MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: jim_h on February 16, 2009, 12:38
-
I recently decided to give microstock a try, just for the heck of it - not expecting make any money. I got approved by Shutterstock and IStock, and put about 20 photos on those sites, along with Dreamstime and StockXpert.
In the first couple of days, to my surprise I sold a few. After that, nothing - things went totally dead.
I'm guessing that people on the 'subscription' plans make frequent passes through the recently uploaded images and grab a few that catch their eye, just so they feel they're getting their money's worth. And after my photos slid off the "recent" pages, they vanished into the vast cloud of millions of images enjoying eternal rest.
Am I right?
-
I recently decided to give microstock a try, just for the heck of it - not expecting make any money. I got approved by Shutterstock and IStock, and put about 20 photos on those sites, along with Dreamstime and StockXpert.
In the first couple of days, to my surprise I sold a few. After that, nothing - things went totally dead.
I'm guessing that people on the 'subscription' plans make frequent passes through the recently uploaded images and grab a few that catch their eye, just so they feel they're getting their money's worth. And after my photos slid off the "recent" pages, they vanished into the vast cloud of millions of images enjoying eternal rest.
Am I right?
Yeah pretty much.. You will maybe get lucky and get a few that are downloaded alot in the first few days to get the most popular area, but the rest will slide away and only get the random downloads.. Istock is not as bad as SS for the newest first search but they all depend on how many dl's you get, to reach into the other searches..
-
Sometimes a photo will keep selling for years after you upload it, even on SS. If only I could get that to happen with all of them.
-
On most sites newly-approved images enjoy a relatively brief period in the limelight, towards the top of the default search-order, although how this is actually achieved varies somewhat between them.
If the image 'takes off' and gathers at few early sales then it will normally remain favoured within the search order for as long as it does so (relative to the sales of other images in the same subject).
It's not easy though. An image will need to be amongst the very best in it's subject matter to remain in the top couple of pages for a sustained period. It will need to be within the top 50-100 examples in a search that might bring up thousands of results.
Most images by most contributors will fall by the wayside fairly quickly __ you'll likely find that 80% of your earnings will be due to 10% of your portfolio. If only we knew which 10% that was going to be then we could all save a lot of time.
-
Its an addictive game. Making $3 in photography - for just 10 hours of work -i s such a rush. I'm hooked!
I don't do "business handshake" or "happy family" and that's apparently where the money is. But as I see it, the ever-increasing archives of these sites will eventually kill the remaining stock business entirely. Even if your "happy business team" or "pipe wrench isolated on white" is the best one ever, finding it becomes like detecting a neutrino. Maybe you win by doing 10 new "business handshakes" every day, so you maintain your slice of the search pie. And these sites push images ahead in the list based on past popularity - a self-perpetuating way to shut out newcomers.
There are always new niches, as new editorial topics show up, and clothing fashions change - but they have to be very small windows in time.
I got a laugh out of Ken Rockwell's recent post and the reaction to it. Old school stock photographers are understandably teed off by the swing to "crowdsourcing" but hey, things change.
-
One point worth mentioning is that getting the right keywords is essential to an image's long term success. A good image with bad keywords may sell early on because clients are looking at new images in a category. After that it's about showing up in searches, and that's where the right keywords make all the difference.
-
On SS, new images usually sell more.
On IS, usually your portfolio starts selling after six months.
Keep uploading, better if it is stuff that sells. :)
-
Microstock is a brilliant business plan. Here's how it works.
The sites make a big dealing about how it's tough to get accepted. "Send us 10 of your very best images" and maybe we'll approve you. Pathetic wannabes - like myself - upload some highly polished jewels and are rewarded with an email saying "congratulations". After a couple of weeks, we've made $2.
On the other side of the equation, the 'subscription' model has people committed to buying images they don't need. A few of your recently uploaded photos, sitting on the "new upload" page, are grabbed by the subscribers and they feel like they're getting something.
Now the really brilliant part of the plan - the $100 payout minimum. We do the math and realize that by the time we get to $100, we'll have been dead for 40 years - so we give up. The stock site has now acquired our best photos for nothing, and even made a buck or two.
Or maybe we look at the recent keyword searches and spend another 8 hours producing "smiling young people", "grunge background" and "happy business team". Good images - but Yuri Acurs has 999 just like them, sitting in front of yours... wait another 2 weeks.... and compute that by the time this pays off, the Sun will have gone nova. The stock site has now acquired another bunch of images for nothing, to add to the "5 million images" it uses to attract new subscribers...
Go ahead, cut me to ribbons. I'm only half joking here.
