26 Days to Review - Stock Submission Advice

[Holly27555709omhf]

Hi Everyone!  I have been contributiong for a little over a month and have learned a lot, but am still unsure about some issues I have been having around the review process.   

Initially I was able to upload quite a few images at a time (20-30) and was able to have them reviewed within 4-5 days.  About 2 weeks ago my review queue stopped moving for a while, then I received quite a few rejections.  I researched and bought some new equipment to upscale my images without artifacts and studied keywords/tags, got releases in order, and researched desired content briefs. I tried a new batch of images based on these improvements and the review process seems to be very slow compared to when I initially started - the maximum number of files reviewed a day are around 3, but they are only reviewed sporadically.  Some images have been in the submissions queue so long that they missed the winter holidays and I erased them. The longest ones I currently have been in there 26 days.  

My questions are:  How many images should I upload in a batch, and how frequently?  How long is the review process taking for you guys / what is normal to expect?  Does the size of my current portfolio make a difference?  (I have 306 images - should I clear out ones that seem less relevant?) Does the quality of images in the queue impact the rate of review (If some images in my queue are not compliant with standards or not desirable, will they block my all of submissions?) Am I just expecting to add too many images too quickly?

If there is an issue with my account, how to I contact contributer support?  I sent an email a little over a week ago, but just today received a response that says they cannot address individual submissions.  Is there a different way to get help.  (I did get some great advice on property releases on discord, so thanks!)

Sorry for the long message, and thanks to anyone who made it through!

Holly

[Jill_C · Accepted solution]

26 days is definitely extraordinary, and I would probably contact Adobe Contributor Support to see what's holding those up. I suppose the holidays might have slowed down the moderation rate a bit, but that doesn't explain the 26 day wait. If you were submitting holiday themed images just a few weeks before the holiday, you had already missed the season, so just save those for next year and upload them in the fall.

I submit only a few at a time, usually 4-6, and it takes 2-3 days for those to be Moderated. I don't think I've ever waiting more than 7 days for my images to accepted/rejected. Meanwhile, I proceed to keyword & title other images that I've uploaded so they can be submitted as soon as the previous batch is accepted. In this manner, you can maintain a slow, but constant trickle of images to your portfolio, learning from your rejects and developing a keen eye for the flaws in your own images. I think it's possible, though I've not heard of such a case being posted here in the Forum, that Adobe would block your account if your rejection rate was very high, because then you're just wasting the Moderators time.  

Good luck with your future submissions. 

If you think some of the older submissions are likely to be rejected, go ahead and delete them and take a closer look to determine whether they can be edited to be more acceptable. 

[Holly27555709omhf]

Hi Jill,

Thank you for the thorough and wonderful advice!  I hope I did not fall into the (maybe imaginary) high-rejection-rate pile! I was secretly fearing I had landed in some type of penalty box for slow learners. 

I will most definitely follow your advice on looking through old submissions for anything that looks iffy.  I also like your method of uploading then slowly keywording and submitting. It is also good to know about being too late for seasonal images... holy Valentine's Day failure!

I sent a note to contributer support.  In the meantime I will follow your advice to get myself back rolling again.  I really appreciate the time and careful explainations.  It gives me lots of good steps to take!  Now, on to green clovers and pots of gold!

With gratitude,

Holly

[jacquelingphoto2017]

Hi @Holly27555709omhf 

You can upload as many files as you want, and it's best to submit daily. You should not make volume priority but, check to make sure the quality of your files are acceptable.

The review is usually within 5 working days. Whenever there is a large volume it might take longer, sometimes more than 7 working days. Twenty-six days is an unusually long time. I've never had my files waiting for reviews for so long. My understanding is that our files are placed in a queue and are processes accordingly. I get the impression that you do not do post-processing on your files. If that's the issue, then possibly your files were handled by new reviewers who were allowing some issues and your files were held for supervisory review. I don't know if this is the case, I'm just speculating a plausible reason for the twenty plus days in review.

