Author Topic: whats your guage of a successful vector file? (Read 7496 times)

VB inc · « **on:** May 13, 2011, 18:59 »

Im hoping people might share their opinions on their views of what constitutes successful files. Im sure this would be pretty interesting read for newbies who are clueless about successful files at least for vectors. i know i was pretty clueless for at least a year.

Im an exclusive vector artist on istock and i mainly try to create vectors that are 15-20 credits range while most of my sellers are 15 credits. I would love to hear different stories from others not exclusive to istock to compare notes. Im not geting into what sells since the demand for different subject matter varies.

I mainly look at dl's a month to guage a hot seller. heres my opinion on the numbers

dl's a month
50+ god i wish i had some files that fit into this category!!!!
30+ jackpot
20+ awesome
10+ great seller
5+ good seller
3-5 still decent
1-3 i hope i didnt spend too much time on these
less than 1 a month means my execution is bad and need to study competition/demand

I also guage by downloads to views. A download for every 30 views is very good and under 20 views is pretty much front page material.

Unfortunately, these days at istock, the numbers are dropping so these number are sort of based on what i thought prior to sept 2010. My expectations have lowered =(

I also think these higher numbers i have posted will get harder and harder to achieve as more competition takes a piece. I would love to know what it was like in the heydays since i wasnt around then.

patricksuny · « **Reply #1 on:** September 06, 2011, 23:48 »

I've an exclusive vector illustration contributor at iStockphoto for some time now and generally happy when the file yields over .. um about $150+ in royalties. Downloads per month and all of that isn't too important for me, just the life of the file to justify the creation of it.

daveh900 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 13, 2011, 10:59 »

I'm not an iStock contributor, and I'm still fairly new to this game.

I joined Shutterstock in July, and I have a couple files that have already been downloaded 200+ times. Obviously they are successful based on number of downloads, but revenue is mostly $.25 for each download. It's still good, and I'm happy with my results there. The first Microstock site I joined was DT, and it was my focus for the first few months of my microstock career. However, in my first month at SS, I made more than my first 6+ months at DT.

It's interesting to me how one file can be crazy successful at one site, and not sell at all at another.

click_click · « **Reply #3 on:** September 13, 2011, 16:01 »

Quote from: patricksuny on September 06, 2011, 23:48

I've an exclusive vector illustration contributor at iStockphoto for some time now and generally happy when the file yields over .. um about $150+ in royalties. Downloads per month and all of that isn't too important for me, just the life of the file to justify the creation of it.

Could you specify the $150 royalties?

Is that for each illustration per month?

Or is this for each illustration's lifetime?

CD123 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 13, 2011, 16:19 »

I can just look at your guy's numbers in awe. The vectors I have is limited mostly to silhouettes, so I can just admire your artworks. Have started working a bit on Adobe Illustrator, but found out that I have so much still to learn about Photoshop, I gave up on trying to learn it for now. Please post some links to your portfolios. Would love to admire those money makers of yours!

patricksuny · « **Reply #5 on:** September 15, 2011, 18:22 »

Quote from: click_click on September 13, 2011, 16:01

Could you specify the $150 royalties?

Is that for each illustration per month?

Or is this for each illustration's lifetime?

In the good old days

$150 month at iStock for one file was great, but no I mean over it's life. My calculation is pretty simple: If I can produce 3 images a day, I'd like those images to produce about $400-$450+ over it's life for the day's work. That's generally what I consider a successful file.