Author Topic: exclusivity time (Read 6757 times)

me4o · « **on:** February 29, 2012, 08:01 »

How fast I'll have exclusive rights after completing the аpplication for exclusivity?

helix7 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 29, 2012, 09:48 »

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

aeonf · « **Reply #2 on:** February 29, 2012, 10:16 »

Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

wut · « **Reply #3 on:** February 29, 2012, 10:19 »

Quote from: aeonf on February 29, 2012, 10:16

Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

It probably wouldn't hurt to actually answer the bloke's question... $:-\$

ShadySue · « **Reply #4 on:** February 29, 2012, 10:22 »

Quote from: illman on February 29, 2012, 08:01

How fast I'll have exclusive rights after completing the аpplication for exclusivity?

Hard to say. Depends if they find anything they don't like when checking if you're really exclusive. Have read of difficulties a couple of times because of someone else with the same name, but that only takes a couple of days. When I applied it was very quick, but I'd never been anywhere else RF.
Like the others, I'm surprised that anyone wants to become exclusive nowadays, but good luck with it: it could work well for you. Certainly far less time consuming, which can be a big issue depending on your circumstances.

helix7 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 29, 2012, 11:07 »

Quote from: aeonf on February 29, 2012, 10:16

Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

It could just as likely result in less earnings potential by being limited to istock.

I get why existing exclusives stay exclusive. But exclusivity for new folks is not the smart play.

traveler1116 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 29, 2012, 11:13 »

Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 11:07

Quote from: aeonf on February 29, 2012, 10:16
Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

It could just as likely result in less earnings potential by being limited to istock.

I get why existing exclusives stay exclusive. But exclusivity for new folks is not the smart play.

It depends on the person obviously but if you are making 40%(maybe even as low as 20%) of total income on IS then you would probably do better as an exclusive, it's not just the royalty % increase it's the cost of files which makes a big difference.

Suljo · « **Reply #7 on:** February 29, 2012, 15:22 »

Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

His profile pseudo name tells a lot...

Illman ~= SickMan

mtilghma · « **Reply #8 on:** February 29, 2012, 17:41 »

What are the odds this thread actually stays on topic? I give it 5%

When I went exclusive, it was 2005 -- a very different era when things were quicker. That being said, I think it took about 3 weeks to a month. Today might be different though.

Larry · « **Reply #9 on:** February 29, 2012, 22:12 »

I'm pretty sick of you guys bashing me and others who have chosen to stick with the exclusive arrangement. Maybe you should
make your own decision and (here's an idea) respect the decisions others have made? No two photog's on iStock have the same goals
and means, why in the world would you critisize those who are doing something different than you. Pretty shallow.

Quote from: Suljo on February 29, 2012, 15:22

Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

His profile pseudo name tells a lot...

Illman ~= SickMan

me4o · « **Reply #10 on:** March 01, 2012, 04:35 »

I have a small portfolio in istock, dreamstime, fotolia and 123RF about 280 pictures. At the same time istock gives me about 65% of my whole income right now. I am losing much time uploading illustrations on many sites, so now I am wondering whether exclusivity is a good idea. How quickly I can become exclusive and how quickly I can terminate my exclusivity this is my question. I doubt it because 50% of profits are from istock Partner Program and exclusive artists can not sell in Partner Program sites.

ShadySue · « **Reply #11 on:** March 01, 2012, 04:42 »

Quote from: me4o on March 01, 2012, 04:35

I have a small portfolio in istock, dreamstime, fotolia and 123RF about 280 pictures. At the same time istock gives me about 65% of my whole income right now. I am losing much time uploading illustrations on many sites, so now I am wondering whether exclusivity is a good idea. How quickly I can become exclusive and how quickly I can terminate my exclusivity this is my question. I doubt it because 50% of profits are from istock Partner Program and exclusive artists can not sell in Partner Program sites.

