MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: BaldricksTrousers on February 01, 2014, 04:29
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How was your month? Mine was lousy as both iS and SS were heavily down year-on-year. iStock, of course, because of massive pay cut they awarded me last summer, but SS was badly down too, partly due to bad luck with lack of ELs and few SoDs and partly, I suspect, because I've lost out in the latest best match lottery. With the two main agencies down, there's not much the others could do to repair matters.
DT was interesing though, it pulled in almost exactly the same as in 2013 - less than 50c difference! - but the sales volume was 2.4 times greater (there were probably some ELs last year to help boost the RPD). My chart shows that sales volume has been rising for all but two of the last 10 months, despite my scarcely uploading for a large part of that time, but the earnings have not followed suit, as RPD has dropped from around $1.20 to about 73c. So Jan was the fourth best month of the last year, even though DLs were 75% higher than the average for the year.
Alamy was average, which was a bit better than the previous year. DP is increasing, CanStockPhoto was normal, 123 up a little, BS was actually up a little bit on Jan 13 but still 60% below the BME. Veer made enough for a pint of beer, which is pretty good by its standards.
So the little sites did slightly better for me, but nowhere near enough to make up for either iS or SS, DT was flat but is increasing sales as RPD falls.
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Much the same here. Been doing micro since 2008 and this is without doubt the worst January. Lots of people with bigger portfolios seem to be way down at SS. They tend to experiment, probably looking for the perfect search formula, keeping everyone happy but instead it seems to backfire. I dont know.
For me DT and FT are way up so in the long run it evens out.
I supply lots of Rights managed content, have done so since 1998 with the Getty House corp and here is where I will lay my concentration during 2014.
Personally I think Micro is becoming too edgy, unstable. Too muck work really for too little in return. :)
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I had an absolutely best month ever (like 3 to 4 times what I normally would make). :D
The reason for this is easily explained: I have a set of approx. 250 editorial winter sport photos in my portfolio and with the Olympics in Sochi just around the corner these photos have been selling like crazy. The funny thing is, that although the photos are on five different sites, sales skyrocketed only on SS, BS, and, to some degree, on 123RF, but were dead in the water on DP and DT.
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I had overall a best January ever, even though my January results were slightly down from my December results.
Stocksy was my best earning agency, closely followed by SS. But 123rf and DT showed strong growth as well. On FT my income was halved, but I had expected that.
This is how the overall distribution looked:
Stocksy 33%
SS 32%
FT 16%
DT 13%
123rf 5%
Let's see what February brings.
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I had a very solid month, not as good as Nov '13 but a great start to the year and 2nd BME. I made a little bit off my Australia Day lamingtons, actually saw them in the wild 2 times, but otherwise it's just the usual stuff selling. Stocksy was strong again but SS and iS were good. DT and FT were low, which is disappointing as I've been concentrating on them following their surge at the end of '13.
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tickstock! did I miss something? you're back?
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iS: dls -32%, $$ +10% compared to Jan 2013; dls -18% $$+11% compared to Dec 2013.
The first week was particularly horrendous even for the first week in Jan., so relieved things got better particularly Mon-Thurs this week. DLs lowest since June 2007.
GI (Dec): 4 sales, netting from $1.04 (sic) to $75+
Alamy: poor month, 3 dls two netting $3.24, the other better.
FAA: 1 greetings card. 75c ::) (I've put my single greetings card prices up!)
Of peculiar note: yesterday I noticed my iS balance had gone down by 1c. Checked and the only sale of the day (seems to be a rule nowadays that at least one of my weekdays has to have 0 or 1 dl) had also dropped by 1c. Mystified, until a friend suggested that it may have been rounded up in error, then was rounded back down. H*ll iS, don't lose a cent on my behalf.
Not sure where to go from here, though, as my iS sales are almost all files uploaded in 2007-2009, with a few editorials from 2011/12. Seems totally pointless to upload to iS. Spent this month building my FAA port, but now that I've noticed that all my new files there are landing close to the bottom of the default sort, it doesn't seem that it would be worth it to shoot specially for FAA.
Still unhappy with low-supply, low demand files going for Main prices. I lose, iS loses.
Situation: stalemate.
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Gillian, Ploink, Melimage! just out of curiosity. Do you have large, medium or small portfolios at SS? with large I mean over 2000 files. :)
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Jan closed positive year-on-year to Jan 13 :) with growth coming from Photodune, Shutterstock and bits and pieces in gains at some other agencies. Poor on Dreamstime with same dls but lower $ (subs!!). 123RF dropped big time, its been struggling for me in recent months despite new content regularly uploaded. Zilch on Alamy and next to zilch on Veer. Bigstock had better revenue for once but RPD sucks, and how!
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BME
Very good Alamy
Good Shutterstock
Average iStuck and Fotoliar
Dreamstime absolutely inexistant……… (they still exist??)
My first 3 sales in one year on GL
And if I compare to January 2013, the month I begun to upload on microstocks, my growth is 2261.34% !!! (But okay one year ago I had very few images uploaded)
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My earnings are quite stable since October 2013. January a little down compared to my BME, but after iStock PP can beat it.
