Author Topic: Some optimism would be nice (Read 19049 times)

LesPalenik · « **Reply #25 on:** June 18, 2015, 04:53 »

Quote

There are opportunities even in Microstock if you've seen what I've seen. There are always emerging trends in microstock. When the iPad first came out, I was looking for well-composed photos of people holding iPads in different settings to use for websites. Guess what, there were none and this was months after it was released.

Nah, those emerging trends are just short-term fads. There is much more demand for timeless concepts like a firm tomato or a rosy-cheeked Santa.

Shelma1 · « **Reply #26 on:** June 18, 2015, 05:11 »

Quote from: Hongover on June 17, 2015, 19:12

I just joined this site and all I see is doom and gloom. I'm a newbie photographer/vector artist and I think selling microstock is a great source of passive income. I would never do it full-time, but as a part time thing, it's pretty great.

Why wouldn't you do it full time?

NandoPhoto · « **Reply #27 on:** June 18, 2015, 10:47 »

I'll have to go against the flow here and agree with OP: some optimism would be nice. You don't need to be optimistic about the way the industry is going, but about what you are doing. I think it comes down to managing expectations.

I started with DT only in 2006 or 2007, always as a side income, and with about 80 images online. Back then I was making close to no money. But hey, whatever came in was better than nothing. Today I have around 1500 images online in about 12 or 13 agencies. I still see it as side income and my monthly income is between US$150 and US$250/month (it fluctuates quite a lot). Still very small compared to the medium/high earners here, and living in London doesn't help (£100-£200 doesn't go a very long way). But contrary to some people here, I don't see a great variation in income when I upload or take a break for a few months, and I get a small payout every month. This goes towards pints at the pub and other stuff on which I would be spending money anyway.

The thing is, I shoot what I like shooting, and if it sells in stock great! If not, I would have shot it anyway. I don't think the time I spend keywording, captioning and uploading is such a high cost for the number of images that I upload. I just know what to expect and manage my expectations accordingly. I also teach photography courses in a school on a freelance basis, and photograph lectures, receptions and headshots. I enjoy all aspects of my photographic work at this moment in time - I stopped shooting weddings and parties because it made me miserable. Stock still brings me pleasure, and the money that I make there is what I expect to get.

If you feel so negative about the industry and the way things are going, it's your job to change it. Great if you can change the direction the world is spinning (I'd love to have a higher RPI!), but if that's not possible maybe it would be good to look for other ways to commercialise your work.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #28 on:** June 18, 2015, 10:58 »

NandoPhoto doubleplus good from me you sum up my thoughts really well

cobalt · « **Reply #29 on:** June 18, 2015, 11:17 »

Actually i am quite optimistic, we really have many interesting options. New macro places like 500pix or offset, yesterday the announcement of adobe stock,which brings my content right into the designer workflow, video is certainly a growing market etc...

With adobe entering the stock market and launching worldwide in 36 countries, we will get much better balance. i really like ss, but I appreciate diversity in the market, I don't want to ever again be dependent on mostly just one agency.

We can supply non exclusive content everywhere or specialised content exclusively and there are many,many small and interesting agencies or collections to discover.

It might be a more confusing world then in 2004 when we could sell the most basic files 10000 times, but now we have much better pricing options, from 25 cents to 600 dollars, the whole market is open to us.

i think especially if you want to do stock longterm things are looking good.

tickstock · « **Reply #30 on:** June 18, 2015, 11:50 »

Quote from: cobalt on June 18, 2015, 11:17

With adobe entering the stock market and launching worldwide in 36 countries, we will get much better balance. i really like ss, but I appreciate diversity in the market, I don't want to ever again be dependent on mostly just one agency.

You do realize that every sale converted from SS to Adobe will result in a loss of revenue for you (something like 20-70%)? That's not the kind of diversity I support.

cobalt · « **Reply #31 on:** June 18, 2015, 11:55 »

You are assuming that the number of customers is fixed.

But i totally disagree, when my files were included in the microsoft office library, i had downloads over 600 000 times, just for one file.

Of course, i wasn't paid for this and the customers thought this is a freebie that comes with office, but the numbers show that if you make it easy to access files from inside the application you can reach many more people.