Just read the information. If you become exclusive, you can become unexclusive again after 30 days.
http://www.istockphoto.com/asa_exclusive.php
Exclusives can sell in PP sites if they choose, though some/many of us choose not to. However, for files newer than 18 months, you must choose whether they go to iStock OR the partner sites; when you're exclusive you can't have a new file in both. Some people get caught out by this when they become exclusive, and their new files disappear from their iStock portfolio. You can avoid this, either try to find this on the iStock search or someone here might help. I don't submit to the PP, so can't remember how it's done.

me4o · « **Reply #12 on:** March 01, 2012, 04:47 »

All of my files newer than 6 months

ShadySue · « **Reply #13 on:** March 01, 2012, 05:01 »

Quote from: me4o on March 01, 2012, 04:47

All of my files newer than 6 months

If exclusive, you'd have to choose where to sell them, then.
Edited for explanation: you can choose per image, some on iStock, some on the PP. I personally recommend avoiding the PP. Yes, you can make sales there, but you're undercutting yourself.

gostwyck · « **Reply #14 on:** March 01, 2012, 07:58 »

Quote from: aeonf on February 29, 2012, 10:16

Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

For exclusivity with Istock to have made me the same money last month as I earned as an independent I'd have needed an average sale price at IS of over $6.40. That's almost double what most exclusives report and I very much doubt that any increase in sales, through better best match placement, would compensate sufficiently.

cidepix · « **Reply #15 on:** March 01, 2012, 08:14 »

Quote from: aeonf on February 29, 2012, 10:16

Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

less hassle = yes

making more money = impossible

cidepix · « **Reply #16 on:** March 01, 2012, 08:21 »

Quote from: me4o on March 01, 2012, 04:35

I have a small portfolio in istock, dreamstime, fotolia and 123RF about 280 pictures. At the same time istock gives me about 65% of my whole income right now. I am losing much time uploading illustrations on many sites, so now I am wondering whether exclusivity is a good idea. How quickly I can become exclusive and how quickly I can terminate my exclusivity this is my question. I doubt it because 50% of profits are from istock Partner Program and exclusive artists can not sell in Partner Program sites.

So you are not on shutterstock then

You are already losing big, you may as well go exclusive..

aeonf · « **Reply #17 on:** March 01, 2012, 09:04 »

Quote from: cidepix on March 01, 2012, 08:14

Quote from: aeonf on February 29, 2012, 10:16
Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

less hassle = yes

making more money = impossible

you'd be surprised.

helix7 · « **Reply #18 on:** March 01, 2012, 09:40 »

Quote from: Larry on February 29, 2012, 22:12

I'm pretty sick of you guys bashing me and others who have chosen to stick with the exclusive arrangement. Maybe you should
make your own decision and (here's an idea) respect the decisions others have made? No two photog's on iStock have the same goals
and means, why in the world would you critisize those who are doing something different than you. Pretty shallow.

I'm hoping this wasn't directed at me, but I was also quoted in your reply so I figured I ought to respond...

My intention wasn't to bash anyone. I get why people stay exclusive. The reason I brought up the question of why someone would go exclusive in this thread was because we're talking about someone new to microstock. It's a whole different ball game. We're post-royalty-cut, and in a time for istock when things don't seem to be going well. Sure many people are doing fine. But this is a very uncertain time for the company and contributors, and choosing to bet it all on istock right now is something that I struggle to understand.

I think most people would agree that 2012 is going to be a year of change at istock. We've already seen some staffing shake-ups, while some of istock's functions are merged with Getty. It feels like istock will look quite a bit different by the end of the year. My guess would be that the best move for new folks is to stay independent for 2012, collect some data and see how your stats look, meanwhile keeping an eye on changes at istock. And then make a decision at the end of the year.

As far as existing exclusives go, I get it. If I were exclusive all this time and my earnings stayed steady, I probably wouldn't want to take the risk of dropping the crown. And I wouldn't bash anyone for going that route. Most of the exclusive folks in this forum were exclusive before the royalty cuts, and have been trying to ride this out ever since. I think a lot of the bashing around here comes from a sort of disbelief. No offense meant in this, but I think you can appreciate just how crazy exclusivity looks to some of us. Personally, looking at my istock stats representing just 5% of my February earnings, it is impossible for me to get my head around the idea that anyone does better financially by being exclusive. A lot of independents are in the same boat.

I think we could all stand to be a little more understanding of the decisions people make. And like I said, no bashing was intended on my part. I just think that in this particular case, the discussion about whether or not to go exclusive begs the question of "why" because we're talking about a new contributor.

cidepix · « **Reply #19 on:** March 01, 2012, 18:02 »

Quote from: aeonf on March 01, 2012, 09:04

Quote from: cidepix on March 01, 2012, 08:14
Quote from: aeonf on February 29, 2012, 10:16
Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

less hassle = yes

making more money = impossible

you'd be surprised.

