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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: leaf on May 31, 2012, 11:32
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For me the month was pretty par. I'll wait until tomorrow to tally up my final totals but there wasn't any catastrophes but now happy surprises either. Shutterstock is still crazy in the lead for me, earning 3x what either Fotolia or iStock earn for me.
As always, remember to vote in the poll
http://www.microstockgroup.com/pollsvote/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/pollsvote/)
I'll get the arrows working again soon (hopefully this month) as well as a history graph, if everything works out.
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Are exclusives getting counted yet?
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For me the month was pretty par. I'll wait until tomorrow to tally up my final totals but there wasn't any catastrophes but now happy surprises either. Shutterstock is still crazy in the lead for me, earning 3x what either Fotolia or iStock earn for me.
As always, remember to vote in the poll
[url]http://www.microstockgroup.com/pollsvote/[/url] ([url]http://www.microstockgroup.com/pollsvote/[/url])
I'll get the arrows working again soon (hopefully this month) as well as a history graph, if everything works out.
Hey I didn't even miss the arrows. The view of the sites the way it is now, compared to each other on earnings, not ranges, is one more step ahead and well done.
May was fine and interesting. The old boring SS/IS = 50/50 for me, has just gone to SS more and more each month and now it's more like 80%/20% IS just keeps losing share. No big discovery, They continue, month after month to reject my best sellers on SS. I guess my interests are not their interests. To each their own. Possibly if accepted the same photos that sell on SS would just languish on IS anyway and they know their market best.
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Are exclusives getting counted yet?
Yeah good idea, add a separate poll selection for IS Exclusives, so we see how they are actually doing just fine. With the numbers mixed in, it's probably lowering the real values. For example if I take the survey (which I stopped doing) and my sales stink (which they do because of a weak collection) then I'm dropping the average. If the average for Exclusives was in it's own place, the Indy contributors values on IS would also show a more realistic picture of what people really make there.
I think the change would show a nice number for the exclusives and highlight the value for some people to be exclusive. It could also drop the numbers for Indys and show a true picture of which sites earn the most for independents?
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Are exclusives getting counted yet?
Yeah good idea, add a separate poll selection for IS Exclusives, so we see how they are actually doing just fine. With the numbers mixed in, it's probably lowering the real values. For example if I take the survey (which I stopped doing) and my sales stink (which they do because of a weak collection) then I'm dropping the average. If the average for Exclusives was in it's own place, the Indy contributors values on IS would also show a more realistic picture of what people really make there.
I think the change would show a nice number for the exclusives and highlight the value for some people to be exclusive. It could also drop the numbers for Indys and show a true picture of which sites earn the most for independents?
I was under the impression that exclusive votes were just discounted in the new polling system, are they being counted Leaf?
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Shutterstock was well ahead! almost twice what I earn in Fotolia although Fotolia did gain some ground this month! so I'm happy about that.
Istock also was up and 123rf is just flying :D
Dreamstime is up a bit.
All in all I can say that Shutterstock rocks and I got there 2x what i earn in Fotolia, 3x what I earn at DT, 5x what I earn at Istock and 7x what I earn at 123rf :)
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SS, ahead as usual. On the whole a pretty average month.
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Great month! At least, my 2nd BME. I'll have to see how the final numbers end up to know if it's a BME. It was also my BME at my own site, and my highest monthly earnings at a single agency was surpassed.
High fives all around. ;D
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Hello Leaf, hope all is well mate, not too much stress?
Great month here, BME and BDE at SS, up on DT and I thought I would never say this but FT is becoming one of my fav micro agencies, sales are picking up rapidly and reviews are fast and consistent.
It's also one of the few sites where I get payed in euros. So join now! call..., anyway
IS slow as usual, probably because of the search engine f.ckups, woops I mean optimization and their exclusives bumping. They are also the only agency that reject every single composite I upload which are some of my best selling images, so bad strategy there and hence the lower income.
So May UP, Way UP, hopefully I won't suffer from the summer slump, as you youngsters call it :)
Take care amigos
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Worst month of the year for me.
