What happens if you stops uploading new images regarding the monthly income, how does is drop?

I think that's very hard to evaluate and probably has a lot to do with how successful you are at stock, how regular your income was before etc.

I have read on the SS forum (RIP) a couple of contributors who haven't uploaded for years but their incomes remained steady, until the payment change last year.

I stopped uploading to SS when they changed the payment scheme, but it's really hard to make an evaluation with a worldwide pandemic in between.

My numbers dropped but I suspect mainly because of the pandemic.

If you regularly upload images that sell well quickly then the impact of stopping uploads is going to be felt.

I have no personal experience, but have asked this question before in a German forum. Most have reported that with upload stop the downloads do not decrease immediately, but significantly after 1-2 years.

In general, your income will fall over time. This is if you are uploading or not unless you are good or lucky or are still on the right side of "the cliff".

I think the drop has more to do with what your portfolio contains - does it have dated things or images that are very well covered or more down the long tail or timeless images. 

I think the big changes the sites have made make a much bigger difference than uploads over a 3-4 month time period. So dropping percentage paid and changing the search makes a much bigger difference.  What you do or don't do makes a difference, but it can all be wiped out (or boosted if you are lucky) by a search change or implementation of a location based search or cutting your take 30% or whatever they do.

Also after a few years it seems my sales have dropped to some pretty low steady state on the sites I stopped uploading to.

Impact/benefits of not uploading anymore--

1. Waking up and finally realizing that this business is well past it day
2. More free time to spend on things you enjoy (family, travel, beer)
3. Getting a real paying job instead of wasting time dreaming
4. Not wasting $$$ on expensive equipment anymore

 

I have to disagree on one point: I drink a lot of beer when I upload.  This makes the process more fluid

thank you everybody, you helped me a lot. I am doing illustrations with open source software and an old machine. I have no extra expenses. After 12 years in the business (almoste every day) I need some time-out...

I have no personal experience, but have asked this question before in a German forum. Most have reported that with upload stop the downloads do not decrease immediately, but significantly after 1-2 years.

I keep uploading at a steady rate, maybe slightly lower rate, and over time, the last two years, my downloads have slowed. There's more going on here than, do you upload or not. Sales are down for many people who continue to upload new images. That leads me to believe that uploading or not has very little effect on the larger system.

Does someone add new up to date images? Do they have better images than what's already online? Hey wait, aren't we reading how many people have pulled their images, our sales should be going up. 

The one factor that would help people who upload new, is the new image boost. That's known and we can see it. Also look at your own new uploads. They will show higher up on most popular, oops Top Images, above images that have more downloads or have more earnings. There is an advantage for newer images, and if they break through and catch on and get ranked in their early months, then they will continue selling better.

But against the new boost is that images now get buried under a flood of other new images, plus millions of old images, which makes the new advantage smaller than it was before.

Plan and simple, it's more difficult now, to get a new image to rise to the top pages and stay there, than it was ten years ago.