Best earners:
1. Shutterstock RPD 0,58
2. Fotolia RPD 0,52
3. 123RF RPD 0,53
4. Istock RPD 0,75 - probably will go up to 2nd place after PP
5. Dreamstime RPD 0,98 - strange, cause normally I get only subscriptions here
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Gillian, Ploink, Melimage! just out of curiosity. Do you have large, medium or small portfolios at SS? with large I mean over 2000 files. :)
I have around 3.300 photos there (2.200 of them editorial sports), I'm with them since 2006.
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Cheers! yes editorial sports are great sellers in any agency. Used to be an agency called Allsports and they had some great sports action shots. Not sure but I think Getty owns them nowadays.
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SS up to normal from the December drop and growing.
FOT also up and growing.
DT frozen in one of the low cycles since last summer.
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I made my first four video sales on SS which made it a higher end month on SS. But from a image only perspective, fairly normal. One EL on IStock bumping me over $200 (with Jan PP to be added to that). DP one EL, so I netted $100 there, usually only $60. FT was up almost double due to two EL's. Al other sites are "as expected".
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January a bme by far for me on ss
dt pretty average
its made up for the December slump anyway 8)
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Overall I'm on Par. IS sales were poor ( usually GI and PP provide a decent boost). SS sales have been strong and steady. Dreamstime and Deposit were bad. Keep in mind I am a small fish with a growing portfolio
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IS dollars for January were the worst since December 2012. With correction of the payout percentage the results should look much better. I suspect I'm getting paid at 20% instead of the expected 30%. Adding half-again more income would put me in back into the "normal" income band for last year. I'm anxious for the corrections to be applied. I am highly concerned with the continuation of decreasing downloads. Percentages won't matter when downloads hit zero.
The longer view good news is that my very old portfolio did better income in 2013 than I saw in the last half of 2011 through 2012.
Alamy was an average month though my income trendline is slightly falling even as I add more images. A moving average Per Image Per Year of $0.77 from 1.5 years ago has now fallen to $0.37. I'm sure much of this is due to uploading a lot of speculative low interest RM Editorial shots just looking to see if I can discover a niche somewhere or find a lucky payday. However, falling sales prices at Alamy certainly is a factor.
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So the little sites did slightly better for me, but nowhere near enough to make up for either iS or SS, DT was flat but is increasing sales as RPD falls.
The question is whether the little ones are getting indeed slightly better, or whether they are just stealing some sales from iS, SS and DT.
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Better than December, but a big drop from Jan 2013 (my BMY). Alamy, Veer, and Pond 5 were the ones who dropped the most. Veer dropped a full order of magnitude with almost just a few sub sales this month compared to plenty of regular sales and a few juicy ELs Jan 2013.
DT was pretty good after an absolutely dire December. SS ok. Nothing to get excited about, but not worth slitting my wrists either. My best Seller at SS has been pretty much removed from the search. This month sales of cold and freezing themed images made up the difference, but that won't help for the summer. Not that the image wasn't a good one, but it got to the top of the search through a glitch (and good sales) and was on the first page for a number of years 'til they changed something and bumped it to the second page overnight. It has been slowly falling since then. Search placement is king, and image quality is only part of the equation.
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IS exclusive. DLs were down 51% compared to 2013, but income increased 2%. (My numbers exclude GI and EL sales, due to the potentially large fluctuations.)
Highest $/DL ever -- but how long can that continue to increase to offset the plummeting number of sales? My guess: not long.
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Gillian, Ploink, Melimage! just out of curiosity. Do you have large, medium or small portfolios at SS? with large I mean over 2000 files. :)
mine definitely qualifies as small... .
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My time (lack of) and size of my portfolio ( less than 99% of your images) really doesn't warrant a valid opinion compared to most of the veterans on this site. That being said I made at a few dollars this past January thus enough to get my coffee today... ;)
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IS Exclusive; total income +22.6% compared to January 2013.
Includes PP and GI from December, and RM/Video from other outlets. Doesn't allow for incorrect royalty rate being used for most of January, so will actually be a little more when that is corrected.
As KB says, sales numbers are somewhat down, but as long as the $$s are up, I'm rather more sanguine about that. I'll not worry about it until it affects the income!
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Overal 7% down compared to January 2013, mainly due to SS (-10% on downloads AND SOD's), DST (-11%), Rodeo (-80%).
The good ones were Alamy, Canstock and Bigstock, but of course they could not cover the SS losses.
Fotolia was only -2%, but that's probably because they went down 25% last year January.
And of course there's the dollar ... so in euro I'm 10% down.
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I've got approx 2600 photos on SS and this Jan was my best month for sales so far by a very large margin. Most EL's and SOD's in a month for me. Whatever they're doing, please keep it up!
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BME for me with very few ELs, so mostly just volume. BME on 123 and 3rd BME on SS.
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Baldrick, you and I experienced the same thing. My downloads are significantly up on most sites, but $ are 20% down from a year ago. Up 11% from a miserable December, though, so I guess that's a small ray of sunshine. :)
The last week of January saw a marked increase in sales across nearly all sites, though, so perhaps that bodes well for February numbers.
Planning to push to get more images online this year. Last year health issues sidelined me from getting many images shot or uploaded. I'll be interested to see if increasing uploads will make any difference moneywise. Hypothetically it should, of course, but in the current climate I don't know.