All due ENTIRELY to FT and DT sabotaging me. Sales at both FT and DT are about half of what they should be, due to recent best match shifts that are punishing good-selling pics (plus, perhaps, the turmoil in Europe?)
The good news? My May 2012 grand total is still up about 50% over May 2011, so I won't cry too much.
Plus...
SS is as strong as ever
ISP has been bouncing back
BigStock, 123 and DP all on hot streaks
In a nutshell, I'd be feeling really great if it weren't for FT and DT being such party-poopers!
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interesting month for me....
SS - down by 25% (compared with the previous month) :-\
FT - UP UP UP :D :D :D + 40%
DT - UP by 20%
123RF - UP UP around 30%
IS - still not interested
The pie slices:
SS - 60% ( by faaaar my best earner)
FT - 20%
DT - 12%
123RF - 8%
DT, FT and 123 have managed to compesate almost all my losses on SS ... so May was a good month.
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Business as usual. Maybe a slight dissappointment.
IS - As usual
SS - A good but not spectacular. 2nd best month ever.
DT - Best month of the year so far. Still less than my old BME from a few years ago
Veer - Weak month, okay normal and subscription downloads, but lacking in extended licences.
FT - Weak as usual.
BigStock - Weak
123RF - Okay
Shutterstock is still crazy in the lead for me, earning 3x what either Fotolia or iStock earn for me.
Shutterstock earns me 8x Fotolia, 3.5x Dreamstime, 1.3x iStock
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Are exclusives getting counted yet?
Yeah good idea, add a separate poll selection for IS Exclusives, so we see how they are actually doing just fine. With the numbers mixed in, it's probably lowering the real values. For example if I take the survey (which I stopped doing) and my sales stink (which they do because of a weak collection) then I'm dropping the average. If the average for Exclusives was in it's own place, the Indy contributors values on IS would also show a more realistic picture of what people really make there.
I think the change would show a nice number for the exclusives and highlight the value for some people to be exclusive. It could also drop the numbers for Indys and show a true picture of which sites earn the most for independents?
I was under the impression that exclusive votes were just discounted in the new polling system, are they being counted Leaf?
Exclusive votes are sifted into a separate ranking and aren't shown now. I'll also figure a way to show the results of the exclusives as well.
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BME. :) BME at all of the top 4 sites, except for SS (could still be if I get an EL or a crazy run of ODs in the next few hours, I'm really close). A BME at IS, without an EL and PP added, seems most spectacular and it also gained most % wise compared to the previous BME. So far 2012 is awesome, every single month has been a BME.
I was so unlucky with the weather that all 3 shoots that I had in May came out average at best. I just hope that won't ruin the following months.
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shutterstock 43% BME
fotolia 16%
istock 10%
canstock 9%
dreamstime 7%
123rf 5%
stockfresh 5% BME
bigstock 3%
graphicleftovers 1%
deposit 1%
RPD WMsince2008, cause of BME at ss
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SS is # 1 compare last May 2011= 300% better
IS is #2
Photo Dune #3
123RF
Fotolia
DepositPhotos
......
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"Top Tier":
Global: -16% compared to last month. 65% more than May 2011, with the follow order:
ShutterStock ( exception on sales breakdown... )
Fotolia
123RF
Istock ( hoping an miracle on PP revenue )
Dreamstime
The best of May: Level up on two agencies ( easy to guess ) and that means a bit more revenue on next month.. or not ;D
The worst: Pathermedia confirmed as dead. Cutcaster "stills" dead. -16% is too bad.
