MicrostockGroup

How many images do you have?

I also started a year ago, but I'm just a dabbler. I started with a dozen or so and now have just over 100 images at SS.  And the funny thing is, my earnings today with 100 are the same as they were at the start, with just a few images.  As I added images, my earnings never increased.   At IS on the other hand, sales have increased in rough proportion to my number of images.

I've been there over 5 years, have a portfolio of about 4000 images with nearly 100K sales and do not recognise the phenomena that you describe. Sure, sales are busier during the European and US working day, but still they can come at any time.

There should be a Government Health Warning about our industry. Microstock is a leading source of conspiracy theorists __ whenever their sales fall short of their own expectations.

I am fairly new (submitting about 7 mos.) and also have not seen this situation.

I haven't noticed this but I am sure that if you upload something the buyers really like, you will break through your invisible wall.

Everybody wants a breakthrough image  On IS for example, some of the guys with 100k DL and a portfolio of 2k plus images have made (in some cases)  20-25% of that DL number out of a very tiny percentage of their portfolio. The old 80-20 rule.

As yet, I don't have any breakthrough images, just steady earners, so musn't grumble 

Yes, indeed, I did misinterpret. What he said was nearly 100K sales. I misinterpreted to read 100k in sales. Yes there is a big difference. Thanks for pointing it out. 

As somebody said before try upload different things. I have been doing it for almost two years and at first my dominant theme was nature and landscapes. Some of them were selling some never got single DL. When I started experimenting with different subjects I am convinced that people shots are more wanted. Good food shots should sell as well. If you can find your niche it would be a greatest thing.

My tuppence (2 cents) worth!

My sales at SS were always steady, without any great increases over time. My material is hugely varied, and I submitted regularly. This was my wall, the quality of my pics, subject matter and frequency of upload led to a leveling out of income, i.e my worth.

Problem here for me was SS has great potential for income. I posted several times on a different topic towards the end of last year about the amount of uploads needed to succeed in Micro, well if I've gone quiet since then, it's because production had to increase.

SS has around 10 million images, increasing at around 100,000 per week. That's a 1% growth every seven days.

I have been increasing my portfolio size by 5% per week - (currently that means uploading 100 every seven days).

My image quaility is largely the same, although subject matter more varied. The net result is I am increasing sales consistently every month by around 5%.

For me wether or not there is an invisible barrier is irrelevant ( I am sure there is not), but it can feel like one when sales don't increase. I'm no photographic genius, so my only option at present is to increase my presence on their site by more than their growth. DT has an option to let you see your percentage of their library - try it sometime.

You only have three options - more pics of a similar standard to the ones you have online, better quality pictures, or more sellable ones.

I'll keep you posted how I get on.

Oldhand