Author Topic: Success criteria for an image (Read 6602 times)

michealo · « **on:** April 06, 2009, 09:58 »

Just wondering what others would define as success criteria for an image

ie
10 sales
or
$50 in revenue
etc

vonkara · « **Reply #1 on:** April 06, 2009, 10:18 »

At Istock? 50 sales or a high views/downloads ratio

Graffoto · « **Reply #2 on:** April 06, 2009, 12:53 »

I wouldn't know, I've never had a successful file $:-\$

My current highest grossing file has earned $40.25 with 23 downloads.
That file's upload date is Dec. 07 2008. If it contunes to sell at the current rate then it is on track to be a successful image.

I would say that any given image should earn around $US 100.00 to be considered moderately successful.

That said, I believe that this is a numbers game. 1000 semi-successful images will earn you the same as 100 really successful images.

Since I have never figured out exactly which images will take off, it makes sense to me to have a large well diversified portfolio to make any real money.

There are exceptions to that, but then there always are.

PS: I don't have a very diversified portfolio, but I am working on it.

disorderly · « **Reply #3 on:** April 06, 2009, 13:19 »

I think of an image as a success if it produces more revenue than it cost to produce. For studio shoots, it's the aggregate of all the shots from the same shoot; if they add up to a profit on the day, I'm feeling pretty good about them.

DanP68 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 06, 2009, 13:39 »

Quote from: Vonkara on April 06, 2009, 10:18

At Istock? 50 sales or a high views/downloads ratio

You mean a low views/downloads ratio, don't you? $:-\$

vonkara · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2009, 13:53 »

Quote from: DanP68 on April 06, 2009, 13:39

Quote from: Vonkara on April 06, 2009, 10:18
At Istock? 50 sales or a high views/downloads ratio

You mean a low views/downloads ratio, don't you? $:-\$

Yes sorry... An average of 1d for 10v is a good image to me

Freezingpictures · « **Reply #6 on:** April 06, 2009, 14:33 »

Since I live from microstock an image which I spent an hour on (shooting, post processing, keywording, uploading etc) should return at least $100. Half an hour $50 etc. Then its successful

studio10 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 06, 2009, 14:43 »

I agree that it is all dependent on the time invested. An image or vector that took hours to produce needs to earn much more than a snapshot taken out of the kitchen window. But time in the portfolio is a factor - maybe it takes a year or two before the return is realized.

tan510jomast · « **Reply #8 on:** April 06, 2009, 19:00 »

Quote from: Vonkara on April 06, 2009, 13:53

Quote from: DanP68 on April 06, 2009, 13:39
Quote from: Vonkara on April 06, 2009, 10:18
At Istock? 50 sales or a high views/downloads ratio

You mean a low views/downloads ratio, don't you? $:-\$
Yes sorry... An average of 1d for 10v is a good image to me

interesting

stacey_newman · « **Reply #9 on:** April 06, 2009, 23:19 »

Quote from: disorderly on April 06, 2009, 13:19

I think of an image as a success if it produces more revenue than it cost to produce. For studio shoots, it's the aggregate of all the shots from the same shoot; if they add up to a profit on the day, I'm feeling pretty good about them.

these are my criteria too....if the image pays for itself...and more

Fred · « **Reply #10 on:** April 06, 2009, 23:26 »

Actually, success for an image should be tied to success for your entire portfolio across all sites. On this basis an image must make not only its own production costs but also enough to help carry under performing images in the portfolio.

To be successful you have to somehow pay for the production costs of the whole portfolio so the successful images have to be successful enough to pull up the average earnings of all the images.

Does this make sense?

fred

cmcderm1 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 06, 2009, 23:40 »

Quote from: Fred on April 06, 2009, 23:26

Actually, success for an image should be tied to success for your entire portfolio across all sites. On this basis an image must make not only its own production costs but also enough to help carry under performing images in the portfolio.

To be successful you have to somehow pay for the production costs of the whole portfolio so the successful images have to be successful enough to pull up the average earnings of all the images.

Does this make sense?

fred

This is a great way to think people. It's a comprehensive portfolio of images. A single image portfolio isn't the goal. The entire portfolio must average WHAT PER IMAGE? to be successful. My goal is $20/image on average across my WHOLE PORTFOLIO.

null · « **Reply #12 on:** April 07, 2009, 06:06 »

Quote from: Fred on April 06, 2009, 23:26

To be successful you have to somehow pay for the production costs of the whole portfolio so the successful images have to be successful enough to pull up the average earnings of all the images.
Does this make sense?

Yes very! But having a very diverse port with travel and models, I would narrow it down to the cost of a shoot versus the yield of all images in that shoot. Some shots in a single shoot are highly successful, others are not. When I look at my waterfalls, one shoot is highly profitable since it's next doors so to speak and the cost was only 2hrs and 3l of gasoline. But I should leverage it against another waterfall (in my opinion better) that took me 4 travel days in the jungle plus 2 hotel nights (at 5$) and a motorbike rent. I tend to consider those shoots together, since you'll never know in advance what will sell, or especially, which one will have extended licenses.

For that, I have high hopes for Lookstat as it will be able to calculate earnings on a defined set of images.

Caz · « **Reply #13 on:** April 08, 2009, 02:42 »

I don't consider an image to be a success unless it has an average of above 10 downloads per month.

I don't factor in the cost of producing an individual image when judging its success. If something took less than fifteen minutes of my time from shoot to upload and didn't involve any costs, it will be making money from the first download, but that doesn't make it a success if it only gets downloaded 12 times a year.
In my experience, images that get to the magic average 10 d/l per month (in the iStock Dls/mo column) within their first few weeks continue to be consistent sellers and therefore successful.

louoates · « **Reply #14 on:** April 11, 2009, 19:48 »

I enjoy seeing an image actively selling over time. So I put most importance in the downloads per month stat. My best on IS is running 15.8 dl/mo. since I uploaded it 3 years ago.
I consider 5+ downloads per month very successful. I have 10 images doing 5+/mo. for my portfolio of 636 images on IS.

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Author Topic: Success criteria for an image (Read 6602 times)

michealo

vonkara

Graffoto

disorderly

DanP68

vonkara

Freezingpictures

studio10

tan510jomast

stacey_newman

Fred

cmcderm1

null

Caz

louoates

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