The market is so completely oversaturated that the supply outstripps the demand by a million percent.

One thing that everyone might agree on is that the microstocks - the big ones at least - have made it ever more of a PITA for buyers.  The marketing brains at these agencies think that all these constantly changing pricing plans, credis, tiers, subscriptions, 'price sliders', special collections, search options yada yada yada are giving buyers "choice". 

Quote from: stockastic on November 23, 2012, 18:29

One thing that everyone might agree on is that the microstocks - the big ones at least - have made it ever more of a PITA for buyers.  The marketing brains at these agencies think that all these constantly changing pricing plans, credis, tiers, subscriptions, 'price sliders', special collections, search options yada yada yada are giving buyers "choice". 

Except Shutterstock __ and that is precisely why they are doing fantastic business and every other agency is suffering in accordance to their 'greed quotient'.

'Microstock' is simply returning to it's roots. It won't please everyone but that's business and, with SS spending $30M+ per annum on marketing themselves, there's probably not much you can do to change it. Personally I'm very comfortable with the microstock model that SS has developed and mastered.

Quote from: click_click on November 22, 2012, 12:39

I've seen posts here on the forums where some contributors apparently have the gift of seeing the future and outlined that this race to the bottom will supposedly go down to paying us %1 

Two years of falling income despite fairly steady uploading has shown me that I am unlikely to maintain my current income levels.  However I do agree that, barring any unforeseen disasters, the decline will be gradual.   

My plans, if that is the case, are to get my daughter through her last two years of college and out supporting herself, and then I won't need to make nearly as much.  I can semi retire and go back to shooting what I like when I feel like it, and doing stock on a much more PT basis. 

I'll probably leave the primary wage earning to my hubby, who loves his teaching gig and is planning to do it up to age 65 or 70.

OTOH, if the world economy recovers, we may see a big boost in sales.  And there is always a chance the sites will begin to feel the effects of the demotivation their royalty cuts have caused and decide to begin raising rates again.  If the money improves again, I can see myself getting motivated to plan, finance, and execute more shoots again.

Quote from: lisafx on November 22, 2012, 13:03

Quote from: click_click on November 22, 2012, 12:39

I've seen posts here on the forums where some contributors apparently have the gift of seeing the future and outlined that this race to the bottom will supposedly go down to paying us %1 

Two years of falling income despite fairly steady uploading has shown me that I am unlikely to maintain my current income levels.  However I do agree that, barring any unforeseen disasters, the decline will be gradual.   

My plans, if that is the case, are to get my daughter through her last two years of college and out supporting herself, and then I won't need to make nearly as much.  I can semi retire and go back to shooting what I like when I feel like it, and doing stock on a much more PT basis. 

I'll probably leave the primary wage earning to my hubby, who loves his teaching gig and is planning to do it up to age 65 or 70.

OTOH, if the world economy recovers, we may see a big boost in sales.  And there is always a chance the sites will begin to feel the effects of the demotivation their royalty cuts have caused and decide to begin raising rates again.  If the money improves again, I can see myself getting motivated to plan, finance, and execute more shoots again.

Not so sure about the gradual decline thing.   I might even call it a disaster.   Did you notice the top selling Xmas exclusive went from selling 60,000 images in one xmas a few years back to less than 1000 this xmas.  At least judging by her new stuff flopping.   But don't feel too bad she probably made $1.5 million give or take 500k since 2006 so exclusitivity was a no brainer. 
 
It appears some popular xmas themes went from selling more than a 1000 dls in a season to less than 20 this year.   Ouch!  If istock can't sell xmas, which they said last 4 months were almost half of their sales, then they are toast.  The exodus will be swift and the price wars will be brutal.

Just another apocalyptic topic... ...

Quote from: lisafx on November 23, 2012, 08:05

Quote from: Stingey on November 23, 2012, 07:00

PS - there are a lot of books out there touting the "get rich quick" microstock industry.  They were A) written before competition was so stiff, and B) written by people trying to sell books, and grand promises do that better than painting a realistic picture.

Your prospects depend a lot on you having access to American-looking models who don't mind having their image used to promote 'any product or service', and being able to photograph them to microstock standards, which are very high. Some people do well with non-people shots; but more and more, properly released imagery is what will sell, as most other things can be acquired CC, especially if pixel perfection isn't needed (which it seldom is).

Much as I hate to say it, it's not just 'what you do with it', but also your actual equipment which counts, when you get down to pixel-perfect pernickitiness.

I want everyone to get their doomsday predictions out of their system so we can make this forum more constructive again with more positive threads!

Haven't heard that expression; but with the agencies it's more like they pee on us and try to convince us the sun's shining.