Author Topic: very low sales - opinions of experienced photographers (Read 25448 times)

niserin · « **on:** January 19, 2009, 13:02 »

Hi,
I am asking more experienced contributors with portfolios over 1000 and more than 1 year on stocks - how are your sales recently and how you consider your future on stock ?
Personally I have portfolio over 1500 and have been in this business over 2,5 years.
Speaking about SS for instance - I have been always avaraging about 80 dls a day (even over 150 sometimes). Now it's about 30-40. Of course I am uploading new stuff, however there is no such a 'boom' on them as it was even couples months ago.
Having on mind that there are more and photographers, competition is extremely high, I am getting a little bit discouraged. May this business still be profitable?

Fyletto · « **Reply #1 on:** January 19, 2009, 13:22 »

Right... I am 20 months in microstock now... Speaking about SS, my port is 1200 pictures now , and used to have about 40-60 dwnls in average (84 max), I have just 20-30 now... Very bad time. However, january was very tricky last year and picked up just in the end... But even with 1/2 port I had bigger sales than now. BAD...

lisafx · « **Reply #2 on:** January 19, 2009, 13:31 »

I am four years doing this and have four thousand plus images. I definitely see some softening of sales.

Maybe 15-20% off of where I would have expected the sales to be at this point. Will have to wait until the end of the month to calculate exact %, but the economy is surely having some effect, along with the long weekend and the slow start after the holidays.

cdwheatley · « **Reply #3 on:** January 19, 2009, 13:41 »

I used to be over 100 a day now 50-80. I think things will stay this way or perhaps get worse. Not trying to be negative just calling it as I see it. In the future you will have to work twice as hard to make the same money you are making today. It is what it is. The days of 10-20 downloads on the first day an image goes live(shutterstock) are gone or very rare. I couldn't imagine starting fresh right now, I would quickly become discouraged.

Is there anyone that has been at this for while seeing huge growth right now without seriously busting their behinds?

I'm still having a blast and wouldn't trade it for anything just need to get used to the new terms.

melastmohican · « **Reply #4 on:** January 19, 2009, 13:43 »

First it's global recession, second competition is growing every day, prices are going down. Maybe 4 digit number portfolio is not enough anymore :-)

sharply_done · « **Reply #5 on:** January 19, 2009, 13:44 »

Quote from: cdwheatley on January 19, 2009, 13:41

...
I'm still having a blast and wouldn't trade it for anything just need to get used to the new terms.

Ditto.

niserin · « **Reply #6 on:** January 19, 2009, 14:01 »

what do you mean by that:

Quote

I'm still having a blast and wouldn't trade it for anything

?

Anyway.. it's hard to get used to and accept the new terms. Improving your skills and enlarging port may results only in hard achievable stop of decreasing sales.

gostwyck · « **Reply #7 on:** January 19, 2009, 14:11 »

Quote from: lisafx on January 19, 2009, 13:31

I am four years doing this and have four thousand plus images. I definitely see some softening of sales.

Maybe 15-20% off of where I would have expected the sales to be at this point. Will have to wait until the end of the month to calculate exact %, but the economy is surely having some effect, along with the long weekend and the slow start after the holidays.

Also with 4 years on microstock and I'd agree with everything Lisa says.

SS has definitely been disappointing of late and I am projecting January to be the 4th consecutive month of falling sales there. I get the impression that they may have lost a few long term subscribers which could explain why new images aren't getting as much initial boost. Some of their subscribers must have HD's with thousands of images on them so they can probably use what they have for now.

IS, DT, FT and StockXpert are doing OK though and my overall projection for January, based on last week's sales, is still 30% higher than Jan 2008. That's roughly in line with the increase in my port over the last year.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #8 on:** January 19, 2009, 14:19 »

Quote from: niserin on January 19, 2009, 13:02

I am asking more experienced contributors with portfolios over 1000 and more than 1 year on stocks - how are your sales recently and how you consider your future on stock ?

Sales are fine. Future looks fine.

cdwheatley · « **Reply #9 on:** January 19, 2009, 14:20 »

Quote from: niserin on January 19, 2009, 14:01

what do you mean by that:
Quote
I'm still having a blast and wouldn't trade it for anything
?