I see this as a real opportunity to reach new customers, the best new option by far in the last years.

Also fotolia pays me in euros, which is usually better for me.

tickstock · « **Reply #32 on:** June 18, 2015, 11:58 »

The only way it is any way possible to be positive is to think that they'll bring in a large amount of customers that would never have been customers without Adobe, I think that is very unlikely to happen. Their growth is going to come predominantly from converting Fotolia buyers to Adobe and from other sites.

cobalt · « **Reply #33 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:00 »

Well, we will see right?

I think the market for online business is still growing, there are still millions of people around the globe that have never used a stock agency.

I am sure adobe still has plans to grow their customer base. And with every new app or product, there will be an integration with adobe stock.

tickstock · « **Reply #34 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:01 »

Yes we'll see but it's a fact that any buyer that converts from SS to Adobe is going to result in a substantial loss of revenue for you.

cobalt · « **Reply #35 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:06 »

I earn more on average downloads on fotolia than on SS, unless there is a superlarge download. So for me more sales via fotolia is better.

Ss is fantastic for video or if they have extended licenses, but otherwise it is mostly subs, which don't excite me.

On fotolia more than 50% are credit sales.

Here in germany fotolia is often stronger than SS.

tickstock · « **Reply #36 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:08 »

Quote from: cobalt on June 18, 2015, 12:06

I earn more on average downloads on fotolia than on SS, unless there is a superlarge download. So for me more sales via fotolia is better.

Ss is fantastic for video or if they have extended licenses, but otherwise it is mostly subs, which don't excite me.

On fotolia more than 50% are credit sales.

Here in germany fotolia is often stronger than SS.

This seems to be a big misconception here, Adobe is not converting customers to Fotolia they are converting customers to Adobe Stock. It's very different, there are no credit sales with no bonus for exclusive contributors or files. Again you will not get more credit sales from this you will lose credit sales on Fotolia as they try to move customers from Fotolia to Adobe Stock.

cobalt · « **Reply #37 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:20 »

Of course they have Credit packs, just like on fotolia, It is the Same system. It is not just subs. And the Return with 33% will be higher than on fotolia for me.

The end result will dependent on the mix of course, if instead of 50% credit sales I only get subs...but we will see, I don't see why the sales mix should be so different.

Anyway, why should there be any loss of customers from SS?

Wouldn't it be more logical that istock will be the biggest loser, because they don't have the Same budget for marketing?

i would expect adobe to go after the easiest target first, although personally I believe the new customers are a much bigger group.

tickstock · « **Reply #38 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:23 »

Where are you seeing credit packs at Adobe? All I see is 10 images per month (monthly or annual plan) and the 750 images per month plan. It is in no way the same system. For an exclusive full sized file if you want one it will get you something like $12 on Fotolia and $3.30 on Adobe Stock (assuming gold level). For exclusive contributors you'll get $3.30 on Adobe and $20 on Fotolia. For nonexclusive files it's $4 on Fotolia and $3.30 on Adobe. For single files on SS (top level) it's $3.75(or more) and Adobe $3.30.

cobalt · « **Reply #39 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:38 »

I just attended the webinar, they have single images for 10 euros and normal credit packs like on fotolia. I haven´t looked at the adobe site.

I am not exclusive to fotolia, I am a non exclusive silver level artist. I think I have 10 exclusive files, at the moment, but plan to increase that, especially with local content where I can keyword in German.

So for me 33% on adobe is more money, if the mix is the same.

On SS the interesting are the extended licenses, but I don´t get many. That would be the only real risk, if there is a "mass migration " to adobe and I no longer get extended licenses from SS. But since the most interesting thing about SS is video, at the moment I am not too worried.

tickstock · « **Reply #40 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:40 »

Do you have something you can point to with credit packs? I haven't seen anything about that anywhere and a google search of it doesn't come up with anything as far as I can see.
https://stock.adobe.com/plans

cobalt · « **Reply #41 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:42 »

This is what I see and in the presentation they also had an offer for single images at 9.90 euros. (net, VAT has to be added)

The allowance is roling,i.e. the customer can really use the full pack and is not limited to 25 daily downloads that they lose the next day. So there are better options of getting sales. Only mostphotos shares the unused revenue with the artist, everyone else usually the agency keeps the unused amount. But here at least we have a chance that the customers use more of their allowance.

https://stock.adobe.com/plans

cthoman · « **Reply #42 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:43 »

Quote from: tickstock on June 18, 2015, 12:01

Yes we'll see but it's a fact that any buyer that converts from SS to Adobe is going to result in a substantial loss of revenue for you.

