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Messages - michaeldb
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201
« on: June 30, 2013, 00:02 »
My experience with them is, DT has huge ratio between views vs downloads. I am yet to get a sale there but views are building up. High number of views but low number of downloads may be because customers have many options to choose from...
Yes, looking at my views-to-sales ratio at DT I always get nostalgic for the old days - say 4-5 years ago. I used to average 1 sale per 10 views. Now I watch the views mount up: 50 views; 100 views; 150 views often without a single sale. Still my sales at DT this month are meeting expectations and in line with other sites, so I cannot complain re the subject of this thread.
202
« on: June 14, 2013, 22:41 »
I can't speak for every agency, but the Google Image changes took a big hit out of my traffic numbers. Fortunately, it didn't seem to really affect sales...
I don't have the info available to site owners, and I can't prove it but I have a suspicion that Google is really starting to hurt us and it's going to get worse. Comments by Kelly at GL and, as I recall, Duncan at CanStockPhoto have been pretty dire sounding. Hope I'm wrong.
203
« on: June 14, 2013, 22:28 »
...For people who make a reasonable amount each month - is it mostly subscription or on demand revenue?
I make what I think is a reasonable amount at SS each month - four figures. So far this month, my income from subscription DLs is slightly more than the total from on-demand and and single-and-other DLs.
204
« on: June 01, 2013, 23:00 »
If they sent that out in an email I never got it. MY upload limit is 40 and I couldn't make that many in a week if I tried.
Isn't there some kind of legal precedent that makes monopolies illegal? Trying to remember from years ago when Microsoft got sued for that reason.
The FTC did launch an anti-trust investigation (similar to those it attacked Microsoft and IBM with in the past) against Google in June, 2011. On January 3, 2012, the FTC dropped the investigation, after supposedly Google agreed to make some minor changes in its search. The real story is that Google paid hundred of millions of dollars to Washington lobbyists and politicians. It was a huge win for Google, which will now be immune to actions by US Gov for a long time. This may be why Google has been emboldened to launch new attacks against copyright.
206
« on: June 01, 2013, 18:55 »
Whatever it is that changed, they might reverse it in the future. But they're now a huge company and a course correction is like turning an aircraft carrier.
Seems like they were pretty nimble in screwing things up, though.
That's for sure! They are great at finding new ways to monetize other people's content, and keep the money for Google.
207
« on: May 02, 2013, 11:56 »
Thanks for this thread and info. I had a very bad Monday and wondered what was going on (in the US, May 1 is not a holiday, and "May day!" means "Help!")
208
« on: April 25, 2013, 18:47 »
NICE. not a BDE, but a nice boost. thanks SS.
BDE at SS for me, by about $300. I guess the "educational book publisher" must have been one of my 13 "followers"?  Seriously, as far as I'm concerned, this goes a long way to make up for a lot of the down things happening in microstock lately. Thanks for posting, Scott. Great day for SS! 
209
« on: April 25, 2013, 13:22 »
Now there are a bunch showing up at $16.50 each.
Anyone seeing these?
Mine are various: $13.50; $16.50; $24
210
« on: April 25, 2013, 13:20 »
Oh great.
Someone in the SS forum pointed out that we could look up on the Shutterstock map on the submit main page to see where the buyer is located.
I just checked... Looks like they've been downloaded from a single location in Africa.
Maybe it's that Nigerian prince who keeps wanting to send me $14,000,000!!!
Same location here so it's most likely a fraud
"Someone on MSG worry its from Africa but if the left top corner of the image is in the ocean next to Africa it means the location could not be determined." semmickphoto on the SS thread So far I have $247 in these SODS and the amount is rising fast (a few minutes ago it was $199.50). On the SS map, they are indeed "in the ocean" and do not have the little white dot in the upper left hand corner, so I think that the location is undetermined. One bad thing about this were it to turn out to be fraud, it probably will not be settled til after the end of the month, meaning that it will mess up my keeping records of April revenues, as I will not know if any of the sales are possibly real. I hate it when that happens.
211
« on: April 19, 2013, 18:20 »
I doubt that any contributors are being treated better in a systematic way. More likely it's just luck of the draw - which reviewing queue or contractor a particular submission gets sent to. It might be a totally random thing.
I truly hope you are right.
212
« on: April 19, 2013, 17:27 »
Mine are still there from the end of last month, and I've stopped checking. I won't be submitting again until it's all making sense, and I get the feeling that will be quite a while.
