Why New Images at Shutterstock No Longer Selling Great

Shutterstock new images have always been performing well, but not in the past 6 months. Contributors are claiming that Shutterstock must had tweaked the search algorithm making new images getting less exposure. Or, perhaps bugs have been creeping through the site. But, I dont think those are the cases here.

Feeding the beast worked in the past because there were simply not enough of good images, then. When buyers could not get what they wanted in Popular, they will try to search through New. However, after years and years of uploading, Shutterstock has got enough of good images today. Buyers no longer need to search through the "irrelevance" New. We all know that searching through New is nightmarish due to keywords spam by contributors.

Here is a good example of why buyers no longer need to search New. Try to search for the keyword "seal" in Shutterstock...

http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=seal&search_group=&lang=en&search_source=search_form

... and under Popular, you can see all the seal vectors presented are good enough to satisfy the buyers. Buyers have no reason to search through New when Popular has enough of good choices already.

The beast is no longer liking the same old food. The beast wants to taste something new. Feed the beast with unexplored topics and I am sure they sell better than the seal.

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Fotolia is Rejecting my Vector for no Good Reason

Fotolia had been one of my best agency. I used to love it. It accepted everything I submitted and produced a decent sales all the time.

But recently, Fotolia has been rejecting my vectors... without giving me a good reason. I am really frustrated and annoyed. Below are the sample of rejected vectors. Bear in mind that these vectors had already been accepted by all other agencies and they are selling already.

And below is the rejection reason from Fotolia.

Fotolia: Photograph Declined - Technical Problems 

Hello leremy, 

We regret to inform you that photo 39961352 was not accepted. Photographs submitted to Fotolia must meet high technical standards.
The image contains one or more technical problems:

• Blurry or out of focus

• Over/Under exposure

• Framing problem

• Over or under saturated colors

• Problems with contrast

• Noise or Pixelation

• Quality of routing

• Interpolation problem

Looking at the rejection reason, one vector contributor can clearly understand that these reasons are standard reasons for declining a photograph, not a vector. Vectors will not have the problems mentioned above. What I am really questioning now is whether my reviewer is a qualified vector artist himself or merely a photographer who dont understand anything about vector.

Since Fotolia did not gave me a reason that make sense, I guess the problem could be having jagged edges in my vector when Fotolia requires us to submit a 15MP resolution JPEG for the vector. You know, when you save any artwork of that size, your artwork will have jagged edges because the DPI in our screen could not accommodate such a precision. This is actually a limitation. That could be the reason for rejection. Thus, I have resubmitted my vector and explained to them about the problem in the Note to Moderator column. What happen was, they rejected it again with the EXACT SAME reason like above. I was hoping that they could at least give me a clue on whats my problem was. This is utterly frustrating.

I then, wrote a message to Fotolia about all the problems mentioned above. Below is the message.

Fotolia keeps rejecting my vector work recently and the reviewers did not specific the problem. They only give me a general reply to the rejection which doesnt make sense at all. This is making me very frustrated.
The REF in my Inbox for these problems are:9054164490541643905416419054164090541639
Can you please explain in details what are the problem with these submission?
From a very frustrated contributor. 

And this is their reply. Again, another standard reply which makes you feel the that you are unimportant to them.

Hi,
Thank you for your e-mail. 
All of your images and videos have been reviewed by our selection team. Please note that the selection team is a separate department, so we have no influence on their decision. The main criteria for validation or rejection are: the quality of the image/video, the technical requirements, the similarity to existing Fotolia photographs and the images/videos sale potential. We know that it can be difficult to have an image or video rejected but please bear with us. You would be able to view your deleted files by going to: "My Files > Manage My Files > Show Deleted Files (green button located on the right side)". We encourage you to continue uploading your images and videos.
Kind regards,
Fotolia.com 

You see, up to this point, there is almost nothing I could do to get my artwork approved. These artworks had taken days to produce. It is not just about tracing photograph. It takes days and months to gather the resources from real objects and human model I photographed myself.

To conclude this, I will give up submitting to Fotolia for the time being, and hopefully there will be a change in the reviewer system one day later. Of course, this will not break my spirit to continue since all other agency still love my work.

If you are a vector contributor and having the same problem, please share with us. Thank you.

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8 Companies That Lease Beginning Owner Operators Who Have No Experience

83 Kenworth

Getting Started As an Owner Operator

8) Companies That Lease Beginning Owner Operators Who Have No Experience

View my Other Posts:

A Holiday Wish
Blogs, Forums and Othrt Resources
Texting Ban
The Way it Was - A Short History of Trucking

Pro and Cons of Being an Owner Operator

FAQ for the Owner Operator
Pictures
Anti-Idling Regulations
Definitions and Industry Terms
Blackrock Auxiliary Power Unit (APU)
Interactive Cost per Mile (CPM) Calculator Spreadsheet
Privacy Policy
1) Owner Operator 411 – Welcome
2) Income and Expenses
3) Financing and Credit
4) Operating Authority or Leasing?
5) Equipment
6) How To Do Bookkeeping and Other Necessary Paperwork
7) What You Need to Know About Loadboards
9) What You Actually Need to Get Started - Licenses, Permits, Insurance, and Taxes
10) Truck Driving Schools

This list has been updated. See: Part 2 (below).

