Author Topic: POLL: Have You Hit The Wall? (Read 4990 times)

PaulieWalnuts · « **on:** November 12, 2012, 18:14 »

Lots of talk about people hitting "The Wall" lately.

For those not familiar, The Wall is when you keep uploading but your earnings don't increase or even keep dropping.

Or your earnings are increasing but aren't keeping up with uploads. Like you doubled your portfolio size but earnings only increased by 10%.

cthoman · « **Reply #1 on:** November 12, 2012, 18:17 »

It depends on the agency. How many answers can I vote for?

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #2 on:** November 12, 2012, 18:21 »

This is across the board. If you submit to multiple agencies and one is doing great but overall you've hit the wall, well, then you've hit the wall.

Maybe you should only submit to the ones you haven't hit to wall with and then you can change your answer to no.

tab62 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 12, 2012, 18:42 »

I figure I have 5 to 8 years of growth due to the size of my portfolio (just under 800 images) - once I hit near 10k in images the wall will fell on me...

cthoman · « **Reply #4 on:** November 12, 2012, 19:58 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on November 12, 2012, 18:21

Maybe you should only submit to the ones you haven't hit to wall with and then you can change your answer to no.

That's actually exactly what I've been doing, and I did check no. Overall, things have been growing, but I still share the pessimism many long time contributors have about the microstock industry (especially the major players).

stockastic · « **Reply #5 on:** November 12, 2012, 20:45 »

It's not like hitting a wall, more a matter of steadily losing motivation and spending less and less time on it.

gostwyck · « **Reply #6 on:** November 12, 2012, 21:03 »

Quote from: tab62 on November 12, 2012, 18:42

I figure I have 5 to 8 years of growth due to the size of my portfolio (just under 800 images) - once I hit near 10k in images the wall will fell on me...

Doesn't actually work like that. If you upload at a steady rate you will hit "the wall" at about 5-6 years, irrespective of quantity. That's the point at which sales from your older images will be dying at about at about the same rate as you can replace them __ and that assumes your own quality is improving at the same pace as the overall library. It's pretty much a mathematical certainty.

If you want to delay "the wall" beyond that timescale then you will need to significantly accelerate both your quantity and quality throughout that period, something which is very difficult to achieve.

pancaketom · « **Reply #7 on:** November 12, 2012, 22:56 »

Quote from: gostwyck on November 12, 2012, 21:03

Quote from: tab62 on November 12, 2012, 18:42
I figure I have 5 to 8 years of growth due to the size of my portfolio (just under 800 images) - once I hit near 10k in images the wall will fell on me...

Doesn't actually work like that. If you upload at a steady rate you will hit "the wall" at about 5-6 years, irrespective of quantity. That's the point at which sales from your older images will be dying at about at about the same rate as you can replace them __ and that assumes your own quality is improving at the same pace as the overall library. It's pretty much a mathematical certainty.

If you want to delay "the wall" beyond that timescale then you will need to significantly accelerate both your quantity and quality throughout that period, something which is very difficult to achieve.

or maybe create images that don't get dated and aren't easily duplicated (what these are? - I have no idea, I wish I did)

cybernesco · « **Reply #8 on:** November 12, 2012, 23:10 »

I have a little over 1300 images spread over 10 sites averaging about a thousand a month these days. Started in 2005. Made it to a thousand images in 2009 while making 20 thousand for the year being my best year. Only uploaded about 300 images since. Slowly declining ever since. This is still great money as many of my old images are still selling. I guess certain type of images don't age. Probably if I would push the upload a bit more that I would get more dollars. Just a matter of priorities.

ClaridgeJ · « **Reply #9 on:** November 13, 2012, 01:25 »

Is it about hitting the wall or is it that many agencies simply cant handle it and all their self inflicted mistakes result in our losses.

All the Admins of the Trad agencies must be laughing their heads off ( know for a fact that Getty is). If I wasnt in too deep in this micro, I would have kicked it yesterday and I am always looking for a way out of it. This is not the way for a photographer to go.

