Noticeable slow April - Minus 30%

[ShadySue]

I have waited to post in this thread, but April will be my biggest month in 6 years, albeit thanks to 10 ELs across three sites. Without the EL's it would have been an average month, not a loss, but about in line with the last 6 months.

Congrats. It's exactly ELs that I'm missing. I got my first for this year this month: 75 credits: $12.  

[wut]

I have waited to post in this thread, but April will be my biggest month in 6 years, albeit thanks to 10 ELs across three sites. Without the EL's it would have been an average month, not a loss, but about in line with the last 6 months.

Congrats. It's exactly ELs that I'm missing. I got my first this month: 75 credits: $12. 

12$ ?!?! How's that even possible, the lowest EL earnings I got was 15$+ 16c/cr for an exclusive . WOW!

[ShadySue]

I have waited to post in this thread, but April will be my biggest month in 6 years, albeit thanks to 10 ELs across three sites. Without the EL's it would have been an average month, not a loss, but about in line with the last 6 months.

Congrats. It's exactly ELs that I'm missing. I got my first this month: 75 credits: $12. 

12$ ?!?! How's that even possible, the lowest EL earnings I got was 15$+ 16c/cr for an exclusive . WOW!

Low credits: below 53c depending on the original size of file bought.

[lisafx]

I have waited to post in this thread, but April will be my biggest month in 6 years, albeit thanks to 10 ELs across three sites. Without the EL's it would have been an average month, not a loss, but about in line with the last 6 months.

Congratulations!  Nice to read some good news

[Mantis]

I have waited to post in this thread, but April will be my biggest month in 6 years, albeit thanks to 10 ELs across three sites. Without the EL's it would have been an average month, not a loss, but about in line with the last 6 months.

Congrats. It's exactly ELs that I'm missing. I got my first this month: 75 credits: $12. 

75 credits sounds a lot better that $12 bucks

[Mantis]

I have waited to post in this thread, but April will be my biggest month in 6 years, albeit thanks to 10 ELs across three sites. Without the EL's it would have been an average month, not a loss, but about in line with the last 6 months.

Congratulations!  Nice to read some good news

Thank you, Lisa.

[BaldricksTrousers]

I have waited to post in this thread, but April will be my biggest month in 6 years, albeit thanks to 10 ELs across three sites. Without the EL's it would have been an average month, not a loss, but about in line with the last 6 months.

I've noticed that I am having to rely increasingly on EL sales to bolster the totals. If ELs are in short supply, it ends up being a weak month.

[motionguy]

I`m down about 400$ compared to March which might be peanuts for lots of the pros here but it is a very huge drop for me. I hope the next month will be better.
Wish you all lots of sales.

[Karimala]

The past year has been a roller coaster ride.  Record lows during the winter to near record highs so far this spring.  Last month I actually had my first site-specific BME in over three years (DT), and this month I have another (BigStock).  In fact, BigStock's April earnings are 1.5 times my normal monthly average for that site.  It sucks to read how everyone else is going down, down, down, because my numbers are telling me at least some of the micros are staging a comeback.

IS and FT continue their downward spiral into oblivion.

[wut]

It's mostly good for me to. But the thing is, I'm only a couple of years in this game and have a small port. I only shoot once or twice a month (on average) and only post the best shots (15 or so) so my port will still grow significantly over the next year without uploading more. Then I guess I have another year or two of increasing my earnings if I'll double the number of uploads and then I'll just join most of the ppl that complain about falling sales on yearly basis. It's a natural cycle. It looks like I'm going to have a 2nd BME, It's 2nd BME at IS and SS and BME at FT and I'm not sure about DT; it's either going to be a BME or a 2nd BME, there's still a lag in earnings report and I'm a few dollars short from a BME with a whole day left ahead of me. I had only 1 sale at Alamy and I didn't even check the rest of the agencies (low earners), however they seem to be stagnating without ULing.

[lagereek]

April?  not too bad, not too good. Average really.

[Karimala]

However, while it may pad the profits in the short term, it is a strategy for failure in the long term.  Not only does it disincentivize the current crop of top sellers, it also gives the middle tier nothing to aspire to.  

Lisa, I think with this statement you pointed out the biggest "design error" of the whole western business model. Our society in general cannot continue to run after short term profit - a concept which destroys our planet and literally burns our ressources beyond need. We cannot just continue to grow and ignore all moral values.

Especially in the last 40 years People got more and more convinced that "Profit is everything" and moral and fairness has to stay out of business. The result is that in the same time period we almost destroyed our whole planet and brought the economic world to the edge of a nearly unresolvable crisis.

I do not accept the argument that moral has to stay out of business.
I do not accept the argument that if you work for a company you are not responsable for what the company is doint because you need the money.
I do not respect nor buy from companies which try to ignore all moral - companies like istock, paypal etc.

I completely agree with everything you posted.  I definitely think that morality, or more accurately ethics, should be a part of business, politics, society, and of each of our individual daily decisions. 

The only reason I said "fairness doesn't enter into business" isn't because I don't think it should, but because it so frequently is not considered by TPTB.  Also, there is a great deal of flexibility in what different cultures and individuals consider "moral", so it isn't enough to win you a debate about business practices.  Practical arguments are much more persuasive because they can be backed up with empirical evidence.

Interesting thoughts. 

It won't be long until IS and FT no longer profit off of my work (and 123RF might just be the next).  I just can't deal with their lack of consideration for anything other than their own bottom lines.  What about mine?  Doesn't matter to them.  So...because I (and all of us) don't matter to them, I'm hitting their bottom line by pulling my portfolio.  The only companies I'll submit my work to are those that are willing to act like we're industry partners and help me grow my business, not drive me out of business by keeping increasingly higher portions of my profits for themselves.

Lisa is so right that when companies "punish" the most successful among us, it gives us middle tier folks less incentive to work harder.  The harder we work, the less they will pay us?  Is that how it works?  Just makes me want to pull my portfolio from their hands, not work harder for them.  There's plenty of places that don't continually hurt their contributors where I can sell my image archive as stock or products.

As the old saying goes, "What you reap, so shall you sow."  Good ol' Karma will eventually catch up with these companies.  Take money away from us that we rightfully deserve, and I and many others will take our money away from them.  Plain and simple.             

[Ed]

"Performing animals do tricks because their trainers throw them peanuts or small fish for doing so. You should aspire to do better. You will be a friend, a parent, a coach, an employee�and so on. But only in your job will you be explicitly evaluated and rewarded for your performance. Don't let your life decisions be distorted by the fact that your boss is the only one tossing you peanuts." -- Charles Wheelan


In this case....you are your boss.

[Pixart]

I hate to mess with my karma by saying this, but 2012 has been so much better than 2011 so far.  April has been a BME, and a BME at SS.  I did benefit from a few large sales this month though at different agencies.  I can't remember the last time I had EL at FT, the buggers still only give you one point toward ranking on a 100 credit sale.

[BaldricksTrousers]

In this case....you are your boss.

I may not be paying myself a fair wage but I sure as hell like working for this boss better than for all the others who have screwed me over in the past

[Morphart]

Terrible month here too - after flying high in March :-/

It confirms for me too. 33% Drop from March even after adding new content, this is huge.

Good thing May is looking better with a 99$ (165$) sale on Alamy on Monday and � 90.60$ single image sale in Shutterstock on Tuesday.... Hope it keep up!