Author Topic: Were you Happy with 2008? (Read 13513 times)

takestock · « **on:** December 24, 2008, 17:40 »

Well - another year almost over and how do you feel about it?
Did you get enough return for all your work and were you happy with sales generated during the year.?

For me, I was happy enough - put in a lot of work, building folios and now seeing quite regular sales.
Here's to 2009!

Kngkyle · « **Reply #1 on:** December 24, 2008, 18:27 »

Made less per month in 2008 than in 2007 despite increasing my portfolio size by about 30%. So no not really that happy with 2008 stats, it seems you have to constantly and drastically increase your portfolio size each year just to maintain the same level of income. Too much * competition these days.

vonkara · « **Reply #2 on:** December 24, 2008, 19:04 »

2008 was my first full year in micro and I'm happy with what I achieved. Small expectations is the key LOL.

I disagree with the growing portfolio method... I'm normally searching 50% of my time to find what didn't have been done already instead of shooting continiously. Everyone have their method to increase sales. But I don't think that flowing the stock library with new images help anyone. (I don't say it's anyone case here

PEACE IN 2009

ljooc · « **Reply #3 on:** December 24, 2008, 20:23 »

I can definitely contribute to the quality versus volume debate. I am no photographer in comparison to most of you. My work is improving but it is on going process

I am exclusive on Fotolia (600+ images) , and I opted out on Sub, and since I was able to raise my price after reaching Gold, and my work got a little better, my earnings/month improved. So 2008 was a much better year for me. I have been at this thing for a little under 2 years but more actively last 8 months.

Everything else not accepted by Fotolia went to 123rf, and BigStock and despite having a larger portfolio on 123rf, I made far less each month. I have started sending landscape images and people w/o release to Alamy, will see how that goes.

But definitely, it is the quality that counts. vol helps but good photos will sell. If my work is a third as good as most of you, I would definitely sell more

.

Happy Holidays

JC
P.S I have been a member here but have not participated much in the forums. I have been reading the posts though and have learned a great deal from everyone. Thank you.
http://socalislandgirl.blogspot.com

goldenangel · « **Reply #4 on:** December 24, 2008, 22:08 »

I am very pleased with 2008, because, among other things, I started with micro in August. Since then, I had a lot of excitement and fun learning new things every day. This forum is great place to be. I can't wait to see what 2009 will bring. Looking forward to it!

Happy holidays and all the best to everyone in 2009!

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #5 on:** December 24, 2008, 22:32 »

Quote from: Vonkara on December 24, 2008, 19:04

2008 was my first full year in micro and I'm happy with what I achieved. Small expectations is the key LOL.

Same here, and I think things went well.

MicrostockExp · « **Reply #6 on:** December 25, 2008, 05:45 »

I will miss my $$ goal this year but I took better pics than last year and got some new equipment so no complains!

CofkoCof · « **Reply #7 on:** December 25, 2008, 05:58 »

I'm also very new in stock business, uploaded my first picture in January and from then on it only went upwards. When I started on DT there was a topic about goals for 2008 and I've set mine to: 100$ per month and 75% acceptance rate. First one was achieved just a month later and my current acceptance rate across the sites is greater than 75%. My main goal (didn't write this one down at DT) is to be able to support my hobbies (photography, travel, mountainbiking) with stock only. I'm almost there

I'll take the oppurtunity to set my goals for 2009 and I'll try to be very modest so that I can surpass them:
- sustainable income of about 1000€ per month
- attend a minilypse
- learn as much as I can in photography (I'm still just a newbie

)

shank_ali · « **Reply #8 on:** December 25, 2008, 16:26 »

Enjoyed my first full year in micro as a part time photographer and steadily building my portfolio on istockphoto and had a few sales which is always nice.More of the same in 2009 with some additional kit.

Freedom · « **Reply #9 on:** December 25, 2008, 18:24 »

I am happy with the improvement of my photography and the uploading goals I set for myself.

I am disappointed that my sales goals were not met, especially iStock sales were declining even with a portfolio 4 times bigger than in 2007.

going_underground · « **Reply #10 on:** December 25, 2008, 22:37 »

I wasn't as happy with 2008 as I would like but part of that was due to moving to a new house. We spent months on fixing up the old house to sell it and getting settled in the new house took longer than expected. As far as earnings go, I did well at FT, DT and SS but I got slammed by the best match changes at IS this year. My earnings there dropped from over 50% of my overall stock income to about 20% and still dropping.