Agreeing with Lisa though, it comes to a stage where you are bashing your head against a brick wall and its like dragging blood out of a stone, a sort of stand-still, no matter what you do there are no rewards.
Everyday I am deleting a few files here and there and then putting them in for macro RF and the funny thing is, so far its been quite rewarding.

microstockphoto.co.uk · « **Reply #10 on:** November 13, 2012, 01:40 »

Quote from: stockastic on November 12, 2012, 20:45

It's not like hitting a wall, more a matter of steadily losing motivation and spending less and less time on it.

I consider this as an effect of hitting the wall. I'd never lose motivation if things were going as well as before.

JPSDK · « **Reply #11 on:** November 13, 2012, 06:48 »

Sometimes I wonder if I should pull the plug.
Take it all down.
and then spend a ½ year making handles for my old axes and forget all about photography.
And then come back, a bit wiser and see where the pictures could earn back their lenses.

nicku · « **Reply #12 on:** November 13, 2012, 07:21 »

Nop... in my case everything goes up... i upload around 70-100 new images/month and my earnings are increasing with around $80-100/month.

gostwyck · « **Reply #13 on:** November 13, 2012, 08:30 »

Quote from: pancaketom on November 12, 2012, 22:56

Quote from: gostwyck on November 12, 2012, 21:03
Quote from: tab62 on November 12, 2012, 18:42
I figure I have 5 to 8 years of growth due to the size of my portfolio (just under 800 images) - once I hit near 10k in images the wall will fell on me...

Doesn't actually work like that. If you upload at a steady rate you will hit "the wall" at about 5-6 years, irrespective of quantity. That's the point at which sales from your older images will be dying at about at about the same rate as you can replace them __ and that assumes your own quality is improving at the same pace as the overall library. It's pretty much a mathematical certainty.

If you want to delay "the wall" beyond that timescale then you will need to significantly accelerate both your quantity and quality throughout that period, something which is very difficult to achieve.

or maybe create images that don't get dated and aren't easily duplicated (what these are? - I have no idea, I wish I did)

Even that doesn't work. You will still suffer the effects of 'dilution' due to the 5-7M or so new images coming on-line per year. Nothing goes up forever.

RacePhoto · « **Reply #14 on:** November 13, 2012, 10:51 »

Quote from: gostwyck on November 13, 2012, 08:30

Quote from: pancaketom on November 12, 2012, 22:56
Quote from: gostwyck on November 12, 2012, 21:03
Quote from: tab62 on November 12, 2012, 18:42
I figure I have 5 to 8 years of growth due to the size of my portfolio (just under 800 images) - once I hit near 10k in images the wall will fell on me...

Doesn't actually work like that. If you upload at a steady rate you will hit "the wall" at about 5-6 years, irrespective of quantity. That's the point at which sales from your older images will be dying at about at about the same rate as you can replace them __ and that assumes your own quality is improving at the same pace as the overall library. It's pretty much a mathematical certainty.

If you want to delay "the wall" beyond that timescale then you will need to significantly accelerate both your quantity and quality throughout that period, something which is very difficult to achieve.

or maybe create images that don't get dated and aren't easily duplicated (what these are? - I have no idea, I wish I did)

Even that doesn't work. You will still suffer the effects of 'dilution' due to the 5-7M or so new images coming on-line per year. Nothing goes up forever.

Thank You! Nothing goes up forever. The rapid growth is history and the accepting just about anything is in the past. And the qualified competition is 20 times what it used to be.

The wall is the system, the agencies, the competition and the market.

It's not impossible, but Nothing goes up forever. It's much more difficult than before and growth will be slower or level.

That's not negative, there's still money to be made. Just not the Gold Rush it once was.

(love the fine work on the axe handle)

EmberMike · « **Reply #15 on:** November 13, 2012, 10:58 »

Nice work, Jens. Very cool stuff.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #16 on:** November 13, 2012, 11:01 »

Quote from: RacePhoto on November 13, 2012, 10:51

Nothing goes up forever

thank god you went on other direction, I was worried

MicrostockGroup Sponsors

Poll

Have You Hit The Wall?

Author Topic: POLL: Have You Hit The Wall? (Read 4990 times)

PaulieWalnuts

cthoman

PaulieWalnuts

tab62

cthoman

stockastic

gostwyck

pancaketom

cybernesco

ClaridgeJ

microstockphoto.co.uk

JPSDK

nicku

gostwyck

RacePhoto

EmberMike

luissantos84

Related Topics

Sponsors

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors