Hey guys,
How's going?

I was looking for some discussions about this topic but haven't found any. So, let me try to start one.

I was browsing through my statistics and all that microstcok/bundle sites and thinking how our field has changed during last years. As a mostly shutterstock & creativemarket person I have to say that competition is getting more and more huge. We got unlimited subscription sites, vast graphic resource bundles and else. I mean, how many "doodle packages" customer needs before he stops buying? Especially when he can get thousands of them in a sale for 30bucks or so.  As a result, every upcomming creation gets harder and harder to sell. For example, my new products on CM sold only 4 or 5 times during last months. (2 years ago you'd get houndereds). Similar to the SH, new uploads performing really bad.

So, after all - based on my stats. In 2017 I made only 1k or 2k from all of my new illustrations, products, fonts... What made my salary was my old stock content - all of these images which build stong positions during years of succes. I mean, everything new I create won't do any good for me.

By math, I need around 400 new shutterstock illustrations each month to made my income. That's more than I'm able to make in 2years time.

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Are you experiencing same? Do you have any solution how to keep up in 2018 and future years? What causes this trend?

Good luck,
Vitek

I just mean anyone who does not need the income from micro to survive.

Yes, that.  For survival, I hear that McDonalds is still hiring ...

I think you've already answered your own question. Sheer volume and availability. It's a question we're all faced with to some extent. For myself I've been actively focusing on direct client work and so far it's working out very well. I just don't see a sustainable future in micro any longer. As you say, the law of diminishing returns makes growth virtually impossible for most today. The way I see it the future of microstock will be split between the big factory producers and the hobbyists. And by hobbyist I don't mean sub par or second rate, I just mean anyone who does not need the income from micro to survive.

This is my opinion exactly. Thats why i was looking into POD sites as an alternative, however i hear thats even worse. Time to work direct with clients i think....thats where you will get the best return on your time investment.

I noticed that a lot of the people who were making big money selling vector packs and brushes a few years ago then moved on to selling people courses on how to make money selling vector packs and some are now even moving one step removed from that, to selling more general motivational courses/ books or how to marketing courses.

Too many designers to compete designing>Sell tools for designers>Too many people selling tools for designers>Sell courses to people selling tools for designers>Too many people selling courses for selling tools for designers>Sell courses for people on how to make courses and market them.

It all leaves a bad taste in the mouth. On every step if the people could make money doing the thing they are trying to teach they would be doing the thing, not selling courses in doing the thing. It misleads everyone down the chain so they can line their own pockets.

No solutions here, just a thought.

mainstream images are completely out, sparking ideas are always in - no matter what.

Going for Microstocks is like any other business, it�s a day by day struggle.

Young people come up with better ideas, are more creative, more innovative. Old people are backward-looking all the time, they simply are stuck in the mud.... and complain. Call it generation gap.

Going for Microstocks is like any other business, it�s a day by day struggle.

Young people come up with better ideas, are more creative, more innovative. Old people are backward-looking all the time, they simply are stuck in the mud.... and complain. Call it generation gap.

Maybe they look backwards because history repeats itself...

So if someone started in microstock at age 18, when they reached age 25 "Josephine" would consider them old and backward-looking. Lol.

Quote from: Josephine on April 23, 2018, 10:04

Going for Microstocks is like any other business, it�s a day by day struggle.

Young people come up with better ideas, are more creative, more innovative. Old people are backward-looking all the time, they simply are stuck in the mud.... and complain. Call it generation gap.

I am old...
I remember when photos were worth more than $0.25 and sold for an absolute minimum of $50 and more often than not in the average range of $300-$500 dollars and regularly more than $1000 and occassionally for $5000+
Old people like me are backward looking all the time wondering why the young people with all their better ideas and innovation decided to take a once lucrative business and devalue it.
Now I can imagine it will be all the old peoples fault for not providing you a self entitled future of success cause you were innovative enought to want to work for pennies and sacrifice yourself for your self applauding creative better ideas.
You can keep it.

And how much did it cost to afford the equipment and materials as well as the training and technical expertise to produce sellable images?...the world has moved on just like it did for precision watchmakers and almost any other industry you care to name. Nothing to do with young vs old just the way things are.

old are those, who are in the Microstock business for more than 7 years. They ran out of new ideas. And they remember the golden days.

What a sweeping generalization 

Quote from: Josephine on April 23, 2018, 11:31

old are those, who are in the Microstock business for more than 7 years. They ran out of new ideas. And they remember the golden days.

What a sweeping generalization 

If it were applied to any other group it would be considered racist/sexist etc of course.

Quote from: Josephine on April 23, 2018, 11:31

old are those, who are in the Microstock business for more than 7 years. They ran out of new ideas. And they remember the golden days.

Why 7 years? May I ask how long you have been in the business? You seem to know a lot about it.

6 years 11 months I'm guessing ;-).