Yikes, July looks ugly. Hopefully, that was an aberration and not the new normal.

Quote from: EmberMike on August 08, 2013, 12:22

Historically, information gleaned from these reports has lead to rough estimates of high 20% to low 30% pay to contributors. I highly doubt that it has been cut in half in the last 3 months, so this 14% number floating around has to be wrong.

That's what I thought but it looks very clear that the number is correct, I would appreciate it if you could find where the error is though if there is one.  I did expect this report to show a lower royalty rate because of Bigstock going to a subs model but I don't think that alone would explain the drop.

Like I said above, Cost of revenue ($21,768,000) seems the more likely candidate for what they payout, but that number may not all go to contributors. I assume affiliates and other things are in there too.
   

Quote from: tickstock on August 08, 2013, 11:38

So I guess since no one corrected me earlier, Shutterstock is paying out an average of 14.2% in royalties.  That sounds like the lowest around AFAIK and wasn't it just a couple months ago Jon Oringer was saying they payout 30%?

I think the $110 one is the payout not the $7 one. Both of them say they are in thousands not millions. That still seems a bit low (20%). I'm not sure though.

Hmm... this may not be right either. It looks like the cost of revenue at the bottom is more (21 million). I don't think all of that goes to contributors, but the majority of that does. These tea leaves are too hard to read.

I'm going to sign a presidential decree taking your lottery winnings away.

See, my odds at becoming US President are 1 in 10 million... your odds at winning the Powerball are about 1 in 175 million.  So if you win the lottery, I'll almost certainly be president... so watch out!!!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/30/15-things-more-likely-to-happen-than-winning-mega-millions.html

Good luck with that presidency thing. That sounds like a lot more work/money than wasting a couple bucks on a foolish dream of winning the lottery. 

Imagine you submit 1000 images to two agencies one accepts all of them the the other only 10.

On the site with 1000 images you make $100 on the one with 10 you make $10.

Which is 10X better?

The key stats are production costs, your cost of your time, income.

Umm... The train gets to Cleveland at 4:00. Dang it! I was never good at these word problems.

Others here will say that the only number that matters is your earnings.  True enough... you can't pay your mortgage with RPI.  But that kind of attitude is sticking one's head in the sand.

Since I've switched to a smaller agency/fewer downloads approach, my numbers can really fluctuate from month to month wildly. It's a lot less now about what I do and more about how the agencies do or if a big customer comes in that month. I still track RPI, but there is very little that is informative about it anymore.

How does crediting Google make any sense in anybody's mind? That's like quoting Facebook for things individuals say on Facebook.

Thanks. 

I don't really think any of it is really necessary, but people do like to follow it. So, I think it's good to have it as an option. You could just set it up and link your Twitter to it, so it mirrors your Twitter posts or vice versa. That's how I have my Twitter set up, so it mirrors my Facebook posts.

Quote from: ShazamImages on August 02, 2013, 09:10

So I don't think that you can just copy over the MySQL database. 

Why not? That's what I was hoping, importing the tables into the new MySQL and then changing the access information in the wp-config.php. Well, and of course copying all files and folders to the new host.

Did you run into any problems with the installation routine of WP and SYS at GoDaddy?

I copied my Wordpress site and used a plugin called WordPress Importer to install the exported file. I think you still need to copy over all the images and some other things. If you have a local host MAMP or LAMP, you can probably experiment.

The local host probably is a good idea for Wordpress upgrade testing too.

In 2011 Istock licensed more than 21 million files...

If this is true, then you probably don't need all the other numbers. If SS made 120 million dollars in 2011, then iStock would only have to sell those 21 million files for $6 a piece. I assume their average sale is higher than that. Things probably changed in 2012 & 2013, but that seems like a large gap to make up.

You've eliminated a lot of options, so it may be a tough road. I've tried the cold calls with very little success. Agents usually want to deal with artists with existing clients or reputations. Most of my contacts come in from walk-ins (since I have a large web presence). That can take time to build though. I wish there was an easier answer, but it's tough out there. If you find a better way, please let me know.

curious that you saying so when you defend iStock like there isn't other agency in this industry, whatever they do you seem to find always the positive side, so why can't other enjoy SS?

I think that is the thing. Not that we don't get good and bad news that deserves extreme reactions, but when posts are overly positive or overly negative they start to lose a little validity.