Author Topic: How much better is January sales compared to December sales? (Read 6763 times)

laflor · « **on:** January 01, 2010, 07:43 »

Hey peeps,

I hope you are all well and in a jolly mood reading this post

Since I have no experience with sales in January compared to sales in December, I was wondering if some of you would please share your experiences. A graph or just some numbers would be fantastic. For instance something like this:

December 2007: 250 sales
January 2008: 400 sales
Increase: 60%

December 2008: 500 sales
January 2009: 900 sales
Increase: 80%

iStock stats are preferred, but any will do!

I am racing for Diamond on iStock before February 24th and I'm wondering if my December sales could give me a hint on whether or not I'll make it

Kind regards,
Laflor

MikLav · « **Reply #1 on:** January 01, 2010, 08:06 »

for me both this year and a year ago the number of istock sales in Jan was almost the same as December.

laflor · « **Reply #2 on:** January 01, 2010, 08:16 »

Quote from: MikLav on January 01, 2010, 08:06

for me both this year and a year ago the number of istock sales in Jan was almost the same as December.

Thanks for the input MikLav.
I am hoping for a general report of 60-80% increases. That is what I wish for. Lets see if Santa is hanging out on microstockgroup.com

All the best,
Laflor

leaf · « **Reply #3 on:** January 01, 2010, 08:30 »

January can be a bit of a wild card. 2 years I had lower earnings in Jan vs Dec, 2 years I had more earnings.

gostwyck · « **Reply #4 on:** January 01, 2010, 08:55 »

The last couple of years on IS were as follows for me;

Dec 2006 - Jan 2007 = 34% increase in DL's

Dec 2007 - Jan 2008 = 52%

I tend to upload very few new images in the last couple of months each year and then start again in January so with you uploading constantly your results may be better. February is usually 15-20% higher than January too.

Having said that it will be interesting to see how buyers react to the sharp increase in prices for exclusive images.

laflor · « **Reply #5 on:** January 01, 2010, 09:45 »

Quote from: leaf on January 01, 2010, 08:30

January can be a bit of a wild card. 2 years I had lower earnings in Jan vs Dec, 2 years I had more earnings.

Ok. Thanks. I hope for 2010 to wild then

Quote from: gostwyck on January 01, 2010, 08:55

The last couple of years on IS were as follows for me;

Dec 2006 - Jan 2007 = 34% increase in DL's

Dec 2007 - Jan 2008 = 52%

I tend to upload very few new images in the last couple of months each year and then start again in January so with you uploading constantly your results may be better. February is usually 15-20% higher than January too.

Having said that it will be interesting to see how buyers react to the sharp increase in prices for exclusive images.

The increase numbers are encouraging. Especially if you tend to lower your uploads around the end of the year. And the further increase into February keeps my hopes up. If I don't make it to Diamond by the 24th the next step to BD will be increased by 200K. That is sure a lot of clicks honeybunny

Thanks for the info gostwyck!

laflor · « **Reply #6 on:** January 01, 2010, 09:54 »

Trying to gather information for my crystal bowl ...

Yours truly,
Laflor

laflor · « **Reply #7 on:** January 01, 2010, 09:56 »

I made a poll:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/how-much-better-is-january-sales-compared-to-december-sales/

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #8 on:** January 01, 2010, 10:10 »

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 09:45

If I don't make it to Diamond by the 24th the next step to BD will be increased by 200K. That is sure a lot of clicks honeybunny

Not to worry. Black diamond doesn't mean anything.

laflor · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2010, 11:45 »

Quote from: sjlocke on January 01, 2010, 10:10

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 09:45
If I don't make it to Diamond by the 24th the next step to BD will be increased by 200K. That is sure a lot of clicks honeybunny

Not to worry. Black diamond doesn't mean anything.

As far as I can tell we get an increase in royalty from 35% to 40% going from Diamond to Black Diamond. Plus we get a massive boost in the upload limit. So loosing out on 5% of the revenue on 200.000 sales is what I call a bummer

lisafx · « **Reply #10 on:** January 01, 2010, 12:01 »

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 11:45

As far as I can tell we get an increase in royalty from 35% to 40% going from Diamond to Black Diamond. Plus we get a massive boost in the upload limit. So loosing out on 5% of the revenue on 200.000 sales is what I call a bummer

Don't know where you are getting that from. Gold is 35%, Diamond is 40%, and Black Diamond is still 40%.

