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Messages - BalkanskiMacak
101
« on: April 17, 2018, 09:42 »
...and yet you all keep posting that Shutterstock is where it's at, bringing in 100 million more images. Oh, how ironic. 
Well, despite all of this, there are plenty of cases where we are 5 or 6 having a picture on the same subject. It's usually pretty specific topics, but it still works in terms of income. SS, and microstock in general, are no different from other internet businesses. It is a huge world, so you have the choice between two strategies: either producing huge to flood the market, but with the impossibility to work correctly (like for instance on keywording), or to be on niche markets where there is little offer and a reasonnable demand, but where you gonna have to get the most appropriate offer possible (not necessarily about quality, but in terms of accurateness). That's actually a big part of the long tail strategy. Once you find the niche you can fill, a big part of the strategy is done. The most difficult remains, being able to develop your business and to innovate once you saturate this little market, but that's another story... In the meantime, regarding precisely SS, they are far from being my friends, but I just check three indicators: the overall income, the RPI, and, less important, the RPD. In any case, all of the three are the highest of all the platforms (even though sometimes competing with IS). So, in the end, I don't care if there are 200 million or 200 pictures on SS, it still works and gives me time and finance to think to other strategies.
102
« on: April 17, 2018, 04:08 »
To talk in terms of percentage, on the last quarter of 2017, I had these stats:
SS: 42%
IS: 33%
Alamy: 8.5%
The 6 other agencies I am on were sharing the 16.5% of the income.
I'm still waiting iStock to get the stats for 2018 Q1, but SS and IS are likely to remain at their level, while Alamy's proportion will slightly shrink to the profit of BS (I know, it's surprising, but BS has almost tripled its performance since the beginning of this year, without a real explaination).
Important thing to notice: I'm mainly shooting editorial, so FT does not generate a lot of income, even though its performance is extremely good compared to the amount of pictures I have on the platform.
103
« on: April 04, 2018, 08:28 »
For a long time, I got the feeling that you are indeed better indexed when uploading regularly and frequently (even for the older pictures). However, I never managed to prove it with stats, so, this is a supposition that does ntot sound stupid, even though I am still not sure about it
105
« on: April 01, 2018, 16:58 »
Dreamstime claims that they have spent tens of millions of dollars on Googles advertising and other services, but that Google only provided its services selectively to benefit itself at Dreamstimes expense.
Well, with such an argument, they will go down, given Google makes a separation between its SEA and SEO systems and given that Google SEA's systems (apart from several exceptions), are based on a CPC system corrected with quality indicators. So, no matter how much DT was investing in SEA on Google, there were no reasons for them to be favoured compared to competitors. Then, to counter this argument, they could try to prove that the Google system is biased, and that they are privileging some advertisers... but they wouldn't be the first ones to try and fail.
106
« on: April 01, 2018, 10:48 »
Is there any firmware update when cooked?
107
« on: March 31, 2018, 17:26 »
Got 1 sale in 1 year, worth $3... I have to admit it was a test portfolio, but I wouldn't recommend going further!
108
« on: March 31, 2018, 07:58 »
IMO, it seems like competition vs. competition. Alamy is clearly having issues with SS and SS like micros, but Alamy is clearly a huge competition to the traditional stock websites like Getty. In the end, it's all good for me, as I can't be exclusive on most of my covers (as I'm frequently as well reporting for a newspaper), but I guess Alamy's management must be strongly thinking about solutions... at least I hope!
109
« on: March 31, 2018, 07:10 »
I have to admit I'm surprised by some of the RPDs that some of us get it. Apart from one sale through one of their partners websites (that got me $2.5), I never got a cut below $5 on Alamy. Even though the sales are more than rare, it makes Alamy one of my highest RPI.
As previously said, I guess it comes from the specificities of Alamy, given that I sold only journalistic photos on this channel.
110
« on: March 31, 2018, 06:59 »
Same here, seems to be a global issue. I'm having sometimes the error message "Sorry, but we're having trouble processing your request."
111
« on: March 22, 2018, 06:07 »
Sales brutally stalled on Monday, and then progressively resumed on the next days. Not sure if this is a technical issue, as it happens pretty regularly. I would say it's just a bad week, as it sometimes happens. But I am watching carefully the situation, to check if something is wrong
112
« on: March 20, 2018, 11:10 »
Well, no real difference with before: still around one to two sales per month. Definitely not the best performing, but it still generates a pretty regular income, plus my name on pictures on pretty big media (I got several BBC and Telegraph). it's not money, but it's still good to put it in my portfolio when I need to shoz my work to non connoiseurs.
113
« on: March 13, 2018, 07:57 »
Much more than the term of "best images", I would use the term "most valuabale", and I would divise them in three categories:
-no value (they look nice, but no particular meaning, and no potential of any use)==> no use at all, except for one or two to fill in a portfolio, or a photo contest
-valuable asset: I would put them on microstock.
-outstanding valuable asset: pictures that have been made on request (for a client for instance), that are only meaningful in bulk (for instance a series for a documentary), or whose topic could be sensitive (my last issue about this topic: children refugees, for instance)
For the last category, I would actually lose a lot if I were uploading the pictures on microstock platforms. Maybe not financially, but in terms of image and reputation. On my journalistic works, it could even be in some case a pretty big violation of the code of ethics.
114
« on: March 13, 2018, 06:47 »
Hi,
Just my two cents to summarize my experience:
Cons:
-the platform is definitely not flexible: it's impossible to individually remove pictures, nor to modify descriptions or keywords
-the review process is not flexible neither: the duration is flucutating from a few hours to a few weeks (a huge issue for editorial content)
-the rejection reasons are a true lottery (more than most of the main websites)
-the revenue per download can be extremely low
-the earning reports are updated only once per month, on the 20th day after the end of the month (it can be a pain to manage when you need to do a tight accounting)
-the algorithm seems to be focusing too much on interestingness: way more than on other platforms, two or three pictures are generating almost 50% of the income.
Pros:
-the submission interface is pretty clean
-IStock is my second highest earner by total income for last year, and my first if we consider the revenue per image.
Conclusion:
I definitely do not trust them, nor like their methods. However, they are still a big source of income. So, I would advice you to reasonnably give a try: avoid exclusivity (at least for th beginning), and do not put any valuable pictures on the platform (ie pictures you have the feeling they have a high potential and/or pictures you think you could have to withdraw from sales quickly for any reason)
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