" My last batch had images from 1 day to 5 days old. All were reviewed the same day." WarrenPrice
Today several of my images were finally reviewed, after many days. Images submitted on different days were all reviewed on the same day, just before the weekend. This is happening now every time I submit images to SS. How can SS's claim that they review images in a FIFO order be true? How can it be a coincidence if it happens every time?
How can I help but suspect that SS is unfairly favoring some submitters over others?
I have 4 images waiting at SS which were submitted in February. Apparently they will never be reviewed.
On top of it all, SS changes its policy to require "property releases" for hand-drawn and hand-traced vectors. Whether this policy makes sense or not, it certainly requires from me a PITA procedure which no other agency I submit to requires.
I stopped submitting to IS because of things like this. I guess the only course is to stop submitting to SS for the time being, at least. They do not seem to want my images anyway.
I guess I should be flattered but can't believe any agency would favor me. My numbers are quite insignificant. As I said, "This is all very weird."
I did note that you are talking vectors. Maybe that is the difference?
I didn't mean favoring you because of the 1-5 days (yes, that is probably because JPGs are reviewed differently - but besides vectors I also submit JPGs and they are not being reviewed in a timely way or FIFO either). Like many other long-time SS loyalists, I wonder if the new IS ex-exclusives are getting special treatment at our expense. Whatever the case, SS is losing a lot of the good will it has built up over the years with contributors. Look at all the many threads on this subject at SS forums, one is 10 pages long. Here at MSG, some photo contributors have a thread collecting evidence of SS cheating on review order. Many people who routinely submitted their images to SS first are forced to submit them elsewhere first, if at all. Things like that shouldn't be happening, and it isn't our fault that they are happening. IMO SS has to be honest about this mess, and fix it.
213
« on: April 19, 2013, 15:44 »
Mine are still there from the end of last month, and I've stopped checking. I won't be submitting again until it's all making sense, and I get the feeling that will be quite a while.
" My last batch had images from 1 day to 5 days old. All were reviewed the same day." WarrenPrice Today several of my images were finally reviewed, after many days. Images submitted on different days were all reviewed on the same day, just before the weekend. This is happening now every time I submit images to SS. How can SS's claim that they review images in a FIFO order be true? How can it be a coincidence if it happens every time? How can I help but suspect that SS is unfairly favoring some submitters over others? I have 4 images waiting at SS which were submitted in February. Apparently they will never be reviewed. On top of it all, SS changes its policy to require "property releases" for hand-drawn and hand-traced vectors. Whether this policy makes sense or not, it certainly requires from me a PITA procedure which no other agency I submit to requires. I stopped submitting to IS because of things like this. I guess the only course is to stop submitting to SS for the time being, at least. They do not seem to want my images anyway.
214
« on: April 11, 2013, 21:48 »
My 3 images have been sent about 6 weeks ago - how long does it take for them to process your new membership as a contributor?
its kinf of ridiculous
I applied to Stockfresh a few weeks after they opened for business, and they have never responded. (This after I made quite a bit of money for them when they were StockXpert.) So good luck.
215
« on: April 11, 2013, 12:03 »
Whenever I see local business using this sort of double-entendre, crude advertising, I make it a point to tell everyone that I know not to use their services...
Excellent idea. However I think the vulgarity in this image was unintended, by a person who is not a native speaker of English. Note the spelling of "Quality" 
216
« on: April 10, 2013, 12:13 »
This is indeed sad, a new kind of infringement, at least I have not seen it before.
I think dafont is a pretty reputable business, has been around a long time. They seem to be cognizant of IP issues. The infringer has 177 fonts on there. I would email dafont and notify them of the infringement and maybe they will remove all of the guy's fonts. That might serve as a deterrent to other fontographers doing the same sort of thing.
217
« on: March 30, 2013, 18:48 »
still no sales in well over a week now, starting to get a bit worried, maybe i should stop uploading here for a while and put my time and effort into fotolia etc for a bit (where i stil need to upload my whole port to!)
I wouldn't worry or consider stopping submissions. It is Easter weekend and Spring Break season in the US for the last couple of weeks. Sales have slowed down probably. My last 20 illustrations have a grand total of 1 dl on DT. Some of them, maybe most, will end up being successful on DT, if past experience is any indication. It just takes time these days.
218
« on: March 30, 2013, 18:43 »
Also remember that in the US it isn't just Easter, it is Spring Break season. Parents often take off when their kids do. Most spring breaks are over, but not everyone will be back to work yet.
219
« on: March 28, 2013, 20:48 »
SS are far less picky about 3D than IS so any of these already accepted where you are should just sail through
Thanks for that advice, I'll put a few renders in the submission. I hope to make renders a much larger part of my port in future, and istocks tendency to reject nearly all my 3D work is one of the reasons I dropped exclusivity.