P.S. Due to a recent incident I have had to become "anonymous" here by opening a new account without links to my portfolios to protect myself and my right to speak freely.

hayaship · « **Reply #11 on:** December 26, 2008, 05:22 »

Hello!! 2008 was my first full year in micro and I'm happy with the continual improvement, 2008 exceed my expectation

crazychristina · « **Reply #12 on:** December 26, 2008, 07:30 »

I'm very happy with 2008, despite complete failure to progress with my stock photography. I've branched out into other areas of digital image making and am having a lot more fun than I did last year. I'm currently engaged in my seventh battle in the istock steel cage, which is very challenging and stimulates my creativity much more than photography ever did. I've also started looking into 3D, which is a fascinating area. I think my lack of success with photography was a major incentive to go sideways. Good thing too.

shank_ali · « **Reply #13 on:** December 26, 2008, 08:01 »

Quote from: going_underground on December 25, 2008, 22:37

I wasn't as happy with 2008 as I would like but part of that was due to moving to a new house. We spent months on fixing up the old house to sell it and getting settled in the new house took longer than expected. As far as earnings go, I did well at FT, DT and SS but I got slammed by the best match changes at IS this year. My earnings there dropped from over 50% of my overall stock income to about 20% and still dropping.

P.S. Due to a recent incident I have had to become "anonymous" here by opening a new account without links to my portfolios to protect myself and my right to speak freely.

The last part sounds sinister,like a sherlock holmes murder mystery.Are you sure you have not been playing to much cludeo and mrs white was was murdered by professor plum in the library with a candlestick.

shank_ali · « **Reply #14 on:** December 26, 2008, 15:07 »

Quote from: shank_ali on December 26, 2008, 08:01

Quote from: going_underground on December 25, 2008, 22:37
I wasn't as happy with 2008 as I would like but part of that was due to moving to a new house. We spent months on fixing up the old house to sell it and getting settled in the new house took longer than expected. As far as earnings go, I did well at FT, DT and SS but I got slammed by the best match changes at IS this year. My earnings there dropped from over 50% of my overall stock income to about 20% and still dropping.

P.S. Due to a recent incident I have had to become "anonymous" here by opening a new account without links to my portfolios to protect myself and my right to speak freely.

The last part sounds sinister,like a sherlock holmes murder mystery.Are you sure you have not been playing to much cludeo and mrs white was murdered by professor plum in the library with a candlestick.

ozbandit · « **Reply #15 on:** December 26, 2008, 16:27 »

I've had a good year despite several periods of luls in terms of new material. December was extra good with an exclusive sale on DT that netted me $520 alone!

michealo · « **Reply #16 on:** December 26, 2008, 18:07 »

Quote from: going_underground on December 25, 2008, 22:37

I wasn't as happy with 2008 as I would like but part of that was due to moving to a new house. We spent months on fixing up the old house to sell it and getting settled in the new house took longer than expected. As far as earnings go, I did well at FT, DT and SS but I got slammed by the best match changes at IS this year. My earnings there dropped from over 50% of my overall stock income to about 20% and still dropping.

P.S. Due to a recent incident I have had to become "anonymous" here by opening a new account without links to my portfolios to protect myself and my right to speak freely.

Just curious is this to protect yourself from a site or sites? Or other MSG users?

dbvirago · « **Reply #17 on:** December 26, 2008, 19:11 »

Despite personal stuff that cut into many of my plans, I had a 56% increase in revenue over 2007. Very happy with that.

going_underground · « **Reply #18 on:** December 26, 2008, 22:06 »

Quote from: michealo on December 26, 2008, 18:07

Quote from: going_underground on December 25, 2008, 22:37
I wasn't as happy with 2008 as I would like but part of that was due to moving to a new house. We spent months on fixing up the old house to sell it and getting settled in the new house took longer than expected. As far as earnings go, I did well at FT, DT and SS but I got slammed by the best match changes at IS this year. My earnings there dropped from over 50% of my overall stock income to about 20% and still dropping.

