How was your month.  For me it was not bad but still a little disappointing.  It was essentially the exact same as last month, but every year previous saw a big jump for Sept.  It was higher than last year but not by as much as I had hoped.

.. and don't forget to vote in the poll
http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?page=microstockmonthlysurvey

I don't see Stocksy on your chart.

whoops, you're right - it was an old chart template that I just plugged my new numbers in and Stocksy wasn't included.  They would have been .4% .. pretty small for me still but the number of images I have on there is pretty miniscule.  I've been happy with my sales there so far actually.

For me everything is going down compared to last year or the year before that, I do not have such an elaborate graph but mine would be similar to yours. Except DT and 123RF is stronger for me as IS and FTL is.
The biggest loser in my case is FTL. A few years ago they were my second biggest earner now they are back to the 5th place. My income at FTL is down TO 30% compared to 2010-2011.

Says it all really

Stock Site      ------------  Your vote
Shutterstock   ------------   $400
Self-Hosted   ------------   $20
Fotolia   -------------------   $20
Canstockphoto   -------   $20
123RF   ---------------------   $20
iStock   ---------------------   $20
DepositPhotos   -----------   $10
Envato   --------------------   $10
GLStockImages   -----------   $0
Alamy   --------------------   $0

It tells 'a' story, but it doesn't 'tell it all'.
The whole story would include how many files you have on each site and how long they have been there.
(I've said before, there's a guy over on the Alamy forum who regularly states how poor his iS sales are compared to his Alamy sales. It would be astonishing if they weren't: he's got fewer than 20 files on iStock, and last time I looked well over 5000 files on Alamy and increasing rapidly.
Therefore his conclusion that "Alamy sells much better than iStock" makes no logical sense.
NB, I don't mean this to fuel any sort of iS/Alamy debate, just saying that one set of figures don't even tell the full story for one person.)

Quote from: Ron on October 01, 2013, 08:47

Says it all really

Stock Site      ------------  Your vote
Shutterstock   ------------   $400
Self-Hosted   ------------   $20
Fotolia   -------------------   $20
Canstockphoto   -------   $20
123RF   ---------------------   $20
iStock   ---------------------   $20
DepositPhotos   -----------   $10
Envato   --------------------   $10
GLStockImages   -----------   $0
Alamy   --------------------   $0

It tells 'a' story, but it doesn't 'tell it all'.
The whole story would include how many files you have on each site and how long they have been there.
(I've said before, there's a guy over on the Alamy forum who regularly states how poor his iS sales are compared to his Alamy sales. It would be astonishing if they weren't: he's got fewer than 20 files on iStock, and last time I looked well over 5000 files on Alamy and increasing rapidly.
Therefore his conclusion that "Alamy sells much better than iStock" makes no logical sense.
NB, I don't mean this to fuel any sort of iS/Alamy debate, just saying that one set of figures don't even tell the full story for one person.)

My portfolio is almost identical on all sites, except for GL and PD where there are a bit less files. All sites have my portfolio for almost the same period, except GL and PD. But it doesnt really matter because those numbers for the smaller agencies havent changed for over a year. There is no growth on any agency no matter how many files I added. The only agency working for me is Shutterstock.

A different story is IS/PP because with 33 files the performance is exceptional compared to 900 files on other agencies. However, the devil would turn in his grave if I added more files to IS/PP. I have said this many times before, I would love to see my portfolio perform on IS/PP but I just cant get it over my heart to do it.

I'm frustrated and annoyed. The first half of the year was going great. I was having some of my best months ever. Now, things look like they are back at 2011 rebuilding levels. This seems to be the way things are going. I feel like I'm plugging holes in a dam. You get one plugged, then another one pops up. Shutterstock has basically gotten to the point where I'm not sure they are worth it (very similar to iStock when I left there). I can't say I'm doing well enough everywhere else though to give up the little amount they provide. Maybe, I should just go get a job and stop worrying about all this garbage. 

.

Ok..... September was a fantastic month..... 

SS - $30 short to become my new BME, lots of EL's and OD's 
FT - slightly under average 
DT - Very, very good month ,my best month since I quit exclusivity there ( nov. 2011) 
123RF - under average 
Canstock - good month
DP - average
Alamy - one average sale
FAA - my first sale 
Bigstock - dead

The pie slices:

SS - 60%
DT - 15%
FT - 9%
Canstock - 4%
DP - 1%
Alamy - 5%
FAA - 5%

Well, thanks to my pals at Getty, I made about 1/20th what I did last year.

However, Stocksy sales doubled from last month, so that's a plus

DP, GL, Pond and my PS site may have added $1-150 in there too.

A different story is IS/PP because with 33 files the performance is exceptional compared to 900 files on other agencies. However, the devil would turn in his grave if I added more files to IS/PP. I have said this many times before, I would love to see my portfolio perform on IS/PP but I just cant get it over my heart to do it.

I see your pov; I feel kicked in the stomach when I get a Main sale for <$1 or even <50c, when it's a unique low-supply, low demand file so wouldn't sell any more often at $1 than it would at $50; and I know that's much more than indies get.

I feel kicked in the stomach when I get a Main sale for <$1 or even <50c, when it's a unique low-supply, low demand file so wouldn't sell any more often at $1 than it would at $50; and I know that's much more than indies get.

So upload your 'unique low-supply, low demand' stuff as RM on more appropriate places like Alamy, etc.

Quote from: tickstock on October 01, 2013, 11:37

Better than last September by 10-20% depending on Getty  and Thinkstock sales.  It is a little worrying that only one image uploaded in the last year has made more than $500 though.  I'm cautiously optimistic about the final few months of the year.

Have you been reading iStock's Sept sales thread?  Better make that very cautiously optimistic.   

Hmm. I must admit the word 'optimistic' is not exactly the first one that springs to mind when it comes to Istock. There are however many other words, mostly utilising industrial language, that come to mind instead.

Quote from: ShadySue on October 01, 2013, 14:35

I feel kicked in the stomach when I get a Main sale for <$1 or even <50c, when it's a unique low-supply, low demand file so wouldn't sell any more often at $1 than it would at $50; and I know that's much more than indies get.

So upload your 'unique low-supply, low demand' stuff as RM on more appropriate places like Alamy, etc.

Obviously, I do when I can.