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- 5th BME in a row (Jan 1073$, Feb 1090$, Mar 1341$, Apr 1405$, May 1446$)
- from May 2011 +171%
- 37 months of stock
- 470$ left to the 10k $ milestone at SS (will be making 3 years there)
SS 42.9% (37%) (2 EL, 2 SOD (16.8$ and 70$)) (BME in $$$ and downloads)
IS 11.9% (14%)
FT 7.1% (7%)
123RF 6.2% (4%) (back to normal after an unusual bad month)
Z 5.1% (7%)
DT 4.7% (5%) (1 EL) (BME in $$$, higher RPD but less sales (from all time 0.87$ to 1.2$))
ISIGN 4.3% (5%)
82.2% (79%)
XX 3.4%, XY 3%, XZ 2.5%, DP 2.2%, V 1.3%, PD 1.2%
13.6% (15%)
OTHER 4.2% (6%)
(14 agencies all below 1% each, StockFresh with a great month, 8 sales for 12$ and 6 different days)
0 sales:
- 3DStudio
- Alamy
- ImageGate
- iRockstock
- PhotoKore
- SuperHug
- YAY
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SS has overtaken FT as my best earner ever since I moved into a new earnings rank. FT was ok, DT was shockingly low - about half of what I had made in the last three months, which was also just half of what I had made in January (which was my BME). Also what was weird was that most of my earnings this month came in the last week of the month . Until then I had hardly made the 5$ mark.
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SS 46 %
FT 15
CS 9
BS 9
VR 8
RF 6
DT 5
SF 2
GL 0 (less than 1 %)
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- 5th BME in a row (Jan 1073$, Feb 1090$, Mar 1341$, Apr 1405$, May 1446$)
- from May 2011 +171%
- 37 months of stock
- 470$ left to the 10k $ milestone at SS (will be making 3 years there)
SS 42.9% (37%) (2 EL, 2 SOD (16.8$ and 70$)) (BME in $$$ and downloads)
IS 11.9% (14%)
FT 7.1% (7%)
123RF 6.2% (4%) (back to normal after an unusual bad month)
Z 5.1% (7%)
DT 4.7% (5%) (1 EL) (BME in $$$, higher RPD but less sales (from all time 0.87$ to 1.2$))
ISIGN 4.3% (5%)
82.2% (79%)
XX 3.4%, XY 3%, XZ 2.5%, DP 2.2%, V 1.3%, PD 1.2%
13.6% (15%)
OTHER 4.2% (6%)
(14 agencies all below 1% each, StockFresh with a great month, 8 sales for 12$ and 6 different days)
0 sales:
- 3DStudio
- Alamy
- ImageGate
- iRockstock
- PhotoKore
- SuperHug
- YAY
A rise of $400 in 5 months, keep up the pace Louis! and thanks again for being amongst the very few who actually post their numbers ;)
I don't think you uploaded much in the last few months am I right?
I would get rid of the low/non sellers except for Alamy, you don't need them anymore.
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iStock:
Incredibly, it seems that May was my BMY for $$ - though there were lots of miserably poor weekdays. Saved by an inexplicable purple patch 21st - 24th where I had more than usual + sales, and most sales were L or L+, apparently mostly totally unconnected sales - my best non-EL week since the heady days of late 2009, after two successive very poor weeks.
Compared to April '12 (WMY): dls +17%, $$ +23%; portfolio +1.5%
Compared to May '11: dls -3%, $$ +30%; portfolio +c35%
Alamy poor: only 2 dls, one low-average, one very low. :(
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SS - pretty average, a bit up (and very much up compared to last May)
IS - way up!
FT - average (way up compared to last May)
DP - up
123RF - average
DT - poor, as usual
Alamy - not great. Many downloads, but little money. Are they going microstock?
Photodune - down
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Better than April, but worse than March
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Surprisingly good month which ended 12% up on May 2011 and was my fifth highest earning month to date.
Compared to May 2011, SS, BigStock & DT were up, IS was flat and FT down.
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Shutterstock up 5%, all of the other flat or slight drop...Pretty much average month
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iStock:
Incredibly, it seems that May was my BMY for $$ - though there were lots of miserably poor weekdays. Saved by an inexplicable purple patch 21st - 24th where I had more than usual + sales, and most sales were L or L+, apparently mostly totally unconnected sales - my best non-EL week since the heady days of late 2009, after two successive very poor weeks.
Compared to April '12 (WMY): dls +17%, $$ +23%; portfolio +1.5%
Compared to May '11: dls -3%, $$ +30%; portfolio +c35%
Alamy poor: only 2 dls, one low-average, one very low. :(
Reading the earnings thread in IS forums it seems E+ sales saved a lot contributors this month. Have they been mirrored to Getty yet?
