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Friday, August 08, 2008
Three stock sites I am unsure about
These are a few sites I recently joined up with (within the last month) so I don't know much about them or how well we will work together.
The first site is SnapVillage which was recently re-designed and now out of beta. It's run by Corbis which is owned by Bill Gates. They have a reasonable upload interface which allows you to upload up to 5 images at a time as well as create "sets" for series of images. They accept most of my images and you can set your own price for each from $1 to $50 for per image sales. They have an opt in/opt out subscription offering which gives contributors $.30 per image on downloads. The review time is very good, within 24 hours. They have forums which seem friendly and helpful, if not a bit sparse. I'm not sure anyone has made a sale there yet but the site does have Corbis backing it up, so maybe as it becomes better known.
This is a fairly young site and I think as they grow and get more popular they will become more stringent with their acceptance. It's nice to be able to set your own price for images but pretty much useless if they don't sell. We shall see how it all works out.
The next site I've recently joined is 123rf. Like SnapVillage they accept nearly everything I have submitted. They have many upload interface options and there is no limit on how many images you can upload at a time. That is a very nice feature. Review is lightening fast, with hours. The forums are pretty active and but not much interaction between contributors yet. Judging from some of the posts some people have made sales and there are some good images on this site.
Again it's young and no sales for me so far, but we shall see how it goes.
The last site in today's review is one that I am probably going to pull my images from, it's called UnlistedImages. There are no forums, there is no way to see where or if your images have been used. There is no interface between your upload account and the site(s) that are selling them. They are allegedly connected to several sites which provide CDs of image collections. It's damn near impossible to navigate those sites in hopes of seeing if your images are on them. Review time is good and I don't think they've rejected anything that was within their image size requirements. I did email to ask how to tell where my images might be used and got a quick but unsatisfactory response of "we're working on it".
I might leave one or two images up there to test and see if they ever finish "working on it" but as of right now, I'm not impressed.
dolly's world: the fine art of bitchcraft
The first site is SnapVillage which was recently re-designed and now out of beta. It's run by Corbis which is owned by Bill Gates. They have a reasonable upload interface which allows you to upload up to 5 images at a time as well as create "sets" for series of images. They accept most of my images and you can set your own price for each from $1 to $50 for per image sales. They have an opt in/opt out subscription offering which gives contributors $.30 per image on downloads. The review time is very good, within 24 hours. They have forums which seem friendly and helpful, if not a bit sparse. I'm not sure anyone has made a sale there yet but the site does have Corbis backing it up, so maybe as it becomes better known.
This is a fairly young site and I think as they grow and get more popular they will become more stringent with their acceptance. It's nice to be able to set your own price for images but pretty much useless if they don't sell. We shall see how it all works out.
The next site I've recently joined is 123rf. Like SnapVillage they accept nearly everything I have submitted. They have many upload interface options and there is no limit on how many images you can upload at a time. That is a very nice feature. Review is lightening fast, with hours. The forums are pretty active and but not much interaction between contributors yet. Judging from some of the posts some people have made sales and there are some good images on this site.
Again it's young and no sales for me so far, but we shall see how it goes.
The last site in today's review is one that I am probably going to pull my images from, it's called UnlistedImages. There are no forums, there is no way to see where or if your images have been used. There is no interface between your upload account and the site(s) that are selling them. They are allegedly connected to several sites which provide CDs of image collections. It's damn near impossible to navigate those sites in hopes of seeing if your images are on them. Review time is good and I don't think they've rejected anything that was within their image size requirements. I did email to ask how to tell where my images might be used and got a quick but unsatisfactory response of "we're working on it".
I might leave one or two images up there to test and see if they ever finish "working on it" but as of right now, I'm not impressed.
Labels: Microstock image site review, the upstarts
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Shutterstock
I don't recall exactly when I joined Shutterstock, it was around 2 years ago. I submitted my 10 images for review and they accepted all of them, in spite of those same images being rejected by other microstock sites. In the years I've been with Shutterstock all but three of those images have sold at least once, so kudos to them for some vision.
Shutterstock is the largest (in number of images online) of the microstock agencies. I hear they are more stringent with their acceptance policy for newcomers now. There are far better photographers on there than I am who have had their initial submissions rejected so perhaps it's true.
