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Author Topic: Sales slump  (Read 89633 times)

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« Reply #300 on: August 24, 2010, 10:37 »
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Lefty, I never once put down any new photographers.  I think you are reading what you want to see, and looking for an argument where there is none.  My only point was to say that someone with a high rejection rate who hasn't yet reached their first payout is probably losing faith in microstock during this downturn, and that it is possible we will lose some contributors over time.


lisafx

« Reply #301 on: August 24, 2010, 11:01 »
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Lefty, I never once put down any new photographers.  I think you are reading what you want to see, and looking for an argument where there is none.  My only point was to say that someone with a high rejection rate who hasn't yet reached their first payout is probably losing faith in microstock during this downturn, and that it is possible we will lose some contributors over time.

Excellent points Dan.  Just reading these forums the past year, it seems like quite a few people of all skill and success levels are getting discouraged.  Until recently I never saw posts from people saying they are quitting uploading, or quitting altogether, but lately there are some. 

I don't see anyone bashing newbies here either.  Just making the sympathetic point that it is much harder starting now than it was a few years ago. 

« Reply #302 on: August 24, 2010, 11:22 »
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There are plenty of "real" looking ordinary people in microstock. 

Problem is they are nearly impossible to find, drowned as they are in a sea of Yuri's and Monkeybusiness's  perfect looking, cookie cutter images. 

If the micro sites don't find a way in their search engines to allow the real people type images to see the light of day, they will continue to lose buyers to Flikr and the like.   And adding the keyphrase "real people" isn't helpful because buyers don't know to search for it. 

Agree.

vonkara

« Reply #303 on: August 24, 2010, 11:24 »
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I don't see anyone bashing newbies here either.  Just making the sympathetic point that it is much harder starting now than it was a few years ago. 

True, maybe not always nice. But the thing is, in 6 months, you can get 5 to 10 downloads for every successful images, in a niche subject. The collection was already almost saturated when I joined in 2007. I have been lucky to find a couple of subject where my images didn't got buried.

« Reply #304 on: August 24, 2010, 11:43 »
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Lefty is using a Kodak Instamatic,  1982 model, typical neewbie stuff.

ha!ha! very funny. And for 60% on Istock and close to 80% on others mine performance must be incomparable.

Lefty, everyone is your competitor in this game. It doesn't matter a  what they think of you or me or newbies or old-times. What we try to do on this forum is try to understand what is happening in our marketplace.

If you want to kick the old-timers, go and take sales off them by outclassing them. Newbie or not, that will get you their respect (but not their love).

Competition stiff bring out sometime not so nice reaction. Even we see in simple match of wit or simple fun tournament tennis, football, hockey. Not unexpected too in micro stock. Maybe I write to sound I come in here
to pick war with old timers but no, I read with seriousness the situation. I understand too some people get overreaction like me too. But make no mistake I am not out to bash you Pauliewalnut or any oldies.
Only looking for idea to get behind real reason for slumping or is it only for oldie.
Be new I am that my treatment of a newbie is only month to month exceed expectation. So is surprise
there is slumpage. Maybe when I am ten year old in microstock comparing today obvious will be slumpage
. All business in slumpage over 10 years picture retroactive.
Only cigarette, alcohol, and drugs do not face slumpage.  So natural to see slumpage for long term comparision.

I thank all that it is reality to face bigger task to success in microstock than 5, 6,7,10 years ago.
So happy to know stiff competition is for the future continuing.

I will continue take pictures with Instamatic and try mantain approval of more than 20%  , ha!ha!

« Reply #305 on: August 24, 2010, 15:12 »
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Only looking for idea to get behind real reason for slumping or is it only for oldie.
Be new I am that my treatment of a newbie is only month to month exceed expectation. So is surprise
there is slumpage.

That's an interesting point. Newcomers will still see the rapid rise in sales as they increase their portfolios by a huge percentage each month. So that will give them encouragement.

What happens later on, Lefty, is that you have, say, 2,000 photos online and it takes a huge effort and a lot of time to increase that by 50%. If the earnings per file are falling by two or three percent a month, then a large contributor can barely keep pace with it - you may have to add 50 or 100 photos a month just to stand still.

