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Author Topic: How is your March?  (Read 23214 times)

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« Reply #75 on: April 04, 2017, 06:44 »
0
^ I read somewhere the important thing was the first 4-5 pages? given the default search and amount of pictures on the page!
That's one of the advantages of having stuff from small niches - if there are only a handful of shots of a subject then you have a good chance of selling on the few occasions someone searches for it. I don't reckon I'd have much chance of ever selling a "beautiful business woman with her team" if I shot it, whereas my Circassian chicken on a plate sold a couple of times in the past week - even though everybody knows what the first of those is and not a lot of people are familiar with Circassian chicken (though in a curious nod to the influence of beautiful women, the name of the dish is said to be derived from the skin colour of the Circassian beauties in the Turkish Sultan's harem) .
Logic is in place but practice has proved me wrong, my best selling photos are from such broad bussiness categories that one would think are beyong extreme saturation.

Sent from my SM-J510FN using Tapatalk



derek

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« Reply #76 on: April 04, 2017, 13:25 »
0
^ I read somewhere the important thing was the first 4-5 pages? given the default search and amount of pictures on the page!
That's one of the advantages of having stuff from small niches - if there are only a handful of shots of a subject then you have a good chance of selling on the few occasions someone searches for it. I don't reckon I'd have much chance of ever selling a "beautiful business woman with her team" if I shot it, whereas my Circassian chicken on a plate sold a couple of times in the past week - even though everybody knows what the first of those is and not a lot of people are familiar with Circassian chicken (though in a curious nod to the influence of beautiful women, the name of the dish is said to be derived from the skin colour of the Circassian beauties in the Turkish Sultan's harem) .


Well maybe but I think you might be looking just a bit too deep into this and trying to find some logic in it? I know exactly what you mean but somehow I think the equation is quite simple.
I give an example. My portfolio is niched yes. Among my total port I have around 70 pictures which I am completelty alone in having. There is no one else in this world at least not in stock photography that could even come close in similarity let alone the real thing. Lets say I was there at the right place the right time. These 70 pictures represented around 80% of my SS income and sold in hundreds every single day for the past five years and I mean hundreds every day. All of a sudden like an ON/OFF switch they stopped selling! well maybe 20 times a day. This was not a drawn out thing it just whollop! happened over night AND with exactly the same search placement!. I actually asked a Tech friend of mine who has his own firm and very knowledgable in this sort of stuff. He told me my images had been replaced. They were still there of course but when buyers searched somebody elses images came up given the same category etc. That was all he could see and say.

I really dont know if he was right or wrong. However lets assume the concept of fairness much talked about here. Might be as simple as a search is trying to give a fair amount to everybody and thereby ruining the incentive of producing quality?

What do you say about this maybe ( crazy and stupid) idea?

« Reply #77 on: April 04, 2017, 13:28 »
+2
Now if you had "beautiful business woman with her team eating  Circassian chicken" you'd really be onto something.

Careful.  Yuri might be lurking ;)

« Reply #78 on: April 04, 2017, 13:45 »
+4
What about a Circassian chicken eating a beautyful business woman?
Even more niche :-)

« Reply #79 on: April 04, 2017, 14:29 »
+4
March was fine.

But what happened this week on SS? Sales are literally cut to half of normal. It's really frightening. I'm contributing for 10 years and never seen such thing..
« Last Edit: April 04, 2017, 14:32 by Desintegrator »

derek

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« Reply #80 on: April 04, 2017, 15:15 »
+2
March was fine.

But what happened this week on SS? Sales are literally cut to half of normal. It's really frightening. I'm contributing for 10 years and never seen such thing..

Exactly the same here!  and overnight!

« Reply #81 on: April 04, 2017, 15:16 »
+1
March was fine.

But what happened this week on SS? Sales are literally cut to half of normal. It's really frightening. I'm contributing for 10 years and never seen such thing..
Its Tuesday.....it might be a tad early to jump to conclusions........

« Reply #82 on: April 04, 2017, 15:23 »
+2
March was fine.

But what happened this week on SS? Sales are literally cut to half of normal. It's really frightening. I'm contributing for 10 years and never seen such thing..

3 digits day yesterday, high two digits today... so far, sales are good this week  ;)

But an old proverb says that "Una hirundo non facit ver", neither one way or the other.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2017, 15:25 by Zero Talent »

« Reply #83 on: April 04, 2017, 16:40 »
+2
March was fine.

But what happened this week on SS? Sales are literally cut to half of normal. It's really frightening. I'm contributing for 10 years and never seen such thing..

Same here, March very good, this week almost totally dead on SS.

« Reply #84 on: April 04, 2017, 23:56 »
+3
Among my total port I have around 70 pictures which I am completelty alone in having......They were still there of course but when buyers searched somebody elses images came up given the same category etc.
Surely you give your own answer? At one time you got all the sales because you were alone in your niche, now you have a competitor in your niche.  Maybe it's a subject where your rival's images make an acceptable substitute to illustrate a concept, even if the subject matter is not exactly the same as yours.
I believe I was the second person to have pictures of the iconic Santorini blue-domed Greek churches on Microstock, in the summer of 2004, and they sold very well for a few years but now they've been swamped by newer material. It happens. (And I bet the first person to upload the subject was less than pleased when mine turned up a few weeks later!).

