Hello MSG'ers!

A few months ago when we launched PhotoDune, I promised here that we would be discussing our non-exclusive rates after the three month mark had passed. And I'm happy to announce that the Envato board met, and came to a decision to increase the non-exclusive rates up from 25% to 33%. This will go into effect on December 1st and will be across all of the nine Envato Marketplaces, which includes of course PhotoDune. This will be the fourth rate increase and first non-exclusive rate change in our five year history!

As I've mentioned previously our marketplaces are heavily slanted towards exclusive content. In fact less than 5% of our sales come from non-exclusive authors. Since we believe that any rate we offer one marketplace should be the same across all the marketplaces, this influences the size of the increment.

This bump will mean that photo contributors will be earning about a third more off each sale, and you should really be able to feel the difference in your monthly earnings on PhotoDune and our other marketplaces.

You can read about the full announcement over on Envato Notes (our community blog) � http://notes.envato.com/general/non-exclusive-rates-increasing-to-33-on-december-1st/

PhotoDune Sales, Items and General Update

Gunnar reminded me the other day that last month I missed out on giving an update about our progress. PhotoDune has continued to zip along and the stats keep getting bigger. I'm still in awe of how many photos are out there in the world of microstock photography!

We now have over 400,000 photos up for sale, with the last three months adding 40k, 70k and 100k new photos respectively. So a good solid trend seems to be occurring with contributions growing very quickly.

We now have around 500 authors with at least one sale, and our top author Yuri has just passed his 5000th sale. In fact, in case you didn�t know we have an author ladder where you can see how different authors are stacking up. It�s quite fun to watch as the sales have been mounting up - http://photodune.net/author/top_authors

On the subject of unit sales, the total PhotoDune sales count for our five months is:

• July Private Beta - 1,760
• August - 4,191
• September - 7,369
• October - 8,793 + 6,396 bundle sales
• November - 14,908

(For November, I've divided the current number by the number of days passed and then multiplied by 30. So it's extrapolated out on a simple base. I think it may actually be higher as we keep getting bigger with each passing week).
 
We've been doing lots of marketing for the new site with a successful photo and graphic bundle in October that sold close to $130,000 worth. We also ran a big series of photo effects tutorials over on our Photoshop blog Psdtuts+ http://psd.tutsplus.com showcasing what you can do with PhotoDune images. And right now we're running a promotion where buyers get 50% of their November spend back as marketplace credit to spend again in December.

Here on MSG we've gotten some great feedback (as well as some healthy criticism!) and in case you hadn't seen I thought I'd share a couple of quotes from MSG photographers:

"... I am very pleased with PDune. They are the most innovative of all the newer sites. They're creatively and aggressively marketing their image collection." - LisaFX (Full Comment - http://www.microstockgroup.com/photodune/photodune-50-credit-back-on-all-photo-purchases-in-nov/msg225369/#msg225369)

"... PhotoDune has done me proud, especially for a new agency. Thanks to that bundle, they're my third biggest earner for the year despite having only five months of earnings, and my ninth biggest earner since I started with microstock. Nobody has come out of the gate with numbers like that." - Disorderly (Full Comment - http://www.microstockgroup.com/photodune/photodune-50-credit-back-on-all-photo-purchases-in-nov/msg225403/#msg225403)

So hooray for some kind words from Lisa and Disorderly :-)

Stuff We're Still Working On

Of course we're still n00bs in the world of stock photography and we have *tons* of stuff to learn. Right now some of the things we are working on, or are planning to work on are:

• Our reviewers are getting slammed again thanks to the consistent increases in submissions. Just when we thought we were on top of the content, it's amped up all over again. Our valiant Microstock Solutions team is wrestling with the queue as we speak, and I'm certain we'll get it back down in short order.
• We had a spate of upload problems about a week ago due in part to PhotoDune, but largely due to the rest of the marketplaces growing as well. It's been another huge year at Envato, and the platform just keeps levelling up in size. Unfortunately the upload and performance problems were timed with an upgrade to our support system which was a case of super bad timing. So while the support team was busy learning our new system, we hit them with a whole bunch of authors wondering what was happening with uploads. Thankfully the problems are mostly resolved and Drew and his support team pulled some big days and are in control of support again
• I've been seeing a lot of feedback about the way we handle model releases. This is clearly an area we need to work on and is going to need some attention in the new year.

