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Well, I got a sale today and figured it was as good a day as any to get some files finished and uploaded. I was just sitting trying to pick categories and stuff for a little christmas illustration I hadn’t gotten done until now when it hit me.
Fotolia is retarded. Like, their categories are completely retarded, like…. There’s no people>Children, there’s no Holidays>Christmas in the main categories and I don’t even know why I still upload to bring in a whole 20 cents every week or so. The micros are driving me NUTS! 🙄 👿 😕
Was this a rhetorical question? 🙂
I don’t sell through Fotolia any more, but even for a loathed area like Categories (such a pain on most sites to find a decent fit; Bigstock had the right idea by automating choices, but I prefer it when the site uses keywords to do it for you) Fotolia stood out with a bizarro world view in their list.
The worst system out there is iStock (I left last February over the google/getty deal) but the reason people put up with it was money – in the past anyway they were consistently the top money earner.
If the agencies were fair, honest, efficient, organized and had gobs of customers, there’d be no Symbiostock 🙂
@joannsnover wrote:
If the agencies were fair, honest, efficient, organized and had gobs of customers, there’d be no Symbiostock 🙂
I completely agree!
My Very Best 🙂
KimsCreativeHub.comSometimes I wonder if I’m retarded for keeping my port up there, but honestly they haven’t started doing the really bad stuff like Istock, so I’m allowing myself a small allowance of retardation.
@leo wrote:
Sometimes I wonder if I’m retarded for keeping my port up there, but honestly they haven’t started doing the really bad stuff like Istock, so I’m allowing myself a small allowance of retardation.
If it’s earning you money and you’re getting paid, there’s nothing wrong with that 🙂 Perhaps if enough other people leave you’ll see a boost in sales? 🙂
@kimscreativehub wrote:
@joannsnover wrote:
If the agencies were fair, honest, efficient, organized and had gobs of customers, there’d be no Symbiostock 🙂
I completely agree!
My Very Best 🙂
KimsCreativeHub.comSo true!
@leo wrote:
Sometimes I wonder if I’m retarded for keeping my port up there, but honestly they haven’t started doing the really bad stuff like Istock, so I’m allowing myself a small allowance of retardation.
I decided not even to take the plunge to Istock. Especially since I couldn’t figure out the upload process. 🙄 With my small port sometimes I wonder if any of the sites are worth uploading to for a while … It takes up a ton of time, and generally causes more frustration than it’s worth.
This is kind of related to pulling images off Fotolia. I thought about what I am about to post and yes I think I might have lost my mind and had a mental breakdown but….. (this post ended up being longer than I intended, sorry) 🙂
A little history first. I started messing with Stock back in 2011 and had less than 100 images up on Fotolia, Dreamstime, Bigstock, Canstock, and 123RF. Then due to one of my children getting ill for a couple of years I set my camera down for a couple years. I just picked it back up June of 2013. I found Symbiostock on MS Group and jumped in with both feet. One caveat, I only do this part time but hope I can build this up over the next few years to continue after normal job retirement. Which ever way this industry turns.
I started to add to the agencies again to include iStock and FAA for some of my artsy stuff. Now for the mental breakdown I had. I do not do enough volume or have a portfolio that I can really compete in Microstock and I was tired on selling images for as little as $.22 cents. So I pulled all my images off of all sites except Dreamstime until I reach the six month requirement. At the end of January I started uploading all images that might be appropriate for Alamy and went RM only. Anything not appropriate for Alamy goes on my Symbiostock site. If Symbiostock takes off after a while and Alamy keeps dropping prices I might only end up with Symbiostock and a place to print stuff.
I maybe crazy and that strategy mail fail miserably but sold an Image I just got up on Alamy last month for my profit of $19.60 when the same image sold on another site a while back for $.22 cents and I do not expect to get hundreds of downloads from the image. We will see where all this goes. I guess I would rather get larger sales less often. If I had thousands of images suited for microstock it might be a different strategy though since volume of downloads kicks in at that point. I am still learning and getting my feet wet but someday when I grow up I might figure out what I want to do. 😀
So….. I may be the retarded one here 😆
@tdahl-stock wrote:
This is kind of related to pulling images off Fotolia. I thought about what I am about to post and yes I think I might have lost my mind and had a mental breakdown but….. (this post ended up being longer than I intended, sorry) 🙂
A little history first. I started messing with Stock back in 2011 and had less than 100 images up on Fotolia, Dreamstime, Bigstock, Canstock, and 123RF. Then due to one of my children getting ill for a couple of years I set my camera down for a couple years. I just picked it back up June of 2013. I found Symbiostock on MS Group and jumped in with both feet. One caveat, I only do this part time but hope I can build this up over the next few years to continue after normal job retirement. Which ever way this industry turns.
I started to add to the agencies again to include iStock and FAA for some of my artsy stuff. Now for the mental breakdown I had. I do not do enough volume or have a portfolio that I can really compete in Microstock and I was tired on selling images for as little as $.22 cents. So I pulled all my images off of all sites except Dreamstime until I reach the six month requirement. At the end of January I started uploading all images that might be appropriate for Alamy and went RM only. Anything not appropriate for Alamy goes on my Symbiostock site. If Symbiostock takes off after a while and Alamy keeps dropping prices I might only end up with Symbiostock and a place to print stuff.
I maybe crazy and that strategy mail fail miserably but sold an Image I just got up on Alamy last month for my profit of $19.60 when the same image sold on another site a while back for $.22 cents and I do not expect to get hundreds of downloads from the image. We will see where all this goes. I guess I would rather get larger sales less often. If I had thousands of images suited for microstock it might be a different strategy though since volume of downloads kicks in at that point. I am still learning and getting my feet wet but someday when I grow up I might figure out what I want to do. 😀
So….. I may be the retarded one here 😆
$19.60 is a nice sale … I think my highest ever was like $5(dreamstime). For the most part my goal is to be Symbiostock exclusive someday … But, I want to see some payouts damnit!
Yea, I think the largest from Dreamstime for me was $4 and something.
@tdahl-stock wrote:
Yea, I think the largest from Dreamstime for me was $4 and something.
I actually like dreamstime a bit … Submission is a bit slow I suppose is my biggest complaints. But, they get my illustrations tons of views. Far more than other sites anyhow, and seem to pay decently. (Compared to others)
for fotolia, since their reviewers are brain-dead, I just use ‘misc’ – if they take it fine, if not , who cares
same for dp & other bottom feeders — no need to waste time picking categories when they can’t produce sales
these lower agencies produce enuf each month to make it worth submitting, but not enough to spend any time doing their work for them
@cascoly wrote:
for fotolia, since their reviewers are brain-dead, I just use ‘misc’ – if they take it fine, if not , who cares
same for dp & other bottom feeders — no need to waste time picking categories when they can’t produce sales
these lower agencies produce enuf each month to make it worth submitting, but not enough to spend any time doing their work for them
I just hate the categories on quite a few of the sites … You’d almost expect them to take a bit of notes and make it … easier and streamlined for both customers and contributors. As we use a subscription service at my job as well I can tell all of you that I use very little “categories” I know when I’m looking for a frame, and I know when I’m looking for a photograph to compliment information … The keywords are infinitely the very most important part.
The more I submit the more I hate it, I might not ever make much on this microstock venture but, I’ve definitely learned that people will make money from you … More than you make quite often.
Sorry for the pessimistic attitude.
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