You should definitely submit your renders to DT and others, even in preference to SS. Yes, SS will accept them, but because a subscription to SS costs $249, most of the subscribers are professionals, and they prefer vector illustrations. On DT, raster illustrations way outsell vectors for me, it is the opposite on SS.
220
« on: March 28, 2013, 17:24 »
Yes I am seeing the same pattern. I think changes in search algorithms are contributing as well. They could also be giving key exclusives a boost in the search by holding our images back long enough in reviews for our images to drop off the map. [/quote] Thanks for this! I believe the pattern that was very established for my portfolio changed in November and I've maintained earnings (approximately) because of some good one-off EDs and SoDs, but the basic sales trend of subscription and ODs changed for the worse. Maybe the increase in new contributors with some great portfolios, maybe the Google Image changes, maybe the focus on different things after the IPO - not sure. I'll plot the sales from the different categories of downloads once the results for March are in.
Is everyone else seeing the same pattern in those little graphs as I displayed, or is it steadier and more normal for the other contributors?
Steve
Yes I am seeing the same pattern. I think changes in search algorithms are contributing as well. They could also be giving key exclusives a boost in the search by holding our images back long enough in reviews for our images to drop off the map.
I for one sure hope this is not true. I am not afraid of ex-iS-exclusives and look forward to competing with them, but that is going to be hard to do if SS will NOT REVIEW MY IMAGES. Why are images which were sumbitted on different days, even different weeks, all being reviewed on the same day? Is SS reviewing all images in the order received? If not, what is their new policy? I have a normal batch of 4 vectors waiting for review for over a month. Apparently some iS exclusives who recently dropped the crown have had images on SS for weeks now? Is that correct? What is going on?
221
« on: March 28, 2013, 13:05 »
Im curious to know how much of it is due to more competition from guys like me that have dropped the crown? There is a longer wait period now than 6 months ago to have your files approved on SS. I think a lot has to do with file visibility with all the influx of new content.
My proven sellers on istock has jumped to the first page in search results on SS in about a months time...
I have a gut feeling that steheap is right. Things are changing at SS in profound ways. One cause is as VB inc says. Another may be that SS top management is changing (or losing?) its focus. Being a publicly traded company, starting OFFSET, and who knows what else, considering more acquisitions possibly? These things may be turning SS management's attention away from their core business. The worsening problem with review times (I have 4 vectors which have been waiting for over a month) and the order of reviews (it seems that images are not being reviewed in the order received) and the way these issues have been addressed (or not addressed) may be symptomatic of profound changes at SS, and not changes for the better. I hope I am wrong.
222
« on: March 27, 2013, 14:01 »
No slowdown in DT sales for me, in fact the opposite, a very good month (I do illustrations).
223
« on: March 25, 2013, 21:28 »
I do love the simplicity of the pricing. I suspect buyers will too.
Yes, I like the way they handle pricing/licensing. The site is impressive IMO; no bugs for me (Firefox, PC). I can see shopping there for my design work. Did not see a way to dl comps, but maybe if I register?
224
« on: March 22, 2013, 18:00 »
A few other signs of success:
-lots of MSG posters are suddenly asking questions about submitting to sites other than iS, some have said that they are newly independent escapees from iS
-at SS, review times are longer than they have ever been, and the whole submission/review process seems to show signs of being stressed (I have been there since 2005 and I have never seen anything like it), could be caused by a flood images as ex-iS exclusives submit their whole ports to SS? DT review times are also very long.
-iS has hired a consulting group apparently to try to find out what is wrong (they might not have done that if nothing is wrong)
-some MSG posts have said that forum participation at iS has fallen dramatically. I wouldn't know, I started at iS in 2005 and am a gold illustrator, but I don't submit there any more or go to the site very often.
SS review times are 'normal' as far as I'm concerned, sometimes very quick (a few hours) and sometimes a bit slow (2-3 days). Only 88K images have been approved in the last 7 days which is on the low side, previously they were regularly approving 110K+ images per week. There's nothing whatsoever to suggest that they are 'stressed'.
Editorial taking 21 days, I am at two weeks for normal images. The forum is full of people reporting insane long review times. SS has said the queues are longer due to unforeseen issues.
I guess the next thing we see now is a post by an iS cheerleader saying that the cause is 'ebb and flow'. 
225
« on: March 22, 2013, 11:51 »
IMHO getting how-to-succed-in-microstock advice from an iS exclusive is like requesting cruise ship recommendations from a passenger on the Titanic.
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