Author Topic: 2008 Microstock Goals - What are yours (Read 17157 times)

ale1969 · « **Reply #25 on:** December 22, 2007, 20:24 »

That's my 2008 goal:

- Learn to shoot.

The rest will come accordingly

grp_photo · « **Reply #26 on:** December 23, 2007, 02:06 »

My goals:
- keep away from sites which offer subscription with no possibility to option out.
- keep away from Agencies which pay less than 30% commission.
- push my midstock-earnings over a constant monthly 1000,- Euros.
- push my rightsmanaged-earnings over a constant monthly 1500,- Euros.
- keep my microstock-earnings at the current level (a little bit over 1000,- Dollar)

2008 will be a very hard year for photostock traditional and midstock-agencies will continue to loose customers to microstock.
But Microstock itself will be much more competitive the days of easy money will be gone and photographers have to put a lot of effort in their collections just to keep their current earnings. So it will be interesting to see if any of us can reach their goals.

sharpshot · « **Reply #27 on:** December 23, 2007, 02:51 »

Quote from: grp_photo on December 23, 2007, 02:06

2008 will be a very hard year for photostock traditional and midstock-agencies will continue to loose customers to microstock.
But Microstock itself will be much more competitive the days of easy money will be gone and photographers have to put a lot of effort in their collections just to keep their current earnings. So it will be interesting to see if any of us can reach their goals.

I remember people saying that about 2007 and they were wrong. The demand for microstock images is still growing fast and most of the supply doesn't reach a good standard. None of us know when the industry will reach the point where it becomes a lot harder to make more money.

grp_photo · « **Reply #28 on:** December 23, 2007, 03:08 »

I think you are wrong sharpshot. I know Microstock since 2004 and 2007 was for sure already a point of beginning saturation, maybe not so drastic as i personally expected, but in no way comparable with the impressive growth in 2004,2005 and 2006.
Things will level more out in 2008.

null · « **Reply #29 on:** December 23, 2007, 03:44 »

Quote from: sharply_done on December 22, 2007, 12:46

My 2008 goal is to keep a lower profile than I did during 2007. I enjoy sharing my experiences and participating in this community, but I think I'd be further ahead if I bit my tongue more often.

Please don't. You are my favorite poster, and with a sharp mind.

My goals are basically to enhance time input vs. yield ratio in stock. I have been putting far too much input in postprocessing, uploading, categorizing to too much sites that don't deliver. I quit LO recently and more will come. I stopped uploading already to iStock, CanStock, Snapvillage, Geckostock and all the "new" sites. My last batch to iStock took me a day going through all their disambiguation crap. Not for 200$ = 160 Euro per year. That's just 20 hours of flipping hamburgers.

I will also stop submitting to sites that sell my shots for 0.25$. It's a disgrace. I'd rather post them on Flickr for free, what the heck. If I would have spent the time uploading/categorizing to CanStock in the past 2.5 years just flipping hamburgers, I would have made 10 times as much. An exception is ShutterStock that makes up by volume what they lack on pay per sale. I just wish they paid me in Euro (as they charge their European customers) because the falling Dollar sucks big time.

I need to concentrate more on isolated and studio shots, both food/objects and models. I have a studio space ready in my second home in SE Asia but I need softboxes and light tents. The ceiling-bounced flash just doesn't give me enough DOF and overexposed backdrops will reduce the isolation work to 5 mins. Plenty of free models there. Having the studio, I need to shift to commissioned shoots and events of fat ugly rich ladies with broken teeth, cloning out their pimples, play digital dentist, change their horizontal aspect ratio and perform Photoshop-facelifts. I will cry all my way to the bank.

I'm going to concentrate more on sites that give a higher yield per photo, like Alamy, Featurepics, Photoshelter, Zymmetrical. One sale at FP on average equals 20 sales at ShutterStock.