« Reply #85 on: April 05, 2017, 13:46 »
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Well March on SS wasn't too bad but just the first few days of April look terrible. Mainly video.

« Reply #86 on: April 06, 2017, 12:55 »
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This March is NR 2 of all time.
1. Shutterstock BME with +70%
2. Pond5 +11%
3. Depositphotos +549%
4. Fotolia/Adobe +25%
5. Videoblocks -36%

I compared March with average of 2016 year.
Shutterstock made 45% of March and 54% of all time earnings.
Last three years i work only on videos.

derek

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« Reply #87 on: April 06, 2017, 13:12 »
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Among my total port I have around 70 pictures which I am completelty alone in having......They were still there of course but when buyers searched somebody elses images came up given the same category etc.
Surely you give your own answer? At one time you got all the sales because you were alone in your niche, now you have a competitor in your niche.  Maybe it's a subject where your rival's images make an acceptable substitute to illustrate a concept, even if the subject matter is not exactly the same as yours.
I believe I was the second person to have pictures of the iconic Santorini blue-domed Greek churches on Microstock, in the summer of 2004, and they sold very well for a few years but now they've been swamped by newer material. It happens. (And I bet the first person to upload the subject was less than pleased when mine turned up a few weeks later!).

Just came back from a shoot and read your post here. No!  I am not replaced as such in my category the pics are not even showing the same subject. Its like a differece of lets say for example my shots are of Mykonos but now instead shots of a NY-skyline from people with very small ports of no more then 300 files. Thats the difference.

For all I know you might be right I am no expert at this but as far as I am concerned I firmly believe that its a matter of giving everybody a fair break. This is completely nuts in my books because whats the point then of uploading when genuine and hard work dont count for nothing. DT makes no secret of this but SS does well nowadays you dont hear anything from them at all. Deadly silence. :)

« Reply #88 on: April 06, 2017, 13:55 »
+2
whats the point then of uploading when genuine and hard work dont count for nothing.

Well, that's the big question, isn't it? We're all competing against 120,000,000 other images so the cake is going to be sliced very thin. The agencies only care about having the necessary file available to meet the buyer's needs. They don't care how much or how little effort went into making it.

« Reply #89 on: April 06, 2017, 14:28 »
0
whats the point then of uploading when genuine and hard work dont count for nothing.

Well, that's the big question, isn't it? We're all competing against 120,000,000 other images so the cake is going to be sliced very thin. The agencies only care about having the necessary file available to meet the buyer's needs. They don't care how much or how little effort went into making it.
Indeed and why should they? The only comfort is that an awful lot of images seem pretty unsaleable

« Reply #90 on: April 06, 2017, 14:59 »
+1
I agree with a lot of people:
Excellent March, and nothing this week, really scary.
But I am used to it: agencies always shut the tap for at least one week every month, especially SS.
Even more scary is that so far this year practically all my sales in SS come from a single fie (I have a bit less than 2,000, video only).
Not that I am complaining, because sales in February and March have been goo, but all of them coming from a single file in SS is a bit scary

« Reply #91 on: April 06, 2017, 15:04 »
+1
I agree with a lot of people:
Excellent March, and nothing this week, really scary.
But I am used to it: agencies always shut the tap for at least one week every month, especially SS.
Even more scary is that so far this year practically all my sales in SS come from a single fie (I have a bit less than 2,000, video only).
Not that I am complaining, because sales in February and March have been goo, but all of them coming from a single file in SS is a bit scary
You mean they stop people buying images? Seems a  rather odd thing to do. Maybe its just chance variation or seasonal factors lets see how people react when easter hits.


« Reply #92 on: April 06, 2017, 15:31 »
0
I agree with a lot of people:
Excellent March, and nothing this week, really scary.
But I am used to it: agencies always shut the tap for at least one week every month, especially SS.
Even more scary is that so far this year practically all my sales in SS come from a single fie (I have a bit less than 2,000, video only).
Not that I am complaining, because sales in February and March have been goo, but all of them coming from a single file in SS is a bit scary
You mean they stop people buying images? Seems a  rather odd thing to do. Maybe its just chance variation or seasonal factors lets see how people react when easter hits.
I don't know what they do, but certainly there are very strange things happening.
For six months in a row I had always the exactly same amount of sales in SS, to make it easy let's say $500 a month.
Sometimes I got to $500 at the 12th of the month, so I would think: "great, this is going to be a fantastic month". But then not one single sale until the end of the month.
Other times I would get absolutely nothing at the beginning of the month for 2 weeks, not a single sale, so getting pretty depressed. Then the last 10 days sales falling like crazy, and same huge $150 sales, until I get to my allotted monthly total.
I am not complaining because sales are not bad, maybe they are doing it to make everyone happy and maybe it works very well.
But as I said even more scary is that this year (I mean the last 3 months) 98% of my sales are coming from the same single file, over and over again. It makes you question what is the point to upload more stuff.
I am talking about video only. For still images (which apparently is what most peaople do here) things may be totally different

JimP

« Reply #93 on: April 06, 2017, 16:16 »
0
Well March on SS wasn't too bad but just the first few days of April look terrible. Mainly video.

