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Author Topic: Stocksy - where are they?  (Read 48386 times)

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« Reply #25 on: September 03, 2013, 04:44 »
+4
@ shudderstok, well why not share your profile. Posting here wild theories anonymous might be a secrecy thing some might have concerns with ;)
I don't know why you're riding this "portfolio of competitors" thing . I've sent them my personal business portfolio. If you're interested: www.ina-peters.de
You will be sure able to post a small collection of pictures you want to apply with somewhere in the web if you don't have a business website. There are services around ... but wait, you made clear that you don't want to apply.
To answer your question, nothing from me is "official", I'm just a contributor. I will surely not post here internal information about clients, sorry.
My guess on why they maybe did not answer all applications timely is that it's still a very small team and when Stocksy got public the interest was overwhelming ... just my 2 cents.
You asked about this other agencies that are requesting portfolio links? Well, imagesource, Getty, stockfood for example - just to name some of them.
Just to give you an impression about earnings: In July I made half of what I made on IS (after the respectful royalty cut for Indies) on Stocksy (Stocksy ca 250 files, IS ca 2500). Good development IMHO for a young agency.


« Reply #26 on: September 03, 2013, 04:46 »
+3
I joined Stocksy recently and things are very promising there. Up until a few days ago I only had uploaded 2 images. I made a sale within the first week - probably making me as much in one license as I might expect to make in a week with 800 images at iStock. Clearly, earning 50% of a decent license on Stocksy is preferable to earning 15% of a pittance with you-know-who. I've since been out on two shoots especially for Stocksy and I have more planned this week.

There is a very positive buzz amongst the Stockys photographers and this, again, is in total contrast to you-know-who. I love the style of photography that Stocksy and their clients want and I love the business model they have propoed. It reminds me why I came into photography in the first place. I've been re-energised and re-motivated after feeling very jaded with the whole Microstock world.

I have no idea if Stocksy will be a successful, long-term proposition - but I sincerely hope so and I'll be doing what I can to support them.

« Reply #27 on: September 03, 2013, 04:50 »
+3
shudderstok: you are true in saying GI and IS are not the nicest agencies to submit to in terms of warm fuzzy feelings.



I'm not talking about warm fuzzy feelings, I'm talking about respect and professionalism. Solving IT problems immediately. That is professionalism in my opinion.

edited for typing
« Last Edit: September 03, 2013, 04:54 by Silberkorn »

Ron

« Reply #28 on: September 03, 2013, 04:58 »
+5
I would say the bigger issue is that only one person is reporting up to between 6 and 20 sales per month.  That's one person with a max of between $300-1000 per month, it's much more likely that all those sales weren't for the largest size either and this is from a group of people that includes many diamond level contributors.  It's only been 6 months but I would have expected much more than 20 sales per month from a majority of contributors by now.

I think you'll find the contributor base there mostly doesn't participate on forums like this, and those that do aren't likely to report much, due to all the negativity here regarding it.

"If you're interested in being a contributing artist, please reply to this email with a link to your portfolio (500px, flickr, etc) and we might send you an invitation."

What did you want it to say? "We _may_ send you an invitation"?  "We will _consider_"?  It all means the same thing.  You're reading too much into it.
The negativity spawned from the fact that people didnt get any reply back on their submission, and that many people with good portfolios with Stocksy like images, were not accepted and people with typical stock portfolios were. Some things said about the likes of Stocksy were simply not true. The tag line says that Stocksy is not for your typical stock photo, but it is. And the fact that upon rejection or no reply, you had to wait a year to apply again. All that caused some negativity towards Stocksy. I believe Bruce explained that due to a technical error application emails got lost. But that was said in some interview, somewhere, so not a lot of people know about that.

I still would like to apply to Stocky at some point, but its still not clear to me what they want, or if I was rejected in the first place. Since the community wishes to remain silent and only talk in their closed forum, no one will get to know the positive side of Stocksy, also not knowing what sales to expect is an important factor since we are talking about image exclusivity.  Many people say they are pleasantly surprised, but that is such a broad and personal opinion, it has no factual meaning. And in the end sales is most important to anyone in this business.

« Reply #29 on: September 03, 2013, 05:01 »
0
If you're interested: www.ina-peters.de


Nice work. Your drag racing pictures are especially great. And fun too :)

« Reply #30 on: September 03, 2013, 05:06 »
+1
The negativity spawned from the fact that people didnt get any reply back on their submission, and that many people with good portfolios with Stocksy like images, were not accepted and people with typical stock portfolios were.

What is a Stocksy-like image ? I keep looking and I see a whole variety of different contemporary styles and approaches. It's undeniably strong work. And likeable.

