MicrostockGroup

I am really concerned that new images are not selling on Istock.  Out of 95 images accepted and online in month of May I have only had 23 sales.  Only one sale so far of the 25 approved in June.   That is about the worst performance I can remember for new images.  

I realize that images can take awhile to build momentum on Istock, but even so this is way below par performance of new images and series.  Even the ones that were DL'd right away as they came through the newly approved queue don't seem to have gotten any noticeable bump and haven't collected additional sales.  

Kind of makes me wonder why I am bothering to upload.  Anyone else experiencing the same?

Lisa,

Are they getting views and no sales or no views at all?
I notice my new files that get a fair about of views begin to sell within three to four weeks after approval.

Almost nothing new sells for me in the first couple of weeks though.

Yeah, not just Istock, everywhere is slow right now for me. I had more downloads last year at same time period, nevermind portfolio size.
I got lots of views on I stock but not many sales. As you said mostly old files are getting sales.

For me my new images have been selling well on iStock, along with the images that have always been good sellers.  I am still trending up on all of my sites, but I am also shooting ~100 images a week & I think that keeps me rolling along.

I struggled with this too, for a long time. Only my old crap sold. Recently, it got a bit better. I have the impression that new files have to catch off quickly, or they get buried deep down in the searches. I also had 2 flames removed last week since too much of a car was visible.

It isn't easy to get noticed today, and probably conventional subjects get flooded more easily by oversupply. iStock certainly made a very creative swing recently. I love to browse there, under newest.

I used to do landscapes/landmarks and models but inspired by Kone's port, I started to shoot objects/body parts/concepts in lightbox the past week, with a more unusual touch, like this and this. They are still in the queue on iStock, and mostly not uploaded by the 15-limit, but I'm curious whether this kind of content will take off better than engineers and business women with headsets.

Yep. I think it is just the general malaise affecting all of microstock __ too much competition, too many images covering virtually every subject and too many more images coming on-line every day/week/month. Supply is simply outstripping the increase in demand.

It's going to get worse too. At the current rate of growth the Big 3 agencies will probably double the size of their collections in the next two years but I doubt that demand and/or prices will double in the same timescale. I think it highly likely that earnings-per-image will decrease substantially for most of us.

The microstock bubble has quietly burst. If you have a mature portfolio and your earnings peaked in March you may never see those sort of numbers again. We'll have to wait for Sept/Oct/Nov to find out though.

My new stuff usually takes a couple months to get some steam on IS.

But so far this month I'm on track for being down about 30% in revenue. This isn't the way it normally works. If I'm down it's usually a few precent. Nothing major. June seems really sluggish.

We are find the same worrying trend with our new uploads too. Sales peaked this year in july and despite adding a great deal of new content we are seeing declines in DLs and the new content is not getting the sales it should.

Why?

I think a mixture of the following:

A stronger than usual summer slump.

The decrease in value of the euro versus the dollar

The massive increase in very high quality very similar content from contributors such as lalfor and pixdeluxe, although I notice their new content is suffering the same problems.

Istocks declining market share, which is being caused by the confusing stratification of their prices. We now have 3 separate prices for exclusive content: regular exclusive, exclusive plus & vetta. I think the more budget conscious buyer is seeing this for the blatant profit increasing stategy that this is and is taking their business elsewhere.


Just my two cents.


George

George am I correct in thinking you were involved in Stockbyte?

Now why, when I checked my stats, was I not surprised mine peaked in March with a mature potfolio!

I concur with Madelaides obervations about new images at IS - very poor sales initially.

Postitive observations welcome on a postcard..

Oldhand

Can you blame them, for years some people have been bragging about how much they sell on microstock, why bother researching and then creating something that 'might' sell when there are so many easy and free resources that do the groundwork for them.

This may not be what you want to hear but looking at your images some of them lack authenticity

The disabled wife is walking in pictures just a couple of rows up.

The lab scenes look contrived, with juxtaposed beakers of bright liquids and a microscope on what looks like a kitchen work surface

On another note senior financial advisor does not have pension or retirement as a keyword

I think these may have sold in the past but now the standards are higher and there are a lot of photographers with phenomenal attention to detail that you have to compete with.

It may be a summer slow down but it is all an elevation of standards.

Agree. Furthermore, the simple economy rules say that over-supply on a highly competitive open market should cause the prices drop.
Are we facing the nanostock ages?
Until there is no more demand the revenues will go down, year by year.
Can we create a demand? Probably yes, we can.