-
Personally, I haven't found it hard to reach a payout on most of the sites. If people are only putting in a few hours a week or don't have the technical skills, they will struggle but that is the same in most jobs. New photos seem to sell, even if there are 999 just like them. It is still possible to find subjects that have zero competition and it always will be. There are lots of people who complain about microstock, sometimes I am one of them but overall it has been good fun, much better than my previous jobs.
-
I recently decided to give microstock a try, just for the heck of it - not expecting make any money. I got approved by Shutterstock and IStock, and put about 20 photos on those sites, along with Dreamstime and StockXpert.
As surprising as it might seem people sometimes find that they need more than "about 20 photos" to make a living at this.
-
I started out by saying I'm "not expecting to make any money." Much less a "living".
-
I started out by saying I'm "not expecting to make any money." Much less a "living".
As Henry Ford used to say "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."
-
Microstock is a brilliant business plan. Here's how it works.
...
edited for response
...
Now the really brilliant part of the plan - the $100 payout minimum. We do the math and realize that by the time we get to $100, we'll have been dead for 40 years The stock site has now acquired another bunch of images for nothing, to add to the "5 million images" it uses to attract new subscribers...
...
Go ahead, cut me to ribbons. I'm only half joking here.
;D that's pretty accurate, half jokingly ... ;D
-
jim_h..
seriously, to update on what you said.
the analogy of 5 million would be the most accurate.
this is like going to the turf accountant (if you're in UK), or playing the 6/49lotto
if you're canadian. we are 5 million and counting, all waiting to hit the jackpot.
but only a handful will walk away laughing to the bank;
the rest of us walk away with a great big hole in our wallet, and overdraft in our bank account. ;D
p.s.
btw, i actually have an image (an empty wallet) in my portfolio. check it out ! ;)
-
The stock agencies would never tell you this of course, but I'm betting they make all their real money off of a very small number of contributors. The rest of us are just pumping up that '5 million' number which looks so good in the banner at the top of the site, and topping up the 'subscription' bin.
-
Microstock is a brilliant business plan. Here's how it works.
The sites make a big dealing about how it's tough to get accepted. "Send us 10 of your very best images" and maybe we'll approve you. Pathetic wannabes - like myself - upload some highly polished jewels and are rewarded with an email saying "congratulations". After a couple of weeks, we've made $2.
On the other side of the equation, the 'subscription' model has people committed to buying images they don't need. A few of your recently uploaded photos, sitting on the "new upload" page, are grabbed by the subscribers and they feel like they're getting something.
Now the really brilliant part of the plan - the $100 payout minimum. We do the math and realize that by the time we get to $100, we'll have been dead for 40 years - so we give up. The stock site has now acquired our best photos for nothing, and even made a buck or two.
Many truths here, for sure there will be many images online that the photographer never got a cent for. So many give up before they get a pay out. The agencies are still smiling though.
-
The stock agencies would never tell you this of course, but I'm betting they make all their real money off of a very small number of contributors. The rest of us are just pumping up that '5 million' number which looks so good in the banner at the top of the site, and topping up the 'subscription' bin.
yes they make 80% of their sales from 20% of users
and 90% of their profit from 10% of users
they just haven't worked out how to identify these so they let you do it for them ..
-
I live in Minneapolis, near the gigantic Mall of America, which lets me observe retail trends first-hand. Over the years I've seen a pattern.
A new store attracts customers with a unique combination of merchandise and display - stuff you don't see elsewhere. After a year or so, they start "focussing" on the 80% of stuff that's making the big money. After 3 years they're indistinguishable from 6 other stores in the mall. Then they're gone.
The same think will happen to stock.
-
You need to have much more experience in this industry before writing things like this, jim_h - you're making yourself appear quite foolish.
-
The same think will happen to stock.
After all these brilliant expert posts and insights from your (anonymous) side, wouldn't it be time you showed some of your portfolio like we do, plain mortals? Where is the meat? ;D
-
I recently decided to give microstock a try, just for the heck of it - not expecting make any money. I got approved by Shutterstock and IStock, and put about 20 photos on those sites, along with Dreamstime and StockXpert.
In the first couple of days, to my surprise I sold a few. After that, nothing - things went totally dead.
I'm guessing that people on the 'subscription' plans make frequent passes through the recently uploaded images and grab a few that catch their eye, just so they feel they're getting their money's worth. And after my photos slid off the "recent" pages, they vanished into the vast cloud of millions of images enjoying eternal rest.
Am I right?
Glad you have given micro "a go" .
I too gave it a go 18 months ago and still enjoying the journey........