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Poll

What is your RPI for the month of September 2014 at Shutterstock?  (Total income from photos divided by number of photos online)

0-.15
52 (27.4%)
.16-.25
27 (14.2%)
.26-.40
34 (17.9%)
.41-.55
13 (6.8%)
.56-.70
17 (8.9%)
.71-.85
11 (5.8%)
.85-.99
6 (3.2%)
1-1.50
10 (5.3%)
1.51-3.00
8 (4.2%)
3.01-4.00+
7 (3.7%)
Click here if you are not a SS contributor but want to see the results.
5 (2.6%)

Total Members Voted: 175

Author Topic: Poll: RPI at Shutterstock (You can now edit your reply if you entered RPD)  (Read 26210 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

« Reply #25 on: October 07, 2014, 07:30 »
+4
54 cents. Last month was kinda crappy until the last week.

You're telling me that last month your portfolio of 2157 images actually generated $1165 at SS alone? Really? And that was "kinda crappy"?

Until the last week when I got 2 ELs in the final few days. Yes. Lowest earnings month on Shutterstock this year.

I don't see what's unusual about it. There are a lot of people who are better photographers than me and earn a lot more.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2014, 08:24 by robhainer »


« Reply #26 on: October 07, 2014, 07:52 »
0
.32 cents

« Reply #27 on: October 07, 2014, 08:03 »
+1
0.21$, but BME on SS for me.

Uncle Pete

« Reply #28 on: October 07, 2014, 08:13 »
0
Correct, I entered RPD not RPI. No way to fix that.

Also I'll point out again. RPD is a MUCH better measure than RPI especially for a poll.

I know I could make my RPI skyrocket by just removing old dead images. Any stat that can be manipulated, is useless. Also someone with 50 images (top quality images I mean) would have a super PRI, and someone with 10,000 good images, making good returns would look low.

PRI has no statistical value at all, even for individuals.

My RPI for my top ten images (1-10 by # of DLs) is $140  ::)


There's something seriously wrong with the results when nearly 50% of voters are claiming more than 40c per image/month ... which itself is nearly 50% higher than Shutterstock's declared average.

Even Sean said he's only generating about 60c per image/month (in a previous thread) so we must have some absolute stock geniuses voting in the poll.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2014, 08:21 by Uncle Pete »

« Reply #29 on: October 07, 2014, 08:23 »
+1
My RPI for my top ten images (1-10 by # of DLs) is $140  ::)
You made $1,400 last month on Shutterstock from 10 images?  I have a feeling you still have no clue what RPI is.

« Reply #30 on: October 07, 2014, 08:26 »
+1
Pete, your RPI for your top 10 images would be how much those 10 images earned last month alone, divided by 10. So if you made $140 on those 10 images last month, your RPI on those images would be $14.

In other words, you earned $14 per image for a total of $140 in September.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2014, 08:28 by robhainer »

Uncle Pete

« Reply #31 on: October 07, 2014, 08:34 »
+1
You have my vote, I did lifetime for those images not September. OOPS!  :-[

It's not no clue it's just plain stupid and not reading the question.

My RPI for my top ten images (1-10 by # of DLs) is $140  ::)
You made $1,400 last month on Shutterstock from 10 images?  I have a feeling you still have no clue what RPI is.

« Reply #32 on: October 07, 2014, 08:37 »
+1
You have my vote, I did lifetime for those images not September. OOPS!  :-[

It's not no clue it's just plain stupid and not reading the question.

My RPI for my top ten images (1-10 by # of DLs) is $140  ::)
You made $1,400 last month on Shutterstock from 10 images?  I have a feeling you still have no clue what RPI is.
Don't feel too bad, it seems a lot of other people probably had problems with it too.

Uncle Pete

« Reply #33 on: October 07, 2014, 08:47 »
+1
Yes, but I have a calculator on the desk...  ;) Math is my friend. I guess reading instructions, I'm a failure.

OK similar example. It was .20 but I just uploaded new images, so it would have been .30 if I hadn't added them?

If I remove my non-sellers from 2007, it goes up to .30 again.

= RPI is a bad measure of anything, my success, my images, or agency's value.


You have my vote, I did lifetime for those images not September. OOPS!  :-[

It's not no clue it's just plain stupid and not reading the question.

My RPI for my top ten images (1-10 by # of DLs) is $140  ::)
You made $1,400 last month on Shutterstock from 10 images?  I have a feeling you still have no clue what RPI is.
Don't feel too bad, it seems a lot of other people probably had problems with it too.