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Thankfully the last week picked up so it wasn't a total disaster! SS really started off slow, but not too poor in the end.
The big thing that happened this January though was FT. My RPD in 2013 was between 42 and 67 cents. This month with usual amount of dl's was 1.67. It was higher than DT for the first time EVER. Usually I only get 25 cent credit sales - which I always found suspicious, but this month I actually had real credit sales and wonder where the heck they came from. Still suspicious, it's FT after all.
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Good month on SS for me. For the 2nd month in a row Canstock doing very well at #2 this month! Dreamstime performing poorly for me with RF123 doing well. Poor month for all the Low Earners
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Baldrick, you and I experienced the same thing. My downloads are significantly up on most sites, but $ are 20% down from a year ago. Up 11% from a miserable December, though, so I guess that's a small ray of sunshine. :)
That and a mail I got from Goofy have really got me thinking Lisa.
After a decade at this game, if I work pretty much flat-out for a month then I might increase my overall portfolio by two or three percent. If I work flat-out for a year, I might add 2,500 images and maybe boost my earnings by 12% (because half of those images won't be there for half a year, so I reckon adding 25% over an entire year is equal to 12.5% more portfolio on average for the year). Even allowing that they will earn five times that much over the next 10 years. I would be looking at a year's really hard work only being worth 60% of what I earned last year. And that 60% would be less than half the British minimum wage per hour's work; looking at it just over the one year would mean getting one hour's pay for ten hours' effort.
When we started, I could earn (from my non-prime subjects) about $1 per image per month, which was probably better than the minimum wage, when comparing the time put in to the return over a single year.
So looking at it sensibly, is it worth taking the trouble to keep producing? How much have the last year's files actually added to the overall earnings? Aren't we old timers driven on by the weight of earnings from our back catalogue, not from our new material?
We may see newbies earning a few score dollars in their first year and wonder why they keep bothering, but how much cash have the files we uploaded in the last year actually made for us old-timers?
A newbie growing his portfolio might make $10 in the first month (if he's good!), and $40 in the second, and report a 300% boost in earnings. But in the 3rd month he makes $65, still a healthy 60% or so, in the fourth month $100, in the fifth month $120 and so on, with the percentage earnings growth falling very fast as the earnings grow slightly more slowly than the size of the portfolio, until at some point the files dying of old age exceed the new files coming on line and the earnings start to slip. And that's inevitable, even without search changes or massively increased numbers of files.
The one substantial advantage I have still got from 10 years doing this is a large archive of potentially valuable material. Using some of that for direct art sales via a gallery would probably be worth more to me than carrying on trying to prop up my microstock portfolio. In fact, if I were able to turn $2,000 clear profit on art sales this year, it might well be more than I would make working flat-out for 12 moths generating and uploading new stock, and I could probably make $2,000 out of selling a dozen prints - which would involve a few days' effort finding shops to display them and a few hundred dollars spend on getting high-quality prints made.
I think the time may have arrived for me to start thinking of stock as a useful sideline, and to put my main effort into other things. I still expect to make a lot more money from the 8,000-odd images I've got in various places, but I suspect that just as it is a waste of time for newbies to try to break into this market, it has probably now become a waste of time for people like me to devote a lot of effort to it - particularly when that effort could be directed to other more promising channels.
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I think the time may have arrived for me to start thinking of stock as a useful sideline, and to put my main effort into other things. I still expect to make a lot more money from the 8,000-odd images I've got in various places, but I suspect that just as it is a waste of time for newbies to try to break into this market, it has probably now become a waste of time for people like me to devote a lot of effort to it - particularly when that effort could be directed to other more promising channels.
This! While I'm nowhere near your or Lisa's output (and quality for that matter), I can use MS income as a more or less stable baseline to my photographic turnover. I "know" that at the end of the year 25-35% of my total income will be from MS, creative restructuring of contributors' rates by some agencies notwithstanding. :o
I very rarely produce photos directly for MS, but rather put photos there that weren't used by magazines, or photos that are older than a year and therefore no longer considered newsworthy, but still can be used an an illustration in a more general way. I my main field, editorial sports, photos sell well if they are either available seconds after the event took place (not possible in MS), or if they illustrate a more general concept. I also learned the hard way, that any photos of even remotely rare wildlife belongs firmly in the realm of Macrostock. If someone really needs a photo of a yellow-breasted wangler (yes, I made that one up) he's probably willing to pay Macrostock rates.
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Baldricks post here is one of the most logical I have ever read. Exactly what I feel. If producing 2000 shots per year so will thousands of others and the outcome is still a limbo position, no matter what. Its gone so far as to say that not even quantity matters anymore and as far as quality well that went out the window years back. The comes the agencies sporadic search changes which can throw you back to square one.
A year back I had 3000 files on line, today I have around 3900 and earnings have dropped. I have always regarded Microstock as a sidekick to assignments and Rm stock but there comes a time when even a sidekick can just be too expensive too time consuming to maintain.
I have approx. 1600 Rm files and they bring in some 20 times more then all micros put together. I know you can not compare the two models but its a fact.
