From the earnings you people have shared it seems that i have a lot to learn. Have about 400 images on istock and get a payout every 4 months or so. SS has been a new start, just hit 50 images there and got my first payout

Quote from: CaptureLightUK on June 01, 2015, 11:06

Now this is all really good stuff.  I can see the points that are being made and will take them onboard.  However it's interesting that (popular) search for Roald Amundsen on SS brings up 29 images, with two of them being a picture of ocean waves.

Obviously, not everyone follows the same thinking.

Yeah, the ones who put those  keywords on pictures of ocean waves were SPAMMING.  You are new, so you may not know it, but you are getting very good advice from some of the most successful stockers in the business.  Not all useful advice  is "way to go mate!".   Sometimes critical advice from experts is much more useful than empty encouragement from the inexperienced.

I do realise it, that's why I said I'll take the advice on board in two separate posts.
What's your point?

H'mm On Dreamstime they tell you what words customers have used to find images I have had sales on searches with key words totally unrelated to the image and also not included in my list.

How does that work?

I've had sales on DT with no keyword searched. I assume that they just randomly browsed images and got one they liked.

But then again DT hasn't really been a high earner for me. With almost 150 images up there I'm only at about 16$ in earning.

I've had sales on DT with no keyword searched. I assume that they just randomly browsed images and got one they liked.

But then again DT hasn't really been a high earner for me. With almost 150 images up there I'm only at about 16$ in earning.

According to DT when a partner site makes a sale, they are unable to capture their search terms and it shows up as blank.

Quote from: CaptureLightUK on June 07, 2015, 01:03

I do realise it, that's why I said I'll take the advice on board in two separate posts.
What's your point?

I think he means that you come across as a bit cocky and glib, especially for somebody just getting started.

I guess I'll just have to watch what I type and keep my newbie comments to myself then.

Quote from: marthamarks on June 07, 2015, 01:15

Quote from: CaptureLightUK on June 07, 2015, 01:03

I do realise it, that's why I said I'll take the advice on board in two separate posts.
What's your point?

I think he means that you come across as a bit cocky and glib, especially for somebody just getting started.

I guess I'll just have to watch what I type and keep my newbie comments to myself then.

I would not keep newbie comments to yourself, the forum is just for that, asking questions.  There are strong personalities out there with strong opinions, not always right or wrong. I'd read them, compare the comments here with others you are reading via Google searches etc.

I do video, Pond5 is the site I use, I have a few niche areas, it's not fine are but mostly severe weather, events, environment, traffic jams and college and university campus stuff.....the stuff NOT ONE other agency would accept because it doesn't sell.....well, it's sells on Pond5.   If I had taken all the advice at the start I would never got started.

So much confusing information out there but keep asking questions, you will get various answers, some might work and some won't and one will turn on a light bulb that wasn't on before and away you go.

I don't have to much advice to offer as I am still new as well to stock, I have those niche areas and niche areas do sell, it's what everyone else isn't doing...better chance at sales.

The other thing I've heard a lot lately is to keep up on trends, where is video in general going, what will be needed, skate to where the puck is going well before it gets there.....easier said than done of course.

http://www.pond5.com/stock-video-footage-sound-effects-music-after-effects-photos-illustrations-images-3d-models/1/artist%3AWeatherENG.html#1

I'll now ask a newbie question,  what is the difference between macrostock and microstock?

I don't think anyone used the term macrostock until after microstock was coined - before iStock it was just stock photography agencies. Microstock was about micropayments - finding some economical way to handle small transactions (when many payment processors had large per-transaction fees in addition to a percentage that made it impractical to handle a $1 online transaction).

When I started with iStock in 2004 they offered two ways to pay - credits and BitPass . The price was a little higher with BitPass.

The low price-high volume idea brought a whole bunch of buyers into a market for stock images and illustrations who had never purchased from any of the traditional stock agencies (which Getty was in the process of buying up as fast as they could).  To make sense of a high volume low price transaction, it had to be completely automated. The traditional agencies offered personal service - help searching for the right image and such - which were paid for by their higher per license pricing.

Initially, people drew strong quality distinctions between the two sources of images to license, but over time it changed so that there was a huge overlap between the two. Why would you pay $650 to license an isolated apple image when you could license it for $10 or $20? So the old line agencies got more automated and the quality went way up at the "microstock" sites. The differences are much less than they once were.

Quote from: WeatherENG on June 07, 2015, 22:08

I'll now ask a newbie question,  what is the difference between macrostock and microstock?

I don't think anyone used the term macrostock until after microstock was coined - before iStock it was just stock photography agencies. Microstock was about micropayments - finding some economical way to handle small transactions (when many payment processors had large per-transaction fees in addition to a percentage that made it impractical to handle a $1 online transaction).

When I started with iStock in 2004 they offered two ways to pay - credits and BitPass . The price was a little higher with BitPass.

The low price-high volume idea brought a whole bunch of buyers into a market for stock images and illustrations who had never purchased from any of the traditional stock agencies (which Getty was in the process of buying up as fast as they could).  To make sense of a high volume low price transaction, it had to be completely automated. The traditional agencies offered personal service - help searching for the right image and such - which were paid for by their higher per license pricing.

Initially, people drew strong quality distinctions between the two sources of images to license, but over time it changed so that there was a huge overlap between the two. Why would you pay $650 to license an isolated apple image when you could license it for $10 or $20? So the old line agencies got more automated and the quality went way up at the "microstock" sites. The differences are much less than they once were.

Thanks for that, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything.   Now I need to focus on getting all this 24,000 clips sold and then sold again

http://www.pond5.com/stock-video-footage-sound-effects-music-after-effects-photos-illustrations-images-3d-models/1/artist%3AWeatherENG.html#1

http://www.pond5.com/artist/WeatherENG