Makes me wonder. Other months same thing. Do one month subscriptions end at the end of a month? Do people with a subscription catch up on downloads at the end of the month? When the 1 and 2 are Sat and Sunday wouldn't that make the start of a month, two worst days, naturally slow?

« Reply #94 on: April 07, 2017, 01:28 »
0
Well March on SS wasn't too bad but just the first few days of April look terrible. Mainly video.

Makes me wonder. Other months same thing. Do one month subscriptions end at the end of a month? Do people with a subscription catch up on downloads at the end of the month? When the 1 and 2 are Sat and Sunday wouldn't that make the start of a month, two worst days, naturally slow?
I haven't really analysed it but typically I'd say my months start slowly and then pick up. Theres all kinds of seasonal business cycle patterns. I find it hard to see why SS would hide content from buyers. But having said that if people are getting EXACTLY the same amount then that is very odd

derek

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« Reply #95 on: April 07, 2017, 01:57 »
0
Said it in another thread it really seems as if some contributors earnings are pre-set. My earnings from Monday this week up to now Friday morning differs only by cents not even a dollar. I find it extremely suspect.
Well its a matter of just giving up thinking about it really. Much worse is all the negative and bad publicity SS right now is getting almost in every single forum and texts concerning photography stock photography etc. if I'm not wrong thats really what finally triggered the downfall of Istock?

« Reply #96 on: April 07, 2017, 02:02 »
0
Said it in another thread it really seems as if some contributors earnings are pre-set. My earnings from Monday this week up to now Friday morning differs only by cents not even a dollar. I find it extremely suspect.
Well its a matter of just giving up thinking about it really. Much worse is all the negative and bad publicity SS right now is getting almost in every single forum and texts concerning photography stock photography etc. if I'm not wrong thats really what finally triggered the downfall of Istock?
Where for example?

derek

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« Reply #97 on: April 07, 2017, 02:24 »
0
Said it in another thread it really seems as if some contributors earnings are pre-set. My earnings from Monday this week up to now Friday morning differs only by cents not even a dollar. I find it extremely suspect.
Well its a matter of just giving up thinking about it really. Much worse is all the negative and bad publicity SS right now is getting almost in every single forum and texts concerning photography stock photography etc. if I'm not wrong thats really what finally triggered the downfall of Istock?
Where for example?

Where??? oh!  " please tell me this makes sense"  thread!  this is how I have had it since the beginning of January 2017!  frankly I don't mind too much but I do find it laughable almost comical.

« Reply #98 on: April 07, 2017, 02:28 »
0
Said it in another thread it really seems as if some contributors earnings are pre-set. My earnings from Monday this week up to now Friday morning differs only by cents not even a dollar. I find it extremely suspect.
Well its a matter of just giving up thinking about it really. Much worse is all the negative and bad publicity SS right now is getting almost in every single forum and texts concerning photography stock photography etc. if I'm not wrong thats really what finally triggered the downfall of Istock?
Where for example?

Where??? oh!  " please tell me this makes sense"  thread!  this is how I have had it since the beginning of January 2017!  frankly I don't mind too much but I do find it laughable almost comical.
I thought by every single you didn't mean a single I don't think criticizing ss is anything new here....indeed for some it seems to be a crusade over the years

derek

    This user is banned.
« Reply #99 on: April 07, 2017, 03:19 »
+1
Said it in another thread it really seems as if some contributors earnings are pre-set. My earnings from Monday this week up to now Friday morning differs only by cents not even a dollar. I find it extremely suspect.
Well its a matter of just giving up thinking about it really. Much worse is all the negative and bad publicity SS right now is getting almost in every single forum and texts concerning photography stock photography etc. if I'm not wrong thats really what finally triggered the downfall of Istock?
Where for example?

Where??? oh!  " please tell me this makes sense"  thread!  this is how I have had it since the beginning of January 2017!  frankly I don't mind too much but I do find it laughable almost comical.
I thought by every single you didn't mean a single I don't think criticizing ss is anything new here....indeed for some it seems to be a crusade over the years


I beg you pardon! crusade over the years? I been with them since 2007! how long have you been there? I find it insulting. I earn very good money there even if its gone down. I have absolutely no need or wish for any crusades but wanting them to do well and at least for my sake.

If one can not point out the obvious together with hundereds of so called old shrivled up old-timers then whats the point and whats the need of a forum?? whats the need of MSG where we all meet sharing experiences up or down. Everything is not just black/white. The world is not honesty personified.

Kindly refrain from any insinuating actions or simply don't read my postings.

Thanks and appreciating that.



 

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