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3900x0.5=1950$
1950x20=39000$
41k $
I would have left micro long time ago ;D
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3900x0.5=1950$
1950x20=39000$
41k $
I would have left micro long time ago ;D
Oh dear! well I wish it worked that way in a perfect world. Reality is a bit different. :) there is nothing wrong with micro, can give a good living but as Baldrick say another income would not hurt.
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I'm going to use animals again:
SS - Blue Whale (BME)
BS - Killer Whale (BME)
IS - Beluga Whale (my best month since Jan 2011)
FT - Porpoise
DT - Ray (as in flat)
DP - Squid
Others - Clam
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GL was actually on a very nice curve up, but then dropped back to November levels with a total of $27. Sales down %30 on Pond from December at $34. Sales down 90% on 123RF to $15, because my Santa images there were what was selling in December, since I put them in my featured list. Otherwise, nothing of mine shows up in the search. DP actually grew %30 to $130 over December - I get several sales a day there. And, of course, SS brought in several hundred.
Oh, 2nd best BME on Stocksy.
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Is it worth it to upload to those agencies then? If Sean makes just 130 USD in a month? I am still unable to reach a payout on 123rf after probably ten months there. I have around 130 USD on Dreamstime for a year now with over 1,000 images. Is this normal?
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Listen To Baldrick Guys. I've said even going back to 2006 this cannot be "ALL" you do unless you want to become a factory. Micro accounts for 25% [If That] of what I do as a Image maker. Here in My town, My Gardner makes more than I do a year doing Micro.Theres so much More you can do..unfortunately and a long known fact that creative people in any medium are usually the last to understand this. I need to make a pretty good Living and since I left school at 15, Never having a job I had to learn at a very young age that I better diversify my time and whatever talent I have into a business from music to Image making. My dad told me "Son, Never be the person that sees a crack in the door and Peeps in, Be the person that Knocks the * door down and walks in"
My long standing advice has always been to not put your eggs in One basket, If you do your at someone elses mercy.
An Excerpt from a letter my Mentor gave me 45 years ago and I give the complete letter to every student.
"Keep the channel Open,No artist is Pleased.There is no satisfaction whatever at anytime. There is only a Queer, Divine dis-satisfaction. A Blessed unrest that keeps us marching and Makes us More alive than the others."
Martha Graham to Agnes B.Demille 1939
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Well a mans intellect can be measured by the size of his egg-basket. :D
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3900x0.5=1950$
1950x20=39000$
41k $
I would have left micro long time ago ;D
Oh dear! well I wish it worked that way in a perfect world. Reality is a bit different. :) there is nothing wrong with micro, can give a good living but as Baldrick say another income would not hurt.
maybe I have missed something but you have said RM was doing 20 times more so I don't understand what you mean by "reality is a bit different", there are only two options: you have a big maths problem or you are lying
I really hope I am not talking with Christian
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It's kinda sad that I post that microstock has become a waste of time and I get 17 plus posts for it. Time was when I would have got vilified for that (oops! it's just gone down to 16+ .... there are still people out ther who have hope! Good luck to you!).
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I really hope I am not talking with Christian
It´s his karma. He keeps coming back in a new reincarnation. I´ve missed him, he is part of the fun... :D
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As a hobbyist I am happy with my sales. They go up pretty much every month. I've been around since 2005-2006 on (and off) various sites but didn't really seriously upload until the last few years. SS is my main selling site and I think as long as I'm not investing anything other than a little time, it's completely worth it for me. Until the bottom drops out I'll keep going like I'm going, uploading between 5-20 per week nowadays. I have under 3k photos online across many sites.
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It's kinda sad that I post that microstock has become a waste of time and I get 17 plus posts for it. Time was when I would have got vilified for that (oops! it's just gone down to 16+ .... there are still people out ther who have hope! Good luck to you!).
I HEAR THAT!!. I left here for 3 years. because I told the truth as I saw it then, How i did it was wrong. The WOO HOO gang at IS shot me down then also. So much for that now. because I posted a erroneous story called "I did a test" stating at the time exclusives got better treatment and I lost $500 a month doing so. someone here turned me in and my account was closed. I know who it was.
Oh well. Im never sticking up again for "US" and yes.....Good luck to everyone. And I mean Good Luck and highly suggest you find options if ya wanna sell your work. And i would do it sooner than later. Most won't.
I wish I was positive. Im not. But if ya wanna earn a few hundred a month. This is the best way. You want more? then you better get real Busy...real quick. and I mean REAL BUSY and "REAL QUICK" in a few short months theres gonna be 10 Million more to compete with and thats the truth especially when they complete there "Farming" of new contributors in asia and beyond in the next year.. Im gonna let my 5500 Images sit and see what happens. Then give it to my daughter as an annuity and let her deal with it.
BTW...Your back to 17 Now....lol
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3900x0.5=1950$
1950x20=39000$
41k $
I would have left micro long time ago ;D
Oh dear! well I wish it worked that way in a perfect world. Reality is a bit different. :) there is nothing wrong with micro, can give a good living but as Baldrick say another income would not hurt.
maybe I have missed something but you have said RM was doing 20 times more so I don't understand what you mean by "reality is a bit different", there are only two options: you have a big maths problem or you are lying
I really hope I am not talking with Christian
I gave you a heart for this one! The numbers quoted are the numbers of files uploaded, not dollars. Speaking in dollars? well it depends how much they sell for. Nowhere do I mention any sums of money, just amounts of files, uploads.
