Sell photos and stock illustrations via top microstocks
Microstock Agencies
v1.9.1 fixes iStockphoto login, introduces Java 6 native
Aug 14th
The new ProStockMaster v1.9.1 fixes iStockphoto login and upload of stock photos to the microstock agency, following the latest “F5″ changes on the iStock web. It is also the first version of our microstock software which was compiled with Java 6, both Mac and Windows. PSM v1.9.1 simply runs faster than older versions. If you got Windows 7 64-bit or Vista 64-bit I recommend you to download and install Java 64-bit. The latest ProStockMaster v1.9.1 will perfectly run with 64-bit Java, and you get even more performance benefits.
Note that if you upgrade to v1.9.1 from anything older than v1.9.0 you have to install the full version of ProStockMaster. Follow this instructions to do so.
Please do not panic if you see this error message when you run the new software:
It’s OK, it just says that you are running Windows 7 or Vista 
The 1-minute solution for that is described in question #3 in our FAQ
iStockphoto login and web chnages
Aug 12th
iStock have changed their web this week. We are aware of these changes and the ProStockMaster update is already completed. We still check various compatibility issues. The upgrade to v1.9.1 will be offered very soon. Note, that if you still run anything prior to v1.9.0 you have to upgrade to v1.9.0 first by installing the full version of ProStockMaster v1.9.0. Follow this instructions to upgrade to v1.9.0.
Damn microstock
Apr 12th
Chris Barton, the “Fair Trade Photographer” joins the well known anti-microstock apologist Dan Heller in blaming microstock. The article is very nice, but I guess if Chris would be the author of that group image, he proudly would show all these usage examples to his prospective customers. Anyway, welcome to the club, Chris, you are in the good company.
Back to 2007 Dan Heller was absolutely sure that microstock is a transitional business model and that the microstock agencies are hurting themselves. Explaining why the microstocks can not survive Dan says:
And all this gets back to the discussion about how they are “hurting themselves.” To understand this, we look at the factors involved with repeat buyers vs. new buyers. Lower prices may get some ratio of new buyers, but it’s the unintended effects associated with the retention of those buyers. And here’s the catch-22: if they stay, you’re selling more and more product at severely discounted prices to a customer that should be paying more. If they don’t stay, you’ve lost the entire benefit of the lower prices. So, not only do lower prices not guarantee buyer retention, or that they’ll even start there over competition, but the perilous effects of their remaining loyal is almost worse. The entire objective of “low-balling” is to rope the user in so you can upcharge them later. Otherwise, there’s no point in doing it. What most companies do is offer the big discounts at sign up, but once in, prices go back to normal. Microstock agencies don’t do this, but should. This leaves microstocks in the worst of all worlds.
Now in 2010 we can see that the microstock business did not collapse, being a growing industry even in the recession period, while most traditional stock photography agencies experience a sharp decline in sales. Surprisingly for Mr.Heller, the microstock continues to rapidly expand and keeps threatening traditional royalty free and right managed stock photography business models.
Surprisingly enough, Dan Heller was served for some time as the Vice President of Marketing at Picscout, a company which proudly displays Dreamstime logo at the top line of their list of customers. If you can not beat them, join them.
BigStock, 123rf, Dreamstime, Fotolia improvements in v1.7.3
Mar 26th
This release fixes login and upload of stock photos to Bigstock and 123rf . It also fixes Dreamstime and Fotloia microstock sales statistics. We took off Stockxpert microstock site due to their merge with iStockphoto.
CanStockPhoto – sales stats for every stock image at your fingertips, better security and reliability
Jan 15th
ProStockMaster microstock software v1.7.2 now works with CanStockPhoto via our proprietary PSM API. From now on all microstock contributors can track their microstock sales and download stats for every stock photograph or an illustration submitted to CanStockPhoto with ProStockmaster microstock tool.
All data is transferred over HTTPS, which significantly improves the communication security between the microstock photography agency and the stock photographer’s computer.
Many thanks to Duncan Enman, CEO of CanStockPhoto and his great team for making this possible.
FTP uploads to any microstock and stock photography agency by replacing Shutterstock
Nov 19th
Did you know that if you do not work with Shutterstock microsotck agency you can use “Shutterstock FTP” credentials uploading to any FTP-enabled stock photography agency instead?
Just keep in mind that what is shown as “Shutterstock” in PSM microstock software is in fact your trusted “ABC” stock photos agency.
Doing that is simple: go to “Upload->Stock Agencies->Shutterstock” and replace Shutterstock FTP server name with the name of the FTP server for “ABC” stock photography site, adding your FTP credentials for that stock imagery agency or stock content distributor.
From now on, each time you upload to “Shutterstock” the file actually goes to “ABC-stock”.
Uploads to Shutterstock microstock agency switched to FTP
Nov 19th
Please note that PSM requests the application restart after the auto-upgrade. When you get “please restart now” message always shown after the updates download please restart the app!. The application won’t work properly until you restart it.
If anyway the things seem to go wrong after the auto upgrate please download and install the full archive. Auto-upgrade is always incremental and it can not guarantee the binaries consistency if you missed a few previous updates. That’s why we always recommend upgrading to the latest available PSM release.
Mac only: if you choose to install the full archive to get the upgrade, be sure to select “Connect to the existing DB” at the first run of your new PSM copy and point to the folder containing your existing ProStockMaster_DB. Do not delete your previous PSM installation until you are sure that everything works as expected.
New in this release:
1. Uploads to Shutterstock microstock web site are switched to FTP. Go to “Upload->Stock Agencies” to change your credentials.
The FTP server name is already filled in for you by the app. Your FTP user name is your email address, which is on file with Shutterstock and the password is your regular Shutterstock web site password. Since the connection to Shutterstock is now via FTP only, your stock photos sales stats for this site can not be displayed anymore.
2. “Export Metadata” dialog added in “File->Export Metadata” menu. It creates a CSV file with JPG IPTC metadata and a few more file parameters for all JPGs in a specified folder. Optionally, it works recursively on all the subfolders of the specified folder. You probably remember this free JPG IPTC metadata dump utility? Now it is an integral part of PSM, available for free with any license. Just open “File->Export Metadata” menu and select a folder to be exported.
3. Fixed an annoying bug causing thumbnails not to be displayed in many cases.
I am sure you faced it at least once – you start PSM, open a folder and there are no thumbnails, just the file names with ‘…’ are displayed. Well, not anymore.
The app still needs some time to draw the thumbnails at the first access, but once the initial processing is done you get all the graphics instantly.
4. EXIF reading is back.
EXIF decided to leave PSM for a few weeks. Now it is back at its full.
5. Manage metadata – copying data between images: verified & OK. Also the dialog will close now when a user press OK in the “applied” confirmation message.
6. Alamy uploads: only one image can be uploaded. The issue is still there.
A quick check shows that the same is correct for Alamay uploads from their web either with their Java applet or with Alamy ActiveX control. Seems to be a problem with their web server. More info…
7. Minor fixes & updates for performance and graphics, here and there