That means I love this job and the freedom that comes with it

sharpshot · « **Reply #10 on:** January 19, 2009, 14:25 »

I made significantly more in 2008 than 2007. SS went down but other sites went up. I prefer not having to rely on my income from SS so much.

niserin · « **Reply #11 on:** January 19, 2009, 14:27 »

Quote

I prefer not having to rely on my income from SS so much.

and maybe that's the point

RacePhoto · « **Reply #12 on:** January 19, 2009, 15:10 »

Quote from: sjlocke on January 19, 2009, 14:19

Quote from: niserin on January 19, 2009, 13:02
I am asking more experienced contributors with portfolios over 1000 and more than 1 year on stocks - how are your sales recently and how you consider your future on stock ?

Sales are fine. Future looks fine.

Coming from an IS exclusive who has over 5000 images and one of the dozen or so black diamonds, if I was you, I'd agree 100%.

We just went through a world decline in economics, some buyers have pulled back, some have vanished. I can't predict the future, but I'd say there's probably more potential for growth in Micro than any other area of the market. Keep in mind what Getty and Corbus and Alamy executives have predicted. Microstock will be a growing percentage of their sales and traditional stock will be declining.

It may take some time to recover.

Eco · « **Reply #13 on:** January 19, 2009, 16:16 »

This is the problem: "5,660,112 photos available for download, 69,570 new photos added in the past week".

The number of images submitted by photographers every week far exceeds the growth in the number of images downloaded by buyers. Despite constant uploading of new images your portfolio will comprise an ever smaller percentage of what is available to buyers on SS.

fotografer · « **Reply #14 on:** January 19, 2009, 16:28 »

Same here, the only place that went down for me last year was iS and the other sites more than made up for my losses there.
This last week or so my best sellers on IS that had been killed off have been ressurected and are selling well again. I hope that they don't kill them off again too soon.

Quote from: sharpshot on January 19, 2009, 14:25

I made significantly more in 2008 than 2007. SS went down but other sites went up. I prefer not having to rely on my income from SS so much.

jayreilly · « **Reply #15 on:** January 21, 2009, 09:01 »

Quote from: Eco on January 19, 2009, 16:16

This is the problem: "5,660,112 photos available for download, 69,570 new photos added in the past week".

The number of images submitted by photographers every week far exceeds the growth in the number of images downloaded by buyers. Despite constant uploading of new images your portfolio will comprise an ever smaller percentage of what is available to buyers on SS.

i don't do microstock but i would say this it is, combined with the mentality "i love it and i would not give it up for anything!" i think another reason that the market is sooo flooded is that there is a invite all sorta thought process. i see the same thing in wedding photography. all the tips and tricks are soo easily traded on blogs, forums and other media that it is a shoot yourself in the foot way to go.

RT · « **Reply #16 on:** January 21, 2009, 09:19 »

Quote from: jayreilly on January 21, 2009, 09:01

all the tips and tricks are soo easily traded on blogs, forums and other media that it is a shoot yourself in the foot way to go.

This is what I think is the biggest downfall in microstock, I know some people feel the urge to share their knowledge but generally speaking in the end it helps others to take away their income.

By the way Jay how's the blog coming along

jayreilly · « **Reply #17 on:** January 21, 2009, 10:26 »

Quote from: RT on January 21, 2009, 09:19

Quote from: jayreilly on January 21, 2009, 09:01
all the tips and tricks are soo easily traded on blogs, forums and other media that it is a shoot yourself in the foot way to go.

This is what I think is the biggest downfall in microstock, I know some people feel the urge to share their knowledge but generally speaking in the end it helps others to take away their income.

By the way Jay how's the blog coming along

hey RT - my blog is defiantly just on the verge of giving away and sharing and giving just little enough insight. i like to share, create community yet, i gotta keep some secrets to myself!

and with a tongue and cheek name, i think its fitting!

http://www.mycameraisbiggerthanyours.com

michealo · « **Reply #18 on:** January 21, 2009, 10:37 »

Not quite at the 1000 but getting there, January is my BME already and has my BDE.