I do apologize for giving you the impression of multiplying my amount of uploads into dollars. :)
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It's kinda sad that I post that microstock has become a waste of time and I get 17 plus posts for it. Time was when I would have got vilified for that (oops! it's just gone down to 16+ .... there are still people out ther who have hope! Good luck to you!).
I HEAR THAT!!. I left here for 3 years. because I told the truth as I saw it then, How i did it was wrong. The WOO HOO gang at IS shot me down then also. So much for that now. because I posted a erroneous story called "I did a test" stating at the time exclusives got better treatment and I lost $500 a month doing so. someone here turned me in and my account was closed. I know who it was.
Oh well. Im never sticking up again for "US" and yes.....Good luck to everyone. And I mean Good Luck and highly suggest you find options if ya wanna sell your work. And i would do it sooner than later. Most won't.
I wish I was positive. Im not. But if ya wanna earn a few hundred a month. This is the best way. You want more? then you better get real Busy...real quick. and I mean REAL BUSY and "REAL QUICK" in a few short months theres gonna be 10 Million more to compete with and thats the truth especially when they complete there "Farming" of new contributors in asia and beyond in the next year.. Im gonna let my 5500 Images sit and see what happens. Then give it to my daughter as an annuity and let her deal with it.
BTW...Your back to 17 Now....lol
;) It is still possible to be vilified by microstock cheerleaders for mentioning the truth. There are still around, they currently reside at the new great microstock hope. In addition some of them also own stock and that investment increases protective ideals as well as denial.
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January was a disaster across the board....
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It's kinda sad that I post that microstock has become a waste of time and I get 17 plus posts for it. Time was when I would have got vilified for that (oops! it's just gone down to 16+ .... there are still people out ther who have hope! Good luck to you!).
I HEAR THAT!!. I left here for 3 years. because I told the truth as I saw it then, How i did it was wrong. The WOO HOO gang at IS shot me down then also. So much for that now. because I posted a erroneous story called "I did a test" stating at the time exclusives got better treatment and I lost $500 a month doing so. someone here turned me in and my account was closed. I know who it was.
Oh well. Im never sticking up again for "US" and yes.....Good luck to everyone. And I mean Good Luck and highly suggest you find options if ya wanna sell your work. And i would do it sooner than later. Most won't.
I wish I was positive. Im not. But if ya wanna earn a few hundred a month. This is the best way. You want more? then you better get real Busy...real quick. and I mean REAL BUSY and "REAL QUICK" in a few short months theres gonna be 10 Million more to compete with and thats the truth especially when they complete there "Farming" of new contributors in asia and beyond in the next year.. Im gonna let my 5500 Images sit and see what happens. Then give it to my daughter as an annuity and let her deal with it.
BTW...Your back to 17 Now....lol
what have changed in 2 days? (you have said at SS there is still hope, maybe you need to beg a little more and you will be happy)
making a garderning workshop tomorrow ;D
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It's kinda sad that I post that microstock has become a waste of time and I get 17 plus posts for it. Time was when I would have got vilified for that (oops! it's just gone down to 16+ .... there are still people out ther who have hope! Good luck to you!).
I HEAR THAT!!. I left here for 3 years. because I told the truth as I saw it then, How i did it was wrong. The WOO HOO gang at IS shot me down then also. So much for that now. because I posted a erroneous story called "I did a test" stating at the time exclusives got better treatment and I lost $500 a month doing so. someone here turned me in and my account was closed. I know who it was.
Oh well. Im never sticking up again for "US" and yes.....Good luck to everyone. And I mean Good Luck and highly suggest you find options if ya wanna sell your work. And i would do it sooner than later. Most won't.
I wish I was positive. Im not. But if ya wanna earn a few hundred a month. This is the best way. You want more? then you better get real Busy...real quick. and I mean REAL BUSY and "REAL QUICK" in a few short months theres gonna be 10 Million more to compete with and thats the truth especially when they complete there "Farming" of new contributors in asia and beyond in the next year.. Im gonna let my 5500 Images sit and see what happens. Then give it to my daughter as an annuity and let her deal with it.
BTW...Your back to 17 Now....lol
Isn't it better to just get high?
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It's kinda sad that I post that microstock has become a waste of time and I get 17 plus posts for it. Time was when I would have got vilified for that (oops! it's just gone down to 16+ .... there are still people out ther who have hope! Good luck to you!).
I HEAR THAT!!. I left here for 3 years. because I told the truth as I saw it then, How i did it was wrong. The WOO HOO gang at IS shot me down then also. So much for that now. because I posted a erroneous story called "I did a test" stating at the time exclusives got better treatment and I lost $500 a month doing so. someone here turned me in and my account was closed. I know who it was.
Oh well. Im never sticking up again for "US" and yes.....Good luck to everyone. And I mean Good Luck and highly suggest you find options if ya wanna sell your work. And i would do it sooner than later. Most won't.
I wish I was positive. Im not. But if ya wanna earn a few hundred a month. This is the best way. You want more? then you better get real Busy...real quick. and I mean REAL BUSY and "REAL QUICK" in a few short months theres gonna be 10 Million more to compete with and thats the truth especially when they complete there "Farming" of new contributors in asia and beyond in the next year.. Im gonna let my 5500 Images sit and see what happens. Then give it to my daughter as an annuity and let her deal with it.
