MicrostockGroup

They are slow for me but a lot better than featurepics.  I get some sales every week and have had 1 EL sale for $25 but it will still take a long time to reach the $100 payout.  A few more EL sales would speed that up a bit.

I was quite optimistic about the small trends I was observing over the last 4 months.  One sale in January.  Soon one a week, and almost 1.5/week in April.  It seemed like sales were doubling every couple of months - but now I haven't had a sale in May so I don't know what to think. 

Sharply... is that you rolling on the floor in laughter over there on the West Coast?     We'll let you know when you should upload.   If I don't get back to you by Christmas 2008 be sure to follow up with one of us.   I thought that although slim, the downloads were doubling and soon there would be a sale every day.... Then I read a post by rinderart and he only had like 57 sales or something like that (the amazing Laurin Rinder!).

I'm still optomistic.  I like the way they treat their contributors.  I do think they'll find their way. 

Not a jot, sadly.

They are very polite and freindly though.


Edit: As of the end of May, 2 sales, one of which was an extended license. Not bad.

Edited Again: They took back about $13 because of some royalty bug. Wasn't an extended license then. So just two ordinary sales so far.

9 downloads, one of which an EL. Slow but very friendly upload procedure... so I go on.

Only 20 sales total for life at LO... and no EL..... fact is, I'm still an  EL virgin.....everywhere.    Someone mentioned  FP,  never had a sale, of course I've only a few dozen pix there too... not much to chose from... 
        Got a couple places sales are bad for me...  123rf,  not one sale in May and so far none in June....I'm about ready to bail out there.
      Thank goodness for SS, IS, DT & BigStock, sales are very brisk there.
peace-tom

62 sales, no ELs, and halfway to payout.  Like everyone else, I saw my sales drop in the first part of May, but they came back with a vengeance after they tweaked the search engine in the middle of the month to bring forward some older images (I've been there almost a year).  I had 11 sales between May 14 - 30, zero sales between May 1 - 13.

As for FeaturePics, I haven't had a sale since March 1 with a portfolio of 1000 images.  I keep asking myself how they are ever going to have the money for marketing, if they are paying a 70% commissions, 1.5% referral bonuses, and whatever they pay their reviewers and staff.  I'd rather receive less commission and have that portion of the funds go into marketing for my images and site upgrades.         

I'd like to thank all the artists that have supported us this past year (and even those that have challenged us!)...it's been a fun ride so far. It's enjoyable to work with such a motivated group of people.

We're still taking baby steps, but I think our growth will accelerate over the next year.  It might be hard to see for individual artists, but we have weekly sales growth. I talk with customers on a daily basis- the response we've been getting is extremely encouraging.
 
We're still laying down the foundation and we're aware of the risks of spending too much time trying to grow this business. We'd love to catapult sales, but we want to make sure every sale, customer and artist gets the attention they deserve.  We've made up huge ground on the competition - the next year is about taking out the boxing gloves .

Our marketing right now is focused on conversations.  We've got a lot going on (http://www.luckyoliver.com/blog/222/rally_time).  I'll continue to ask Carnies to be patient- things are working. We're now leading the charge in midstock and the margins on images will continue to go up as we push forward (http://www.luckyoliver.com/blog/230/sideshow_results).

Thanks again! Bryan

And Steve, we'll see you at the How Design Conference!

wow, wish i could be there to see the two of you duke it out.  it might make some great stock shots.

The one thing I have been trying hard to get to...is the 100dL's before LO starts charging for the side show feature. It would be nice to get the extra exposure....but with sales as slow as they are right now....I can't see paying for this feature......

How many people have over 100 DL's on LO ......it can't be too many....maybe a couple dozen.

I think LO should extend this offer for a couple more months at least....as a way of rewarding the people that are contributing many many photos to the site....I scratch your back and you scratch mine.....

I may or may not make the deadline...it will be close..

Tom

At my current rate... it'll be over 4 years before I hit 100... LOL   
I'm hanging in there and still uploading. Hoping it takes off for me soon.

Bryan did put up a graph and the number of images online is increasing more than the number of sales.  I think that a high percentage of those new photos wont sell for a long time, so having more sales will help images that are more likely to sell.  It wont be long though before the site is swamped with images that don't sell.  That can't be good and I hope the push for sales improves soon or photographers might decide LO is not worth uploading to.  Perhaps it is time for a few big adverts in the designer magazines.  That seems to work for the big sites.  Waiting for the perfect site before advertising seems risky in a market that can change quickly.