The size of your portfolio does not affect the review process. 

Let all the files that were accepted remain even if you suddenly think they will not sell; they will sell eventually. I suggest you increase your portfolio. Larger portfolio with varied images have varied keywords and helps with your visibility. 

Your submission will not get blocked because your images are not up to standard. The poor quality images will get rejected. However, if you re-upload the rejected images without addressing the issue or you upload multiple identical images t.... You will find more information in the Adobe Contributor Agreement.

If there is an issue with your account, but you can sign in click on the contact us at the bottom of your contributor page or at the bottom of your Contributor Account page. If your account is blocked Adobe would have corresponded with you via e-mail and you would be expected to reply via that mode. Sometimes your correspondence goes into your inbox spam folder. Therefore if your account is blocked and you do not see an email in your inbox, then you should look in spam for it.

If your query is about rejected file, this is the forum that you post your request along with a copy of the file that was rejected and the reason for rejection. Usually the rejection notice would have that suggestion included.

I hope this post addresses all your queries and you found it helpful

Best wishes

Jacquelin

[Holly27555709omhf]

Jacquelin,

Thank you for your response! I really appreciate the clarity you provided. 

Regarding post-processing, I have been doing my own version of post-processing since I started uploading, and there has definitely been trial and error. I personally have no sense of nuance or subtlety in my aesthetic,  so I tend to ramp up the saturation and contrast, because more is better, right? Oh... it turns out maybe not. So, I am working on that balance between what looks good to my shiny-shiny-candy aesthetic and what normal people find pleasing. But I certainly aired on the side of TOO MUCH and probably caused some of my rejections based on my unrefined taste. I also realized during this process that enlarging an image by 2-4x with the antiquated bicubic smoother function in my old version of Photoshop from a decade ago may not be sufficient for a beautiful,  artifact-free image. Who knew? Not me! (Facepalm.)

I checked my spam folder while holding my breath. Winner! I am not banned or restricted. Okay! I am really eliminating issues and moving forward.

Thank you again for your clear advice. I am saving your message to refer back to, should it be necessary. 

I'm really grateful for your time and guidance!

Thanks,

Holly

[jacquelingphoto2017]

Hi @Holly27555709omhf ,

I figure you were preparing for the eventuality of an issue with your account. Regarding the files that were rejected, upload about 3 here for us to analyze. That will provide practical for you to know what to look for.

Best wishes

Jacquelin

[Abambo]

You got good advice here. As told, normal waiting times are less than a week. I upload often in the weekend and get an answer on Monday or Thursday. Occasionally, I wait longer. But I do like Jill: I upload one or two assets and then move on. This workflow, however, is more time restricted than anything else. And I upload only assets, when I'm convinced that they may pass.

You should, however, not upscale your assets, as that does not add to the quality.

It may be that the flux of Generative AI images created some bag log, as I suppose that many assets get submitted and need scrutiny for compliance. You require today counting the fingers and legs. That takes time.

[Art29135221tlta]

Same happened with me it was in review for 26 days , I deleted all of them and posted on NFT site ,, atleast they will get sold for something , It was disrespectful for me as a content creator , I still post here if it takes much time I simply post them on NFT site instead of here 

[Nancy OShea]

NFT sites. Really?  Is that even a "thing" anymore? 

I thought NFTs fizzled out with the cryptocurrency crash. 🙃

[Abambo]

Same happened with me it was in review for 26 days , I deleted all of them and posted on NFT site ,, atleast they will get sold for something , It was disrespectful for me as a content creator , I still post here if it takes much time I simply post them on NFT site instead of here 

By @Art29135221tlta

Great for you, but long moderation times are caused by content creators submitting thousends of assets in a row. So what is disrespectful is the behavior of your peers. And in addition, you could have kept them in the queue, because at some stage they will get moderated. But yes, you can post them on an NFT site. No problem with that.