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Messages - steheap

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26
General Stock Discussion / Re: This month's sales
« on: May 04, 2022, 09:28 »
Finally, some light at the end of the tunnel, but it isn't really from stock photos....

https://backyardsilver.com/say-again-earnings-from-stock-photography-have-increased/



Steve

27
Why is every comment here negative? I think this team do a great job and it is the mainstay of my work. The Professional package he mentions is for 1000 uploads a month - far more than I do.

It is not unreasonable to increase the fees in my view, especially as the increase is only aimed at heavy users.

Steve

28
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock 1099 form for 2021
« on: February 23, 2022, 13:41 »
Sorry - I'm stupid - it is in a box at the top of the Contributor dashboard, not in the Tax Center!

29
Shutterstock.com / Shutterstock 1099 form for 2021
« on: February 23, 2022, 13:30 »
Anyone managed to download their 1099 tax form for 2021 from Shutterstock. I was sure there was a download link in the Tax Center (which didn't work earlier this month) but now I can't find it at all.

Steve

30
And my report:
https://backyardsilver.com/earnings-from-stock-photography-in-december-2021/

The lowest December since 2013. Not a great end to the year to be honest!

Steve

33
Steve is still around - he doesn't come to this forum very often! Shows how slow the business is!

Steve

34
Its only the sales related discussions and only if you are logged in. There was one recently entitled a bit disheartening

Steve

35
I'm actually taking a detour into "Fine Art" and actively trying to boost my print sales on FAA in particular. I've written a couple of posts about what I am doing and learning, and I get more satisfaction when someone buys one of my prints than I do from a hundred downloads on Shutterstock!

Here is the first of those posts:
https://backyardsilver.com/using-social-media-to-boost-wall-art-sales-on-faa/

Steve

36
My own Brutally Boring results for May 2021. Who remembers the days when there was a race to publish the first earnings report each month in this forum and comments would go on for several pages. What a truly boring industry this has become...



More details (if you can work up the enthusiasm) on my blog.

https://backyardsilver.com/brutally-boring-stock-photo-earnings-may-2021/

Steve

37
No problem, Taras - good luck with it! I had my tongue in my cheek!

Steve

38
Ahhh.... competition for my premium membership. But I only charge $4.99 a month!

Steve

39
My guess is that the Shutterstock admin system has ways to manually change the normal search position of an image or a contributor or (as we suspected in the past) to put newer (lower cost in the old plan) contributors higher in the results.  So that admin system gives certain people a lot of power to alter how things are displayed. With all the hacks into company systems recently, it isn't beyond belief that someone has hacked into this admin system to make changes to their or other contributor positions. Not as illegal as stealing money through a hack, but it still could work to generate extra income. Of course, blackmailing an employee would have the same impact. I have no proof that this has been done, or that the contributor we are discussing has done any of this! He might just be a great photographer...

Steve

40
I'm always late (compared to Alex), but here are my results for April. Not too good as a trend, and well down on both March and previous Aprils. The lack of large single sales (on SS and Alamy) was the main reason for the drop.


Full details as usual on my blog: https://backyardsilver.com/making-not-as-much-money-from-stock-photography/

Steve

41
I'll add to Alex's post if I may with my report of earnings in March. Pretty good all told, with a total of $3274.


Full details are here: https://backyardsilver.com/making-money-from-stock-photography-march-2021/

Steve

42
Interesting questions, Matt, and thanks Alex, for the article. Alex and I did have some discussions before the article was published as I was not seeing the decline in anywhere near the terms that Alex was. In fact, in my end of 2020 earnings review: https://backyardsilver.com/annual-review-of-stock-photography-2020/ showed that I reported a small increase in 2020 over 2019 because I refocused and produced new images that were in demand. In that article I did try to explain my thinking and how I approached the different scenarios we face. Even now, I am getting sales because I made some silly IRS checks to represent the new Biden stimulus payments (and some for the change of the tax date in the USA. Simple stuff, but it sells.

I'm doing a bit of a reset myself by seeing if I can build some more consistent Print on Demand sales by becoming a heavy Pinterest creator. Who knows - but if you don't try, you don't succeed!

Steve

43
Great, thanks Alex. I learned some things!

44
Shutterstock.com / Once upon a time
« on: March 10, 2021, 15:53 »
Once upon a time, this would have been a cause for celebration. Now, with Shutterstock, I'm not so sure...

Steve

45
Adobe Stock / Re: Opting in for electronic 1099
« on: February 16, 2021, 18:46 »
Thanks Mat, yes, my address is correct. I have all the other stock agency tax forms, but not the Adobe one for some reason. I'll definitely sign up for electronic delivery for next year! And thanks, Jo Ann!

Steve

46
Adobe Stock / Re: Opting in for electronic 1099
« on: February 16, 2021, 11:29 »
Have those people who didn't sign up for the electronic 1099 now received their paper copies? I haven't received mine yet (and no response yet from the Adobe tax team). Just wondering if mine is lost in the mail somewhere.

Steve

47
I finally wrote my own Annual report on stock photography after battling with the loss of three hard drives in my PC - you should read the story on my blog immediately before the Annual report if you ever build your own PC from components. I learned a big big lesson! Anyway, here is the overall picture:


And here is the report: https://backyardsilver.com/annual-review-of-stock-photography-2020/
Steve

48
I love these discussions. Stops people from creating images and videos to compete with mine...

49
General Stock Discussion / Re: Stupid Question?
« on: January 02, 2021, 15:14 »
I agree with Firn - it is unlikely that many people find something on one agency and then go to Bigstock to buy it (and if they did, they will find my image there and presumably buy it there. I never worry about people shopping around. You don't know if they do and you can't do anything about it, so why worry.

50
General Stock Discussion / Re: Stupid Question?
« on: January 02, 2021, 12:33 »
I put the same images on both sites. If you use Stock Submitter it is zero work and I earned $460 this year - about 5% of my SS earnings

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