Nevertheless, I have sold more with them than with any other microstock site. Though I'm still not raking in huge money and in 2 years have yet to have a payout (minimum payout through paypal is $75, accumulative). But I've only gotten serious about it in the last few months and in those months my earnings have jumped, so I'm hoping it won't be long.
Shutterstock probably pays the least of the agencies I've signed up with in so far as subscriptions rates go. At $.25 a download it'll take awhile to accumulate $75.00. I have not had anyone purchase an extended license of my images so far, I understand that pays better but still less than many other microstock sites. Still if you're looking to cut your teeth in the microstock world, this is the place to do it. That's not to say you can and should submit crap, they're still looking for good stock images, but they do seem to have a more open mind when it comes to what will sell and at the price they're selling images, you can do pretty well with a healthy portfolio.
For a fumbling hobbiest I don't get rejected nearly as much as I probably should but more than any other site I take the rejections personally (I don't know why, maybe because I like this site so much). I don't participate in the forums there they seem a bit too competitive but not in an unfriendly way. I do read the forums to glean any tips I can, sadly there's not much in the tips arena there. I don't believe they offer an exclusive artist or exclusive image option but this site is still growing (massive as it is) and improving, it seems a bit impersonal at times but I'm not sure Walmart greeters would make me like the site more, I already like it a lot.
Nonetheless, Shutterstock still often accepts images rejected by istock and they sell. I don't care if they sell for $.25 or $25, I'm earning money I didn't have 5 minutes ago.
Technically Shutterstock is easy. They offer multiple upload interface options, read IPTC data and review time is exceptional. I try not to resubmit too much that's rejected and if rejected 2x I don't resubmit any more. I've never interacted with staff there but the forums are hopping and people do post helpful suggestions in between comparing their earnings.
If you accumulate $500/mo in sales you get a raise, don't know what the raise is since I haven't hit it but I know others have (from reading the forums) and with over 4 million images online they must be doing something right
In the last months, since I've gotten more serious about photograhy and microstock I have had record (for me) sales on this site. Today they accepted all of my latest submissions and I have more waiting in the queue.
Shutterstock rating: A+
dolly's world: the fine art of bitchcraft
Shutterstock is the largest (in number of images online) of the microstock agencies. I hear they are more stringent with their acceptance policy for newcomers now. There are far better photographers on there than I am who have had their initial submissions rejected so perhaps it's true.
Nevertheless, I have sold more with them than with any other microstock site. Though I'm still not raking in huge money and in 2 years have yet to have a payout (minimum payout through paypal is $75, accumulative). But I've only gotten serious about it in the last few months and in those months my earnings have jumped, so I'm hoping it won't be long.
Shutterstock probably pays the least of the agencies I've signed up with in so far as subscriptions rates go. At $.25 a download it'll take awhile to accumulate $75.00. I have not had anyone purchase an extended license of my images so far, I understand that pays better but still less than many other microstock sites. Still if you're looking to cut your teeth in the microstock world, this is the place to do it. That's not to say you can and should submit crap, they're still looking for good stock images, but they do seem to have a more open mind when it comes to what will sell and at the price they're selling images, you can do pretty well with a healthy portfolio.
For a fumbling hobbiest I don't get rejected nearly as much as I probably should but more than any other site I take the rejections personally (I don't know why, maybe because I like this site so much). I don't participate in the forums there they seem a bit too competitive but not in an unfriendly way. I do read the forums to glean any tips I can, sadly there's not much in the tips arena there. I don't believe they offer an exclusive artist or exclusive image option but this site is still growing (massive as it is) and improving, it seems a bit impersonal at times but I'm not sure Walmart greeters would make me like the site more, I already like it a lot.
Nonetheless, Shutterstock still often accepts images rejected by istock and they sell. I don't care if they sell for $.25 or $25, I'm earning money I didn't have 5 minutes ago.
Technically Shutterstock is easy. They offer multiple upload interface options, read IPTC data and review time is exceptional. I try not to resubmit too much that's rejected and if rejected 2x I don't resubmit any more. I've never interacted with staff there but the forums are hopping and people do post helpful suggestions in between comparing their earnings.
If you accumulate $500/mo in sales you get a raise, don't know what the raise is since I haven't hit it but I know others have (from reading the forums) and with over 4 million images online they must be doing something right
In the last months, since I've gotten more serious about photograhy and microstock I have had record (for me) sales on this site. Today they accepted all of my latest submissions and I have more waiting in the queue.
Shutterstock rating: A+
Labels: Microstock image site review
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