I am guessing if I could leave exclusivity in Istock. I have a decent portfolio most of it vectors and it seems that I can't grow.  Really don't know anything about other sites performance. Does the exclusivity boost could be compensated by the sales on other sites? 
Any experiences about leaving exclusivity?
Thanks!
Alvaro

I am almost at the third part of my monthly income of one year ago and is loosing interest for me. I am making nearly 1000 dollars a month now.  I konw it's money, but it seems to be too little for the material involved. 2000 vectors and 500 photos.

Actually, if you believe the poll you'd make the same amount with the top 6 or 7 sites, not the top 12-20. It varies slightly by month. But keep in mind you'll see a big drop in income at first as you gradually build your portfolio at the other sites while instantly losing exclusive status. (You can't upload all your images at once or they'll just get buried.)

Some people have said they don't make as much and others have said they make more. It's a tough call. But all indicators point to iStock continuing to lose market share. As with investments, it's probably best to diversify. But whether you'll ever make up for the initial loss in income is anyone's guess.

I am almost at the third part of my monthly income of one year ago and is loosing interest for me. I am making nearly 1000 dollars a month now.  I konw it's money, but it seems to be too little for the material involved. 2000 vectors and 500 photos.

Based on my own numbers you could probably make a similar amount when going non-exclusive. Vectors tend to sell a bit more often than photos but the difference is probably not as huge as it used to be some years ago. I am not sure if the Poll Results are a good indication when you mainly do vector.

And it will take some time because at all other agencies you will start at the lowest level. At some places it takes a short time to advance in the rankings, at others the higher levels are just unrealistic these days.

That loss in sales you are seeing is basically the result of iStock trying to adapt to the current realities in the microstock field. They had missed a few turns the market took, and now they have implemented all those changes very quickly. But it's not all iStock's fault, it's how the market is.

What I've found relieving when I left exclusivity was the freedom to try everything and find out myself what worked for me and what doesn't. I am still always looking for new potential sources of income, within and outside of the stock world.

I doubt you can return "to the same state". When you are indie, your search ranking for the files drop and other files get pushed forward. All the new work you upload doesn�t get the same boost etc...also your downloads will be less, which might affect your royalty rank, unless they save "everyone" at the end of the year, the way they did before.

Going indie is a complex decision, you can�t expect to get your exclusive income back in three months. The other agencies haven�t been waiting for you, your files need to fight their way up in the food chain.

Michael did it in 6 months, but he is extremely diligent and hard working.

Your portfolios also need to move up in royalty rate to get a similar status the way you had on istock, this should take quite a while, it didn�t happen over night on istock either.

However, what you don�t know is what will your future at istock be like. If you continue to upload, do you expect your income to rise, to remain the same or to fall?

So even if you stay exclusive, your income might drop another 30% in the coming months. Then maybe going indie is better.

It is a personal decision and if you are not ready to work hard to fight for a good status on the new agencies, then maybe staying exclusive is the best decision.

Or you get to know other agencies with vectors and video first.

But nobody can map a path for you and predict how fast you will earn money.

Personally I wouldn�t go indie,if you are not ready to really commit yourself to it and give yourself two years to really learn about the many,many different agencies and options that you have. There is so much more than just SS and Fotolia out there. And many agencies (including getty) take exclusive images, so you can get the best of both worlds and really find a good home for your files.

Here's a quote from the GettyFAQ
"When you become Exclusive, your new uploads on iStock.com will start in the Signature collection. The content that you had previously uploaded as a non-exclusive will stay in their original iStock collection, typically the Essentials collection."

I didn't know that!

However, I'm sure I've read (but can't find, anyone else have the link handy?) that if you become indie(haveing been exclusive), the converse happens: your old files stay as Sig, and your new files go in as Ess.
If I'm remembering correctly, for the new indie, your exisiting files:
1. earn a lower percentage of a higher sale price (it would be worthwhile for iS to promote these images above exclusive Sig files),
2. don't gain the benefit of undercutting exclusives,
3. aren't seen by those buyers who filter out Sig files.
4. are seen by those buyers who filter out Ess files, only wanting to see what's exclusive, (if there are (m)any of those).

Here's the link:
http://istockfaq.gettyimages.com/what-happens-to-my-content-when-i-cancel-my-exclusivity/

Going back to my other previous quote. It's a raw deal for anyone wanting to go exclusive as all their old files will still only cost 1 credit, being as they remain in Essentials collection.

Tx for the link.
I can't think why anyone would want to become exclusive nowadays.
Leaving exclusive is more of an unknown.
I do agree with Cobalt, though. You have to give it enough time.
I've seen people returning to exclusivity in the minimum allowed time, which isn't giving independence a chance. Do your research as best you can and either test it out properly or stay exclusive.

I am almost at the third part of my monthly income of one year ago and is loosing interest for me. I am making nearly 1000 dollars a month now.  I konw it's money, but it seems to be too little for the material involved. 2000 vectors and 500 photos.

I just noticed now that you have vectors and photos. Well, in that case I'd think the solution is rather straight forward: Quit your photo exclusivity right away. This will keep your income almost steady as I assume you derive more than 80% from your vectors. But you can start submitting your photos to other agencies. This will help you find out if submitting across agencies is something you can deal with. And if you give it some time it might help you already generate some downloads towards the higher ranking levels. Then the field would be prepared if one day you would quite vector exclusivity as well.

If you would take that path, I would however also recommend that for the future you make an effort to extend your photo portfolio at about the same speed as your vector portfolio to keep things running.