Hi everyone,
I am a new contributor to SS (less than a year) and my sales started raising exponentially from this January. I had 2 to 3 downloads every day with a portfolio of no more than 90 pictures. But on March, sales have tanked big time. Today is the third consecutive day that I had no sales at all. Anyone noticed something similar

The only thing that changed in the last 10 days, is that I emailed them about a case where some of my vectors were found on various sites as free (e.g. vectorfinder) I don't know if is relevant or not, just though I should mention it.

Cheers!

If 2-3 DLs per day is your norm, some zero days would be normal as well. Frankly I don't think your portfolio is the sort that can show any sort of overall trend at SS, considering the size and average daily stats.

You have really nice portfolio, I started few mounts ago and have about 150 images. March didn't started as good as February but for last few mounts I haven't got a single day without sales.

As someone already said, we both have too few images so can't really tell.

Had a below average day yesterday (mainly due to bad non sub sales), but today's sales already exceeded yesterday's by a third, so it looks like business as usual. The month so far is great too, I could have a BME.

Quote from: eliastheGreek on March 13, 2012, 15:43
Hi everyone,
I am a new contributor to SS (less than a year) and my sales started raising exponentially from this January. I had 2 to 3 downloads every day with a portfolio of no more than 90 pictures. But on March, sales have tanked big time. Today is the third consecutive day that I had no sales at all. Anyone noticed something similar

The only thing that changed in the last 10 days, is that I emailed them about a case where some of my vectors were found on various sites as free (e.g. vectorfinder) I don't know if is relevant or not, just though I should mention it.

Cheers!

Funny you should mention that, someone posted the identical question on the SS forums. And I'll give you my answer that I posted there.

A couple more subs and March will pass Feb. for me. I doubt if your personal drop is system wide.    (I was hoping by the 10th but the weekend was slow as usual.)

Dave's Rules (not to be confused with Gostwyck's first rule), which are basically saying the same thing. 

Rule #2 - Sales will go up and sales will go down.
Rule #3 - You can't change rule #2

I need to start cataloging these things and numbering them. Everyone calls all of them "the first rule".

#1:

Quote from: gostwyck on January 23, 2012, 13:57
If your images are good enough then they will sell. If they're not then they won't. No point in concocting elaborate conspiracy theories to explain a lack of sales because that is unlikely to be the issue.

ss just marches on. For me the 'no sale' days stopped once I had about 180 images, that's with photos no vectors.

Low earner here, but since begin of year I haven't  "0 sales days", including weekends. Min 2/3 day. I've notice that sell more editorials on weekends. ( BTW, March was my worst month in SS on 2011 ).

Anyway, too earlier to be worried about changes on sales ( Less 2 years of stock LOL )

My March so far, is waaaaay up! 

To the OP:  you want to try to shoot a little bit more variety then just fire and smoke.

I didn't notice any drop in sales - except normal daily variations.

As others said, it's difficult to make meaningful statistics since you're new and have few photos.

Quality of your pictures seems good, but you need more quantity and variety as well. Just keep submitting and sales will improve.

Furthermore, it's a common opinion that it's useful to continue submitting new pictures at Shutterstock to help sales of your old pictures as well.

Quote from: eliastheGreek on March 13, 2012, 15:43
Hi everyone,
I am a new contributor to SS (less than a year) and my sales started raising exponentially from this January. I had 2 to 3 downloads every day with a portfolio of no more than 90 pictures. But on March, sales have tanked big time. Today is the third consecutive day that I had no sales at all. Anyone noticed something similar

The only thing that changed in the last 10 days, is that I emailed them about a case where some of my vectors were found on various sites as free (e.g. vectorfinder) I don't know if is relevant or not, just though I should mention it.

Cheers!

Oh right I see why ur concerned now (having read to the bottom this time). No I don't think ur email has anything to do with it. ss aren't pushing ur images down the pecking order, it's just a coincidence, you're just having a bad run. Also Vectorfinder isn't a free image site, they have image links from micro sites and are getting referral money.

Wouldn't say it is bad but certainly no celebration for me.

Wow, already a BDE! By far, I'd say at least 25% better then my previous BDE. SS is rocking it, this is just incredible, after an incredible week, a below average day yesterday, sales have spiked, through the roof really. Happy

March is off to a slow start for me. Maybe the old maxim about March 'In like a lamb out like a lion' will apply to microstock as well as to the weather, and things will pick up in the second half.

I see that BigStock is having a sale; maybe that will help the sales there and make up for SS slugishness.

March had been good for me so far.  Over the years I have been doing this, March has always been one of the best months of the year.

Thanks a lot guys for your answers and your time! I am an amateur photographer and trying to earn some extra money from selling at microstock. Wish I could do that for a living but I still need a lot of time to match the quality of thepros.
Thanks again.
Cheers.
Elias

I also noticed a slightly drop of OD sales. Hopefully it pics up in the second half of the month.

Quote from: eliastheGreek on March 13, 2012, 15:43
Hi everyone,
I am a new contributor to SS (less than a year) and my sales started raising exponentially from this January. I had 2 to 3 downloads every day with a portfolio of no more than 90 pictures. But on March, sales have tanked big time. Today is the third consecutive day that I had no sales at all. Anyone noticed something similar

This is crucial... 

Quote from: eliastheGreek on March 14, 2012, 08:17
Thanks a lot guys for your answers and your time! I am an amateur photographer and trying to earn some extra money from selling at microstock. Wish I could do that for a living but I still need a lot of time to match the quality of thepros.
Thanks again.
Cheers.
Elias

We should have started years ago Nowadays competition is much larger and is more and more difficult to find a niche. I start out on Oct. 2010 and "still" working as "beta".  Try to shoot some different subjects and see if some work better than others and then rise portfolio over these best sellers.

With time You will see more consistent results.

Quote from: michaeldb on March 14, 2012, 03:15
March is off to a slow start for me. Maybe the old maxim about March 'In like a lamb out like a lion' will apply to microstock as well as to the weather, and things will pick up in the second half.

That's what I'm hoping for! 

My individual sales are down what looks like 30% of last month, but have sold way more OD's so the bottom line looks okay so far.

Woooow, 3 ELs just poped up this second!

Some days are bad but overall I'm looking at another BME, up by 50% compared to last month.

Down by 30% compared to last month.

Quote from: wut on March 15, 2012, 00:45
Woooow, 3 ELs just poped up this second!

8, ELs!   

Quote from: lagereek on March 15, 2012, 11:13

Quote from: wut on March 15, 2012, 00:45
Woooow, 3 ELs just poped up this second!

8, ELs!   

24, ELs!! 




I mean downloads

Sold 2 minutes ago one ELectric Power Station... it counts as "EL"  ?