How are your sales going this month?
Mine are not good at all (only on SS and Wirestock)
I keep my expectations very low and then it's hard to be disappointed.

In this business the reviews are slow and the pay is low that is how we go (Rap song)...

Very slow all month until just a couple of days ago and then picked up a lot, in particular Shutterstock.

Normal month on SS
AS is slow

A week ago, a nice $ 6 SOD (last month my first EL on SS) 

Small port. Shutter: Normal  Adobe: Slow  Alamy: Dead 

BAD month.  Stock down, Elements down, DP 1/2 normal, DT pathetic.  Only one up is Alamy...so far at $240. P5 is down 25%, too.  Just cyclical and I am in the trough.

poor month

compared to 4 month average:
AS, Canva slightly down
SS down 30%
wirestock up a bit
p5, alamy 0

overall projection for month down about 25% after above average for last few months

last few months
Adobestock x 4 
Shutterstock -40% 
Alamy +-0
Dreamstime -20%
istock -90% 
123rf +-0
Indivstock +20%
Depositphotos +10%
Pixta +-0
canstockphoto +-0
Panthermedia +10%

Adobe - dead.
ShutterS - fits and blips.

Generally, is there any chance of giving a rough idea of number of dls or income we are talking about here? It is really hard to know what to think when someone says "50% down on SS" and it could be the difference between 2dls and 1dl or 20000dls and 10000dls. Or 500% increase because of a single random extended/ enhanced license. Of course no one has to provide any info at all, but seems a bit pointless without this context.

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on October 21, 2021, 14:20
Generally, is there any chance of giving a rough idea of number of dls or income we are talking about here? It is really hard to know what to think when someone says "50% down on SS" and it could be the difference between 2dls and 1dl or 20000dls and 10000dls. Or 500% increase because of a single random extended/ enhanced license. Of course no one has to provide any info at all, but seems a bit pointless without this context.

Good idea.
You start.

October 01 - 21, 2021 vs. 2020

shutterstock:
minus 26 downloads
minus $61,15

AS
plus 21 downloads
plus $85,18

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on October 21, 2021, 14:20
Generally, is there any chance of giving a rough idea of number of dls or income we are talking about here? It is really hard to know what to think when someone says "50% down on SS" and it could be the difference between 2dls and 1dl or 20000dls and 10000dls. Or 500% increase because of a single random extended/ enhanced license. Of course no one has to provide any info at all, but seems a bit pointless without this context.

On the shutterstock forum, I had a schedule where I kept track of my earnings from photos of my small port on Shutterstock each month.
I had made that after June 2020 to see if it was still worth uploading.
Shutterstockforum felt a bit like family to me. I've never had any negative comments about it either.
I hesitate to do the same here, I don't know if I'm doing anyone but you a favor with it.

Today sums up my whole month on SS pretty accurately: Had 50 sales today and still only a single digit earning amount. 

Sales have plummeted this week on AS and SS.

Dreamstime, stable: no sales as usual
Alamy, stable: No sales as usual
Shutterstock, stable:  a few sales
IStock, stable: somewhat less than a few sales
Adobe: Good in the beginning of the month, this week terrible 

Quote from: DOP on October 21, 2021, 15:24
Good idea.
You start.

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on October 21, 2021, 14:20
Generally, is there any chance of giving a rough idea of number of dls or income we are talking about here? It is really hard to know what to think when someone says "50% down on SS" and it could be the difference between 2dls and 1dl or 20000dls and 10000dls. Or 500% increase because of a single random extended/ enhanced license. Of course no one has to provide any info at all, but seems a bit pointless without this context.

Yup true. Very small player with <1,000 images on SS. Been there since 2012, no model released stuff and almost no editorial. Fair proportion of food. In 2014-2016 (500 images) had normal monthly sales of $300-$400 with around 400 dls/month. Portfolio static since 2018 at <1,000 images (noticed that new work didn't sell so stopped uploading). Current dls running at 150-200/month until very recently and now dipped below 150/month. Currently at just above payout minimum of $35 but often get SODs to bring me back into the $70-$100+/month range. If no SODs this month then expecting WME of <$50 but ja never knows!

Almost same port at Adobe. Sales this month to date ~35% of sales(dls) at SS and 50% of $$ at SS. Had free PS CC and LR at AS for the last 2 years (that's worth $200+) and if I start uploading again, it will be exclusively to AS and not to SS...the $0.10 sales p*ss me off too much. At SS I'm going to let it bleed out! No effort until no reward. Then I'll delete the port (or maybe sooner if I conclude that their 'corporatism' irritates me too much).