P.S. Due to a recent incident I have had to become "anonymous" here by opening a new account without links to my portfolios to protect myself and my right to speak freely.

Just curious is this to protect yourself from a site or sites? Or other MSG users?

Only from people "in power" at some micro sites who read these forums. I have no issues with any MSG users at all. I'm typically not this paranoid but I have learned my lesson the hard way.

StockManiac · « **Reply #19 on:** December 26, 2008, 22:19 »

Quote from: ljooc on December 24, 2008, 20:23

I am exclusive on Fotolia (600+ images) ...

...

Everything else not accepted by Fotolia went to 123rf, and BigStock and despite having a larger portfolio on 123rf, I made far less each month. I have started sending landscape images and people w/o release to Alamy, will see how that goes.

Does FT allow you to submit rejected images to other sites?

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #20 on:** December 26, 2008, 23:28 »

Quote from: going_underground on December 26, 2008, 22:06

Only from people "in power" at some micro sites who read these forums. I have no issues with any MSG users at all. I'm typically not this paranoid but I have learned my lesson the hard way.

I'm curious as well. Others have said they are afraid of this kind of thing, but aside from the "Bobby" incident which seemed much deeper than forum posting, I'm curious as to what those "in power" could do to you negatively on any site. Could you elaborate in general terms?

shank_ali · « **Reply #21 on:** December 26, 2008, 23:41 »

Quote from: sjlocke on December 26, 2008, 23:28

Quote from: going_underground on December 26, 2008, 22:06
Only from people "in power" at some micro sites who read these forums. I have no issues with any MSG users at all. I'm typically not this paranoid but I have learned my lesson the hard way.

I'm curious as well. Others have said they are afraid of this kind of thing, but aside from the "Bobby" incident which seemed much deeper than forum posting, I'm curious as to what those "in power" could do to you negatively on any site. Could you elaborate in general terms?

Ha, curiosity killed the cat Mr.Mind your biscuits.Bobby as in Mr bobbit who had his ....removed and make a comeback as ... star....

going_underground · « **Reply #22 on:** December 27, 2008, 00:07 »

Quote from: sjlocke on December 26, 2008, 23:28

Quote from: going_underground on December 26, 2008, 22:06
Only from people "in power" at some micro sites who read these forums. I have no issues with any MSG users at all. I'm typically not this paranoid but I have learned my lesson the hard way.

I'm curious as well. Others have said they are afraid of this kind of thing, but aside from the "Bobby" incident which seemed much deeper than forum posting, I'm curious as to what those "in power" could do to you negatively on any site. Could you elaborate in general terms?

I'm not sure how I can do this without giving away the cake. All I will say for now is I was retaliated against for some information I gave in a previous post. I'm sorry I can't be more specific right now.

mantonino · « **Reply #23 on:** December 27, 2008, 04:59 »

Yes, I was happy with 2008 - I increased from an average of $80 to an average closer to $500 per month and rising.

No, I wasn't happy with 2008 - I wanted to end the year over $1000 per month.

Iriz · « **Reply #24 on:** December 27, 2008, 06:46 »

I'm not sure how I can do this without giving away the cake. All I will say for now is I was retaliated against for some information I gave in a previous post. I'm sorry I can't be more specific right now.
[/quote]

Who you are is glaringly obvious and if this is your attempt at remaining incognito by continually drawing attention to yourself in every which way possible I'd really go back to the drawing board if I were you.
And "IF" this is the same person who PM'd me yesterday in a state of abject terror I trust you'll understand why I haven't bothered replying. It's not a new ID you need mister it's a shrink

Smithore · « **Reply #25 on:** December 27, 2008, 06:46 »

Not happy with 2008, no more income than 2007 with double quantity of pictures on portolios.
istock is dropping seriously since june.
Hope 2009 will be better with my alamy contribution.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #26 on:** December 27, 2008, 07:44 »

Quote from: going_underground on December 27, 2008, 00:07

I'm not sure how I can do this without giving away the cake. All I will say for now is I was retaliated against for some information I gave in a previous post. I'm sorry I can't be more specific right now.