I stopped ULing to DT over 10 days ago (although I had a BME), so that I have the option of becoming exclusive. I hope SS offers it, but the way my sales shot up in May at IS, I'm going to watch them carefully during the next 6 months and if they stay the same and E+ sales at Getty are going to kick off and SS doesn't offer exclusivity or a good exclusive deal, then I'll just put on that crown. Less hassle will be another plus side to it and just focusing on what sells best at one agency, so I won't be splitting my attention and be able to maximize earnings.
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Happy to report a BME. SS performed particularly well. Relatively high numbers at some of the smaller agencies too this month, mainly due to an increase in ODs over subs pretty much everywhere.
Top five, in order:
1. SS
2. iS (about a third of SS's total if I include projected TS income.)
3. DT
4. 123RF
5. Veer
FT was marginally up on last month but continues to be a pretty horrendous performer for me.
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Crazy month!
Unequivocally the weirdest month I've ever experienced in microstock. The first week was excruciatingly slow and then most sites boomed all the way through the month with a BME on six sites. Overall a BME as well. I haven't had a BME since mid last year. The strangest thing though, SS who is usually my best performer by far, finished second last. What on earth is going on?
This must be a sign that the world is ending in December ;D
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Wow that does sound weird! Have you switched polarity or something?
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Great month for me - well above my previous best of $1537 to come in with $1608. I'm in a bit of a rush this morning (just got a Canon G1X as a second compact shooter and have to go out to try it) so I'll just post the overall earnings graph and leave you to visit my blog if you want the rest of the story.
(http://www.backyardsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Earnings-history-May12.png)
Steve
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A so-so month for us.
Over 2,400$ with 430 downloads.
Up 35% from last month (which was horrible).
Up 82% from 05/11
Over 4K images in our portfolio (IS exclusive)
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Wow that does sound weird! Have you switched polarity or something?
;D
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Great month for me - well above my previous best of $1537 to come in with $1608. I'm in a bit of a rush this morning (just got a Canon G1X as a second compact shooter and have to go out to try it) so I'll just post the overall earnings graph and leave you to visit my blog if you want the rest of the story.
([url]http://www.backyardsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Earnings-history-May12.png[/url])
Steve
Thanks for the update on earnings and have fun with your new toy.
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A rise of $400 in 5 months, keep up the pace Louis! and thanks again for being amongst the very few who actually post their numbers ;)
I don't think you uploaded much in the last few months am I right?
I would get rid of the low/non sellers except for Alamy, you don't need them anymore.
on the last six months I havenīt uploaded that much, the last 2 I have been traveling a lot in Ireland, thats very true Wim, that said I got around 600 approved at SS but over 200 were approved just a couple of weeks ago which are editorial from a rally I went to see/shoot
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iStock:
Incredibly, it seems that May was my BMY for $$ - though there were lots of miserably poor weekdays. Saved by an inexplicable purple patch 21st - 24th where I had more than usual + sales, and most sales were L or L+, apparently mostly totally unconnected sales - my best non-EL week since the heady days of late 2009, after two successive very poor weeks.
Just hope there are no refunds!
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Income from a combo of micros, trads and products was down 21% from April, all thanks to the micros. May at the micros was my worst month since December 2007. :( Earnings were down a whoppin' 25% from March and April mostly because of a huge drop in ODs and ELs at SS. Thankfully Alamy posted a BME, which made up for some of the loss, but it wasn't nearly enough to alleviate my worries.
The only good news has been coming from BigStock lately, which posted its third straight month of earnings at 35% or more higher than what had been the norm for years. It's the only micro where I'm seeing any kind of improvement. I was seeing the same improvements over at SS, but that progress came to a screeching halt in May.
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May was about average for the new normal. Up 4% from April and almost even with May 2011 (down 1%).
Istock sales improved a bit and SS sales went down a bit, resulting in IS narrowly beating SS for the first time this year. FT sales were where I took the biggest hit. They are only about 1/2 DT now, and barely above BigStock. 123RF was 2nd BME, so at least for me, the promised sales increase has happened.
