Picturenation to close:

A very sad day for me yesterday with the news that Picturenation is to close their site on August 17, 2013.
There is a message on their home page (and also on Facebook and Twitter) giving the news and more details.
It seems that a new site was paid for in 2011 but never completed or delivered to them and the costs and effort of trying to keep the current (circa 5 year old) site functioning were too much. Regular contributors will know that the upload hasn't been working properly over the last few weeks - just another problem to resolve.
Just what happened to the new site isn't revealed.

Importantly, the notice states that all outstanding commission will be paid to contributors (regardless of the amount). Contributors should send in their user name with a request for payment. Thereafter, their account will be closed. Buyers can still use outstanding credits up to the shut down date, although PN warns there may be technical difficulties with some images but that they will use every effort to get the image to the buyer.

I joined Picturenation back in October 2007, back when my only other agency was the (badly named and since closed) Snap Village. I soon realised that they were accepting editorial images which paved the way for me to digitise and upload my archive political images. This formed the basis for my Microstock future as I later found the other sites I could upload these to as well.
Over the last six years sales have never been as frequent as I would have liked but the higher (than microstock) commissions helped balance that. My total PN earning are way higher than some of the micro sites I contribute to.

Above all, this has always been a site that I liked and trusted. PictureNation founder Jane-Luise Green has always sent me ultra fast personal responses to any problems or queries I had and we have had many enjoyable email discussions about the stock business over the years.

For any PictureNation contributors reading this, especially if this is the only site you contribute to, do take a look at the microstockgroup.com forum where you can find a wealth of information and views on alternative sites to sell through.

With all best wishes for the future to Jane, her team, and all PictureNation contributors.
Regards, David.

What? Another Extended Licence!

Just a couple of weeks after reporting my first ever EL, I just had my second one. Not exactly from an expected source either but from a site I hardly mention anymore -Veer.
The long established Veer agency opened to Microstock a couple of years ago when parent company Corbis closed down the amusingly named Snapvillage. I had one sale (of two Jack Russell dogs) in the first few weeks then nothing at all till now. Hardly surprising with only 231 images on the site. My images do not meet the "aesthetic quality required by Veer buyers" it seems. And, of course, they do not take Editorial.
I do not often upload to them these days and check the site even less so it was a nice surprise yesterday to find a regular sale ($2.10) followed by a Multi User EL ($17.50). Both of the same image -a Romanian flag flying on the Greek island of Nisyros (don't ask). Added to the $75 I made last year in their "Dash for Cash" upload promotion I am now just $7 away from their $100 payout level.
Of course, it could be a long time before I get that $7. It is a shame that Corbis ended their policy of paying out all outstanding commission at the end of each business year. Something that, in my opinion, all agents should do. Still, well done Veer. Regards, David.

Signed up to two new sites:

I recently signed up to two further sites -Cutcaster.com and Canstockphoto.com. I'd been looking at Cutcaster for some time but the recent launch of a new revamped site tipped the balance.
They take Editorial images and one contributor I know of has done well with some of his archive images so they seemed a natural fit for my celebrity archives. Uploading and editing have proved easy and so far I have a good acceptance rate. The really appealing thing about Cutcaster is that you can set your own prices. You decided the price for a medium resolution file and they automatically fill the rates for all the other sizes. I've gone for $5 for now to see how that goes. It may be that this turns out to be too high and that potential buyers seek out cheaper options on my other sites. I well remember my experience at (now closed) Snapvillage where I naively set everything at $25 to start with and just ended up with $.30 subscription sales. I'll see how it goes. Commission (for non exclusive material) is a pleasing 40% (50% for exclusive). My referral link is on the left for anyone interested in signing up.

Canstockphoto isn't a site that I had really considered much but there have been a lot of positive postings about them on http://www.microstockgroup.com so I thought I would give them a try. They don't take Editorial (yet!) though I did see requests for this on their contributors forum so it could happen in the future. A key selling point is their fast review times (you can see the current approximate review time when you upload -which is often just an hour or so). I was a bit surprised to find I had to pass a test to be approved as a new contributor. Not something you normally find outside of the major sites. Anyway, I got approval within a couple of hours or so after uploading my sample images. I haven't uploaded much else there yet but will try and make some time to upload my portfolio in due course.

As ever, I'll update in the future how progress goes with these sites. Regards, David.

Sales milestone -1000 downloads at Shutterstock:

December 2, 2010 saw a major milestone on Shutterstock when I had my 1000th download with this image of the Tentertainment music festival.

