Sockxpert.com - Stock Images. Yours?

[David O'Neil]

Thank you, gidgit. The person making this post hopes it is a little better now.

[gidgit]

Your welcome, David

Cheers

[Soquili]

David thanks for taking the time to explain. Work has me tied up at present so only a short responce is possible now. I will reply more tomorrow after my project is complete.

Please know that no one intentionally made any changes that were meant to cause confusion or ill feelings.

[remi]

All this stuff has nothing to do with Stock Images (the subject of this thread). It's so "off topic". We should move it to another thread into the "Off topic Chat" board.

Remi

[ankhor]

Thank you Risto and Remi for pointing out how the business model works. I think I can make more money promoting my own web site and selling any work from there.

Yep I thank them too, for I now see the business model and it sounds
less lucrative to do. I just wonder, does the 50 dollar go per image or for all the images you have there, lets say one image generates 30 bucks and another also 30 bucks, do they pay out or is it per image?

And is it that you have to sell 100 images (because they keep half of the money) before they pay out?

Just some questions i have.

[joto]

Sorry to react this late but I was away for a holiday so I missed this post.
I'm involved in microstock for little over two years now. It has brought me so many opportunities. April of this year I started my own company and became a professional illustrator. Last August I was able to quit my boring part-time job and now I'm able to focus all my attentions on illustrating (I've still so much to learn) I couldn't have done this without the help of the microstock sites, they provide more or less a steady income each month.

I started with Dreamstime wich I stumbled upon while surfing the internet searching for pictures. At first I tried photo's but soon I learned that my illustrations attracted more downloads than my photo's did. After a couple of weeks I submitted my first illustrations at Shutterstock and after that I tried iStock. With iStock it is not easy to become a submitter. You need to provide a first batch of pictures where you have to show your ability to become a good illustrator/photographer. I was lucky to get in the first time but there are many people who had to try several times to get in. At last I submitted to StockXpert.

It is not an easy way to earn your money, I've put in a lot of time and afford but it is sure fun to earn money with the thing I love the most and that is digital illustrating!

I've learned so much in this past two years, things I'd never learned if I didn't become involved in microstock. By drawing for stock you draw images and subjects you never would have drawn otherwise. Also looking at the images of other submitters does learn you a lot about subjects and techniques.

It also is a great way to get exposure for your work. Due to microstock I've had a couple of custom assignments. The Christmas giftcard with the surfing Santa from Mervyns (don't know if it's out yet) is one of them.

I know that $0,25 up to $6.00 doesn't seem much but if you produce images that are doing well it will earn you a fair amount of money. I have images that earned me $500- $600 already and they're still selling.

iStockphoto is the toughest to get into but is sure the best site to have your images on.
Shutterstock gives you $0,30 per download but generates much more downloads than any other site (my number two on the earning list).
StockXpert is my number three and growing fast!
Dreamstime is the last one on the list.
If you want to check out my portfolio on iStock this is the link:
http://istockphoto.com/file_search.p...&userID=573080

[pauland]

Joto,

It's great to see how well you're doing and particularly good to have a perspective from someone who's actually using these sites to sell and market themselves.

Thanks for the post.

Paul

[RTK]

Thanks for pitching in, Jolande! Great to see how the different stock sites works for you.

Your portfolio is very professional!

Curious: do you find any of the sites easier to get illustrations approved at, or do you find them all about the same? Approved / rejections? If you yourself are seldom rejected - do you have a feel for it, from forums or what have you?

Risto

[joto]

Oh, I get my share of rejections alright. Particulary iStock is quiet picky sometimes. The acceptance rate at iStock is little over 80%. Some are rejected due to technical problems and can be resubmitted. The other three sites the acceptance rate is app 98%. The advantage of submitting to several sites is that if one rejects an image you can submit it to the other.
I also experienced that the best-seller on one site can be a slow-seller on the other.
The most research (I don't know if that's the right word) I do is on iStock. I check the new images that are approved each day and see what the images do when they are online for some time. That way you get a feeling what subjects and styles are doing well. The images I draw are a mix of subjects that do well and things I like to draw.

[suunto]

Risto, reading your thread i think you've shocked people with your 'tone' but i think you are bang on and that 'tone' is just how angry you are at this site that will sell our images and if for whatever reason fall short of the $50 then you get nothing...............its a con

it should be like google adsense.............you get paid when you reach a certain amount but the money is there, its not forfeit under certain circumstances..............you might just have to wait until the next month for it. i thank you anyway as i'd have signed up without checking out the details