You don't have to be a part of thing to admire it for what it is. There is a lot which they are doing right. And a lot of hard work and thought has gone into the portfolios.

Ron

« Reply #31 on: September 03, 2013, 05:09 »
0
The negativity spawned from the fact that people didnt get any reply back on their submission, and that many people with good portfolios with Stocksy like images, were not accepted and people with typical stock portfolios were.

What is a Stocksy-like image ? I keep looking and I see a whole variety of different contemporary styles and approaches. It's undeniably strong work. And likeable.

You don't have to be a part of thing to admire it for what it is. There is a lot which they are doing right. And a lot of hard work and thought has gone into the portfolios.
I do like the work on Stocksy, no doubt.

« Reply #32 on: September 03, 2013, 05:14 »
+4
Thank you bhr :)
What gets accepted is a question most of us are figuring out at the moment. There are a lot of rejections - on some themes more than on others. I made recently a little serie for Stocksy that I considered "highly artistic" (LOL). All got rejected for beeing "too staged". That's life. They are looking for natural images, whatever that means. Real people doing real things (in terms of people shots). No "toothy smiles" towards the camera of people that look like being dressed in a costume ...

« Reply #33 on: September 03, 2013, 05:16 »
0
Do you think that at some point they will also be looking for a distribution deal for the collection as a whole ?

« Reply #34 on: September 03, 2013, 05:23 »
0
I don't know. Haven't heard of any plans in this direction yet. Only Bruce knows.

shudderstok

« Reply #35 on: September 03, 2013, 05:25 »
+1
stocksy definitely has some great work. for now i will wait it out. things are working well for me at GI and IS. i don't like the corporate culture at GI at all, if anything they totally miss the mark on contributor relations, but i am not submitting for the social aspect of being with an agency, i am there for the money. if things eventually turn south over at GI and IS and i feel i have hit a tipping point in royalties, i will look at stocksy more seriously, however for the time being it would be financial suicide to do so. i have made my comfort level in royalty rate with the current RC in place, and will hang out as long as i retain that rate, but if for whatever reason i drop a level, that will be the tipping point.

anyway, may we all prosper and have financial success for our craft, regardless of where we choose to submit too. i love good photography.

« Reply #36 on: September 03, 2013, 05:30 »
0
Only Bruce knows.

That sounds awful.

« Reply #37 on: September 03, 2013, 05:31 »
+3
There is more than just stocksy out there. If you decide to be independent there are many smaller more specialized agencies that you can work with (if they accept you). They also distribute to Getty, but also many of the other macro sites, including offset. They also (supposedly) take a larger amount of the files you send them because the agencies pick and choose whatever they want, but as a whole more files from a series can be accepted by them initially.

And of course they sell direct,Rf and RM.

They are only image or series exclusive. You can still send files to micros if you want to, work with stock food directly for food pictures etc...and of course you can sell direct.

So you dont have to give up selling via Getty if this is what you want, but you get added exposure to other parts of the market as well.

I understand it is very comfortable to be exclusive with istock. I did it for years.

But if you are independent your choices are not limited to selling files for 30 cents.

And you can supply any kind of style as well. There is a lot of my work that will not fit into stocksy but I know it can be sold for higher prices,so I can send it to where I think it will sell best.

However, the micros, including the subscription sites and especially SS and Fotolia, will probably be the most reliable money maker,so I will always be sending content to the high volume market as well.

It will take me two years to get the experience what sells where, but I no longer have to worry if getty/istock are going up or down. If they succeed - good for me, I get sales. If they drop - not a problem for me, Ill make money elsewhere.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2013, 05:52 by cobalt »

« Reply #38 on: September 03, 2013, 05:33 »
0
Only Bruce knows.

That sounds awful.

