Acceptance rate at about 96%
But I don't submit photos o real videos, maybe for illustrations and motion graphics is easier to get accepted.

Quote from: MotionDesign on May 29, 2025, 01:00

Quote from: SuperPhoto on May 28, 2025, 18:05

I'm kind of sad right now. My weekly earnings should be higher (actually much higher than yours right now) - but... sadly the last few months have been very low. Quite concerning, don't know why. But good job. Now I need to figure out how to get my earnings not only back where they should be, but improving significantly.

Thanks, since I started to create and upload almost only videos, my earnings have increased. For the images I take a couple of frames of my videos and upload them as is.

Yes, it's odd. I do videos as well in addition to images but my sales have gone down, which makes no sense. How many videos to you have?

I have about 2100 videos (motion graphics) and 6000 images.

My sales are gone down from 15/20 videos every month to almost 0 on Pond5, from may 2024, I don't know why, seems that my portfolio is hidden somewhere...

Decent mid-week
I don�t care about position, my focus is on earnings, maybe I�m wrong, but it works for me

Hi all, i've sent multiple emails to [email protected] because i need a document with earnings and withholdings, but no answer from them.

The adobe tax FAQ page say this:
Because of a special agreement we have with the IRS, we don't issue 1042-S forms separately to each Contributor. However, we can provide a signed document that includes earnings and amount of withholding if you email us a request at [email protected]

I really need this document. Is there an official Adobe Guy here in the forum that can help me? Thanks in advance
Luca

Average week, 6000 illustrations, 2000 videos (motion graphics), no AI

No

Quote from: MotionDesign on December 15, 2023, 13:26

For animation and motion graphics i think AE is #1, easy to use, lot of plugins, lot of tutorials.
BMD Fusion is more a compositing tool (with some motion graphics capabilities)

Thanks for this answer. I think you're the only one here who answered the OP's question. Others may be confusing AE (for animation) with Premiere Pro for (standard video).

You are welcome
I've used fusion studio on and off for a couple of year, i've made some motion graphics that sell well on stock, but i prefer to use AE with plugins such as Element3d, Stardust and Plexus

Quote from: ADH on November 08, 2023, 09:45

I have no doubt that at the rate artificial intelligence is advancing, stock photography has a maximum of two years left to live. Right now the smart thing to do is to sell all the lenses, equipment and cameras on ebay before it is too late and they become worthless junk.

I haven't sent any AI images, and don't think I ever will.

I get help from AI for my post-production, but I'm not interested in generative AI.

It's boring, and the images are all the same, all with the same style.

I think eventually, people will get bored, and the majority of AI users will create their own images.

I hope in the future, there will always be a niche of customers who prefer real images captured with authentic landscapes, models, and objects. And I continue to work for that niche.

We'll see in a few years.

This!
Agree 100%

some sale here and there

2018 (before the glitch) $ 150/200 month
2023 $ 7/15 month

level 4 illustrations (level 5 should be around october)
level 4 videos

Great! Thank you Adobe and Mat!

Deb, you have thoroughly embarrassed me . But let me try to explain.

First of all, if we are modest its because we know you dont have to be talented to do well in microstock. You just have to know the ropes.

The other thing is that people like Mihai, myself, Doug Jensen, and remember Iain Campbell with the great model release video port? - are just a few people that come to mind. The common thing is that we all started about the same time - around 2012 to 2013. Why is this important? For one thing, it was a great time to start. There was still quite a bit of competition back in those days, which is important because you need that in order to keep upping your game.

On the other hand, the people who started before us were used to easy street. Back in the beginning when a good stock pic went to the top of the search - it stayed there (forever) depending solely on how many dls it had. So, when things got tough, a lot of them were not willing to change.

When we came along, was the time SS first changed their algorithm and boy did that hurt a lot of people. But the newcomers like us, learnt from it. Also, I remember having all these arguments with Lauren at the time about what sold and what didn't. I started getting 1,000+ DLs on SS a month, and he was trailing behind me, but we still had these arguments. Long story. The older group were not willing to change.

The other thing about the people I know who started then and did well, was we learnt from reviewers rejections. They were even tougher back then, and it was another thing that made or broke you.

And thirdly, we played to our strengths, and we got better and better at knowing how to use them for microstock. Mihai of course is an engineer and brilliant at technical stuff, I come from a business and graphic design background, Iain started off as a model and then learnt video from one of the top video contributors in the industry at the time. Doug had a strong background in video.

So, the question is, can it still be done again if you start today? I know its getting more and more difficult.  SS pulling the rug out of people's feet with their rates restructure has made it even worse. But there is still money to be made with new uploads, and ways to get around all the low subs I have found. And it all comes back to what you shoot, and how to be just that bit different to the rest of the crowd.

So in a nutshell: Play to your strengths, always check with what's already on the database, don't shoot what everyone's shooting, keep learning, keep improving your skills, keep upping your game, and do research. In fact there's heaps and heaps of subject matter that I find every day that is popular on social media and not well covered on the microstock databases.**

And dont listen to all the complaints. It will bring you down. Productivity and negativity don't go well together.

And finally, always remember you are not competing against a million other contributors. You are only competing with those who shoot the same subject matter as you - or rather, those who have the same keywords as you. Puts it all in perspective then.



ETA: ** This is important because advertisers know they have to follow social media trends to sell their products to them - and we (as the stock providers) are there to provide them with that content. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! lol

Dear Annie,
i agree with every single word you wrote!
this is exactly what i do and...it works!
In the meantime, October 2021 is my BME (since 2010)
(but i'm not a photographer, 2d/3d illustrations and animations)

I'm still uploading to the 'dime royalty agencies' (IS and SS) simply because i can't afford to lose five figures earnings every year.
AS is growing and it's by far my best earner. P5...is 'stable'