The new contributor, with say 100 photos online, can increase his portfolio size by 50% in a month, with a bit of luck. If the sales are falling 3%, all he will notice is a 47% increase in earnings.

The bigger your portfolio gets, the harder it is to increase your earnings and the more obvious any slump becomes.

« Reply #306 on: August 24, 2010, 16:28 »
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Only looking for idea to get behind real reason for slumping or is it only for oldie.
Be new I am that my treatment of a newbie is only month to month exceed expectation. So is surprise
there is slumpage.

That's an interesting point. Newcomers will still see the rapid rise in sales as they increase their portfolios by a huge percentage each month. So that will give them encouragement.

What happens later on, Lefty, is that you have, say, 2,000 photos online and it takes a huge effort and a lot of time to increase that by 50%. If the earnings per file are falling by two or three percent a month, then a large contributor can barely keep pace with it - you may have to add 50 or 100 photos a month just to stand still.

The new contributor, with say 100 photos online, can increase his portfolio size by 50% in a month, with a bit of luck. If the sales are falling 3%, all he will notice is a 47% increase in earnings.

The bigger your portfolio gets, the harder it is to increase your earnings and the more obvious any slump becomes.

Much appreciation . You are a good person . I can tell from your response.

And for your insight, I realise that, as I read always in spite of other insistance of volume, people like sjlocke stress the contrary to focus on quality not quantity.  So yes, I am no big hurry to reach 10,000 images. I don't have that factory production or patience to churn out volume. But yes , I take sjlocke insistence very seriously, forget playing numbers game and pay more attention to quality.

Thank you again BaldricksTrousers.
by way, last, BT what a funny name you got. Where does it come from?

« Reply #307 on: August 24, 2010, 16:40 »
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It's from a line in an English comedy programme.

« Reply #308 on: August 26, 2010, 17:41 »
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FWIW I have had 4 consecutive solid week days at iStockphoto, and today is my best DL day since June 16. 

« Reply #309 on: August 26, 2010, 18:01 »
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FWIW I have had 4 consecutive solid week days at iStockphoto, and today is my best DL day since June 16. 

I noticed a bit of an uptick myself right after I read about the 25% discount.  Perhaps the discount is making a difference or perhaps some people are getting back into work mode now that school has started.

ap

« Reply #310 on: August 26, 2010, 18:06 »
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this is going to be my bme after a full year on is.

SNP

  • Canadian Photographer
« Reply #311 on: August 26, 2010, 20:08 »
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There's another trap too.  All surplus images uploaded (beyond what is allowed for non-exclusives) are deleted.  So if a non-exclusive is allowed 15 uploads, and you give them 40 files that week because you are exclusive, only the first 15 stay online.  The other 25 get cut.   :'(

*Groan* Oh no __ not this old codswallop being trotted out yet again. What is it about these 'microstock myths' that keeps them being endlessly regurgitated no matter how many times they have been proven to be untrue?

Here's Rob Sylvan's answer to that question from this very forum;

"This interpretation is completely incorrect. Canceling exclusivity does not result in all your content being removed from the site. All that happens is that your content is "removed" from being considered exclusive after 30 days (i.e., removed from exclusive-only searches, promotions, royalties, etc). After 90 days you can apply again to become exclusive if you wish.

I would encourage anyone with questions/concerns about the Artist Supply Agreement to contact iStock Contributor Relations directly."


yes. thanks, you beat me to it. no, they don't pull your images down....why don't people verify 'facts' before spreading them? I just said in another thread, being exclusive, or non-exclusive at a certain level becomes golden handcuffs...not much wiggle room and high risk to make the switch. I wouldn't do it at this point.

« Reply #312 on: August 26, 2010, 22:04 »
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They must have flipped a switch or something (or someone kicked the server) because things suddenly look better this week. Not great, but much better than the last six weeks or so!

« Reply #313 on: August 27, 2010, 00:40 »
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They must have flipped a switch or something (or someone kicked the server) because things suddenly look better this week. Not great, but much better than the last six weeks or so!

