Quote from: luissantos84 on August 04, 2010, 04:30

Quote from: FD-regular on August 04, 2010, 02:41

Quote from: packerguy on August 03, 2010, 17:26July was my BME.

Says who? Worthless info since you have no port links. Sorry. I had a BMW and a Ferrari at CrapMyStock but I won't show my links of course. Grrrr. (you may block me now).

lol I was looking for the same the other day but no links!

I think he got mad, Luis 

Quote from: FD-regular on August 05, 2010, 00:57

Quote from: luissantos84 on August 04, 2010, 04:30

Quote from: FD-regular on August 04, 2010, 02:41

Quote from: packerguy on August 03, 2010, 17:26July was my BME.

Says who? Worthless info since you have no port links. Sorry. I had a BMW and a Ferrari at CrapMyStock but I won't show my links of course. Grrrr. (you may block me now).

lol I was looking for the same the other day but no links!

I think he got mad, Luis 

lol beside this I had a slightly decrease after a few very good months but August is going strong, gotta work hard now before vacations to Greece

Sales are so bad right now I simply cannot get motivated to upload anything.  I tried editing some photos yesterday and just gave up in disgust. 

Maybe I should take August off like so many designers seem to. 

Quote from: lisafx on August 05, 2010, 17:32
Sales are so bad right now I simply cannot get motivated to upload anything.  I tried editing some photos yesterday and just gave up in disgust. 

Maybe I should take August off like so many designers seem to. 

It's not just me then! Not a good start to August, to say the least. The July reports on the IS forum were extraordinary too especially considering the payrise that exclusives got this year. Earlier I saw that SS 'new photos added this week' was down to 66K which must be the lowest I've seen it for at least 18 months, possibly longer. Maybe this is when the going gets tough and we see who is tough enough (or foolhardy enough) to keep going.

Quote from: gostwyck on August 05, 2010, 17:43

It's not just me then! Not a good start to August, to say the least. The July reports on the IS forum were extraordinary too especially considering the payrise that exclusives got this year. Earlier I saw that SS 'new photos added this week' was down to 66K which must be the lowest I've seen it for at least 18 months, possibly longer. Maybe this is when the going gets tough and we see who is tough enough (or foolhardy enough) to keep going.

I figured Istock's raised UL limits might be in response to a decrease in new submissions.  Didn't notice SS is experiencing the same thing.  Looks like the summertime blahs are widespread.

Agree with your statement (that I bolded). 

I got one word for July sales.....TERRIBLE

Quote from: lisafx on August 05, 2010, 17:32Sales are so bad right now I simply cannot get motivated to upload anything.  I tried editing some photos yesterday and just gave up in disgust.

+ 1

my earnings are still very low but I am having a very good month, a lot better than July...!

Quote from: luissantos84 on August 05, 2010, 20:38my earnings are still very low but I am having a very good month, a lot better than July...!

Come on Luis. The play isn't over till the Fat Lady sings. The August lady will sing on August 31. 

Quote from: FD-regular on August 05, 2010, 21:43

Quote from: luissantos84 on August 05, 2010, 20:38my earnings are still very low but I am having a very good month, a lot better than July...!

Come on Luis. The play isn't over till the Fat Lady sings. The August lady will sing on August 31. 

you are right

SS is going crazy (good way), that's it!

June was very bad and July is slightly below. At least SS has recovered from disaster but others need to follow.

http://melastmohican.net/wordpress/2010/08/02/july-2010-earnings-breakdown/

http://melastmohican.net/wordpress/2010/07/02/june-2010-earnings-breakdown/

Yep, sales are way way down, DT sales are horrible 2 month after I had a BME with them. Fotolia is pretty good as always, really the exception.
and iS a couple of hundred $$ less /month than in the beginning of the year
Shutterstock is still going somehow, have not seen such a big decrease in earnings compared to DT and IS, but it is still disappointing. Looks like not a good future with microstock.

Quote from: Freezingpictures on August 05, 2010, 23:31

Shutterstock is still going somehow, have not seen such a big decrease in earnings compared to DT and IS, but it is still disappointing.

I think I just may be the only person who is getting extremely poor sales at SS lately. I used to do very well there (2007-2008), and I was able to consistently earn much more there than anywhere else.

But so far this year, it's like they are intentionally hiding my photos from buyers or something. Lol... My SS sales have been scary bad all year, and it just keeps getting worse. 

Quote from: gostwyck on August 05, 2010, 17:43
Maybe this is when the going gets tough and we see who is tough enough (or foolhardy enough) to keep going.

I've got a feeling that we may count many of us - which are actively posting in this forum - in that number. Who else?
Not necessarily bad in the long term.

