Does anyone have stats on how many contributors signed up year by year agency by agency??? I fear its the increased competition and the lagging economy behind this unusual slump.
If your photos are competing with 50% more competition this summer than last, theres your answer to lower views which translates to less sales. sales go down, shoot more to stay afloat. guess what? the other guy next to you is doing the same thing and the hardest workers accelerate the the plunge to the bottom...
The crowd sourcing model of micro these days only favors agencies and the top top contributors...

hoping for a post olympic bounce but not necessarily EXPECTING one!

The closing ceremonies have started.  Looking for the surge to begin.   

Quote from: Dan on August 11, 2012, 16:49
     Just  had  my  first  sale  for  Aug  on  the  10th.    a  sub  at  fotolia  for  18 cents.  Don't  know  if  that  means  things  are  improving  (only  slighty)  or  if  it  was  a  fluke.  Hopefully  it  means  things  will  pick  up.   

Dan, I am so sorry but that made me laugh at loud. It can only get better for you

Well, it's the morning after the Olympics ended.  Sales-wise, this Monday is starting out like a Saturday.  Maybe buyers are having an Olympics hangover and they're slow to start downloading again?

Quote from: stockmarketer on August 13, 2012, 15:16
Well, it's the morning after the Olympics ended.  Sales-wise, this Monday is starting out like a Saturday.  Maybe buyers are having an Olympics hangover and they're slow to start downloading again?

Shutterstock's going well __ it's just all the others.

it seems the post olympics started slow.. SS is the only one that save the day, bust still less dwlds than July...the others are deserted!

Quote from: gostwyck on August 13, 2012, 16:51

Quote from: stockmarketer on August 13, 2012, 15:16
Well, it's the morning after the Olympics ended.  Sales-wise, this Monday is starting out like a Saturday.  Maybe buyers are having an Olympics hangover and they're slow to start downloading again?

Shutterstock's going well __ it's just all the others.

Huh.  SS is disappointing me just as much as the others this month.  I just looked at the SS forum to see if it's just me, and it looks like a whole bunch of people are saying August has been surprisingly weak, particularly compared to July and to Aug 2011.

Quote from: gostwyck on August 13, 2012, 16:51

Quote from: stockmarketer on August 13, 2012, 15:16
Well, it's the morning after the Olympics ended.  Sales-wise, this Monday is starting out like a Saturday.  Maybe buyers are having an Olympics hangover and they're slow to start downloading again?

Shutterstock's going well __ it's just all the others.

Yep! SS, going pretty well ( they did have a bit of a slope though), the others?  well frankly it seems as if their staff has left the building.

I'm actually having a really good month at StockFresh. I know, I know, I'm the SF fanboy and most people aren't doing well there. But really, I'm almost at payout already and it's not even halfway through the month yet. That's about double my usual earnings pace there.

No surge for me.  Maybe it's a travel day?   

SS removed my best selling image for copyright, been selling daily since january and made good money, still up on all other agencies so I'm sure sales will pick up there, smart move SS!

Only in hobbystock

^^^What was the photo of?  Can you sell it as editorial?  I know sometimes SS has picked up on things that the other sites haven't.  I thought they got it right when they removed my British currency photos, the other sites are in the wrong on that one.  Istock removed one of my photos of old playing cards.  I looked up the reason why and think they got that one wrong but that's their choice.

Things seem to flickering back to life today!

There's life, but it's very weak.  Still way down from July, when every previous year I've been in ms, August is ALWAYS a sizable bump up from July.  This is very strange and discouraging.

Quote from: stockmarketer on August 14, 2012, 20:03
There's life, but it's very weak.  Still way down from July, when every previous year I've been in ms, August is ALWAYS a sizable bump up from July.  This is very strange and discouraging.

i am sorry to hear that, what do you think is happening with you? olympics, world crisis, best match on agencies? which agencies you are feeling more drops?

i am having a nice august actually but my sales are for sure 10x less than yours

Quote from: luissantos84 on August 14, 2012, 20:11

Quote from: stockmarketer on August 14, 2012, 20:03
There's life, but it's very weak.  Still way down from July, when every previous year I've been in ms, August is ALWAYS a sizable bump up from July.  This is very strange and discouraging.

i am sorry to hear that, what do you think is happening with you? olympics, world crisis, best match on agencies? which agencies you are feeling more drops?

i am having a nice august actually but my sales are for sure 10x less than yours

I think SS and FT are the big underperformers for me this month.  FT has been on a slide for me for a while, so that's not a surprise.  I think SS recently made a best match change -- from defaulting to relevance as opposed to popularity -- and that seems to have really hit the people who generate high amounts of downloads (lots of complaints over in the SS forum).  I have no Enhanced Downloads in August vs. a half dozen in July, and my Single & Other Downloads count is running at 50% compared to July. 

Quote from: stockmarketer on August 14, 2012, 20:29

Quote from: luissantos84 on August 14, 2012, 20:11

Quote from: stockmarketer on August 14, 2012, 20:03
There's life, but it's very weak.  Still way down from July, when every previous year I've been in ms, August is ALWAYS a sizable bump up from July.  This is very strange and discouraging.

i am sorry to hear that, what do you think is happening with you? olympics, world crisis, best match on agencies? which agencies you are feeling more drops?

i am having a nice august actually but my sales are for sure 10x less than yours

I think SS and FT are the big underperformers for me this month.  FT has been on a slide for me for a while, so that's not a surprise.  I think SS recently made a best match change -- from defaulting to relevance as opposed to popularity -- and that seems to have really hit the people who generate high amounts of downloads (lots of complaints over in the SS forum).  I have no Enhanced Downloads in August vs. a half dozen in July, and my Single & Other Downloads count is running at 50% compared to July. 

My new usual at FT is $60-80 per month and I am on track to make $30 this month.  I feel your FT slide, buddy.  And it's steep, vinyl and soaking wet, too.