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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: leaf on December 11, 2009, 04:21

Title: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: leaf on December 11, 2009, 04:21
It seems that most sites have some sort of 'popularity' worked into the best match, where the more a file is downloaded the higher it gets in the best match.  This is at least true for Shutterstock, if nowhere else.

Since sales decrease significantly during Christmas, it seems like we would be doing our images a disservice by uploading them while sales are slow.  They risk not being seen and slipping into the 'unpopular 4,000,000 image club'

So when are you going to stop uploading?  I may stop this week.. perhaps I will watch my sales and see when they drop off, but the previous years it had started to drop drastically staring around the 10th.
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: arquiplay77 on December 11, 2009, 05:01
Do you mean chistmas related pics or are you talking about stop uploading all kind of work untill christmas slowdown ends?
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: sharpshot on December 11, 2009, 05:17
I only stop uploading when I can't get to my computer.  There is always a chance that I could get an EL or have an image selected for a lightbox on the SS front page.  It wont sell if it is only on my hard drive.  Wont images get lost in the upload surge after Christmas?
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: Noodles on December 11, 2009, 05:20
Sales at IS are still strong but SS and DT have been dropping the last few days - I probably wont bother uploading anything now until the new year.

Indeed, I think I'm going to have a break and not shoot, create, prepare or do anything else related to MS for a month, Ho ho ho and Yule Tidings to all.
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: Stock_Fox on December 11, 2009, 05:40
I already uploaded my last 2 batches to SS and FT this week. now I will wait until januar 2010 until uploading to SS and FT again.
But I will continue to upload to all other agencies since I do not see that new images sell better then older images on these other agencies.   ;)


I even think about opening an account at Veer OR Yay over the christmas holidays and upload a couple of thousends images to them during one week (and then I will will forget about this and just wait a few months to see what happens).  ;D

stock_fox
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: leaf on December 11, 2009, 06:25
Do you mean chistmas related pics or are you talking about stop uploading all kind of work untill christmas slowdown ends?


I was referring to all images until the christmas slow down stops.

Wont images get lost in the upload surge after Christmas?

They could just as easily get lost in the surge of hobbyists uploading during the holidays or showing their relatives how they made a few bucks last year :)

There is always a chance that I could get an EL or have an image selected for a lightbox on the SS front page.  It wont sell if it is only on my hard drive.

I am willing to risk loosing an EL in the next 2 weeks if I can increase the chance of getting an EL over the next 5 years since the images won't be lost in the search results.
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: nicemonkey on December 11, 2009, 07:39
Strangely this has been my best week of the year...especially at shutterstock. I will keep uploading and plan to do my last batch on the 21st, then start again on the 4th Jan
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: cathyslife on December 11, 2009, 07:51
Typically I'm busy with family and the holidays anyway so I have a natural inclination to not upload until mid-January. But if I did have images ready to upload, I think I would do so. I feel like sharpshot does...they don't make any money sitting on my computer. And even if they get buried in a search, there's still a chance I could sell something because they are in a lightbox, etc. There's absolutely no chance of a sale on my computer.
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: Xalanx on December 11, 2009, 08:12
that's the eternal nightmare of a microstocker - getting lost in the search results.  ;D

I will upload when I can (I'm part time for now).
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: FD on December 11, 2009, 08:51
that's the eternal nightmare of a microstocker - getting lost in the search results.  ;D

As Sartres said: l'enfer, c'est les autres (hell, that's the others). I'm sure he was a microstocker.  ;)
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: anonymous on December 11, 2009, 09:05
I have 2 web site projects that I will be designing / building over the holidays, so i will actually be BUYING images during that time  ;)
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: cardmaverick on December 11, 2009, 09:09
If you shoot niche content, it really won't matter, your images won't be getting covered over anytime soon - so I think it depends on what you shoot. Some subjects are more sensitive than others with regard to release timing.
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on December 11, 2009, 09:33
I think if I had some strategy I thought was beneficial, I'd probably keep it in my pocket, amidst the hundreds of thousands of competitors out there :) .
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: epantha on December 11, 2009, 09:48
But isn't it nice to share. ;)
I upload the same through holidays as any other time, a few quality images a week and very consistently.
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: cathyslife on December 11, 2009, 10:01
Quote
I think if I had some strategy

I don't know how anybody could have a strategy dealing with microstock. It's a freakin rollercoaster.
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: Fran on December 11, 2009, 10:10
It seems that most sites have some sort of 'popularity' worked into the best match, where the more a file is downloaded the higher it gets in the best match.  This is at least true for Shutterstock, if nowhere else.

Since sales decrease significantly during Christmas, it seems like we would be doing our images a disservice by uploading them while sales are slow.  They risk not being seen and slipping into the 'unpopular 4,000,000 image club'

So when are you going to stop uploading?  I may stop this week.. perhaps I will watch my sales and see when they drop off, but the previous years it had started to drop drastically staring around the 10th.

What sites do you think are factoring popularity in? Surely SS, I might say IS as well. About DT, I'm not sure: it looks to me like new images have some kind of penalty, so I would still upload to DT during Xmas. Can anyone confirm this speculation or dismiss it?
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on December 11, 2009, 10:15
Quote
I think if I had some strategy

I don't know how anybody could have a strategy dealing with microstock. It's a freakin rollercoaster.

If you say so. ;)
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: MikLav on December 11, 2009, 12:46
I will still upload this weekend to SS, then take a break till Jan
Will continue with istock though (with their limits I don't want to miss a chance to get more pics online there).

Not sure about Dreamstime and Fotolia - may be don't upload any more this year...
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: ap on December 11, 2009, 13:28
a more interesting question is "when will you stop posting to msg for xmas?" or does it never stop for you?   ;D
Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: Xalanx on December 11, 2009, 14:46
I think if I had some strategy I thought was beneficial, I'd probably keep it in my pocket, amidst the hundreds of thousands of competitors out there :) .

"if"? right...

Title: Re: When will you stop uploading for Christmas?
Post by: RacePhoto on December 11, 2009, 15:25
I only stop uploading when I can't get to my computer.  There is always a chance that I could get an EL or have an image selected for a lightbox on the SS front page.  It wont sell if it is only on my hard drive.  Wont images get lost in the upload surge after Christmas?

+1

I'll get mine in now while others are snoozing. Then when the flood gates open, others will get to the back faster, but I'll have some views and sales.

Please everyone, stop uploading now so my images can get more sales and ranking. ;)

I doubt that anything I do is going to make a ligthbox, front page or anything important, but heck, less competition on a voluntary basis? I'm all for it.