And of course we're always working on more marketing to drive the site along and sell our awesome pool of content. Recently one of our team (Fuad, who is actually my Dad!) went to the Microstock Expo (http://www.microstockexpo.com/) and polled some of the contributors attending the conference about what was most important for a new agency. The near unanimous response was that marketing of images trumped everything else. This has really cemented in our minds that marketing is the most important thing we can be doing for PhotoDune. Happily it's one of our strengths

We're really proud to have jumped into the big world of stock photography, and we're extremely excited by the results so far. We hope that this non-exclusive rate bump will reward those of you who have already chosen to upload with PhotoDune and that we'll be able to continue to deliver good returns to you. Thank you to you guys for giving us a try, we really appreciate your time and input.

What to say!
Thank you,thank you and thank you! You are the best!

Soon, you will be the "main stream" in this business, I know it!

Finally site which deserves real WoYaay

Collis, thank you for the good news. I am correct in assuming this affects Graphic River as well? I actually like GR and the sales are not bad but it is really difficult for me to find the time to upload because the process is so complicated. Any news on changing the upload procedure to a more universal format? I would be far more likely to upload more images if it weren't so time consuming. I really appreciate the feedback you give here on the forums. Please keep it up.

A BIG thank you!
 I'm very impressed with your relationship with this forum. I wish you continued success.

Absolutely. Thanks also for being so up-front with the sales numbers too. That's amazing transparency for a microstock agency. Take a Heart for your efforts!

not bad.. not a 50% but hey very nice considering top agencies, I still believe you guys should bring a ranking in terms of sales..

thanks for hearing us!

I believe many top contributors should thank a lot of contributors on this forum that kept asking for more while they said it was enough

This is great news, but I am still conflicted.

Did I miss it or has the extended license pricing still not been addressed?

Also, everyone take note that an XXL is only $7 on Photodune.  Their prices are way too low and WILL affect your earnings at other agencies.    Photodune will become a significant agency, they are very successful in other segments.  Now is the time to discuss it.

Great, that's what I waited for (actually, I hoped for 50%, but 33% is a lot better than 25%).
Thanks for listening.
Just created an account, now 5 GB of photos are on their way 

This is great news, but I am still conflicted.

Did I miss it or has the extended license pricing still not been addressed?

Also, everyone take note that an XXL is only $7 on Photodune.  Their prices are way too low and WILL affect your earnings at other agencies.    Photodune will become a significant agency, they are very successful in other segments.  Now is the time to discuss it.

agree, they need to implement more sizes, after 12MP it goes to the lastest XXL which is 9$

should be something like 16, 20 and over 30 perhaps

That's a nice increase.  Its good to have a site increasing commissions, even if it is from a very low level.  Hopefully you will see how paying us more makes you more money and some of the other sites will get the same idea.

Bravo!!  This is really exciting news!  Envato is a class act, and this is a class move to reward your contributors and attract new talent.  Congratulations! 

With the great administrative team and successful marketing efforts already working, I expect Photodune will find itself moved into the top 4 or 5 sites by this time next year, if not sooner!  Take a heart from me too

Also, everyone take note that an XXL is only $7 on Photodune.  Their prices are way too low and WILL affect your earnings at other agencies.    Photodune will become a significant agency, they are very successful in other segments.  Now is the time to discuss it.

I just got a .09 cent royalty on Istock.  All time record low from anywhere for me, in nearly 7 years of microstock.  I'm not all that worried about $7 prices on PD, for which a 33% royalty would be $2.33.

As they have demonstrated a willingness to respond to market forces, I am sure PD will revise prices if they feel it's beneficial. 

I don't have anything on pd yet but I wonder if this could be the beginning of a cycle in the micro business.  There certainly could be some opportunities to attract contributors this way.  Low price kings could eventually under price themselves out of the business.

Collis, thank you for the good news. I am correct in assuming this affects Graphic River as well?...

I'm wondering the same thing. Collis?

Edit: Nevermind. Think I found the answer. Looks like this change affects all marketplaces.