« Reply #34 on: October 07, 2014, 08:57 »
+11
I was at $.61 for Sept at SS.  That's down a fair bit from last Sept.  I attribute this drop to the three core factors driving down microstock income for all contributors -- 1) exploding growth of ports at the big agencies and inability for a long-time contributor to grow at the same rate, 2) former IS exclusives dropping the crown and setting up at SS and the other big players, and 3) agency changes such as search changes and new offerings like DPC.

As for RPI as a metric...

Some keep saying RPI is meaningless.  I couldn't disagree more.

It's not about bragging rights.  It's not "Oh yeah, I could make my number higher by deleting my non-sellers."
You NEED your non-sellers in the count because the point is to AVERAGE out your good and bad sellers to determine how much the AVERAGE image will earn you.  You have no way of knowing whether today's batch of images will be good or bad sellers, but guessing that they will hit an AVERAGE RPI for your port is the best projection you can make.  If you apply an RPI that has been tinkered by removing your bad sellers, that's just foolish.

It's about tracking your performance over time and watching for trends.  It's about being able to project future income, setting goals and figuring out how much work you'll need to do to hit those goals.  For me, I bake in a continued slide in my RPI due to the three factors named above, and I feel this gives me the most reliable projection for future earnings.  There's NO better way to project this, until someone invents a time machine.


« Last Edit: October 07, 2014, 09:46 by stockmarketer »

« Reply #35 on: October 07, 2014, 09:22 »
0
Voted.

Just my 2 cents.

« Reply #36 on: October 07, 2014, 10:02 »
+1
I was at $.61 for Sept at SS.  That's down a fair bit from last Sept.  I attribute this drop to the three core factors driving down microstock income for all contributors -- 1) exploding growth of ports at the big agencies and inability for a long-time contributor to grow at the same rate, 2) former IS exclusives dropping the crown and setting up at SS and the other big players, and 3) agency changes such as search changes and new offerings like DPC.

As for RPI as a metric...

Some keep saying RPI is meaningless.  I couldn't disagree more.

It's not about bragging rights.  It's not "Oh yeah, I could make my number higher by deleting my non-sellers."
You NEED your non-sellers in the count because the point is to AVERAGE out your good and bad sellers to determine how much the AVERAGE image will earn you.  You have no way of knowing whether today's batch of images will be good or bad sellers, but guessing that they will hit an AVERAGE RPI for your port is the best projection you can make.  If you apply an RPI that has been tinkered by removing your bad sellers, that's just foolish.

It's about tracking your performance over time and watching for trends.  It's about being able to project future income, setting goals and figuring out how much work you'll need to do to hit those goals.  For me, I bake in a continued slide in my RPI due to the three factors named above, and I feel this gives me the most reliable projection for future earnings.  There's NO better way to project this, until someone invents a time machine.
Exactly.  People could delete non sellers and low sellers to make their RPI look better but that comes at the expense of some sales and so almost nobody does that.  To people like UnclePete I hope this poll doesn't cause you to delete your files just so you can anonymously report a better RPI, that seems like a very bad idea.

« Reply #37 on: October 07, 2014, 10:11 »
+6
Compare uploading to microstock to a gambler in a casino.

The gambler drops $.25 into a slot machine, pulls the handle and crosses his fingers, hoping it will pay off.  A lot like uploading an image, no?

Multiply that by 1000.  The gambler drops a thousand quarters, pulls a thousand handles and ONE of those pulls gets him a jackpot of $100.  Woo-hoo! 

If the gambler is smart, he does the math this way:  I spent 1000 x $.25, which equals $250.  I made $100.  My RPP (return per pull) was $100 / 1000 or $.10.

The gambler lost money, obviously.  But because he's IRRATIONAL and addicted to gambling, he says, my RPP looks a lot nicer if I just remove those 999 bad pulls from the equation.  Now my RPP is $100 / 1, or $100!

He projects that the next day he will return to the casino and do 1000 pulls and now he'll earn 1000 x $100 RPP and earn $100,000.

He's a math genius!

But somehow he's broke.  Question to everyone who thinks they can make their RPI look better by removing their poorly-selling images, where did the gambler go wrong?  Was he impressing his friends with a high RPP or just fooling himself?  Discuss.

Uncle Pete

« Reply #38 on: October 07, 2014, 10:42 »
-1
LOL I didn't say delete files, anyone, just for some useless statistic. The point is, anything that can be manipulated, is not a useful statistic. Someone could upload less and have a higher RPI. The math is the problem, not some Microstock ego number. Look at it that way and maybe you'll understand.

