Quote from: Pro_08stock on November 19, 2013, 10:47

I got accepted at iStock yesterday after so many attempts. I am not sure how many I tried but I had 3 months waiting period last time. It was a learning experience with attempts. Seems I came at iStock at right time when PP is being reported as BME by many contributors.

right time for what? you really have no idea about iStock, cheer the victory of getting approved, nothing better will happen after, sorry to let you know

Thanks luissantos84, Lets see how it goes. It is too early for me to draw the conclusion.

50% / higher prices maybe.  More traffic than IS / SS doesn't really compute.  In fact one sale a month on these sites with more than a single digit port size would be pretty rare I'd imagine?

Difficult to draw the conclusions whether it would make sense to go with stockopus or something like that. I trust data always. If there is no data to support belief, it is certainly no-go area.

It is an interesting question and equally interesting responses here. Well for OP, some answers are available in various stock sites. on FT, you can see the total number of images in each categories and the best selling images. The total analysis will not be available because the online tools limit your research.

The safest categories are : Business and Lifestyle.  Almost every big name rules these two.

You can share your existing portfolio so that someone can offer you relevant advice on what should be your next.

This is a year 2010 report. Materials used since 2004 and capturing limited view on industry. So, it is not of current times. It is showing you past trends and capturing it for present times would not be of so much value because lot has changed in last three years. There are jazzy formulas and other academic theories and hypothesis in this PDF.

photographer's market 2013 seems to be good read for anyone.

I did my little research on whats moving at this time. Lifestyle related subjects are selling well. Nature, business and other subjects have taken back seat for a while. Assumption based on the list of best sellers across various sites. Some people felt, Syria related stuff will sell, it did not. Lifestyle seems to be the all time green in demand images. For a niche that is already over crowded, do not know if that is hitting September alone.  For last two days, the things have improved slightly but nor significantly.

thepoeticimage, your FT portfolio is great. You have shot great images. Liked the way you think about images. Your images are very natural and full of life.  Inspiring as well.

Funny, right before seeing this thread, I was thinking that if the first 10 days are any indication, Sept could be my new BME.

Your post on Fotolia on August 27, 2013, 12:06 � "No, Fotolia is still in the toilet. " suggests otherwise.  If you are doing good within next 10 days, that is a good news and certainly encouraging. I am yet to experience that kind of success. 

My last batch at SS for initial application was rejected with "incorrect keywords and titles". I am going to try it again.

My port is 92 on DT. Total sale from past and so far is $1.75. DT has high rejection rate and even it more than FT.  High number of views and dismal sale, that's the common trend there.  I started with DT and for months I was getting everything rejected, I was just about to quit then my partner suggested me to try the other sites. DT can discourage the new people very fast.  Let's see what happens in long run. I am going to stay with them. May be agency is good and my port is not.

Go to picniche dot com and put your keyword phrase in the box and click analyse. You will get the ratings, number of images and links to agencies where you can find those images.

I have two rejections for initial contributor application in last six months. My next turn comes on 19 August. My question is what sort of time frame SS follows for applications. Is it like IS where every failed attempt offers you problems for next and it becomes extremely difficult? Does SS has standard one month or something like that specified period for next application or it will become one year ban after few failed attempts?

IS offered me six months of ban and I cannot apply there. My worry is SS may fall in same space.

Photos at scoopshot hold ZERO value beyond one task. Someone with urgent requirements may buy those dull, low resolution and full of noise pics. $500 a week is still not sensational. It is not even convincing that something divine is happening. They must have added one more 0 to 500 and it would have sounded little hilariously convincing.  Yuri may have been taken for a ride by jazzy and promising business plan shown by scoopshot.  At venture capitalist's office, there is no deficit of such business plans. Do serious VC invest money in such ventures? No. So where they go next. Such plans go to novice and unsuspecting neo rich or investors who are not grounded by business sense.  It is the second phase failure for business while it is first phase failure for investor. Anyways, the result is the same. The clock does not stop ticking and time just waits to see failure.

My last batches were reviewed pretty fast though there were some random selections though some of them are still pending, may be random patterns. I had one sale of $1.5 in April, since then there is nothing.  Low numbers are hitting this site. Few views and inconsistent performance.  My numbers are around 365 images with one sale. While I was checking the profile just few seconds before. I get this

Can Stock Photo is Temporarily Unavailable. We are conducting scheduled maintenance. Please check back shortly in a few minutes.

Good to see that things are happening there.