What can't cause a substantial loss in revenue these days? You can probably just add this to the long list. Yay! Positivity!

tickstock · « **Reply #43 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:44 »

Quote from: cobalt on June 18, 2015, 12:42

This is what I see and in the presentation they also had an offer for single images at 9.90 euros. (net, VAT has to be added)

https://stock.adobe.com/plans

There is nothing there about credits and it certainly doesn't look like the same thing as is on Fotolia.

tickstock · « **Reply #44 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:45 »

Quote from: cthoman on June 18, 2015, 12:43

Quote from: tickstock on June 18, 2015, 12:01
Yes we'll see but it's a fact that any buyer that converts from SS to Adobe is going to result in a substantial loss of revenue for you.

What can't cause a substantial loss in revenue these days? You can probably just add this to the long list. Yay! Positivity!

There are some people that are positive about this but I think that's just because they don't understand it.

cobalt · « **Reply #45 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:46 »

the smaller plans are like a credit plan, just organised as a monthly budget. The returns for me will be slightly higher than what I am getting now.

Unless it is all subs...then I will complain very loudly...until then...

Pixart · « **Reply #46 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:56 »

Quote from: cobalt on June 18, 2015, 12:06

On fotolia more than 50% are credit sales.
.

Wowza, I would love to live on your planet. I get one credit sale for every 4-6 subs.

Holmes · « **Reply #47 on:** June 18, 2015, 12:57 »

Hongover -- thanks for your post and thoughts. and welcome to the site. as you can see, there are bitter members that are always ready to jump on a newbie. It happened to me. You appear to have thick skin which is good. It is unfortunate that some here feel being rude, arrogant and hateful is acceptable. but cyberbullies are just a reality i guess.

ArenaCreative · « **Reply #48 on:** June 18, 2015, 13:03 »

Do what you think you can, try hard, and ignore the general population of naysayers. Back in 2008 it was all "doom and gloom" on this exact same forum... I'm still waiting. Maybe the "wave that will be crashed by 2009" passed right over us so quickly that it evaporated. I was sitting on my butt on the beach yesterday with a rum drink in hand, enjoying the company of my girlfriend and relatives, earning some nice passive residual royalties. It's a semi-retired feeling. It came with a ton of work over the years, but once the ball is rolling with some momentum, you can reap the rewards. It's not a true retirement, but if I were honest about how few hours I actually work each week, I would probably be embarrassed. I kick myself for not working more full-time weeks during the past 5 years. I'd probably be making double my income. But then again, not all of us live to work... I prefer to work (just enough) to live. This field comes with its pros and cons. I'm a glass-half-full type of person.

To the OP - if you want to build a nice passive, side-hobby income, then go for it... anything is possible with hard work and ingenuity.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #49 on:** June 18, 2015, 13:14 »

Quote from: tickstock on June 18, 2015, 12:45

Quote from: cthoman on June 18, 2015, 12:43
Quote from: tickstock on June 18, 2015, 12:01
Yes we'll see but it's a fact that any buyer that converts from SS to Adobe is going to result in a substantial loss of revenue for you.

What can't cause a substantial loss in revenue these days? You can probably just add this to the long list. Yay! Positivity!
There are some people that are positive about this but I think that's just because they don't understand it.

There are some people who are negative but I think its just because its got nothing to do with Istock

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Author Topic: Some optimism would be nice (Read 19049 times)

LesPalenik

Shelma1

NandoPhoto

Pauws99

cobalt

tickstock

cobalt

tickstock

cobalt

tickstock

cobalt

tickstock

cobalt

tickstock

cobalt

tickstock

cobalt

cthoman

tickstock

tickstock

cobalt

Pixart

Holmes

ArenaCreative

Pauws99

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