To be Exclusive or not?

That is the question. Every site offers some type of incentive to reward you if you only publish your content with them and them only. These include higher commissions, higher sale price, and I’m willing to bet better placement in a search (but don’t quote me on that). Is it right for you? Well, let’s look at my experience.

I first started off on Fotolia. Let’s say that I stayed with them as an exclusive photographer. I’m estimating that my earners from the past 15 months would have been approximately $360. That includes as estimate of the higher commissions that I would have received if I was exclusive. I gave up exclusive status with a single site in my third month of micro stocking. My current earnings as of the end of July were $1,124. That is an estimated $766 more. Even the most successful Microstock artists are not exclusive. Check out Yuri Arcurs or IOFOTO. You will find them on all the major sites.

Now, as you expand your portfolio into different genres, you may notice that certain genres sell on one site, and not on another. That may be a sign to consider going exclusive with that genre on that good selling site. You cannot have exclusive images on multiple sites. You will need to remove those images from other sites before declaring them as exclusive. Exclusive images can be profitable for you. Even I have a few exclusives on each site. In general, go none exclusive and spread the love to as many sites as you wish.