I don't think I've ever published my stats here before.  I thought it would be interesting to look at the 2010 trend compared to July.  Forgive me if it's not interesting to anyone else  

2010 so far:
SS - 53%
iS  - 23%
DT - 8%
123 - 5%
FT - 4%
Veer - 3%
BS - 3%
CanStockPhoto - 1%

July 2010
iS - 40%
DT - 16%
SS - 15%
FT - 12%
Veer - 10%
123 - 4%
BS - 2%
CanStockPhoto - 1%

Quote from: Norebbo on August 06, 2010, 03:56

I think I just may be the only person who is getting extremely poor sales at SS lately. I used to do very well there (2007-2008), and I was able to consistently earn much more there than anywhere else.

But so far this year, it's like they are intentionally hiding my photos from buyers or something. Lol... My SS sales have been scary bad all year, and it just keeps getting worse. 

Are you still uploading there regularly Norebbo? 

Quote from: Norebbo on August 06, 2010, 03:56
I think I just may be the only person who is getting extremely poor sales at SS lately. I used to do very well there (2007-2008), and I was able to consistently earn much more there than anywhere else.

But so far this year, it's like they are intentionally hiding my photos from buyers or something. Lol... My SS sales have been scary bad all year, and it just keeps getting worse. 

I feel your pain. I can't say it's been awful there, but my growth there this year has been weak to non existent compared to how much I've added. DT was like that last year, and I had to downgrade its RPI for future estimates. While I don't think it's as drastic as DT last year, I think I'll have to do the same for SS this year. Even though it is still my number 2 agency, I'm definitely disappointed in it lately.

Quote from: cthoman on August 06, 2010, 17:58I feel your pain. I can't say it's been awful there, but my growth there this year has been weak to non existent compared to how much I've added.

When did you sign up there? SS has a honeymoon period for new contributors that expires after a while. Then, it's just marriage.  You'll have to keep feeding the beast regularly after that, or sales might go down by 50%.

Quote from: FD-regular on August 06, 2010, 18:07
When did you sign up there? SS has a honeymoon period for new contributors that expires after a while. Then, it's just marriage.  You'll have to keep feeding the beast regularly after that, or sales might go down by 50%.

December 2006. Does that mean my honeymoon is over? 

Quote from: FD-regular on August 06, 2010, 18:07
SS has a honeymoon period for new contributors that expires after a while. Then, it's just marriage.   You'll have to keep feeding the beast regularly after that, or sales might go down by 50%.

This is yet another 'Microstock Myth' that keeps being endlessly regurgitated!

It so happens I'm one of the contributors currently beta-testing a new submitter front page on SS. The new page contains statistical data that basically explodes that myth, at least in my case. Since Jan 31 I have increased my portfolio by 10.8%. My earnings from those new images to date are 11.3% of my total earnings since Jan 31 __ essentially my earning have increased almost exactly in proportion to the increase in my portfolio.

I'm sure there must be others here doing the beta-test and if so it'll be interesting to see how their figures for new uploads compare.

Quote from: gostwyck on August 06, 2010, 18:26

This is yet another 'Microstock Myth' that keeps being endlessly regurgitated!

I'm not sure about that. Most of my new referral artists make income for me in their first couple of months, then fade after that. There could be other explanations like they upload their best stuff the first month, lose interest or something else. But a honeymoon period seems just as likely. I guess like most things in the micros there is always an alternate theory.  

I kept daily stats for my first 6 months and my sales with SS exploded at the start then fell back and it took me a long time to get a BME again.  Perhaps I had an image in the new artists lightbox?  I didn't look at the time.  I also think when most people start they upload like crazy for the first month, then the uploads tail off, exaggerating any honeymoon period effect.

Quote from: lisafx on August 06, 2010, 17:46
Are you still uploading there regularly Norebbo? 

I've been uploading 25 images a week there for the past couple of years. As bad as my sales are becoming there, I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it any more. Looking at a chart of my SS sales for the past two years, it's headed nowhere but down - and it seems pointless to continue to "feed the beast" if I'm not getting anything from it.

I'll give it a few more months to see what happens, but I think I could be done producing micro images by the end of the year.

Wow, 25 images a week and still sales dropping like that.  Can't say you aren't feeding the beast! 

I upload about the same amount weekly to all sites and am experiencing similar drops at IS, but fortunately SS is holding steady for me so far...  (fingers crossed)

Quote from: gostwyck on August 06, 2010, 18:26This is yet another 'Microstock Myth' that keeps being endlessly regurgitated!
It so happens I'm one of the contributors currently beta-testing a new submitter front page on SS. The new page contains statistical data that basically explodes that myth, at least in my case. Since Jan 31 I have increased my portfolio by 10.8%. My earnings from those new images to date are 11.3% of my total earnings since Jan 31 __ essentially my earning have increased almost exactly in proportion to the increase in my portfolio.

Last year I did correlation statistics between downloads and uploads over 3 years. At least for me, the correlation was significant. (the method was based on time series covariances).
About the honeymoon period, your critique might be right since I just got it from hearsay.
I will know more later this year since I stopped doing microstock 7 weeks ago and not motivated to do edits of the last 4 shoots just for cents.
I'll see if the graph goes down...