ISP 29%
SS 27%
DT 15%
Fot 8%
BigStock 6%
123 4%
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Ok I'll play this time too...:) These numbers are just for my micro income (and actually I am not counting euros and other currencies, just USD):
SS: 28%
IS: 26%
FT: 17%
DT: 10%
123rf: 6%
Depositphotos: 3.5%
Bigstock: 3%
Canstock:3%
And some other small fry for remaining 3.5%...
I have different ratio between SS and IS and FT than most people, I suspect it's because I am not selling as much on SS as everyone else, not sure why. FT was disappointing in May, usually it does much better for me. Looking at what Lisa said, could be that us emeralds are getting pushed down in searches :(
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My best month since 2010 and 2nd best month overall. :D
Clipartof - 32%
Shutterstock - 15%
MyStockVectors - 14%
GL - 9%
Dreamstime - 8%
123RF - 7%
Canstock - 7%
Bigstock - 2%
Zazzle - 1%
Toon Vectors - 1%
Yay - 1%
The rest were less than 1%.
I was so close to passing Shutterstock this month. A couple more sales would have done it. Maybe, next month.
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I was so close to passing Shutterstock this month. A couple more sales would have done it. Maybe, next month.
really amazing! ;) :D ;D :P
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I was so close to passing Shutterstock this month. A couple more sales would have done it. Maybe, next month.
really amazing! ;) :D ;D :P
Thanks. I was pretty excited about it. I was actually my top earner with about a week left in the month, then SS slowly caught up and somebody bought a bunch of images on CLO. I can't complain though.
Congrats to you too. It looks like things are going well.
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Bottomline 5% growth compared to May 2011. SS played even in downloads, but did a great job with OD's. Fotolia went down for the first time this year, so the rumors about emeralds being pushed down could be true.
DST was very disappointing these last 3 months, and strangely, IS has been going up in the same 3 months (still very bad sales at IS, but better dan March/April/May 2011).
Shut 34%
Fotolia 20%
Dream 14%
I-stock 13%
123rf 6% (going up!)
Canstock 3%
rodeo 3%
BigStock 2%
Alamy 2%
Depos 1%
Cutcaster 1%
GLO 0,4% (WME)
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Thanks for the update on earnings and have fun with your new toy.
New toy (the Canon G1x) performed quite nicely on a trip to Glen Echo in Maryland. I don't have an auto lens correction profile yet in Lightroom, but there is very little chromatic aberration, and the noise in the shadows is excellent (at 200 ASA). Pretty light and easy to carry (compared to my normal Canon 5D and pack of lenses!) and I'm sure I'll be able to take it to places where I just don't feel like carrying the full kit.
So far, so good. All I need to do now is process and keyword and we will see if any get rejected by our favorite inspectors.
Steve
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Reading the earnings thread in IS forums it seems E+ sales saved a lot contributors this month. Have they been mirrored to Getty yet?
No they haven't yet. And when they do, the sales from them will be included in the extra "GI Sales" reported around the 20th of the following month.
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2nd BME at IS. No complaints. :)
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I beat my forecast by $200 but down $150 over last month. SS has really pumped up my overall monthly income. IS was down $150 over last month and DT was down $75 over last month.
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Not bad for me, SS had a good # of sales but no EL, SOD, etc, so not all that good (barely less than May 11 which was a good month at the time). An almost BME at Alamy made up the difference. DT was on track to be a BME, but then it stopped for a few days near the end of the month - that site really does seem like a tap that they turn on and off.
123RF did well as did Canstock and Featurepics (for them - still pretty low). Veer had a decent number of sales but lots of subs and no ELs hurt there.
All in all a pretty good month.
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- 5th BME in a row (Jan 1073$, Feb 1090$, Mar 1341$, Apr 1405$, May 1446$)
- from May 2011 +171%
- 37 months of stock
- 470$ left to the 10k $ milestone at SS (will be making 3 years there)
Luis
We really are tracking together on this - I'm at $9711, just $290 away from the magic $10K at Shutterstock after a great May on that site. I think I'm just in the lead though!
Steve
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May was really good..
