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Author Topic: Quantity vs quality  (Read 8996 times)

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« on: February 16, 2017, 22:37 »
0
Would you rather give priority to quantity over quality in this era of microstock where million files are added monthly knowing your "one" super quality image will highly go unseen?


died from overdrawn


k_t_g

  • wheeeeeeeeee......
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2017, 22:59 »
+4
When people want it, they will find it.
 :)
You just provide them with quality.

« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2017, 00:31 »
0
Why not both? Just not on the same outlets.

« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2017, 01:09 »
0

Why not both? Just not on the same outlets.

What you mean by not on the same outlet?


died from overdrawn

« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2017, 01:23 »
+3
I mean that you can supply "quantity" to micro and "quality" to macro

« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2017, 02:55 »
+8
Quality is highly subjective.  Some of what I think are my best images sell very little but those that I almost didn't upload sell well.  I see a few people with small portfolios packed with images that sell well but I think that would be hard for me to do.  I just upload everything that I think might sell and let the buyers decide.  The best images rise to the top in my portfolio and some of them are a real surprise.

Deciding what to sell on micro and macro sites is tricky as well.  A high quality image on a macro site might never sell or only sell a few times and make less than it would on the microstock sites.

« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2017, 15:23 »
+3
Hi, all! I think that quality should be at the first place. Becuse it's easy to shoot lot's of uninteresting photos but it's very hard to make one really valuable picture.  ;)

RAW

« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2017, 16:45 »
+5
You need quality and lots of it.

Photodune Reject

« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2017, 17:43 »
0
You need quality and lots of it.

unless your 'Envato'  :(



fritz

  • I love Tom and Jerry music

« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2017, 17:45 »
0
 Quality is a much more complicated term than it appears! What is quality? Is it Coca-Cola,McDonald's,Burger King,Domino's or CNN!!!

Photodune Reject

« Reply #10 on: February 25, 2017, 17:54 »
0
Quality is a much more complicated term than it appears! What is quality? Is it Coca-Cola,McDonald's,Burger King,Domino's or CNN!!!

Yes, if you are drinking a coca-cola in McDonald's while watching CNN  :)


fritz

  • I love Tom and Jerry music

« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2017, 18:28 »
+1
Quality is a much more complicated term than it appears! What is quality? Is it Coca-Cola,McDonald's,Burger King,Domino's or CNN!!!

Yes, if you are drinking a coca-cola in McDonald's while watching CNN  :)
Perfect quality combination!

« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2017, 14:14 »
0
Quality is a much more complicated term than it appears! What is quality? Is it Coca-Cola,McDonald's,Burger King,Domino's or CNN!!!

Yes, if you are drinking a coca-cola in McDonald's while watching CNN  :)
Perfect quality combination!

I love your sarcasm.

« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2017, 14:32 »
+10
"Quality" is really irrelevant in microstock. "Saleability" is the name of the game. This is a business, not an art gallery. 
Any image that sells has to be competently done as a baseline; but to make money for the artist it needs to fit the buyer's needs.That means it should "tell a story" that many people want to tell, and for bonus points have impact in a small size. If not many artists are telling that story, you rise to the top.
In addition, I have seen (and I'll bet we've all seen) some of our top-selling images on one site fall flat on another. I don't know why that should be, but it is.
Month after month I find that about 3% of my images are providing 90% of my income. And, as I said, it's a different 3% for different sites.
Now, if I could just unlock the "magic formula" for that, I'd only have to submit a few images if each one sold really well. The holy grail of microstock!

« Reply #14 on: February 26, 2017, 14:44 »
+1
"Quality" is really irrelevant in microstock. "Saleability" is the name of the game. This is a business, not an art gallery. 
Any image that sells has to be competently done as a baseline; but to make money for the artist it needs to fit the buyer's needs.That means it should "tell a story" that many people want to tell, and for bonus points have impact in a small size. If not many artists are telling that story, you rise to the top.
In addition, I have seen (and I'll bet we've all seen) some of our top-selling images on one site fall flat on another. I don't know why that should be, but it is.
Month after month I find that about 3% of my images are providing 90% of my income. And, as I said, it's a different 3% for different sites.
Now, if I could just unlock the "magic formula" for that, I'd only have to submit a few images if each one sold really well. The holy grail of microstock!
Exactly......In business the term "quality" means fit for purpose if you use that definition  things make more sense

« Reply #15 on: February 26, 2017, 15:38 »
0
Quality is highly subjective.  Some of what I think are my best images sell very little but those that I almost didn't upload sell well.  I see a few people with small portfolios packed with images that sell well but I think that would be hard for me to do.  I just upload everything that I think might sell and let the buyers decide.  The best images rise to the top in my portfolio and some of them are a real surprise.

Deciding what to sell on micro and macro sites is tricky as well.  A high quality image on a macro site might never sell or only sell a few times and make less than it would on the microstock sites.

same here - I upload if it's technically quality;  I do most of my composition & cropping in camera.

also, with quantity you'll find more multiple sales - sometimes of very  similar images

Harvepino

« Reply #16 on: February 26, 2017, 17:53 »
+2
Some of my best sellers are images that I never expected to earn anything substantial. For that reason I wouldn't try to produce "quality" only. Volume and variety at acceptable quality level is my rule of the game.


« Reply #17 on: February 26, 2017, 23:55 »
+3
fwiw, note that those claiming quality most important are new to MSG and have no links to their portfolios

« Reply #18 on: February 27, 2017, 03:18 »
0
In addition, I have seen (and I'll bet we've all seen) some of our top-selling images on one site fall flat on another. I don't know why that should be, but it is.

Search engine variation / pure luck (if a buyer is present as you upload the pic, it'll get downloaded, boosted because of it in the search results, downloaded again due to this boost - positive feedback makes the first immediate download snowball the pic into a bestseller)

So it's not so much quality or quantity, it's something that we can't affect. Luck and search engines. But people need to have a feeling of control so they tell a story to themselves.

alno

« Reply #19 on: February 27, 2017, 04:25 »
+4
Definitely quantity. And suitability for stock in general of course. There are really a lot of totally incompetent buyers who would buy real trash (frankly). And it costs very little time, effort and money to produce that trash, even in an semi-automated way sometimes, so why miss that opportunity. That's not a fine art gallery anyway.

« Reply #20 on: February 27, 2017, 06:52 »
+3
Always quality!  People that defend quantity are usually wanabees that will not arrive anywhere, not in micro not in another field of photography. Quality will get you so far that someday you might even be miles away from micro and command much higher figures for your time and effort.

angelawaye

  • Eat, Sleep, Keyword. Repeat

« Reply #21 on: February 27, 2017, 10:57 »
+3
It feels like you can't win with quality in Micro anymore ... Hours spent on a photo only to be smothered with duplicates and spamming.

« Reply #22 on: February 28, 2017, 01:44 »
+2
I believe that it is quantity. Assuming that, when you consider yourself to be a photographer, you already have a certain standard of quality that you use.
So don't go uploading technically trashy pictures, but don't go waiting for that one "Wow" pcture, and upload only that, because you will end up selling nearly nothing.

outoftheblue

« Reply #23 on: February 28, 2017, 03:33 »
+1
So it's not so much quality or quantity, it's something that we can't affect. Luck and search engines.

Luck is not independent of quantity.

« Last Edit: February 28, 2017, 03:36 by outoftheblue »

« Reply #24 on: February 28, 2017, 03:57 »
+4
So it's not so much quality or quantity, it's something that we can't affect. Luck and search engines.

Luck is not independent of quantity.
"the harder I work the luckier I get" Samuel Goldwyn


 

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