If you want to become an owner operator, but you dont have any experience, if you are just beginning, if you are fresh out of truck driving school, who will hire you?

Below is a list of companies I found on the internet through various sources that stated these companies would hire an owner operator who has no experience.

Most of these companies have websites, but a few of them dont. I do not know anything about them, so I am not endorsing them.


So, if you are looking for an owner operator trucking job, check out these companies. (Remember, the owner operator is really a trucking business, not a "job".)

List of Companies - Part 1: (Scroll down for Part 2)


4 Star Bulk Transport

Allegiance Transportation, LLC

Altar Hauling, LLC

American Best Transportation

American Shipper

American Trans Freight

Amexx Express, Inc.

Astles Trucking, Inc.

Barr-Nunn Transportation /Owner Operator Division

Baxter Express Services, Inc.

Bear Transportation Solutions

BGD Express, Inc.

Boats on Wheels

Cain and Forshee Trucking, LLC

CalCoast Cargo

California Cartage Express

Celtic Xpress

Champion Logistics Group

Cheema Freightlines, LLC

Chicoda Carriers, Inc.

CLC Trucking

Clearpoint Transportation

Confident Transport, Inc.

Container Express, Inc.

Cortrans Logistics

Crown Carriers, Inc.

CRST Malone, Inc

Dahl Trucking, LLC

Dart Trucking Company, Inc.

DD and S Express

Dimax Express, Inc.

Divide Transport

Divinity, LLC

Dog House Trucking

DTI Logistics

Eagan Transport, Inc.

Elizabeth

Enterprise Truck Line

Federal Logistics

FFE Transportation Services, Inc

First Team Transport Group

Four Season Environmental, Inc.

FTI Inc.

Gentle Touch Auto Transport, LLC

Go 4 Trucking, Inc.

Gorno Transportation Services

Grace Transportation Services Inc

Heartland Express

ICMS

Integrated Transport Logistics, Inc.

J and J Christian Transport

J L Shandy Transportation, Inc.

JB Hunt

Jimmys Transport Express

Keytran Transporters

Knight Transportation, Inc.

KP Inc.

Legacy Express, Inc.

Lenny Bs Express

Lessors, Inc

Liberty Transfer

Lucky Trucking

M and L Logistics

Magann Atlantic

Marten Transport/Owner Operator division

Mason Dixon Intermodal, Inc.

McLeod Express, LLC

Meadowlark Companies

My Express, Inc

NJ Re-Cycle Inc.

North Atlantic Leasing, Inc.

Owl Wire and Cable, Inc.

Panther Expedited Services, Inc.

Pavco Trucking Company

Perpetual Motion, LLC

PGT Trucking/Owner Operator Division

Pioneer Freight

Rhodes Farms & Trucking, LLC

RR Express

S and S Transport, Inc.

Shippers Support

Showtronics, LLC

Silver Streak Transportation, LLC

Snowy Owl Transportation

Southeastern Trailer Transport, LLC

Southwind Transportation

Sterling Global Express

STS Limited

Sunteck Transport Carrier Group

Supreme Auto Transport, Inc

Swift Transportation

SZL, Inc.

T Sammons LLC

Tennessee Steel Haulers

Timberline Transport, LLC

Transportation Network

Transtrak Expeditors, Ltd.

Truner Brothers Trucking

Universal AM CAN Ltd.

Velocity Express

W. J. Donovan, Inc. (Mayflower Transit, LLC Agent)

W. S. Carrier Services, Inc.

Western Sky, Inc.

Wheeling Transportation

Woodys Trucking LLC

Zelenka Nursery, LLC

List of Companies - Part 2:

A.I.M.E. Logistics

Agricultural Express

Barton Transport, LLC

Blackwater Logistics

Buchanan Hauling & Rigging, Inc.

C and C Transportation

C. White and Son, Inc.

Cargo Express, Inc.

Central Freight Lines, Inc.

Christenson Transportation, Inc.

Clark Transfer, Inc.

CR England

Cramer Transportation, Inc.

Crete Carrier Corporation

CRST Van Expedited

Cypress Truck Lines, Inc.

Danny Herman Trucking

Dependable Carriers, Inc.

Dice Transport, Inc.

E H Transport LLC

East-West, Inc.

Express – 1 Expedited Solutions

Finnegans Moving and Warehouse Corporation

Fortrans

Fremont Contract Carriers

Frontrunner Logistics, Inc.

Hammell Transport Service, Inc.

Hotshot Logistics, LLC

Howells Motor Freight, Inc.

HTS

JK Moving and Storage, Inc.

JN Trans

Joe Zaputil Trucking, Inc.

Keystone Freight

Langer Transport Corporatation

Link America

Liquid Transport

Loadstar Transport

Lonestar Transportation

M. S. Molitor Trucking, Inc.

Maverick Transportation LLC

May Trucking Co.

McCrary Enterprises, Inc.

Midnite Express, Inc.

Midwest Express Corporation

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