BTW...Your back to 17 Now....lol
what have changed in 2 days? (you have said at SS there is still hope, maybe you need to beg a little more and you will be happy)
making a garderning workshop tomorrow ;D
That sounds great, I would come to that. lol
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It's kinda sad that I post that microstock has become a waste of time and I get 17 plus posts for it. Time was when I would have got vilified for that (oops! it's just gone down to 16+ .... there are still people out ther who have hope! Good luck to you!).
I HEAR THAT!!. I left here for 3 years. because I told the truth as I saw it then, How i did it was wrong. The WOO HOO gang at IS shot me down then also. So much for that now. because I posted a erroneous story called "I did a test" stating at the time exclusives got better treatment and I lost $500 a month doing so. someone here turned me in and my account was closed. I know who it was.
Oh well. Im never sticking up again for "US" and yes.....Good luck to everyone. And I mean Good Luck and highly suggest you find options if ya wanna sell your work. And i would do it sooner than later. Most won't.
I wish I was positive. Im not. But if ya wanna earn a few hundred a month. This is the best way. You want more? then you better get real Busy...real quick. and I mean REAL BUSY and "REAL QUICK" in a few short months theres gonna be 10 Million more to compete with and thats the truth especially when they complete there "Farming" of new contributors in asia and beyond in the next year.. Im gonna let my 5500 Images sit and see what happens. Then give it to my daughter as an annuity and let her deal with it.
BTW...Your back to 17 Now....lol
Isn't it better to just get high?
YES SIR!! Now your talking.
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Its complicated.
There is no doubt that we are competing us self to death.
Both with quality and with quantity.
A couple of years ago on a shutterstock forum, I called it "supercompetition", when competition rises exponentially regarding numbers and also regarding the quality of pictures.
And what is exponentially x exponentially, matematically?
It is obvious that noone, not even Yuri, can last long in such a race. Everybody dies. Everybodys sales stall and fall. He was even so kind that he proved it for us, and went away, and parked his port in the trolls cabinet, soaring off to something else, where they had cellphones.
And now comes the complicated part.
Personal story:
My sales havent stalled and falled. Not back then, not now.
They only havent risen.
After a hectic start back in 2007, I have not been able to grow my sales much. It is still about the same daily number. But the RPD is growing so much that my earnings are the same or slowly rising.
It doesnt matter if I shoot many pictures of the queen, and it doesnt matter if I shot models with strange grimasses. The sales dont rise.
It only matters if there is something I do not shoot and upload in an improved way.
Meaning: I have my nische, which is butterflies, and my sales do drop, IF I do not upload a couple of splendid fantastic butterfly pictures every second month.
That leads me to say, that it is the quality and stockworthiness and keywords of your first 35 pictures that matters, nothing else.
If you can make 35 x 35, then you can step it up to the next level and add an extra zero to your numbers.
Like I think I could if I could shoot motorcycles as well as I can shoot butterflies.
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It's kinda sad that I post that microstock has become a waste of time and I get 17 plus posts for it. Time was when I would have got vilified for that (oops! it's just gone down to 16+ .... there are still people out ther who have hope! Good luck to you!).
I HEAR THAT!!. I left here for 3 years. because I told the truth as I saw it then, How i did it was wrong. The WOO HOO gang at IS shot me down then also. So much for that now. because I posted a erroneous story called "I did a test" stating at the time exclusives got better treatment and I lost $500 a month doing so. someone here turned me in and my account was closed. I know who it was.
Oh well. Im never sticking up again for "US" and yes.....Good luck to everyone. And I mean Good Luck and highly suggest you find options if ya wanna sell your work. And i would do it sooner than later. Most won't.
I wish I was positive. Im not. But if ya wanna earn a few hundred a month. This is the best way. You want more? then you better get real Busy...real quick. and I mean REAL BUSY and "REAL QUICK" in a few short months theres gonna be 10 Million more to compete with and thats the truth especially when they complete there "Farming" of new contributors in asia and beyond in the next year.. Im gonna let my 5500 Images sit and see what happens. Then give it to my daughter as an annuity and let her deal with it.
BTW...Your back to 17 Now....lol
Isn't it better to just get high?
YES SIR!! Now your talking.
Come on man youre getting too old for that crap. Weed is for beginners.
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Never. Old musicians never die. especially Old Long haired radical Hippies. Like they say, If ya remember the 60's...You weren't there. LOL
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Never. Old musicians never die. especially Old Long haired radical Hippies. Like they say, If ya remember the 60's...You weren't there. LOL
Next thing you are going to say is, that you were one of the Beach Boys.
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You can win in a big way if you become a factory. Check out this guy:
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-137002p1.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-137002p1.html)
Africa Studio--390,000+ images and growing! Who is this mystery person (or people)? They must be buying out other portfolios or other people's pictures. That's the only way I can understand having that many images.
Seriously though, who is this??????
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You can win in a big way if you become a factory. Check out this guy:
[url]http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-137002p1.html[/url] ([url]http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-137002p1.html[/url])
Africa Studio--390,000+ images and growing! Who is this mystery person (or people)? They must be buying out other portfolios or other people's pictures. That's the only way I can understand having that many images.
