Yes, Ken, I've seen more or less the same thing. My sales have dropped a
little this past year but they have been doing nothing but going up every
year since I joined Alamy in 2003. I have 8000 photos with them so far and
am trying to get many more up. There are quite a few stock shooters on
Alamy who make a living at it. Jeff Greenberg, for example, has over
100,000 photos with them and does quite well. I'm in the top 500 but a big
drop down from Jeff!
I started out in stock in the 1980's when you used to have to send out
pages of slides and wait forever to hear back from publishers. Now it's
all overnight and immediate, but the prices are not nearly what they used
to be. I never signed up for Novel Use and don't lease RF. I quit Getty
when they stopped allowing the choice of RM licensing cut the
photographers' percentage to 20%. I've always heard that Getty cares about
photographers the way McDonald's cares about cows and it's true! I
wouldn't touch any of the micro-stock agencies with a 10 foot pole. They
and Getty have ruined what used to be a good business.
Tina
On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 10:51 AM, Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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
> --
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>
--
Tina Manley
www.tinamanley.com
tina-manley.artistwebsites.com
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/3B49552F-90A0-4D0A-A11D-2175C937AA91/Tina+Manley.html
--
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