How do they drive prices through the floor when they pay out more than anyone else does? If I make more at the end of the day, I don't care what the per license price is. It's not even important. What matters is the total income. Again, it's about the bigger picture. Who else is going to pay me $1,000+ for a couple of snapshots of my kid in superhero costume? Not some fancy ad agency, that's for sure. Shutterstock has. I spent maybe five bucks making that photo!

And let's not overlook the fact that subscriptions are only part of the picture at Shutterstock. Half of my income comes from On Demands, ELs and SODs.

The fact is, microstock photographers need to manage their costs and do things on the cheap. If you're spending hundreds of dollars paying models and buying props, you only have yourself to blame if you turn around and sell your images via Microstock. I use volunteer models. I buy my props at Wal-Mart, Party City or Michaels, and then I return them for a refund when I'm done with them.

I guess the big picture never worked that well for me. It's nice if it does, but if it doesn't it still has an impact on what happens everywhere else. For example, Thinkstock exist because of Shutterstock, so do many other models that haven't necessarily been a good thing for us that do better at selling at higher RPDs.

You just need to switch to higher RPD sites, then every day of the week can be either awesome or terrible. It's like gambling. 

yes the agencies know the value of an image/s, that is why they make millions of dollars profit, and they also know that most microstock photographers do not know the value of an image by agreeing to sell their images for a pittance in royalties.

my conclusion is that the agencies know full well the value of the image/s but they also do not respect the true value of the contributors who create these images.

i think the question should be - do photographers know the true value of their images?

I disagree with this. I think they could make more by selling images at higher prices. I know I do, so I'm not sure why they think they can't. I think iStock proved you can do well with charging more than your competitors. Obviously, they have had problems too, but most of those seemed self-inflicted by squeezing both customers and contributors at the same time.

I assume you have mostly illustrations on shutter with daily sales of 150? 

Wait? Illustrations are supposed to sell well? 

2013 was good. I did a little worse than 2012 in total revenue. I grew at some sites and shrunk or eliminated others, so it was sort of a transitional year. I'm looking to 2014 to be a big growth year, so I guess that will be the real test.

December was pretty bad, but that seems to be common for me. Although, I'd probably have to go back several years to find a month where I earned less. Overall, 2013 was good. It was slightly less than 2012, but more than 2011. Hopefully, the new year is a good one.

I plan to follow my plan and I hope it works out.

FT's payments always take the longest. I requested mine on Dec 1st, still pending. But usually it does not come before the 15th of a month.

They must do them in groups. I remember them paying fairly quickly.

That domain's already taken - a photographer here with a sense of humor is setting up a site on it as we speak

I think he paid a couple million to get it from a college student. 

But then it's a puzzle as to why this sort of practice is even legal!

It does make you wonder. This article scared the "bleep" out of me in the last election.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/greed-and-debt-the-true-story-of-mitt-romney-and-bain-capital-20120829

It's a long read, but I thought it was interesting.

Oh joy.  I haven't heard anything from Bluehost. 

Of course I can't find the assets file in my file manager.

I think it is just for 4 and not 3. I didn't see those folders either.

Quote from: adrian3008 on December 04, 2013, 05:46

How many files do I need to consider my portofolio decent or big?

Unless you are making over $1000/month on your best site, i wouldn't worry about any more than the top 5-8 sites.

I would say yes, but finding the top 5 or 8 sites usually means you have to try 20 sites. Then there is the whole figuring out if you just want money or do you have other expectations from sites.

Strange month. In the things I thought I'd never say category, CanStockPhoto out earned SS. Only by a couple dollars, but I still had to say it.