Seriously though, who is this??????
Odd to be called Africa Studio, and to have virtually nothing uniquely African in the port. ::) (judged only on a search within on Africa, I didn't go through all the port!) Even if based in RSA, I'd have expected more of an African flavour.
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Never. Old musicians never die. especially Old Long haired radical Hippies. Like they say, If ya remember the 60's...You weren't there. LOL
Oh I was there. Woodstock, flower power and everything. We are blessed with that. Most here would not even know what we are talking about. All they know is Brittany Spears and Bionce. LOL!!!!
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You can win in a big way if you become a factory. Check out this guy:
[url]http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-137002p1.html[/url] ([url]http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-137002p1.html[/url])
Africa Studio--390,000+ images and growing! Who is this mystery person (or people)? They must be buying out other portfolios or other people's pictures. That's the only way I can understand having that many images.
Seriously though, who is this??????
Wow, that's a lot of images.
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Oooops, sorry for being so dim.
We all know who's based in RSA and has American-style images produced by his factories.
Hold on to your SS shares - their price will rise again. ::)
</speculation>
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Oooops, sorry for being so dim.
We all know who's based in RSA and has American-style images produced by his factories.
Hold on to your SS shares - their price will rise again. ::)
</speculation>
I think you're somewhat wide of the mark. According to Africa Studio's portfolio on FT they are based in Ukraine.
http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313 (http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313)
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Oooops, sorry for being so dim.
We all know who's based in RSA and has American-style images produced by his factories.
Hold on to your SS shares - their price will rise again. ::)
</speculation>
I think you're somewhat wide of the mark. According to Africa Studio's portfolio on FT they are based in Ukraine.
[url]http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313[/url] ([url]http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313[/url])
Oh, OK, that's a relief, in a way. Strange name! Thanks for the info.
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Oooops, sorry for being so dim.
We all know who's based in RSA and has American-style images produced by his factories.
Hold on to your SS shares - their price will rise again. ::)
</speculation>
I think you're somewhat wide of the mark. According to Africa Studio's portfolio on FT they are based in Ukraine.
[url]http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313[/url] ([url]http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313[/url])
Oh, OK, that's a relief, in a way. Strange name! Thanks for the info.
On Istock they are member 'belchonock' but appear to have given up uploading to IS in 2010;
http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=2535718 (http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=2535718)
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Back on-topic ...
Assuming average PP earnings my January should be just above Jan 2013 (+2%).
SS was equal, IS was well down due to the price decrease, DT and FT (most unusually) were significantly up and BigStock was up a little.
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It all depends on number of extended license I got. For most of the month I did not have any so I was thinking January would be quite lousy. In last week of the month I went back on track.
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Oooops, sorry for being so dim.
We all know who's based in RSA and has American-style images produced by his factories.
Hold on to your SS shares - their price will rise again. ::)
</speculation>
I think you're somewhat wide of the mark. According to Africa Studio's portfolio on FT they are based in Ukraine.
[url]http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313[/url] ([url]http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313[/url])
Oh, OK, that's a relief, in a way. Strange name! Thanks for the info.
On Istock they are member 'belchonock' but appear to have given up uploading to IS in 2010;
[url]http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=2535718[/url] ([url]http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=2535718[/url])
No, they uploaded this one on 23rd January this year:
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-33687934-two-girl-friends-smiling-isolated-on-white.php?st=446d6a0 (http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-33687934-two-girl-friends-smiling-isolated-on-white.php?st=446d6a0)
I noticed last night that the 'newest' sort isn't working, when I was trying to find the oldest file I had in a particular search. (Also, in editorial files, the upload date seems inevitably the same as the 'date taken', even when it definitely shouldn't be.)
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No, they uploaded this one on 23rd January this year:
[url]http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-33687934-two-girl-friends-smiling-isolated-on-white.php?st=446d6a0[/url] ([url]http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-33687934-two-girl-friends-smiling-isolated-on-white.php?st=446d6a0[/url])
I noticed last night that the 'newest' sort isn't working, when I was trying to find the oldest file I had in a particular search. (Also, in editorial files, the upload date seems inevitably the same as the 'date taken', even when it definitely shouldn't be.)
yeah, 1890 new files uploaded in January 2014, actually 2340
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the downside of a company consisting of several photographers would be how to set up the commissions. I've thought about having a few friends join my side business but than decide no- not worth the fighting of $.36 images lol!
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(Also, in editorial files, the upload date seems inevitably the same as the 'date taken', even when it definitely shouldn't be.)
[/quote]
Good spot! Turns out I have been uploading to Istock since 1976 :)
ETA Apologies to Shadysue for * up your quote!
ETA I said m-u-c-k-i-n-g up your quote!
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Micro earnings are higher than last January overall, though SS my best earner, is down a bit from last January which is worrying. Still, SS earnings are generally showing an upward trend & new files are starting to sell more. RPI across my big three micros averages out to roughly the same as it was last January, so with RPI pretty steady, I'm still seeing a decent increase overall as I upload more files.