Hey, my "RPI is bigger than yours"  ;) Comparing RPI is senseless. Even if Stockmarketer uses it for his own and trends. Mine or his, mean nothing in relation to yours.

"My collection is bigger than yours." Oh wow more ego issues for people who write that kind of thing. And the ones who say, "you don't have 2000 images, you can't comment" are just as wrong.

What's important is not some imaginary number that's irrelevant because it's not image specific, not the same files for every agency, people are at different levels, produce different content. It's not how big your collection is, and it's not what kind of camera or the color of your lens.

Anyone anonymous can come here and make any claim they want and there's no way to look and see what they have for content or if they are making it all up. As some have already pointed out the poll shows some strangely high numbers for RPI. There's one more reason why it's useless for anyone other than the individual.

What I did write and you both have managed to ignore is this: RPD is more important than PRI. And of more value for a poll of a specific agency. How much do they pay for a license, on average. That's what makes the bottom line and income.

I was at $.61 for Sept at SS.  That's down a fair bit from last Sept.  I attribute this drop to the three core factors driving down microstock income for all contributors -- 1) exploding growth of ports at the big agencies and inability for a long-time contributor to grow at the same rate, 2) former IS exclusives dropping the crown and setting up at SS and the other big players, and 3) agency changes such as search changes and new offerings like DPC.

As for RPI as a metric...

Some keep saying RPI is meaningless.  I couldn't disagree more.

It's not about bragging rights.  It's not "Oh yeah, I could make my number higher by deleting my non-sellers."
You NEED your non-sellers in the count because the point is to AVERAGE out your good and bad sellers to determine how much the AVERAGE image will earn you.  You have no way of knowing whether today's batch of images will be good or bad sellers, but guessing that they will hit an AVERAGE RPI for your port is the best projection you can make.  If you apply an RPI that has been tinkered by removing your bad sellers, that's just foolish.

It's about tracking your performance over time and watching for trends.  It's about being able to project future income, setting goals and figuring out how much work you'll need to do to hit those goals.  For me, I bake in a continued slide in my RPI due to the three factors named above, and I feel this gives me the most reliable projection for future earnings.  There's NO better way to project this, until someone invents a time machine.
Exactly.  People could delete non sellers and low sellers to make their RPI look better but that comes at the expense of some sales and so almost nobody does that.  To people like UnclePete I hope this poll doesn't cause you to delete your files just so you can anonymously report a better RPI, that seems like a very bad idea.

« Reply #39 on: October 07, 2014, 10:42 »
+2
I just don't think breaking it down that  way is all that meaningful. If I was more careful and only uploaded images that I thought were sure sellers, only placed safe bets according to your analogy, my RPI would rise but I would never know what I missed by taking some risks.

I guess what I'm saying is that I believe we should stretch out, photograph what turns us on and not be a slave to a stat like RPI.

« Reply #40 on: October 07, 2014, 10:48 »
+3
What I did write and you both have managed to ignore is this: RPD is more important than PRI. And of more value for a poll of a specific agency. How much do they pay for a license, on average. That's what makes the bottom line and income.
If I am about to start contributing to a site or just start in stock and I have 1,000 average images what is more useful RPD or RPI?
If I know the average RPD is $1 I can make an educated guess that I'll make how much?  No clue.
If I know the average RPI is $1 I can make an educated guess that I'll make how much?  $1,000.
Obviously it's not guaranteed but just knowing what RPD I'll get will never be able to give me any clue as to what I will earn while knowing the average RPI should be helpful.

And to be clear the bottom line is RPI x number of images.  RPD is not the bottom line at all.  I look at RPD more as a measure of fairness in royalties but it doesn't tell me much about how much I'll earn without knowing how many downloads I'll get, RPD doesn't say anything about that.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2014, 10:55 by tickstock »

« Reply #41 on: October 07, 2014, 10:53 »
0
RPD is almost the same every month, excluding SOD. and is 0.7. The real problem is that the RPI is going down month by month; I have started with 0.2 18 months ago, and now is 0.04. This means that I'm selling proportionally less also if the portfolio is growing. This indicator is most important if, compared with many others contributors, is going down, because is the indictor of the market; RPD is most individual

To be clear:

RPD is the revenue (of the month, in thos case) devided by the amount of downloads of the month: 0.7

RPI is the revenue (of the month, in this case) devided by the amount of pictures online: 0.04


« Reply #42 on: October 07, 2014, 11:04 »
+6
Despite some claims to the contrary, this thread is one of the most interesting I have seen on the forum in months.