Since being accepted in June 2009, Shutterstock has always delivered strong sales. I still get the odd day with no sales (usually a Sunday) each month but in general I have sales every day.

That is way different to when I started this journey and my only agency was the (now closed) Snapvillage. Days, weeks and even months would go past before I could get excited over a 30cent subscription sale!

So on to the next big milestone at Shutterstock when my earnings hit $500 and I get a raise in my commission per download. I still have a way to go for that one but expect to reach it next year. Regards, David.

Veer Marketplace opens, Snapvillage closes:

The new Veer Marketplace went live last Sunday (having been in Beta with transferred Snapvillage images for a few months). I only have 52 images live so far (with more pending review) so I am not expecting too much yet! Meanwhile, Corbis announced that their Snapvillage site will shut this Saturday (August 1st). Whilst never giving me many sales (or income) there is a tinge of sadness as this was the first site I contributed to. That said, it provided me with valuable training in the Microstock world which I can take forward. Veer Marketplace certainly has much greater prospects and could turn out to be a very exciting outlet. That said, at present their review process seems very erratic. Good images that sell well elsewhere get rejected whilst some of the less exciting ones get approved. My initial strategy had been to try and upload as much as possible asap, but I am now keeping it to regular small batches until things settle down! Another factor in the "feed the beast" conundrum is that I am also trying to fatten up my Shutterstock portfolio at the same time -and that one is certainly paying off! More to follow... Regards, David

Accepted At Veer Marketplace:

Have just been accepted as a contributor at Veer Marketplace. They required a test submission of 10 images. From mine 7 were approved for the site so I am in. I can now upload up to 100 images per week. Those images that are approved will go into the Veer database but will not be available to buyers until the full launch (scheduled for mid Summer). Currently Marketplace is in Beta using images transferred over from the Snapvillage site. As you will see from earlier postings, mine weren't included in this. As I expected, I have been approved for Veer on a set of images which were already on SV! On the plus side Veer is being more selective in what it takes which can only make for a stronger offering and (hopefully) better sales. As a general rule, sites that take just about every image you throw at them tend to be poorest selling sites. They are generally the new sites which are trying to amass a large number of images quickly to make themselves attractive to buyers. Snapvillage was a classic example of this approach. By being more selective and with their well established reputation Veer are looking like a very good proposition for contributors. As with Shutterstock, I now just have to "feed the beast"! Regards, David

Progress Veers off course:

A very dissapointing set back yesterday. Having waited in anticipation for my Snapvillage portfolio to be moved over to the new Veer Marketplace site I (and many others) got an email saying our portfolio hadn't been selected for Veer. That's 883 photographs uploaded and keyworded over the last couple of years. What a waste of time Snapvillage has now proved. My photos will remain available on SV until they wind it up later in the year so I might get a few more 30c subscription sales but that's it. On a cheery note the Veer email invites me to start uploading direct when their contributors site goes live on June 8th. Right, so I just start uploading my SV portfolio all over again then? Thanks. Needless to say the forum at http://microstockgroup.com is buzzing with both those delighted at being accepted and even more from us who received the "loser email" as one poster amusingly described it. Bitter? Me? Yup! Regards, David P.S. How many days to June 8th?

Full price sale at Snapvillage

On an ironic note given that Snapvillage is being merged into Veer (see earlier posting ) I have just had my first full price ($5) sale there, netting me $1.50 in commission. Up to now all I have had are 30c subscription sales! Looking forward to a big sales increase when my portfolio is transferred over to the Veer site. Regards, David

As I was saying....

Apologies to any readers of this blog for the long gap since my last posting. I have moved home from Ashford (Kent) to Hastings (East Sussex) and now have a sea view (well if you stand on a chair anyway!). I have also been sorting out a new broadband/computer set up so have been unable to post (or do anything much photographic really). The big news on the stock front is that Snapvillage is being phased out. Parent company Corbis (owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates) is moving the SV content over to well established image agency Veer which they purchased a couple of years ago. Snapvillage has been a learning experience for Corbis (and indeed contributors like me) but has not really established a big enough market place. Personally I think the name did not help, conjuring up images of snapshots when in fact there is a mass of top quality photography on it. Veer is well established and has a good market base so I see this as a very positive move. Portfolios will be transferred over the next few months so I look forward to increased sales from my SV portfolio in the future. Regards, David