IS/SS used to be 50/50, now it's 15/85
It's amazing, I really LOVE Shutterstock, but I would rather that my royalty income was more evenly distributed between the 20+ agencies I submit to..
Because I can't trust agencies, I have learned that over the past years..
Ever since I started in 2008 Shutterstock haven't cut commissions even once.. And I have always been like, "why the h e ll not"..
WHAT is keeping Shutterstock from cutting commissions? I don't get it..
More than 50% of my income comes from Shutterstock.. Surely they are in a position to cut commissions. So why haven't they ever done so since 2008 when I started ?
Surely they could if they wanted to..
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May was down 1% from April, which is typical for me. That was up 30% compared to May 2011, and up 27% year over year. The positives vs. April were #1 Shutterstock (38%, up 24%), #2 123RF (14%, up 18%), #4 Deposit (9%, up 51%) #6 PhotoDune (6%, up 18%), and #7 BigStock (5%, up 9%). On the other side were #3 iStock (11%, down 20%), #5 Dreamstime (9%, down 3%), #8 CanStock (4%, down 67%), and #9 Fotolia (2%, down 20%).
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May was really good..
IS/SS used to be 50/50, now it's 15/85
It's amazing, I really LOVE Shutterstock, but I would rather that my royalty income was more evenly distributed between the 20+ agencies I submit to..
Because I can't trust agencies, I have learned that over the past years..
Ever since I started in 2008 Shutterstock haven't cut commissions even once.. And I have always been like, "why the h e ll not"..
WHAT is keeping Shutterstock from cutting commissions? I don't get it..
More than 50% of my income comes from Shutterstock.. Surely they are in a position to cut commissions. So why haven't they ever done so since 2008 when I started ?
Surely they could if they wanted to..
Have patience lad, the IPO is just around the corner.
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....WHAT is keeping Shutterstock from cutting commissions? I don't get it..
More than 50% of my income comes from Shutterstock.. Surely they are in a position to cut commissions. So why haven't they ever done so since 2008 when I started ?
Surely they could if they wanted to..
To make us swallow commission cuts, their rivals have raised prices. That could be the reason why it looks like buyers have moved to SS. Then there's all the contributors that are buyers as well. They aren't as likely to buy from a site that's cut their commission. We aren't going to recommend commission cutting sites to buyers. Some people remove their portfolios. Do buyers look on SS for them?
Alamy have been around much longer than SS. They did have one commission cut but they still pay 60% non-exclusive. That's not bad, considering the difficult economic times of the past 4 years. So there's really no reason for the microstock sites to be so greedy. Hasn't the SS strategy worked much better than all the sites that have been cutting commissions? That's what my sales tell me.
I don't understand why some sites keep cutting commissions when it seems to be sending their buyers to SS.
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May was a good month for me 20% higher than May last year + IS partner program to come.
My portfolio is 10% bigger than last year so I'm happy with that increase.
Shutterstock had a good month and 123rf was above average.
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Misery will have to do without company, then: I'm about 25% down from my bme
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Up from last year overall but not within my estimated figures, the only site that was a drop from the previous year was DT.
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- 5th BME in a row (Jan 1073$, Feb 1090$, Mar 1341$, Apr 1405$, May 1446$)
- from May 2011 +171%
- 37 months of stock
- 470$ left to the 10k $ milestone at SS (will be making 3 years there)
Luis
We really are tracking together on this - I'm at $9711, just $290 away from the magic $10K at Shutterstock after a great May on that site. I think I'm just in the lead though!
Steve
ahah cool stuff, I will follow you, no worries! ;D
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Full statistic at http://microstockinfos.blogspot.com/2012/06/stock-photography-sales-statistic-may.html (http://microstockinfos.blogspot.com/2012/06/stock-photography-sales-statistic-may.html)
My top 4 for May 2012 are: SS, DP, Zazzle, Veer
+13% compared to last month
(http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u97/hlehnerer/SalesStat/201205px590.jpg)
(http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u97/hlehnerer/SalesStat/201205timeline590px.jpg)
(http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u97/hlehnerer/SalesStat/201205total590px.jpg)
(This statistic include referral earning at the different agencies)