I want to emulate Phildate with mass production of mindless goodlooking Asians with plastic smiles, headsets and laptops

I got a guy trained in tagging and postproducing. He costs me 300php = 5 Euro per work day but for that price he cooks, cleans and shops too. I want to emulate Yuri Arcurs with gorgeous guys and girls in business suits gazing clumsily over a flipchart and pointing success, yeah!

And when all that works, I'll wander off in nature again on my motorcycle, to my beloved waterfalls and sunsets and landscapes, cityviews, people in public, things I really like ;-)
I wasn't born as a businessman.

mjp · « **Reply #30 on:** December 23, 2007, 04:41 »

2007 goals were to pass 500$ barrier from micros before end of the year (passed in august). The year 2008 have little higher for microstock :

- 1000$/month before next fall from microstocks
- Remodel my garage to home studio (planning starts january and should be ready at summer time)
- Add 1000 images to my portfolio.
- Focus more and more on food & still life photography
- Buy tilt and shift lens and learn to use it

And maybe get more non-microstock related photography income as well.

br, MjP

redfig · « **Reply #31 on:** December 23, 2007, 11:58 »

Hi

I wish and i am going to try to make $500 month by the end of 2008.
Also to try out the other sites ,I seem to only sell with shutterstock and that's only been $15 so far this month so i have a long way to go but its great fun .
Hope you all have a great Christmas and a great Micostock new year
yours

Redfig

JC-SL · « **Reply #32 on:** December 23, 2007, 18:33 »

Firstly...I wish everyone the prosperity that you so richly deserve!

Secondly, Sharply_done.. you will be missed. Your sharply wit, tongue, advice and most importantly, your incredible support of microstock photographers. Enjoy your time as we know you'll still be watching.

And for me, I've decided to sell up the office/studio and move to one of the best surf beaches along side of a great golf course early in 2008. That way, once I can get my surf or golf in each day...I can spend the second half of the day happily working on content for microstock (and macrostock) each and everyday! I look forward to everyone's update this time next year.

Until then... enjoy life and shoot well. Now if I could only figure out what to do with over a million slides sitting here...hmmmm. Thinks me will be busy for awhile.

cheers, JC

jlye · « **Reply #33 on:** December 24, 2007, 03:05 »

Merry Xmas to all and Happy 2008!!

My Goal for 2008

1) Increase my portfolio by 50-100 images a month

2) 25% increase in monthly income

3) Get a new camera possibly the Nikon D300

4) Enjoy Life ...

fotografer · « **Reply #34 on:** December 24, 2007, 07:49 »

Quote from: sharply_done on December 22, 2007, 12:46

My 2008 goal is to keep a lower profile than I did during 2007. I enjoy sharing my experiences and participating in this community, but I think I'd be further ahead if I bit my tongue more often.

Shame, you always seem to have nice encouraging words to say for everybody and I always enjoy reading your posts.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #35 on:** December 24, 2007, 08:16 »

Quote from: sharply_done on December 22, 2007, 12:46

My 2008 goal is to keep a lower profile than I did during 2007. I enjoy sharing my experiences and participating in this community, but I think I'd be further ahead if I bit my tongue more often.

I'm curious about this too. I enjoy your posts and you've always offered solid advice. I have a feeling I know why you'll be biting your tongue more but could you elaborate a bit?

sharply_done · « **Reply #36 on:** December 24, 2007, 14:33 »

I'll say this: unlike the traditional photography business, attracting too much attention can have a detrimental effect on income. If you plan on attacking the market in an unconventional way, it may be best to fly below the radar.

jorgeinthewater · « **Reply #37 on:** December 24, 2007, 16:04 »

Merry Christmas to everyone,
Sharply I will miss your advice.
My main goal will be to produce enough images to be able to pay my yearly home taxes about 8,000 usd. I have a long way to go but I'm willing to work hard.
Thanks to all of you for all that I have learnd in the few months of reading your thoughts and instructions.
Jorge

madelaide · « **Reply #38 on:** December 25, 2007, 17:18 »

I can understand sharply_done's decision. Sometimes what we say does not sound well to others, even when our intention is to give an advice. Even though I try to be polite, I know people get offended so easily, and some react quite madly. I have some angry posts in my guestbook due to that. Mind you, those angry people (in one case from here) took their time to get to my website and leave some gross words in it.

