Am I the only one with an absolutely horrible start of the month? Everything is weak. Especially iStock and Fotolia are down. The month has started so badly that it's almost ridiculous. Except I'm not laughing.

edit: DT seems to be "okay".

Last week was slower than I expected after having a strong October but I'm starting to see things pick up now this week.

SS is great, just got an EL yesterday, besides I have a steady flow of ODs. IS is pathetic, 4 DLs this week, making me less than 4$, other sites are more or less average, but some low performers are doing better than in October.

Quote from: wut on November 09, 2011, 12:47
SS is great, just got an EL yesterday, besides I have a steady flow of ODs. IS is pathetic, 4 DLs this week, making me less than 4$, other sites are more or less average, but some low performers are doing better than in October.

I'm seeing exactly the same. istock is snoozing, while I'm on pace for a BME at SS.

I'm in the Perry camp.  Can't understand the slowdown at SS ... but, I am still small potatoes.

For those who see slower than expected sales at SS, do you have Christmas images? I have been having a good week at SS so far and there's a ton of Christmas stuff in the mix.

So far so good, as an IS exclusive with out any XMAS images.

I don't have xmas stuff either. I don't have any seasonal stuff at all. I'll have to force myself to do it in the future, Easter for example, though I'm not sure how I'm going to convince my mum to color the eggs 5 months ahead of schedule

Even without Christmas images ( or business likely ) so far:

- SS keeping the daily sales, except weekends. Probally will produce "seasonal images" exclusively for them.
- 123RF all months with a bad start, but end a bit better every month.

- IS, DT, FT, are death... hmmm but they were death last month... and almost low earners aren't alive yet. Exception made to PM ( german people know what they want : each view, one sale.... LOL  Would have half of others "views" and would be buying some island )

BTW... Sometimes don't understand if is a "subject" problem or a "keyword" problem...

Very good so far, exept for IS, The house-collection of the Getty-RM, have sold me pics for well over a 4-figured amount, not bad.

Apparently the only site experiencing the "busy season" that November usually is, is Shutterstock.  Sales there absolutely booming!

FT is showing signs of life, finally, but DT is down and IS is on life support. 

on track of last month (all agencies) perhaps FT/DT a little higher

(I hope there isn´t a min sales to enter this topic, don´t wanna hear this or that)

Quote from: lisafx on November 09, 2011, 16:52
... IS is on life support. 

Tell me about it. Based on the first week of November my downloads at IS are projected to be 43% down on Nov 2010. It may well be the lowest month for downloads since March 2005 when my portfolio was probably less than one tenth the size it is now.

On target for BME at SS, DT static and FT also continuing to head south.

Good thread, I have been wondering how Nov is going for others.

It's off to a very slow start for me, but I have not been uploading much and my few Christmas images are 3-5 years old. Since so many people here are doing well, I have to chalk up my bad Nov start to not submitting enough, I guess.

All I can say is, thank God I have a shot on the front page at SS or it woud be a very terrible month so far.

I hate to say anything because I'm downsizing except on SS and BigStock, but haven't removed any files from the last "other" RF sites. SS will be equal to or over Oct. by the 15th and I don't get those wild swings from ELs. That's just 25-a-day and an on demand. The only day I didn't have a download was the 1st and there are many times when I have a Sat. or Sunday with no downloads. (consider the source...)

So yes, SS is doing better than last month, by about double the number of downloads. Money will reflect that as well I suspect, but I hate to predict in advance, with Thanksgiving coming up for the last full week.

I don't know if it's just me, but I do upload more from Oct. to April, something new almost every week. Even with the messed up search and database, those new files are selling, which may be a slight boost as well.

October was a spectacular month for me on SS. So far, November is starting out well there, too. One EL already. I do have seasonal images, but that's mostly not what is selling. Slow on DT and BigStock, though.

things are looking pretty on par with last month for me, Shutterstock is perhaps a bit up.

Slow, slow... Unusually slow at all sites, even on Shutterstock. After the great September, above average October the November looks reallllllllyyyyy bad. But I have few Christmas images, that is true.

Quote from: lisafx on November 09, 2011, 16:52
Apparently the only site experiencing the "busy season" that November usually is, is Shutterstock.  Sales there absolutely booming!

FT is showing signs of life, finally, but DT is down and IS is on life support. 

Agree!  SS, is really booming, selling more then ever. DT, is doing fine and ,yes!  FT, is really coming on.

As slow as October, but my Christmas pics are old (2008!).

DT better then usual, SS as usual (which is nice), all the rest as usual (which is bad!).

I have no xmas images on SS. I made some illustrations that were approved everywhere but on SS. They said they are too simplistic.

SS about the same as last month.  Everywhere else is down so far this month  

For me, IS was very slow in the first week. This week has been decent. I hope US Thanksgiving weekend will not set everything back.

Quote from: lisafx on November 09, 2011, 16:52
IS is on life support. 

Seriously!  I used to earn about $500 per month at IS.  This month I'll be lucky if I earn $50.  A whoppin' $16 so far.  I haven't done this poorly at IS since my 3rd month there back in early 2006.  I'm interested to see my Thinkstock numbers from last month.

SS is doing fine as usual, DT is down a lot after a stellar month, BS and 123RF are selling like gangbusters (for them, anyway), and FT is a bit down.