Why?

I know my own RPI on SS and microstock overall.  It's a useful tool in my personal forecasting and goal-setting, regardless how anyone else is doing.  (And no one can tell me RPI is not useful in my forecasting.  That's just a silly argument.)

But the real reason this thread is insightful is because I've always wondered how I'm doing on SS compared to the overall base of contributors.  I don't mean in total dollars, because port size varies wildly.  And I don't care much about "I'm up 8% on SS this month" or "I'm down 20% this month" because that's just top-level trend info.

This thread has showed me that my RPI is right in the middle or slightly above the average of others here, assuming people are answering accurately.  Is that actionable info?  Of course not.  But if your employer posted a breakdown of everyone's hourly rate, wouldn't you be VERY curious to see it?  Of course you would.  It wouldn't necessarily change how you work, but it would give you an indication of whether you're doing well or poorly on average compared to your co-workers.

This poll has filled a true gap in market intelligence. 

« Reply #43 on: October 07, 2014, 11:10 »
+4
Well, except you have my info but I don't have yours because I don't know your port or how many images you have online.

Uncle Pete

« Reply #44 on: October 07, 2014, 11:11 »
0
Yes: "It's a useful tool in my personal forecasting and goal-setting, regardless how anyone else is doing."

Also yes: "This thread has showed me that my RPI is right in the middle or slightly above the average of others here, assuming people are answering accurately."

You should assume that your RPI is well above most others and some people didn't calculate correctly. (I'm one of them and there's no way to correct the error that I entered RPD)

« Reply #45 on: October 07, 2014, 11:14 »
-1
Despite some claims to the contrary, this thread is one of the most interesting I have seen on the forum in months.

Why?

I know my own RPI on SS and microstock overall.  It's a useful tool in my personal forecasting and goal-setting, regardless how anyone else is doing.  (And no one can tell me RPI is not useful in my forecasting.  That's just a silly argument.)

But the real reason this thread is insightful is because I've always wondered how I'm doing on SS compared to the overall base of contributors.  I don't mean in total dollars, because port size varies wildly.  And I don't care much about "I'm up 8% on SS this month" or "I'm down 20% this month" because that's just top-level trend info.

This thread has showed me that my RPI is right in the middle or slightly above the average of others here, assuming people are answering accurately.  Is that actionable info?  Of course not.  But if your employer posted a breakdown of everyone's hourly rate, wouldn't you be VERY curious to see it?  Of course you would.  It wouldn't necessarily change how you work, but it would give you an indication of whether you're doing well or poorly on average compared to your co-workers.

This poll has filled a true gap in market intelligence.

How much should my RPI be to make $1000 a month on SS?

« Reply #46 on: October 07, 2014, 11:24 »
+1
How much should my RPI be to make $1000 a month on SS?
That's a very strange question.  If you have 1 image your RPI needs to be $1,000 and if you have 1,000 images your RPI needs to be $1.

« Reply #47 on: October 07, 2014, 11:29 »
-2
How much should my RPI be to make $1000 a month on SS?
That's a very strange question.  If you have 1 image your RPI needs to be $1,000 and if you have 1,000 images your RPI needs to be $1.

You can't help me from the poll? How many pictures do I need to make $1000 a month?

« Reply #48 on: October 07, 2014, 11:31 »
+1
1) To remove the impact of deleting non-sellers and such, calculate your RPI based on uploaded images, not on accepted / online images. You made them, processed them, keyworded them, uploaded them. All the effort is spent. You have to include them in your statistics, if they are not accepted (or you delete them because they don't sell) you don't get your spent effort back.

2) RPI is meaningful to compare how different agencies perform for your portfolio. RPI is also meaningful to see how your average image performs to other shooters average image. Yes, it's different content, different style, different postprocessing, different keywording. But that doesn't mean you can't compare it, it means that is what you are comparing. If somebody has a higher RPI he is shooting something more in demand, better quality, is keywording better...
So it is very helpful to compare against others.

3) RPD is almost meaningless as a statistical value, as it does not say anything about how often sales occur so it says nothing about the bottom line.

« Reply #49 on: October 07, 2014, 11:34 »
0
How much should my RPI be to make $1000 a month on SS?
That's a very strange question.  If you have 1 image your RPI needs to be $1,000 and if you have 1,000 images your RPI needs to be $1.

You can't help me from the poll? How many pictures do I need to make $1000 a month?

The Median of the answers lies in the 0.26 to 0.40 bracket.
Means for an average portfolio you need about 3000 files - roughly.


 

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