Moreover, spending less time in forums is a wise decision, leaving more time for photography itself. I get involved in discussions so easily, though... Sometimes I spend all the little time I reserved for photography in forums! That should be a good New Year resolution.

But I'll stick around. There is too much valuable information here.

Regards,
Adelaide

jjneff · « **Reply #39 on:** December 26, 2007, 05:29 »

Well 2007 has been great, My goal is to Learn all I can about After Effects as I shoot video. I hope to have a 2500 clip video gallery on Istock by the end of 2008 all good quality. The earnings will follow the work.

keo · « **Reply #40 on:** December 27, 2007, 05:22 »

My Goal is increase 200% or $1000 monthly income, 100% success to submit file!
please dun reject my works, im hard working...

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #41 on:** May 02, 2008, 08:12 »

So we're approaching the halfway point for 2008. How's everybody progressing toward reaching their goals? On track, way ahead, or way behind?

ozbandit · « **Reply #42 on:** May 02, 2008, 08:53 »

My goals for 2008 would be:

1 - Shot better and more commercially viable images

2 - Reach 1k per month income

3 - Build folio of images up to 3000

helix7 · « **Reply #43 on:** May 02, 2008, 09:06 »

I didn't post goals here, but back in December I set the goal for myself of achieving $2500 in microstock earnings in a single month by December 2008. I blasted past that goal this month by quite a bit, so I'm way ahead of myself and think I need to set a new one for December. Maybe $6000 earnings for the month of December...

travelstock · « **Reply #44 on:** May 02, 2008, 09:51 »

I also didn't put down my goals at the start of the year, but have sort of been working to my own targets since I quit work in May last year. At that time I was aiming to increase my earnings by about $3 each week and to have an average of 15 photos a week approved.

One year on, and naturally there have been ups and downs, but I've achieved the income target, and the approved photos is about 14.7, which is fairly close also.

I'm in the process of setting some new, and more ambitious targets for the next 12 months!

DanP68 · « **Reply #45 on:** May 02, 2008, 15:07 »

I hit my goal 2 months ago.

Honestly, I need a new one...

hd · « **Reply #46 on:** May 02, 2008, 16:19 »

Learn more.
Earn more.

That's my goal every day, month and year.

Finding a fabulous new space I can live in that doubles as a studio - with lots of windows to feed my need for natural light - would really rock too. (hey universe - are you listening?!)

As much as I want to say "hey Sharply - don't bite your tongue"...I think he's got a point.

MicrostockExp · « **Reply #47 on:** May 02, 2008, 16:46 »

Based on what things are going so far I have a realistic goal I think of $ 500 a month on micro+midstock by uploading 20-30 pics a months.
+ 10 % $ increase each month ...

litifeta · « **Reply #48 on:** May 02, 2008, 19:49 »

1. portfolio on SS and DT reaches 500 images. Statistically that should pay me $250 a month from each agency based on my current sales vs portfolio size.

2. $500 a month in sales by December

3. Enough cash generation to have paid for some decent lighting.

4. Move to full frame when the new 5D comes in and the price of the current 5D falls.

5. a decent lens paid for by microstock

6. acceptance rate at agencies raised from 55% to 75%

erwinova · « **Reply #49 on:** May 02, 2008, 20:01 »

uploading (and approved) 10-15 photos every day. I don't care about sales because last time I focused at my sales, my spirit go down...

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Author Topic: 2008 Microstock Goals - What are yours (Read 17157 times)

ale1969

grp_photo

sharpshot

grp_photo

null

mjp

redfig

JC-SL

jlye

fotografer

PaulieWalnuts

sharply_done

jorgeinthewater

madelaide

jjneff

keo

PaulieWalnuts

ozbandit

helix7

travelstock

DanP68

hd

MicrostockExp

litifeta

erwinova

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