No, I wouldn't be..

1- He said he is not even on shutterstock.. you don't go exclusive without trying one of the best sites..
2- This forum does not really reflect what you can do to maximize your sales potential.. the right side column only shows you some sites.. not all the sites you can actually make money on..
3- Never dismiss the possibility to create a good performing personal site that actually makes sales..

I insist.. It is impossible to earn more on IS alone if you know what you are doing.. I agree wıth helix, IS only represents like %5 of my total earnings..

I don't see any scenarios working in my favor to suggest I would make more money by going exclusive.. It sounds ridiculous to assume a %5 site (IS) would compensate all of the %95 by going exclusive

cathyslife · « **Reply #20 on:** March 02, 2012, 08:30 »

Quote from: cidepix on March 01, 2012, 08:14

Quote from: aeonf on February 29, 2012, 10:16
Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

less hassle = yes

making more money = impossible

I never thought uploading to six sites as opposed to just uploading to IS was all that much of a hassle. It was a hassle having to download DeepMeta just to upload to IS. It was just as much of a hassle having to wade through stupid rejections, listen to the yahoo moderators on the forum, worry about whether the latest best match was going to bury your images, worry about whether the money being reported to you is correct, worry about whether the awesome sales you just got were going to be clawed back, etc. etc. That's my definition of a hassle.

Once you figure out how each site works, it takes maybe a little extra time to do the additional uploading, but some people even streamline that. No, the other sites aren't perfect. Yes, some of the sites are now following in IS's footsteps and fiddling with the best match daily. Overall, my vote still goes to IS for Most Hassled from a Microstock Agency.

cidepix · « **Reply #21 on:** March 02, 2012, 11:42 »

Quote from: cclapper on March 02, 2012, 08:30

Quote from: cidepix on March 01, 2012, 08:14
Quote from: aeonf on February 29, 2012, 10:16
Quote from: helix7 on February 29, 2012, 09:48

What's your reasoning for going exclusive?

I'm taking a wild guess here: making more money. (and less hassle).

less hassle = yes

making more money = impossible

I never thought uploading to six sites as opposed to just uploading to IS was all that much of a hassle. It was a hassle having to download DeepMeta just to upload to IS. It was just as much of a hassle having to wade through stupid rejections, listen to the yahoo moderators on the forum, worry about whether the latest best match was going to bury your images, worry about whether the money being reported to you is correct, worry about whether the awesome sales you just got were going to be clawed back, etc. etc. That's my definition of a hassle.

Once you figure out how each site works, it takes maybe a little extra time to do the additional uploading, but some people even streamline that. No, the other sites aren't perfect. Yes, some of the sites are now following in IS's footsteps and fiddling with the best match daily. Overall, my vote still goes to IS for Most Hassled from a Microstock Agency.

Actually you are right..

All sites apart from IS are very easy to upload.. They take less time altogether than IS alone

helix7 · « **Reply #22 on:** March 02, 2012, 11:53 »

Quote from: cidepix on March 02, 2012, 11:42

Actually you are right..

All sites apart from IS are very easy to upload.. They take less time altogether than IS alone

True. Especially for illustrators. istock is a pain with uploading scans of source material, sketches, screenshots of the process of creating the image, etc. It can take forever.

Since I haven't been uploading to istock lately, my time spent on uploads is probably cut in half.

cthoman · « **Reply #23 on:** March 02, 2012, 12:45 »

Quote from: me4o on March 01, 2012, 04:47

All of my files newer than 6 months

Are you able to delete your files from DT? They have a 6 month lock in for images. Make sure you read through all the deletion rules for each site. There was an old thread about it here. I'll see if I can dig it up.

Edit: OK here it is:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/exclusive-preparations/

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Author Topic: exclusivity time (Read 6757 times)

me4o

helix7

aeonf

wut

ShadySue

helix7

traveler1116

Suljo

mtilghma

Larry

me4o

ShadySue

me4o

ShadySue

gostwyck

cidepix

cidepix

aeonf

helix7

cidepix

cathyslife

cidepix

helix7

cthoman

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