Future looks rosy

Thanks to Sean for the use of the terms BME, BDE ;-)

RT · « **Reply #19 on:** January 21, 2009, 11:59 »

Quote from: jayreilly on January 21, 2009, 10:26

hey RT - my blog is defiantly just on the verge of giving away and sharing and giving just little enough insight. i like to share, create community yet, i gotta keep some secrets to myself!

and with a tongue and cheek name, i think its fitting!

http://www.mycameraisbiggerthanyours.com

Jay,

I like your blog it shows photo's of sunny fun places which we don't see much in the UK, but you do realise the name means you're going to have to shell out on a Hassy 50 otherwise everyone will laugh at you

If you do get one let me know and I'll buy the domain - iwishmycamerawasasbigasyours.com

jayreilly · « **Reply #20 on:** January 21, 2009, 12:15 »

Quote from: RT on January 21, 2009, 11:59

Quote from: jayreilly on January 21, 2009, 10:26
hey RT - my blog is defiantly just on the verge of giving away and sharing and giving just little enough insight. i like to share, create community yet, i gotta keep some secrets to myself!

and with a tongue and cheek name, i think its fitting!

http://www.mycameraisbiggerthanyours.com

Jay,

I like your blog it shows photo's of sunny fun places which we don't see much in the UK, but you do realise the name means you're going to have to shell out on a Hassy 50 otherwise everyone will laugh at you
If you do get one let me know and I'll buy the domain - iwishmycamerawasasbigasyours.com

ha, i am looking at a hasselblad right now, but not the largest, looking at the older h3s, i think the 30 megapixel...just can timagine ever needing much more!

RT · « **Reply #21 on:** January 21, 2009, 12:24 »

Quote from: jayreilly on January 21, 2009, 12:15

ha, i am looking at a hasselblad right now, but not the largest, looking at the older h3s, i think the 30 megapixel...just can timagine ever needing much more!

They've been advertising discounts for the 31 and 39 over here, still way too much for me, I agree about 30 being plenty, I'm interested to see what the Leica 32mp is like when it gets launched, still won't be able to afford one though.

Fred · « **Reply #22 on:** January 21, 2009, 14:03 »

Quote from: jayreilly on January 21, 2009, 12:15

...ha, i am looking at a hasselblad right now, but not the largest, looking at the older h3s, i think the 30 megapixel...just can timagine ever needing much more!

Just keep in mind. When the first IBM PC came out - 1980 or so - Bill Gates said he could not imagine anyone ever needing more then 640KB of memory (RAM)!

c h e e r s
fred

shank_ali · « **Reply #23 on:** January 21, 2009, 15:05 »

Quote from: niserin on January 19, 2009, 13:02

Hi,
I am asking more experienced contributors with portfolios over 1000 and more than 1 year on stocks - how are your sales recently and how you consider your future on stock ?
Personally I have portfolio over 1500 and have been in this business over 2,5 years.
Speaking about SS for instance - I have been always avaraging about 80 dls a day (even over 150 sometimes). Now it's about 30-40. Of course I am uploading new stuff, however there is no such a 'boom' on them as it was even couples months ago.
Having on mind that there are more and photographers, competition is extremely high, I am getting a little bit discouraged. May this business still be profitable?

you could retrain as a bricklayer or a ballet dancer.Driving a big red bus or taxi driving might earn you some income besides photography.Anyhow i hope you don't starve!

BikeTourist · « **Reply #24 on:** January 21, 2009, 16:41 »

I've been doing this for 3+ years, converting from conventional transparency-based stock. I have about 5500, 1800 and 1400 images respectively placed with microstocks. I've always known that any success (income) would be short-lived.

First, your images are constantly diluted by new acceptances by other photgraphers. The stock agencies have more and more images to offer. Yours are a smaller and smaller percentage of what's available.

Second, the recession is here and businesses are not spending what they were able to spend not long ago.

So — If microstock is hurting, what is happening to the big boys as companies reel in their spending?

I'm happy to be retired and glad that stock has enabled me to buy some nice equipment and help out with living expenses. But, I am not counting on it forever!

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Author Topic: very low sales - opinions of experienced photographers (Read 25448 times)

niserin

Fyletto

lisafx

cdwheatley

melastmohican

sharply_done

niserin

gostwyck

Sean Locke Photography

cdwheatley

sharpshot

niserin

RacePhoto

Eco

fotografer

jayreilly

RT

jayreilly

michealo

RT

jayreilly

RT

Fred

shank_ali

BikeTourist

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