Responding to the RM discussions below, I licensed 7 RM images this month, one on my own, two through Alamy, and four through a German site I was invited to join last year. The single largest of those earned me more than I made from all the micros combined. Also just had a photo shortlisted at ImageBrief last week, so I'm inclined to keep holding back certain types of images as RM.
February sales have been brisk even over Superbowl weekend, which is a nice way to start this month. I can't predict the future so I'll just keep chugging along and keeping my eggs in many baskets.
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January was down 19% compared to December and 46% up compared to January 2013.
Best four in January 2014 were: Shutterstock, DepositPhotos, Zazzle (POD), 3dRose (POD)
Blog Post: http://microstockinfos.blogspot.com/2014/02/stock-photography-sales-statistic.html (http://microstockinfos.blogspot.com/2014/02/stock-photography-sales-statistic.html)
List of agencies I work with: http://stock.hlehnerer.com/SA.html (http://stock.hlehnerer.com/SA.html)
(http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u97/hlehnerer/SalesStat/201401px590_zps8aab4379.jpg) (http://s166.photobucket.com/user/hlehnerer/media/SalesStat/201401px590_zps8aab4379.jpg.html)
(http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u97/hlehnerer/SalesStat/201401top590px_zpsb09d4d0c.jpg) (http://s166.photobucket.com/user/hlehnerer/media/SalesStat/201401top590px_zpsb09d4d0c.jpg.html)
(http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u97/hlehnerer/SalesStat/201401total590px_zps44b9f80f.jpg) (http://s166.photobucket.com/user/hlehnerer/media/SalesStat/201401total590px_zps44b9f80f.jpg.html)
(This statistic includes referral income)
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SS - Good.
IS - they still exist?
FT - they still exist?
DT - they still exist?
Big.. - they still exist?
Can.. - they still exist?
Deposit.. - they still exist?
Self Hosted - they still exist? OK, I'm working on it.
So the best for me was Zazzle with a one massive purchase of $180 among other good sales.
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Nice detective work gostwyck :)
Although January was a BME for me, revenue was not commensurate with the number of pictures put up. Sales did not pick up until the third week. So January was pretty bad. Luckily, February has been good...finally hit >200 downloads in a day yesterday on SS :)
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Micro earnings are higher than last January overall, though SS my best earner, is down a bit from last January which is worrying. Still, SS earnings are generally showing an upward trend & new files are starting to sell more. RPI across my big three micros averages out to roughly the same as it was last January, so with RPI pretty steady, I'm still seeing a decent increase overall as I upload more files.
Responding to the RM discussions below, I licensed 7 RM images this month, one on my own, two through Alamy, and four through a German site I was invited to join last year. The single largest of those earned me more than I made from all the micros combined. Also just had a photo shortlisted at ImageBrief last week, so I'm inclined to keep holding back certain types of images as RM.
February sales have been brisk even over Superbowl weekend, which is a nice way to start this month. I can't predict the future so I'll just keep chugging along and keeping my eggs in many baskets.
Same here. The RMs are flourishing. Bit of a warning though. Just to mention you are doing well in RM and especially here is not popular at all. these are micro people only and feelings towards RMs are fierce.
I do agree with you though. :)
See below! I told you! this person have got nothing else to do.
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Nice detective work gostwyck :)
Although January was a BME for me, revenue was not commensurate with the number of pictures put up. Sales did not pick up until the third week. So January was pretty bad. Luckily, February has been good...finally hit >200 downloads in a day yesterday on SS :)
and you started back in May 2013 (not even 1 year), impressive stuff, 5k downloads in a month with a 5k portfolio, its about working hard not complaining...
don't be jealous Christian, pull your head out of your ass ;D
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SS was above average for me in January. IS was less than the previous month. However, after doing all my totals for the MSG survey, I found I made twice the amount of money I did the previous year. Not so bad for me. Sorry it wasn't so great for others. :-\
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SS BME
123 BME
The rest is plodding on as usual, nothing to report.
Symbiostock no more sales. Very disappointing as I had good hopes.
FAA died as well, but its the same as the period last year, I am sure it will pick up again.
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You can win in a big way if you become a factory. Check out this guy:
[url]http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-137002p1.html[/url] ([url]http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-137002p1.html[/url])
Africa Studio--390,000+ images and growing! Who is this mystery person (or people)? They must be buying out other portfolios or other people's pictures. That's the only way I can understand having that many images.
Seriously though, who is this??????
Domain Name: AFRICA-STUDIO.COM
Registrant Name: Yastremskiy Leonid
http://www.dreamstime.com/serezniy_info (http://www.dreamstime.com/serezniy_info)
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Oooops, sorry for being so dim.
We all know who's based in RSA and has American-style images produced by his factories.
Hold on to your SS shares - their price will rise again. ::)
</speculation>
I think you're somewhat wide of the mark. According to Africa Studio's portfolio on FT they are based in Ukraine.
[url]http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313[/url] ([url]http://en.fotolia.com/p/293313[/url])
Africa studios contact on SS (About [email protected]) - > whois africa-studio.com -> Registrant Name: Yastremskiy Leonid, Registrant City: Nikolaev
Registrant Country: UA -> http://www.dreamstime.com/serezniy_info (http://www.dreamstime.com/serezniy_info) -> Flickr (Olga Chernetska and Leonid Yastremskiy)
Not sure how they pull it off so many images