Now Exclusive at Istock

This week I made a change that I've been thinking about for a long time: licensing royalty free images exclusively at istock.

As a result, my images have now been removed from all other microstock agencies.

Why?

As a long-term, mid-sized contributor, I've slowly been watching the evolution of the "microstock" industry.

Up until recently it was arguably more worthwhile financially for most contributors to sell images on a wide range of agencies. The recent changes at Istock by introducing the Vetta collection and increasing slightly higher prices for exclusives seems to have narrowed the gap considerably.

However in my situation, even applying a very optimistic ratio for increased earnings, I'll probably be worse off financially in the short term.

The bottom line for me however is the difference that is becoming more evident between Istock and the rest of the microstock agencies: the images at Istock are simply better.

If you produce exceptional images, you'll be successfull at Istock. Quality images are rewarded and accepted even if they're unlikely to be big sellers. This is in stark contrast to most of the other agencies for whom marketability is the major selection criteria, and where the rewards go to the "stock farms" which pump out images, rather than to those that concentrate on quality.

Over the longer term, my goal is to improve the quality of my images rather than to churn them out in great number. At the moment Istock appears to be the most worthwhile place to focus on this goal.