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!

If I were not 19 years old and was not studying for the first year it may be quite a smart idea

I blame sagging sales on three things:

First: the economy
Second: sub sales. Once a buyer has 20-30,000 images saved. How many more would they need?
Third: Everyone with a camera in the world is entering stock. If everyone is selling them who is left to buy them?

Oh ... one more thing. No images on any site should be sold for less than $10.00 per dl. If every micro site raised their prices to that amount .... they would still sell and photographers would make money.

Right now if you really want to make money in photography .... shoot weddings! I retired years ago from shooting weddings and in my best years made over $250,000.00 per year after paying my helpers. (Helpers: 5 freelance photographers.)

Nuff said.

-Larry

are these the same people that have just shared their money making tips with others?

What are you saying? ! ?

Uh, that was sarcasm.  I think I know what he's pointing out.

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?

Not really unless you'll become a volume shooter repeating the best selling concepts of others. You won't see those people a lot on forums, since they are just lurking. The Alexa traffic of this site, the MSG, for instance is very high, much higher than you can expect from the number of posts. The participants that share their knowledge (here, but also on site forums) and ports are the very social and friendly tip of the iceberg. The vast majority is just leeching. When they appear now and then (here), they won't show any port links nor use the same nick as on the sites.
The SS forum is a vast source of info too. "Show me your best seller", and yahoo, the friendly naive people put their bestsellers up there. Or they brag how much they get. It's very simple then to surf to their port, rank it by popularity, and see what can be reshot easily. Bragging makes you feel fine, but flying under the radar and leeching makes you rich.

Those volume shooters/copycats take notes, download comps, make a storyboard for their next shoot, and there goes your original successful concept down the drains. Three months later, you will see your original concept drowned in similars, especially on SS. I had it 2-3 times that a very good selling original concept disappeared after a while, and when looking for my keywords, I found 20 even 50 similars done later. In a few cases even with almost exactly the same keywords.

If they work hard and methodically, after 1-2 years, they have a port of over 5,000 with best selling concepts of others and an income that matches it. The individual photographer that just shoots for the love of photography and being creative and original once in a while could make it back in 2005 or 2006, but not any more. Especially SS is bad in that respect since your "populars" are heavily biased by the newest ones. Once a volume shooter tagged you, it's very easy to catch your recent best sellers and copy them early. That's much more difficult on DT since the most populars there are of all-time and take more time to find out.

I had a post ready yesterday at SS, in which I wanted to include a very promising concept that I didn't find on DT and on SS, so it was new. But I canceled my post in time, or I'm sure the lurkers would be there with the same stuff in a few weeks, since it's so easy to do. Unless you see it as a fulfilling hobby that delivers some candies now and then, to be successful as a stocker businesswise, you'll have to go for volume fast and copy till you drop.

Where are prices going down?  On shutterstock we have seen prices go up every year, On dreamstime on the stats page, i can see my $/download average going up every month since they started.  Istock raised their prices a few as have most of the other sites.

There are a few exceptions however, which the addition of subscriptions on a couple sites, but overall I think prices have been increasing.

That said, yes I have noticed a somewhat reduced sales level this month.  It is hard to tell if it is recession, just seasonal ebb and flow, or competition.

Don't get me wrong I believe in helping the less fortunate, I just don't believe in helping them make me less fortunate.

There is no shortage in the universe unless you think there is. 

Quote from: FlemishDreams on January 22, 2009, 02:41

The vast majority is just leeching.

I'm glad people are starting to finally see this.  This is why I don't do that many 3d renders anymore.  Too easy to copy.  For instance:
My image:


Jerk copier:

Wow. I'd report that as fraud. Seriously - something like that is just as bad as stealing an image.

Don't get me wrong I believe in helping the less fortunate, I just don't believe in helping them make me less fortunate.

As for riding the 'crest of the wave' the forums across most sites are littered with threads by people moaning about the decrease in their sales, are these the same people that have just shared their money making tips with others?

These forums are about  sharing information and therefore helping one and other. The degree to which this happens is open to debate but it surely happens. What goes around, comes around.

As for riding the 'crest of the wave' the forums across most sites are littered with threads by people moaning about the decrease in their sales, are these the same people that have just shared their money making tips with others?

You may have hit on something here Richard.  Perhaps they are sharing false tips in an attempt to mislead the unsuspecting newbs astray...? 

You may have hit on something here Richard.  Perhaps they are sharing false tips in an attempt to mislead the unsuspecting newbs astray...? 

I think you're giving them more credit than they're due, some of the 'tip sharers' on SS aren't that clever.

I'm glad people are starting to finally see this.  This is why I don't do that many 3d renders anymore.  Too easy to copy.  For instance:
My image:

Your example is obvious and according to the PACA rules, it would certainly be called a derivatory work (the kids in the car) since it's the same concept colors, and almost the same angle. It's also not a "faut faire", like the girl with headset.
At SS certainly, it's becoming a method, a system and nobody wants to litigate for 33c x X.

The only defense is to do concepts that are not that easy to copy. Renders are. My best sellers for over a year on SS still is a set of waterfalls deep in the jungle you need a motorbike for, and it's also not easy to find beautiful Nordic models for the Yuri Arcurs copiers.

Ok here goes false tip #1: dirty toilets sell like hell! 

Ok here goes false tip #1: dirty toilets sell like hell! 

LOL!  Love that one! 

Although of course I didn't take it, here's the Worst Toilet in Scotland (from one of my favorite movies of all time):