Please share the results here. I'm interested.

Done! Relatively painless to do

Big thank you to everyone who has filled it out!

If you haven't already participated in the survey, there's still time till the end of October!

Done, easy to fill out and thank you

Got today email link with results of this survey.   Anyone participated probably already notified, others it is well worth checking as it is really well done and quite informative in my opinion

https://xpiksapp.com/blog/microstock-survey-2024-earnings-analysis/

50% of producers saw a growth of their income over the last year and only a small group saw a decrease

Just keep in mind that it's within people who responded to the survey. So there's a small bias there anyway. Maybe, people, who saw largest declines, did not fill the survey. We never know what we don't know.

But yes, it was unexpected for sure.

Personally I was overfilling my "plan" for 2024 until November came along. 100% or more yoy until October.
Now suddenly just the exact same income as last year, perhaps 100 dollars more. And December looks the same so far. Might even be less than last year.

Because these changes came abruptly I don't think it is a dramatic algo change or ai competition, I had that also all year long.
No, this was me making mistakes.

So I will do something different next year.

Interesting conclusion.
I tend to think it something has changed abruptly (other than an overall price decrease), it's a dramatic algo change.
If it's a slower decrease, people are uploading better rival photos.

I skimmed through the report - some interesting data. I do disagree with the risk with regards to income conclusion. Just because there are less people at the higher levels of income doesn't mean they are less concerned about the risks. Maybe interesting that most are worried most about either the change in royalties (sites paying us less per use), AI, and competition.

Interesting reading. What kind of concerns me is how not one contributor with a port size of 5001 to 10000 files is able to make more than $5000 per month. Thought there might of been at least one or more. It would be insightful to see what contents (photos / illustrations / videos etc) make up those larger ports. 

A reliable 5k a month with less than 10k images sounds really difficult. I think even if you have a very high quality people port - medically correct images of patient doctor nurse interactions, with model and property releases for everything...or real business owners and their work places and trades, I doubt you can generate 5k a month reliably.

For a quality 5k/month baseline, I think 30k files is more realistic.

It is a very interesting survey, thank you very much.

I have been carefully reading up in many groups and I cannot find anyone who can convincingly say they are making over 5k every month with 5-10k files.

A reliable 2-3000 and then sometimes months with more, maybe even 6k in a lucky month.

But a reliable 5k requires a lot more effort.

My goal is to reach a reliable 30k a year. Once I reach that I can try to go for 45k a year. That would be ideal, enough money to invest in better quality production.

So...basically I need to triple my income...

I don't agree. I personally know a few folks with small portfolio's that generate this income. Most of their images are of very high commercial value and are best sellers on all the major MS companies (i.e., Adobe, SS and iStock). Is there a pattern or type of image that sells best? Seems to be in the high volume areas like Christmas or nature (Flowers) or Homes. I knew one person (they are a realtor) that shoot nothing but very high quality interiors and make a lot of $$$$. Many folks, including myself, do not shot interiors very well compared to the high end pro's. I know one person that does Christmas only and they sell a lot!    Yeah, having more volume will get you more sales but not in a predictable ratio. I know one person that shots everything (average looking images) and they have like 50,000 images but generate less than $3,000 a month. 

I don't agree. I personally know a few folks with small portfolio's that generate this income. Most of their images are of very high commercial value and are best sellers on all the major MS companies (i.e., Adobe, SS and iStock). Is there a pattern or type of image that sells best? Seems to be in the high volume areas like Christmas or nature (Flowers) or Homes. I knew one person (they are a realtor) that shoot nothing but very high quality interiors and make a lot of $$$$. Many folks, including myself, do not shot interiors very well compared to the high end pro's. I know one person that does Christmas only and they sell a lot!    Yeah, having more volume will get you more sales but not in a predictable ratio. I know one person that shots everything (average looking images) and they have like 50,000 images but generate less than $3,000 a month.

Not to degrade the survey but under 250 people, is a small sample, from the tens of thousands of people who do or try to make money from Microstock. Since the participation was by choice, just like here, some people may not be motivated to participate.

"People, who �survive� and learn - grow more �organically� later (as shown in the more �even� bottom rows). People, who give up and abandon it, make it only to statistics, such as this chart has to offer."

True but another way to view that is, people who succeed stay and those who don't, move on to something else. I don't want to label that as Giving Up or Abandoning, when it's plain and simple business sense. Work for money or work for nothing? People who survive are doing so because they are good enough and smart and work hard. Success breeds success.

Once against we come to the debate, more images, more images, more money, or better images, find open needs and make more money. Of course I am biased, because I believe that Niche is the same as Research before creating. Easiest way to put that is, don't make the most images don't just copy and make the most popular historically. Niche is the same as Find a needed subject, style, area, opportunity to create.

Last of all, unnecessary to conclude or have a survey tell me this. Hard work pays off. Of course the people who work hardest, the most hours, and make the most, will continue to work hard and make the most. Also the people who work the smartest will make more. And in a similar way, people who have access to a niche or a special area of interest, or find their success in a specific area, will continue to make more.

More images, does not equal more money, unless the images are suitable and in demand. More images is just a number. More sales are more money. Unless someone does this for entertainment or bragging rights, the bottom line is, making money, not RPD, views, likes, rank or anything else. "How big is your Microstock portfolio", died ages ago.

I believe that Niche is the same as Research before creating.

This is interesting thought and it made me think for a bit.  There is important distinction in my opinion.  Niche is what you like best, know best and as result have specialized in.  Research identifies what is in demand, which can be totally different from your "niche".  Example:  I hike a lot, so landscapes are my "niche".  Over time I learned how to create really nice panoramas, unique angles, "matrix composition" for high-res suitable for printing, etc etc.  But research will probably identify that landscapes are NOT what's really in demand, in particular on sites like Alamy that specializes in editorial etc.  This is maybe oversimplified, but explains the basic idea.

More images, does not equal more money, unless the images are suitable and in demand. More images is just a number. "How big is your Microstock portfolio", died ages ago.

So true this one.  DT had something called "Database Exposure" - they abandoned it when it stopped making sense.   Microstock market is overspammed and oversaturated is the bottom line;   notion of "upload, upload, upload to grow port size, quality is second" is to large extent responsible for industry state we have today.