Sean would be one of the few who knows what BD means firsthand

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #11 on:** January 01, 2010, 12:31 »

Without knowing people's December sales, you're not going to get much useful info from asking about the change from December to January

I'm not sure how you expect to make 10,000 sales in less than two months, but I think you're the exceptional contributor if you can.

My experience is that I make a lot of sales in October to December with November the peak (and it's been that way for 5 years, the bulk of that as an independent but the last 16 months as an IS exclusive). For me, January/February is always down without the Christmas sales. I assume for folks who sell a lot of Valentines's stuff, things are better.

If you look at the sales thread on IS, many people report a dismal December - they don't have seasonal images and that's a huge part of what sells for me in the last couple of months of the year.

Given that you get to make diamond at 25K downloads even after Feb 24th I don't think you need to worry either way.

And black diamonds should get another royalty bump - they're certainly pulling more than their share of the load

Digital66 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 01, 2010, 13:09 »

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 07:43

...Since I have no experience with sales in January compared to sales in December, I was wondering if some of you would please share your experiences. A graph or just some numbers would be fantastic. ...

I don't understand. How can it be you have no experience with sales in January? You have been with Istock since 2006 and already have more than 15000 downloads

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 07:43

I am racing for Diamond on iStock before February 24th and I'm wondering if my December sales could give me a hint on whether or not I'll make it

You still need about 10,000 to reach Diamond level! If it has taken you more than 3 years to sell 15000 images, how do you expect to sell 10,000 in less than 2 months?

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #13 on:** January 01, 2010, 13:14 »

Quote from: Digital66 on January 01, 2010, 13:09

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 07:43
...Since I have no experience with sales in January compared to sales in December, I was wondering if some of you would please share your experiences. A graph or just some numbers would be fantastic. ...

I don't understand. How can it be you have no experience with sales in January? You have been with Istock since 2006 and already have more than 15000 downloads

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 07:43
I am racing for Diamond on iStock before February 24th and I'm wondering if my December sales could give me a hint on whether or not I'll make it

You still need about 10,000 to reach Diamond level! If it has taken you more than 3 years to sell 15000 images, how do you expect to sell 10,000 in less than 2 months?

Looks like his earliest files are from December 2008. I'm guessing that's when he left Yuri's biz. Still in 12 months, that's an average of 1,000 a month. I don't see it happening.

lisafx got the cannister levels correct above.

laflor · « **Reply #14 on:** January 01, 2010, 13:23 »

Quote from: lisafx on January 01, 2010, 12:01

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 11:45

As far as I can tell we get an increase in royalty from 35% to 40% going from Diamond to Black Diamond. Plus we get a massive boost in the upload limit. So loosing out on 5% of the revenue on 200.000 sales is what I call a bummer

Don't know where you are getting that from. Gold is 35%, Diamond is 40%, and Black Diamond is still 40%.

Sean would be one of the few who knows what BD means firsthand

I just realized my mistake about the royalty program. Somehow I mixed up Diamond for being Gold. Sorry Sean and Lisa. I was too fast there. In a way it feels like I just got a 5% raise. Thanks for the correction

All in all that just leaves us with the difference in upload limit of 25 images pr. week. I guess I can live with that, although I'd prefer not to.

Lets see what happens.

laflor · « **Reply #15 on:** January 01, 2010, 13:57 »

Quote from: jsnover on January 01, 2010, 12:31

Without knowing people's December sales, you're not going to get much useful info from asking about the change from December to January

Just like people normally see a decrease in December similarly there must be a trend for January. It's that trend I'm after.

Quote from: jsnover on January 01, 2010, 12:31

I'm not sure how you expect to make 10,000 sales in less than two months, but I think you're the exceptional contributor if you can.

I've had a consistent increase in sales since March/April (where I went exclusive) of 30-45% per month. Even with virtually no Christmas images in my portfolio December was still even better than November. December was my best month of the year with a little over 3.000 downloads. If January has a tendency of being 40-60% better than December, then it is still possible to reach 25K before the 24th of Feb. Especially if Feb tends to be 15-20% better than Jan (if Leaf's experience is valid for me too).

Quote from: jsnover on January 01, 2010, 12:31

Given that you get to make diamond at 25K downloads even after Feb 24th I don't think you need to worry either way.

Since Lisa and Sean "revealed" that there is no royalty increase between Diamond and Black Diamond I must agree with you totally

laflor · « **Reply #16 on:** January 01, 2010, 14:01 »

Quote from: sjlocke on January 01, 2010, 13:14

Quote from: Digital66 on January 01, 2010, 13:09
Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 07:43
...Since I have no experience with sales in January compared to sales in December, I was wondering if some of you would please share your experiences. A graph or just some numbers would be fantastic. ...