Ok, I just don't know what "retaliated" could mean. You got a nasty sitemail? You had images removed? Search position was changed?

going_underground · « **Reply #27 on:** December 27, 2008, 10:55 »

Quote from: Iriz on December 27, 2008, 06:46

Who you are is glaringly obvious and if this is your attempt at remaining incognito by continually drawing attention to yourself in every which way possible I'd really go back to the drawing board if I were you.
And "IF" this is the same person who PM'd me yesterday in a state of abject terror I trust you'll understand why I haven't bothered replying. It's not a new ID you need mister it's a shrink

Sorry, you're mistaken.

Fran · « **Reply #28 on:** December 27, 2008, 13:47 »

Ok guys, let's stop this argument, shall we?

gbcimages · « **Reply #29 on:** December 27, 2008, 14:06 »

wasn't happy with 08

,maybe 09 will be better

I wasted a lot of my time with newer agencies that are not working out.Will drop them a little at a time

sharply_done · « **Reply #30 on:** December 27, 2008, 14:59 »

Quote from: going_underground on December 27, 2008, 10:55

Quote from: Iriz on December 27, 2008, 06:46

Who you are is glaringly obvious and if this is your attempt at remaining incognito by continually drawing attention to yourself in every which way possible I'd really go back to the drawing board if I were you.
And "IF" this is the same person who PM'd me yesterday in a state of abject terror I trust you'll understand why I haven't bothered replying. It's not a new ID you need mister it's a shrink

Sorry, you're mistaken.

I'm very sure of who you are, going_underground, but I'm at a loss as to what you said to get into trouble. I must have skipped that thread. Maybe it just goes to show that if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all.

takestock · « **Reply #31 on:** December 27, 2008, 15:46 »

Quote from: Fran on December 27, 2008, 13:47

Ok guys, let's stop this argument, shall we?

Yes Fran. They should really cop on now.
And - this thread has been partly hijacked by this stupid silly childlike bickering.
I have been a member here 2 yrs now and I have never seen such sad behaviour in that time.

From my experience, these things only serve to drive people away - and lower the fine reputation of this forum.

XeniaII · « **Reply #32 on:** December 27, 2008, 17:17 »

i am happy with 2008

my plan was to build a second portfolio with 5.000 food-pics, which will earn me 500 Euros a month.

I only get 4000 accepted ... but it is ok. because they earn on fotolia and shutter mor than 500 a month.

My plan was to dobble my earnings... but i tripple them... thats great.. but i think the agencies make not more money the more images i have... so i will see what 2009 will bring

sam100 · « **Reply #33 on:** December 27, 2008, 20:31 »

Quote from: XeniaII on December 27, 2008, 17:17

i am happy with 2008

my plan was to build a second portfolio with 5.000 food-pics, which will earn me 500 Euros a month.

I only get 4000 accepted ... but it is ok. because they earn on fotolia and shutter mor than 500 a month.

My plan was to dobble my earnings... but i tripple them... thats great.. but i think the agencies make not more money the more images i have... so i will see what 2009 will bring

Are you saying you have more than one portfolio.. more than one account.?..

Patrick H.

sharpshot · « **Reply #34 on:** January 01, 2009, 07:55 »

My earnings increased in 2008, so I am pleased with that but I want to do much better in 2009. I keep getting attacks of acute lazyitis and need to work harder this year.

cathyslife · « **Reply #35 on:** January 01, 2009, 09:16 »

I am exclusive on Fotolia (600+ images) , and I opted out on Sub, and since I was able to raise my price after reaching Gold, and my work got a little better, my earnings/month improved. So 2008 was a much better year for me. I have been at this thing for a little under 2 years but more actively last 8 months.

Everything else not accepted by Fotolia went to 123rf, and BigStock and despite having a larger portfolio on 123rf, I made far less each month. I have started sending landscape images and people w/o release to Alamy, will see how that goes.

I'm curious as well. If you are exclusive on Fotolia, I'm pretty sure you can't upload stock to any other royalty free site. Unless they have changed what exclusivity means and I don't know about it yet.

As far as being happy with 2008, I haven't checked all the comparisons to 2007 yet, but I believe I would have to say I am happy with 2008 in terms of having learned more about photography and having seen an increase in sales some months of the year.

I am NOT happy with 2008 in terms of the recession, the billions of dollars being given out to large corporations willy nilly and how this has all affected us as microstock contributors.