Really? Wasn't meant to do so.  :P

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #39 on: September 03, 2013, 05:44 »
0
My experience with applying to smaller agencies (that are highly selective in who they accept) is that they anyway do a google search for your name and  look at your website and whatever else can be found online. In addition to whatever you sent in as application images.
Oh well, I'm screwed.
As well as Flickr, I have photos I've taken for all sorts of events which were never intended to be 'stock'; I did a charity event in the evening/at night where they were very adamant that the pictures had to be unposed/unlit, and the rain was so bad my 5d2 packed up and luckily I had my 40D to carry on. Another charity even which was partly outside on a very sunny afternoon and partly inside a very dark building which they didn't want lit as they wanted to keep the atmosphere. And just all sorts of things that I've done for various purposes (field trips by a local RSPB group etc) which I wouldn't like to be judged on for acceptance to a stock library.
My website was made for a very specific purpose back in the days of dialup, full of scanned slides crunched right down to about 40Kb, and I've never had reason to update it (and it's useful for throwing images up onto that I want advice on or to link to here and other places). My (new) blog is just a record in a total beginner gardener taking down a badly neglected garden and building it up from scratch. It makes no pretences at being anything else - one of my gardening challenges is it's very light-limited.
Pity there's no place for personal fun on the web without being judged on it or having to lock it from just about anybody's eyes. H*ck, I went out for lunch with two friends and we took each other's photos on our phones and put them on Facebook, just for fun, no lighting, no posing, no fussing with our clothes/hair/makeup. I wouldn't dream of sending these to an agency - why should I be judged on them? I don't do 'people' stock, so all of these photos I've mentioned would be totally irrelevant to any application.

« Reply #40 on: September 03, 2013, 05:48 »
+1
I dont think that would be a problem Sue. i have all kinds of horrible old pictures flying around the internet. Editors are certainly able to distinguish between professional work and old files,or family events. they have them out there as well.

Google background searches are just part of life these days. Any company you apply to will do them.

And with stocksy chances are the files with "bad" lighting, harsh shadows and awkward poses, will have just the authenticity that they like. I really wouldnt worry about it.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2013, 06:52 by cobalt »

travelwitness

« Reply #41 on: September 03, 2013, 07:36 »
+5
why not share this promising growth with stocksy

My partner hit + $700 in July with just over 100 images in her portfolio.

« Reply #42 on: September 03, 2013, 07:56 »
0
;
« Last Edit: May 12, 2014, 10:55 by Audi 5000 »

travelwitness

« Reply #43 on: September 03, 2013, 08:05 »
+1
Yep there was an EL sale in there.

There's been quite a few EL purchases reported on the forums, which suggests bigger clients are starting to appear.

« Reply #44 on: September 03, 2013, 08:07 »
0
;
« Last Edit: May 12, 2014, 10:55 by Audi 5000 »

EmberMike

« Reply #45 on: September 03, 2013, 08:23 »
+5
...asking to send a link to see your portfolio on any competitors site is just plain rubbish and quite frankly amateur in scope. in fact i know of no other agency that has ever requested to see your portfolio on the competitors site to see if they 'might' invite you...

When and where did Stocksy ask this? I only ever saw the request for a link to a portfolio not specifically an agency one (flickr, 500px, etc).


travelwitness

« Reply #46 on: September 03, 2013, 08:33 »
+1
...asking to send a link to see your portfolio on any competitors site is just plain rubbish and quite frankly amateur in scope. in fact i know of no other agency that has ever requested to see your portfolio on the competitors site to see if they 'might' invite you...

When and where did Stocksy ask this? I only ever saw the request for a link to a portfolio not specifically an agency one (flickr, 500px, etc).

They don't as far as I know, me and my partner sent links to our personal Photoshelter sites. There are photographers there who have never sold stock images before, I've no idea where this has come from?

lisafx

« Reply #47 on: September 03, 2013, 10:54 »
+2
I continue to be hesitant to submit there.  My word continues to be pretty standard, boiler-plate stock.  Not sure it is the right fit for Stocksy. 

The exclusivity thing is a roadblock for me.  I tend to cram a lot of concepts into each model shoot.  That means a couple of hundred usable images.  If one from a series is accepted at Stocksy, then that means the rest of the series can't be submitted anywhere else. 

For people that shoot a lot of unique individual images it seems like a good fit, but for me, shooting hundreds of images per session, I can't wrap my brain around sending 95% of my usable images per shoot to the scrap heap if one or two of them are accepted to Stocksy. 

« Reply #48 on: September 03, 2013, 11:02 »
+6
You can always withdraw the accepted images and submit elsewhere if you don't like how things work out.

"Series" would mean same people, clothing, place and theme.  If you change clothing and location during a shoot, so that it appears to be separate from the first part, you should be fine.  But you can ask Rob S. or Nuno S. for specifics if you have a detailed plan.

« Reply #49 on: September 03, 2013, 11:06 »
+1
I would also recommend to either talk to Nuno or Rob before a shoot or just send them a link with all the files from the shoot and discuss with them what is and what isnt suitable for stocksy.

That is the real advantage of being part of a small group - direct interaction.

They are not trying to get in your way. You just have to find a workflow that works for both stocksy and your regular work.

It is the same routine if you want to send a series to Getty House or exclusively to Dreamstime,Fotolia or Westend61.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2013, 11:10 by cobalt »


 

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