I don't understand. How can it be you have no experience with sales in January? You have been with Istock since 2006 and already have more than 15000 downloads

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 07:43
I am racing for Diamond on iStock before February 24th and I'm wondering if my December sales could give me a hint on whether or not I'll make it

You still need about 10,000 to reach Diamond level! If it has taken you more than 3 years to sell 15000 images, how do you expect to sell 10,000 in less than 2 months?

Looks like his earliest files are from December 2008. I'm guessing that's when he left Yuri's biz. Still in 12 months, that's an average of 1,000 a month. I don't see it happening.

lisafx got the cannister levels correct above.

Basically I had NO sales until April 2009 where I had 137 sales. May was 378 etc. My sales have just picked up within the last 6 months. It took me from Nov 2008 until March/April 2009 to get 250 downloads

gostwyck · « **Reply #17 on:** January 01, 2010, 14:03 »

Well, according to your blog entry, you've sold 5000-odd since Nov 10th. Hitting Diamond by the end of Feb is not out of the question for you __ or at least getting close enough to be ushered in under their 'leniency' rules.

I've noticed you appear to have been uploading entire series of images, presumably in the chronological order that you have them on your hard drive. I seem to remember you also saying that you had 4000 images ready to go? You'd probably be better off * out the most likely best-sellers from those images and concentrate on getting them uploaded first. Don't forget that 60% of your sales will likely be generated from just 10% of your port so it will be a big help if you can identify the images with the most potential and get them working for you ASAP. Good luck!

lisafx · « **Reply #18 on:** January 01, 2010, 14:10 »

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 14:01

Basically I had NO sales until April 2009 where I had 137 sales. May was 378 etc. My sales have just picked up within the last 6 months. It took me from Nov 2008 until March/April 2009 to get 250 downloads

LaFlor, you have certainly done an AMAZING job of racking up sales in a short time. No reason to doubt your success will continue

laflor · « **Reply #19 on:** January 01, 2010, 15:50 »

Quote from: gostwyck on January 01, 2010, 14:03

Well, according to your blog entry, you've sold 5000-odd since Nov 10th. Hitting Diamond by the end of Feb is not out of the question for you __ or at least getting close enough to be ushered in under their 'leniency' rules.

I've noticed you appear to have been uploading entire series of images, presumably in the chronological order that you have them on your hard drive. I seem to remember you also saying that you had 4000 images ready to go? You'd probably be better off out the most likely best-sellers from those images and concentrate on getting them uploaded first. Don't forget that 60% of your sales will likely be generated from just 10% of your port so it will be a big help if you can identify the images with the most potential and get them working for you ASAP. Good luck!

That is great advise. I've sort of begun doing it for my VETTA nominations but I'll strongly consider doing it for my "normal" uploads also. Thanks!

laflor · « **Reply #20 on:** January 01, 2010, 16:05 »

Quote from: lisafx on January 01, 2010, 14:10

Quote from: laflor on January 01, 2010, 14:01

Basically I had NO sales until April 2009 where I had 137 sales. May was 378 etc. My sales have just picked up within the last 6 months. It took me from Nov 2008 until March/April 2009 to get 250 downloads

LaFlor, you have certainly done an AMAZING job of racking up sales in a short time. No reason to doubt your success will continue

Thanks a lot Lisa

Graffoto · « **Reply #21 on:** January 04, 2010, 00:20 »

Look like congrats are in order, Daniel.

Front page of IS, Photo of the Week! That can't be bad for business, eh?

laflor · « **Reply #22 on:** January 04, 2010, 05:50 »

Quote from: nosaya on January 04, 2010, 00:20

Look like congrats are in order, Daniel.

Front page of IS, Photo of the Week! That can't be bad for business, eh?

Thanks Nosaya!
It's great publicity and will surely generate some extra sales.
I'm both happy and honored

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How much better is your January sales compared to December sales?

Author Topic: How much better is January sales compared to December sales? (Read 6763 times)

laflor

MikLav

laflor

leaf

gostwyck

laflor

laflor

laflor

Sean Locke Photography

laflor

lisafx

Jo Ann Snover

Digital66

Sean Locke Photography

laflor

laflor

laflor

gostwyck

lisafx

laflor

laflor

Graffoto

laflor

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