The survey is anonymous and will remain open until September 30. Jim will make an analysis of the results of the survey publicly available shortly after the survey concludes.

Jim is a long time industry professional and analyst writing at Selling-Stock, his subscription newsletter for the stock photography industry. He’s extremely analytical - a “stock maven” - and produces insightful articles.

You can read more about Jim here and he has an explanation of why it’s in your interests to complete his survey here.

PS: did you know that Crestock Stock Photos has the world’s fastest upload system?

The primary concern of contributors was the product resale rights which were available to Photos.com subscribers for which contributors only received a 30 cent commission. A sale of these rights on StockXpert or any other microstock agency earns a much higher commission. These rights will be removed from the EULA prior to StockXpert content being made available to Photos.com subscribers.

Additionally, the opt-out facility for subscription and extended license sales will no longer be removed, though StockXpert contributors will need to be opted in to both in order to make their photos available on Photos.com.

In the announcement, StockXpert also promised to address the outstanding issue of images being labeled “property of photos.com” and not bearing any identification of the copyright owner. The explanation for this strategy has been that it stops subscribers from searching for the same image at other agencies with lower service and lower prices.

This policy turnaround has been met with jubilant praise from the majority of the contributor community, many acknowledging StockXpert and Jupiter Images management for responding to the concerns of their content contributors.

The final hurdle for StockXpert in the connection is aligning the different size classifications. Some extra large (XL) photos at StockXpert only equal the large (L) size on Photos.com and subsequently don’t qualify for the lucrative Pay Per Download sales.

The PhotoPlus Expo Gold Passes give you a preview to the expo floor an hour before the crowds, priority registration area, priority admission to keynotes and special events, access to the private Oasis lounge, and discounted subscription to Photo District News.

If you’re not going to be in New York for the expo but have a question you’d like to ask, post it anyway. I’ll ensure the best questions get asked at the seminar and I’ll post the response here on Microstock Diaries. If you want the Gold Pass, make sure your email address is valid so I can contact you if you win - your email address will not be made public.

I’m looking forward to seeing what questions you have!

2008-08-15 Clarification: prize includes access to the Microstock Superstars panel ‘in addition’ to the Gold Pass.

PS: did you know that Crestock Stock Photos has the world’s fastest upload system?

Through the panel these successful microstockers will share what they learned as they “conquered” the microstock world. I’m rather excited about learning the secrets of the superstars!

I learned a lot from participating in PhotoPlus Expo last year (report) and got to meet some amazing people, so I highly recommend attending if you’re in or near New York in October. StockXpert will be exhibiting at the expo again this year.

Other sessions that will appeal to stock photographers include Jack Hollingsworth’s session ‘Stock 2.0: Survival Tactics for Shooting & Selling Digital Stock’, and Dan Heller’s session ‘Stock Photography and the Consumer’.

Check the PhotoPlus Expo website for more details.

PS: did you know that Crestock Stock Photos has the world’s fastest upload system?

Shutterstock have introduced a year-long subscription plan titled ‘Shutterstock On Demand’. Subscribers can download their quota of images over a year rather than the 25-a-day quota of regular subscription plans. The new plans appeal to photo buyers with smaller budgets or lower quantity requirements, a portion of the market that Shutterstock had, until now, lost to its competitors.

The smaller $49 On Demand plan buys 12 small to medium images or 5 at any size including vectors. The larger plan at $229 buys 60 small to medium images or 25 any size & vector files.

Shutterstock have also enabled buyers to run multiple simultaneous subscription plans on a single account, choosing which plan to use each time they download an image. This is not an insignificant development for the convenience of Shutterstock buyers.

Contributors will earn 3.25 times our normal payout rate for downloads in a small to medium plan and 7.5 times our normal payout rate for downloads from the any size plans. All earnings count towards your lifetime earnings to help you move up the Shutterstock payout rates. The program uses the same license as regular plans and as it can only earn contributors more royalaties there is no need to provide an opt-out facility.

Shutterstock have already updated the contributor statistics page and many contributors are already reporting seeing sales in the On Demand column. (not me, yet)

The atmosphere in the market has been rather grim for contributors lately with many agencies compromising commissions or license conditions in the name of increased sales volume through accessing new market segments. It’s encouraging to see Shutterstock implementing a strategy to access new customers without upsetting the contributor community. In fact, like a recent development at another market leader, contributors only stand to gain from these changes.

PS: did you know that Crestock Stock Photos has the world’s fastest upload system?

Observations:

• No, I didn’t get the figures of Fotolia and Dreamstime mixed up. Two Extended License sales at Fotolia this month sent their chart skyward while some poor performance on my part saw my approval rating at Dreamstime plummet and my earnings went with it.
• New records were set by Fotolia, StockXpert and Crestock
• I reached 100 total sales at Crestock so my credit commission rose from 20% to 30%. This and a sharp increase in downloads meant I earned more than double my previous record at Crestock this month.

PS: did you know that Crestock Stock Photos has the world’s fastest upload system?

