Hey all,
Is anyone else having a SEVERE downturn in sales lately at istockphoto? And speaking of istock, are you dismbuguating your keywords, or tags, or whatever they decide to call it these days? Sorry if I sound bitter, but I've been averaging 0 - 2 DLs per day lately, and I was averaging 4 - 8 per day not all that long ago. If you share my pain, speak up! We'll share a virtual beer over our sorrows. :)
I've found sales have been a little better since they screwed up the process. I haven't been disambiguating the old photos and I've gotten several rejections for keywords with no explanation as to what the problem is. I just resubmit them as is.
I've actually been batting 1000 with my uploads lately--I haven't gotten a single rejection in a while. But that actually makes it MORE frustrating that my sales are down so badly. More pictures + less sales = Frustration! I know there is the usual ebb and flow with stock, and sometimes your sales will be a little dry. But lately it has been horrible...
My November sales are WAAAYYY down (-50%), and the only thing that saved October was an extended license sale. so yeah, I'm hating the new istock. And I've even gone through all my files and fixed all the keywords. I was going exclusive next month (I can be released from Dreamstime then), but I don't know if I want to now.
I've noticed it as well, coincidentally shutterstock is doing really well for me at the moment - my best month ever and I havent really uploaded much of late.
At the moment I'm making about $20 a month off of istock and about $70 at shutterstock. Fotolia and Dreamstime just tick along really slowly for me, but I am suffering from upload fatigue! Intially its a bit of a ball-ache to get them on but its worth it in the end. My aim is to get enough for a nice new 40D (which I hear might be available by march!)
I'm also having a bad time at iStock lately. At Dreamstime on the other hand, I'm having a record month, though most of it is Christmas images which were rejected at iStock. I guess that's just the way things are with stock because iStock is usually my top earner. That's why I wouldn't even think of going exclusive.
Same here. My iStock sales dropped so I ended my exclusivity contract. I have been doing quite well on Shutterstock though. $50.00 in the past 9 days on 73 photos. Versus $2.20 during the same time period on 119 images at iStock, and $4.00 on 130 images with Dreamstime.
Would anyone mind telling me how much they make off stock photos? I'm curious. :)
I wont give any numbers but I make more from stock photos than a lot of people with full time jobs. Lets just say that I havent had a sunday in a few months were i havent made more than $100, still working on those saturdays though :-)
Since the changes at istock my sales have gone up so i have nothing to complain about. The uploading process is a bit slower but in the long run it is going to make searches more accurate and hopefully lead to even more downloads. Plus using tagged keywords opens up the market to lots of other countries where english isnt the native language.
.? And speaking of istock, are you dismbuguating your keywords, or tags, or whatever they decide to call it these days? .
What is this and how do u do it?
If you go to your account and click on 'my uploads' there is a new column call "Disambiguation" which for each photo will say "auto" or "manual". Auto probably isnt as clear, so its best to go through these again and sort them out! Bit of a pain, but I'm just doing a couple a day.
Just wondering how many people have got into illustrations? they seem to be good earners... but I'm not sure if I'd enjoy it as much as photography, but I like $$$$'s!
My November sales are down roughly 40% on Istock and all I've been doing is uploading more and more. I actually have about 75 images in queue since I can only upload 30/week.
On a good note, all other site sales are up and on SS sales are up 30% Woohoo!
Ya....Istock sucks for me too! It was my best selling for a long time!
But now Shutterstock is the BEST one! My sales are ROCKING there! and there REVIEW time is almost instant now....Just try it! I uploading some photos and they got reviewed right away!
maybe it's just that it's at the end of the year and most places are waiting until january to start up new projects?
fwiw, i registered as a buyer at shutterstock and i absolutely hate it. i cannot wait until this month is over. the site is a total PITA to use. istock's interface is SOOOOO much nicer.
.? And speaking of istock, are you dismbuguating your keywords, or tags, or whatever they decide to call it these days? .
What is this and how do u do it?
If you go to your account and click on 'my uploads' there is a new column call "Disambiguation" which for each photo will say "auto" or "manual". Auto probably isnt as clear, so its best to go through these again and sort them out! Bit of a pain, but I'm just doing a couple a day. ...
Ok. I took a look at my images at iStock to check out this "Disambiguation" thing. Most of my older ones say "Auto" in that column, the newer ones say "Manual". I clicked "Manual" on one, it opened the image, I looked at the keywords and categories, and everything seems fine. Do I need to actually DO something?