Quote from: thijsdegraaf on October 21, 2021, 18:18

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on October 21, 2021, 14:20
Generally, is there any chance of giving a rough idea of number of dls or income we are talking about here? It is really hard to know what to think when someone says "50% down on SS" and it could be the difference between 2dls and 1dl or 20000dls and 10000dls. Or 500% increase because of a single random extended/ enhanced license. Of course no one has to provide any info at all, but seems a bit pointless without this context.

On the shutterstock forum, I had a schedule where I kept track of my earnings from photos of my small port on Shutterstock each month.
I had made that after June 2020 to see if it was still worth uploading.
Shutterstockforum felt a bit like family to me. I've never had any negative comments about it either.
I hesitate to do the same here, I don't know if I'm doing anyone but you a favor with it.

More photos than OM. But I know he is a much better photographer. I'll add my schedule too, why not.
I photographed for my website (garden, nature, especially insects)  http://www.tuin-thijs.com/indexengels.htm . Started around 2000. The first years a small profit due to spontaneous requests for advertising links for a year. After the rise of facebook, blogs, vlogs, they have disappeared and I have to pay my provider. Websites from that time have almost all disappeared.
Didn't buy new equipment for Stock, have an old adobe editing program.
Started Shutterstock at the end of 2019. Don't use old photos. Until May, earnings regularly matched the number of photos uploaded. After May it became less. Then three months without uploading. And photos uploaded on Alamy and Adobe.
Unfortunately, due to corona, I didn't go on holiday and photographed near home. A lot of macro photos of insects, flowers. Not very commercial, but that's just my hobby. I am retired and consider it a cheap, healthy hobby because I often take the bike.
The number of sales increases slightly per month on average. Have over 2100 photos now. At Adobe I have far fewer photos and about $85. Received my first $50 at Alamy, but it's very quiet there now. This month on Shutter today: 43 for 13.52
My Stock photos are listed on the front page of my website.

Just like OM I have considered quitting Shutterstock. But as long as I enjoy shooting and the earnings are higher than Adobe I will keep going.

that's really good! You're moving in the right direction with promise. 

Quote from: Firn on October 21, 2021, 19:20
Today sums up my whole month on SS pretty accurately: Had 50 sales today and still only a single digit earning amount. 

Single digit from 50 sales. I don't understand. What single digit? Like under $10 you mean? WOW

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 24, 2021, 16:48

Quote from: Firn on October 21, 2021, 19:20
Today sums up my whole month on SS pretty accurately: Had 50 sales today and still only a single digit earning amount. 

Single digit from 50 sales. I don't understand. What single digit? Like under $10 you mean? WOW

Yes, under $10 for 50 sales was what I meant. Sorry, English isn't my first language, maybe you don't say it like this in English.

Quote from: Firn on October 24, 2021, 17:01
...Had 50 sales today and still only a single digit earning amount....

Yes, under $10 for 50 sales was what I meant. Sorry, English isn't my first language, maybe you don't say it like this in English.

I'm guessing it was less your expression than disbelief that the total could be so low

You were very close - it's typically "single digits" plural - as in "Had 50 sales today and earnings were only in the single digits"

Margin optimization (Shutterstock-speak for cutting contributor's royalties) has meant:

50 new subscription sales at the current 10 cent minimum = $5
50 old subscription sales at the old rate of 38 cents each = $19
(it would even have been $12.50 at the starter royalty of 25 cents)

My sales are almost £200 more than last month so far, last month was my worst month of the year to date.......

Quote from: Firn on October 24, 2021, 17:01

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 24, 2021, 16:48

Quote from: Firn on October 21, 2021, 19:20
Today sums up my whole month on SS pretty accurately: Had 50 sales today and still only a single digit earning amount. 

Single digit from 50 sales. I don't understand. What single digit? Like under $10 you mean? WOW

Yes, under $10 for 50 sales was what I meant. Sorry, English isn't my first language, maybe you don't say it like this in English.

Firn, congratulations on your high number of DLs, but sorry about the RPD :-(

One thing that would be interesting to compare, is your RPD (total sales divided by total number of DLs) for this month vs Oct 2020 and Oct 2019 to see what is really happening. That may be an interesting exercise in itself.