July was about to pass by without too much controversy until details of the StockXpert Photos.com program provided contributors with more evidence that the sky is indeed falling. The outcome remains undetermined, though contributors will be heard during today’s conference call.

Shutterstock became the first agency to pass the 4 million images milestone.

PicNiche launched their keyword popularity tool and later released a page showing the niche searches with the highest scores.

PS: did you know that Crestock Stock Photos has the world’s fastest upload system?

The announcement provided pricing and commission details along with notice that the opt-out facility for subscription, partner and extended license sales would be removed on July 30.

Sales for larger sized images (XL & XXL) will sell via pay-per-download for $49.95 - $299.95 with contributors receiving a 30% commission. Sales for smaller images (S, M, L) will sell via subscription only and earn contributors the same 30 cent subscription commission they receive at StockXpert. StockXpert’s community guru Steve Kapsinow is cautiously optimistic about the opportunity for contributors to substantially increase their earnings after the plan takes effect.

Photos.com is supported by the Jupiter Images sales and customer service teams which help customers find the perfect image. These customers accept higher prices in exchange for the time saving service, which distinguishes them from the typical microstock buyer.

The removal of the opt-out facility has understandably upset some StockXpert contributors who are opposed to subscriptions, partner sales or extended licenses. This is accentuated by the photos.com license conditions which permit usage equivalent to the StockXpert Extended License - specifically unlimited print runs and printing images on products for resale (Section E-III).

An all-too-familiar controversy has ensued with many contributors again threatening to remove their portfolios unless concessions are made. Contributors are also upset about the absence of the well-received consultation that preceded StockXpert’s introduction of subscription sales and short notice about the change.

While for contributors the license controversy is currently overshadowing the promise of greater earnings, they’re both overshadowing the significance of the plan. Jupiter Images will soon be selling the same images at different price points distinguished not by size, quality or major differences in usage, but by the level of service the buyer receives. StockXpert contributors are gaining access to a different segment of the buyer market without having to do anything, something their competitors most likely won’t be able to offer.

Update: Steve has announced a conference call to discuss the issue with contributors on Thursday July 31. If you’d like to participate, sitemail Steve (skapsinow) via the StockXpert website.

Correction: The first paragraph states that StockXpert will be the first microstock agency to offer their portfolio through traditional channels, but Dreamstime are already offering their portfolio through BrightQube and ImageClick Korea.

PS: did you know that Crestock Stock Photos has the world’s fastest upload system?

My current portfolio has 740 photos for an average 14 sales per photo, though only 73% have sold once or more. My top selling photo has sold 765 times and I have 15 photos which have sold more than 100 times.

If I were an exclusive iStockphoto contributor I would be receiving a raise in my commission from 30% (at Silver level) to 35% (at Gold level). As I’m not exclusive my royalty at iStockphoto remains at 20%.

However, this milestone doesn’t go unrewarded. My upload limit increases from 20 to 25 photos per week with the current upload limits. The silver canister icon on my profile is also replaced with the gold one you can see above.

Lately I’ve heard from a few people who go back over their portfolio looking for ways to make improvements. They look for details they can change to make a photo more visible in the search results or photos they can improve by repeating the post-processing.

The concept goes like this: over time you gain knowledge and improve your skills. It makes sense that the images you uploaded in the past could earn more if you applied your current knowledge and skills. Fortunately, most microstock agencies give you at least some opportunity to do so. Here’s some ideas.

Repeat the post-processing

Look back over your portfolio for photos you can improve with the skills you’ve gained since they were first uploaded. If you still have the original RAW file you can often make significant improvements which will help it sell more frequently.

Update your keywords

There are now helpful keyword tools like PhotoKeywords and PicNiche which will help you identify keywords you may have missed or keywords that could be more lucrative. This can boost the photos ranking the search results and subsequently boost sales and earnings.

Update descriptions and titles

It’s debatable whether titles and descriptions have a significant impact on sales performance or not. Some agencies appear to take them into account when assessing keyword relevance, so it’s possible some refinements would help. You may also be able to add information to the description that’s helpful for buyers, or address any concerns by adding information to the description.

Use the 80-20 Rule

20% of your photos will generate 80% of your sales. Focusing your maintenance on these images will maximize the return on your maintenance time.

There may also be photos which you can move into the top 20% with a little improvement. Look for images whose thumbnails don’t stand out among the others for relevant keyword searches, or images that initially sold well before declining in sales rate.

Which Agencies Permit Maintenance?

Some agencies lock down photos once they’re submitted for various reasons. In this situation you may consider deleting the original photo and uploading the improved photo, but consider how this may effect search positions when the history of views and sales is wiped.

Most will at least allow you to update the keywords and descriptions, while StockXpert actually has a facility for replacing an image with a ‘better’ version.

What’s Your Experience?

Have you undertaken maintenance on your microstock portfolios? If so, how were the results?

PS: did you know that Crestock Stock Photos has the world’s fastest upload system?