Lcjtripod · « **Reply #36 on:** January 01, 2009, 09:20 »

I thought this year was worse than last year but ..... after I added it all up with over 1,000 sales (no subs!)
In 2008 I earned a whopping big sum of $2.40 more than in 2007

I think I will try to do better next year.

Happy New year to all,
-Larry

MicrostockExp · « **Reply #37 on:** January 01, 2009, 09:38 »

@cclapper,
at FT photos are exclusive not the photographer so you can still upload to other agencies. I have about 40 % of my portfolio exclusive with FT when I started microstock

fotografer · « **Reply #38 on:** January 01, 2009, 09:39 »

I'm very happy with this year. i averaged 36$ per image over all sites this year and am up 70% on overall earnings compared to last year.

Argus · « **Reply #39 on:** January 01, 2009, 11:59 »

Overall i'm pretty glad with 2008 (big jump from 2007 but i had nowhere near the amount of images in 2007 as i had in 2008) but i am sort of disappointed with the last few months which saw a steady decline in $. Still, i'm happy with my earnings.

Pixart · « **Reply #40 on:** January 01, 2009, 12:18 »

Although the year ended with a bit of a whimper, I am okay with 2008. You get out-of-it what you put-into-it and I had little time for stock - so I am very happy that my 07 photos kept selling along with my few 08 photos, combined with raises around the sites I made about 50% more. It's still not much, but I should be very pleased with the results considering my port growth was terrible. Paid the property taxes and a new roof on the house though.

shank_ali · « **Reply #41 on:** January 01, 2009, 14:51 »

Really enjoyable year in my first full year as a part time photographer and micro contributor on IS.
Never thought i would get any sales and approaching nearly 1000 !

lisafx · « **Reply #42 on:** January 01, 2009, 18:19 »

2008 came in with a bang and ended on a whimper. I am afraid the paradigm of getting what you put into it wasn't true for me this year. By year end I had added around 1300 pics to my portfolio (around 33%) but things really stagnated toward the end of the year.

Overall it was up on 2007 though, so I am happy for that. Just hope 2009 continues to see some growth instead of continuing the drop shown in the last couple of months.

fljac · « **Reply #43 on:** January 01, 2009, 18:38 »

When speaking about numbers, there are some numbers that would be nice to see...

The turnover for each agency - and ofcourse thair # of downloads, year by year....

Is it a good or bad year...? Above mentioned figures could help determine that..

The reality must be this...:

Each egency has a significant increase in thair portfolio's. Theis means that for each day, every single contributor/image has to compete with even more images than the day before!

Is it a good year.. ? It might be a good year, even with a drop in downloads, provided the relative drop in downloads/&earnings, is smaller than the relative growth in the overall stockagency portfolio.

There must be a limit as to how big the increase in demand can be, and maybe the sum of buyers really ARE downloading more and more... Maybe they just have a lot mofre to choose from?

The above mentioned figures could help determine this....

cathyslife · « **Reply #44 on:** January 01, 2009, 19:17 »

@ldambies
Thanks for clarifying, I had forgotten about the sites that allow exclusive photos instead of exclusive photographers.

lisafx · « **Reply #45 on:** January 01, 2009, 19:31 »

Quote from: cclapper on January 01, 2009, 19:17

@ldambies
Thanks for clarifying, I had forgotten about the sites that allow exclusive photos instead of exclusive photographers.

OT, congrats Cathy on being a Featured Photographer over at Big Stock! Couldn't happen to a nicer or more talented lady

epantha · « **Reply #46 on:** January 02, 2009, 07:13 »

Didn't have many expectations when I started last March. Just wanted to try it out to see what would happen. I did have some success this year and enjoyed the extra income along with keeping my full time job as a graphic artist. My goal for next year is to double my income.

Perry · « **Reply #47 on:** January 05, 2009, 05:09 »

I just compared my RPI for 2007 and 2008.

2007 RPI (Return per image per year) $14,88
2008 RPI (Return per image per year) $10,40

And this trend propably continues...

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Author Topic: Were you Happy with 2008? (Read 13513 times)

vonkara

CofkoCof

shank_ali

shank_ali

shank_ali

michealo

dbvirago

shank_ali

gbcimages

shank_ali

lisafx

lisafx

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