Yes. Saturday and Sunday produced sales equivalent to several of the days of the previous week - this was just after some sort of behind the scenes shake-up. Then Monday and Tuesday were the best couple of days for something like three months .... and then on Wednesday-Thursday it was back down to the previous week's sort of levels - 60% down from Monday.

These wild gyrations have not been the normal pattern for my sales, though I suppose as sales volume has fallen by half from a few years ago random noise (ebb and flow) will be much bigger than it was. I did notice that just as Saturday's boost came after some site maintenance, Wednesday's drop seemed to be accompanied by complaints on the help forum about technical problems making the site slow. Could that be affecting sales? Is it just random? I don't know. Is it a wild ride? Definitely.

Europe is starting to drift back to work after the summer break, now. So next week should be better everywhere.

« Reply #314 on: August 27, 2010, 01:29 »
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Its been a bumpy few weeks on IS. I'd mainly attribute this to the changes made to the site. I think until everything is settled again we'll see a few more weeks where sales will be inconsistent, though hopefully the worst is behind us.

I made the switch last month to exclusivity after 4+ years as an independent. I've now started to use my upload quota to try to build my IS portfolio to the numbers that the other sites had, so in a sense its really early days. This month it looks like I'll get to about 75% of my total pre-exclusive income. Bearing in mind that I still only have less than 50% of my old SS portfolio on IS, so far I'm not unhappy with the switch. 

« Reply #315 on: August 27, 2010, 01:33 »
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Well, good luck Holgs. It's a brave step to take at a time like this.

lagereek

« Reply #316 on: August 27, 2010, 01:58 »
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Yes!  I noticed a bit of sales increase as well and in the right direction,  maybe the summertime blues is over.

Summertime???  here in Sweden its been bloody rain from start to finish.

« Reply #317 on: August 27, 2010, 04:14 »
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Summertime???  here in Sweden its been bloody rain from start to finish.

You'll be relieved to know it is almost over, then, and you have autumn to look forward to  ;D

« Reply #318 on: August 27, 2010, 04:47 »
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I seem to have flatlined all summer but then I haven't uploaded anything. So shutterstocks fall from not uploading has been covered by istock still growing. I think i may have got lucky but can't find the motivation to crank back up again! It's definitely true as my port grows uploading doesn't increase sales. zero motivation and the summer rain is relentless in the uk too!

lagereek

« Reply #319 on: August 27, 2010, 06:41 »
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Summertime???  here in Sweden its been bloody rain from start to finish.

You'll be relieved to know it is almost over, then, and you have autumn to look forward to  ;D

As it happens Autumn in Sweden is a lovely season, really colorful stuff. My second home is in the UK, London and Cornwall and boy, even more rain every single day.

« Reply #320 on: August 27, 2010, 09:58 »
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Summertime???  here in Sweden its been bloody rain from start to finish.

You'll be relieved to know it is almost over, then, and you have autumn to look forward to  ;D

As it happens Autumn in Sweden is a lovely season, really colorful stuff. My second home is in the UK, London and Cornwall and boy, even more rain every single day.

I'm starting to think that London is Atlantis. We havnt had a classic blue sky stock day where the light is perfect for weeks.

« Reply #321 on: August 27, 2010, 11:35 »
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Wait, the sky in London is blue?

« Reply #322 on: August 27, 2010, 16:25 »
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Its been a bumpy few weeks on IS. I'd mainly attribute this to the changes made to the site. I think until everything is settled again we'll see a few more weeks where sales will be inconsistent, though hopefully the worst is behind us.

I made the switch last month to exclusivity after 4+ years as an independent. I've now started to use my upload quota to try to build my IS portfolio to the numbers that the other sites had, so in a sense its really early days. This month it looks like I'll get to about 75% of my total pre-exclusive income. Bearing in mind that I still only have less than 50% of my old SS portfolio on IS, so far I'm not unhappy with the switch. 

I did the same at the end of july so it's only my 2nd month as exclusive and I'm heading for my 2nd best month of the year for earnings. I did not have much time to upload with the new quotas with the new baby born 3 weeks ago but I intend to grow my portfolio more this fall.

As for the summer slump, earning per download is a LOT higher but the number of downloads is still a bit slow. Way better this week though as someone pointed out. Let's hope it will pick up with the autumn rush.


 

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