I've got images with two agencies--one of which I actively used 20
years ago, but capped after an ownership change sucked the life out of
it. I get the occasional sale there, but mostly it's been a waste for
a long time. All my newer stuff has been with Alamy.
Alamy is decent. They do treat us well (which means that they actually
grunt at us) and don't overtly insult us. I've got the "Alamy Blue"
contract, which is 50% revenue. I've been with them since 2005.
Alamy gets like 30000 new images added EVERY DAY!!! So, the key to
survival is quantity, quantity, quantity as well as keyword, keyword,
keyword. I wouldn't bother putting up "pretty pictures" on Alamy.
You'll see that what sells well is "illustration" type of photographs.
Keep your fancy pictures of the Grand Canyon to yourself.
One thing that bit us big time is Alamy's "Novel Use Scheme". This
absolutely sucks. Penny stock images. I keep missing out on my opt-out
window, but am now making sure that all my new images are not elgible
for it. It takes forever to make any money when your income from a
picture is between 25 and 50 cents.
I've been burned by the turn in stock image sales over the past 10
years. It used to be that a person could make a decent living in stock
sales, but that's been two decades ago. Only a handful of people
around the entire globe earn enough to support a family. And in
reality, in order to do that, you have to be uploading a thousand
pictures a MONTH, every month.
Maybe Tina has seen the same thing, maybe not, but I'm actually
encouraged by what I'm seeing in stock sales. I've gotten more
licensed use sales over the past year than I have in the previous
five. And the "penny stock" sales have dropped down.
AG
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|