much money as possible. It would be naive to expect anything else.
I'm not a very big fan of Adobe. Illustrator is pretty much the same program today as in 1987. And many bugs have been around for a decade or two. And personally I now have to pay about four times (!!) as much a month for their software as I used to because of the CC system. Only people/companies who used to buy the really expensive CS packs will save money on CC.
How come exactly? Photoshop and Lightroom combined are 9.99$/month.
Photoshop CS6 extended by itself was 999$. So you can subscribe for 100 months (8.3 years) and pay the same, all the time getting fresh updates. 8 years ago the most recent version of PS was CS3.
It's similar with Illustrator. Also 9.99$/month, and CS6 was 599$ (60 months - 5 years).
Maybe you use some different combination, but for most creative professionals, CC is cheaper.
Yes, I suppose I am one of the most unfortunate ones when it comes to this new payment model. I used to get CS Design Standard updates every two year for about 700 USD, which is 29 USD a month for Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop and Acrobat. Today I have to pay 52 USD for CC (which of course gives me access to more apps, but I don't use them anyway so it's a waste of money) for the first two years and after that about 72 USD a month. I could also pick just Photoshop and Illustrator which are the only apps I use daily but it would still be 43 USD a month. I live in Europe by the way and for some insane reason Adobe products are a lot more expensive here.
47
« on: February 02, 2015, 16:02 »
I guess credit sales is pretty much history now, on all sites.
Not really. In January, my subscription sales at Shutterstock were 34% of my total earnings - meaning that 66% came from OD, SOD and ELs. It has been around 40% subs for quite a while now.
At some other agencies that got bitten by the "I want to be Shutterstock" bug, like Dreamstime, subscriptions ate into credit sales and reduced overall earnings (their level system notwithstanding).
SS started out as just subscriptions and has slowly and steadily been growing their non-subscription business. I'm not thrilled about subscriptions, but as part of an overall mix of sales, it can work. I am guessing that the growth of SS's non-subscription business has largely been at Getty's expense.
Edited to add that I looked back at Jan 2014 and Jan 2013 and the subs sales in each of of those and 2015 are all within $3 of each other, but in Jan 2013 subs were 54% of my total, Jan '14 44% and Jan '15 34% (I was back as an indie in Jan 2012, but was still ramping up; subs then were 57% of the total).
In other words, all the growth is coming from the non subscription sales.
That's pretty good news I suppose... I have been exclusive at iStock for almost five years so I haven't been able to follow the changes and development at other sites. It's with a feeling of both hope and fear that I'm now leaving exclusivity in February...
48
« on: January 31, 2015, 20:25 »
I agree with Striving. Adobe and Fotolia will treat contributors any way they want, to make as much money as possible. It would be naive to expect anything else.
I'm not a very big fan of Adobe. Illustrator is pretty much the same program today as in 1987. And many bugs have been around for a decade or two. And personally I now have to pay about four times (!!) as much a month for their software as I used to because of the CC system. Only people/companies who used to buy the really expensive CS packs will save money on CC.
Too bad competition doesn't work when it comes to software...
49
« on: January 31, 2015, 19:00 »
I also expected sales to go up a bit after the holidays, but January has been shockingly bad for me as well. Worst month in six years. Cancelled my exclusivity a few days ago.
I guess credit sales is pretty much history now, on all sites. Subs have ruined the industry, and credit sales will just be little bonuses from now on.
iStock has been so SLOW the past years when it comes to developing and improving the site, and even when it comes to fix bugs. So I don't have that much faith in them changing the situation. They don't even seem to have any plan to add instant reporting of sub sales.
Another worrying thing is that the search results at iStock is still only based on credit sales. How's that gonna work when we get almost no credit sales?? Seems a bit risky to base the search results on so few downloads.
50
« on: January 30, 2015, 12:46 »
I've now been fiddling with all the settings and found a solution. - Set "Raster/Vector Balance" to "0". I've always thought (like the idiot I am...) that this setting is affecting the actual file, but if I'm not mistaken it only affects printing. So, when printing, the image will be rasterized. Anyway, this makes a HUGE difference on file size on complex files.
- Set "Line art and text resolution" and "Gradient and mesh resolution" to "1". This seems to save another megabyte or two.
- Make artboard smaller.
Another weird thing I found out was that adding some pointless transparency to a file could decrease its size. Example: I have a file with just normal solid fills and about 200000 anchor points. By making artboard smaller I can get it down to about 16 MB. But if I add just a little rectangle and set it to "Multiply" (or any other transparency effect) I will get access to the transparency settings when saving the EPS, where I can use the tips I listed above. This way I can get the file down to around 6 MB. So there you have it. The mysterious world of the vector format... nothing makes any sense.
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