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Messages - Jaggy
51
« on: February 28, 2023, 11:22 »
Microstock is a commodity market. High volume and low prices. So you need to be shifting a lot of product to make decent money. Quality and volume are key. It really is as simple as that.
52
« on: February 17, 2023, 08:16 »
Who cares any more?
People who still make decenet money from SS? For most contributors here, according to the monthly poll, SS ist still the second best earner.
One of the first things to take into account in surveys is that the sample they primarily represent is "people who participated in the survey."
True, though in this case this doesn't change the answer? Question was "who cares?". Answer is: People who still make money with SS. And if you assume that this is just "people who participated in the survey" then even that doesn't change that among these people there are still people who make money with SS and therefore, most likely, still care.
SS is 1/3rd of what it used to be. That could be how much we have lost or who takes the survey. The numbers become meaningless if the people who make more for past years, stopped taking the survey because they stopped coming to the forum. It's only 50-60 people who take the survey.
I've never taken the survey. However, in general, SS is 60-65% of my earnings while AS is 35-40%. That has been consistent over the past two years and, up to now, is also consistent for 2023.
53
« on: January 31, 2023, 08:19 »
It's a mixed bag with Adobe. Most of my recent submissions have been accepted but I had a couple rejected for "quality" which had been previously accepted by the notoriously picky Shutterstock.
Part of the problem is that a "quality" rejection doesn't really tell you anything. My guess is that there are one or two reviewers who are overly strict and if you are unlucky enough to get them then you get rejections.
Anyway, never mind. The photos will probably sell over at Shutterstock.
54
« on: January 30, 2023, 08:46 »
Looking like the worst month at S/S in many many years. 
Yet Adobe Stock just keeps rising and rising. Wondering if I bother sending to S/S?
I strongly feel that bothering to send new material to SS is nothing but a waste of time.
Considering effort / income ratio.
For me, January downloads at SS are quite a lot down on January 2022. However, Adobe is at the same level as 2022. Neither better nor worse.
55
« on: January 10, 2023, 10:35 »
So far, this January is tracking at almost the same level as January 2021 in terms of downloads, RPD and revenue. It's pretty terrible but just have to fight through the levels as fast as possible to get to a decent return.
56
« on: January 01, 2023, 10:17 »
My 2022 results are generally okay.
On SS, my Covid related bestsellers from 2021 are no longer selling. I was able to replace those sales with new material but, as a result, total downloads were flat compared to 2021.
Despite flat downloads, SS revenue increased by 24% and RPD increased by 23% compared to 2021. This is down to some nice SODs and EL.
AS continued to improve. Downloads were up 14% and revenue was up by 29%. RPD was up by 13%.
Started traveling again now that the pandemic panic is dissipating, so hopeful to have some nice new material to add to my portfolio in 2023.
57
« on: December 28, 2022, 11:05 »
I am not worried at all.
On the contrary, I am quite excited about the possibilities that ai brings and will make an effort to learn how to use the new tool to my advantage.
I just see a lot of the world is ending the ai is coming for us everywhere and thought it might help discussions to offer a positive outlook.
I'm fatalistic about it. If AI is good and meets a need then it will get used. However, in my time on this earth, I've seen technologies come and technologies go. I've seen industries change, job roles disappear and new ones get created. Nothing stays static, everything changes (except death and taxes). It's not the end of the world, it never is. Just need to roll with the punches.
58
« on: December 24, 2022, 07:25 »
In 1977, I was working for IBM and we had all started using this word processor called Script. It was so much easier than sending stuff out to get typed.
After a couple of months, a memo comes down from management. Please stop using Script as the staff in the typing pool don't have enough work.
Well, word processors are still with us and typing pools have disappeared.
If the technology is decent, if it does the job and if people like it, then they will use it. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth isn't going to change that.
59
« on: December 22, 2022, 17:27 »
And another $0.61 appears in the Contributor Fund column.
60
« on: December 20, 2022, 18:54 »
Just got another $0.54 on top of the previous payment.
61
« on: December 17, 2022, 07:45 »
I had two sales today do far and I couldn't see what the other photo was. It said 2 but ut inly showed one. Then in the column to the right there it was. Contributor fund 0.58 😳
have an $11,05 one
it messes up the App.
On Monthly summary it adds a Download and the amount in the total, but when you click on the Day specifics the download is counted but not the Dollar amount.
ie,
Month Summary Dec 17 3 ↓ $11.27
Day Specific page Dec 17 3 ↓ $0.22 (and only 2 images showing)
It could be that their system requires a download to be assigned to a payment in order to be posted. So the Contributor fund payment gets a fictitious download assigned to allow it to process.
62
« on: December 16, 2022, 22:22 »
Breaking news ......
$11.80 just landed in the Contributor fund column for me. 😁😳
63
« on: December 16, 2022, 20:49 »
I don't understand the map thing. What do I care in which country my stuff gets sold? It's ever changing so it doesn't do anything statistically, it's not useful for any market research...at best it's just a visual gimmick used as dashboard filler.
For those of us who live in countries which don't have an income tax treaty with the USA, having the map AND the last 20 sales listed showing where they were sold around the world is very useful.
For every image/clip sold outside the USA I don't have to pay 30% withholdings to the IRS, so it's a great resource to know how much I will likely receive at the end of the month as SS doesn't keep any info regarding sales in/out of USA in the earnings tabs.
You can do it with the map but its clunky. You can see the latest sales on the earnings summary and you can match them to the map by running the 'arrow' over the dot on the map. Then just note them on a spreadsheet or other. The problem comes if you have multiple sales to the same client/location. You only see the last sale so you can't be sure that the other sales have gone there as well. It's also a problem if you have a lot of sales in a day. The old system only kept a record of the last 20 as does the new map. However, it also wiped a more recent sale of mine - a bug perhaps?. If you have more than 20 in a day then you might have a problem keeping track of them. But that was also the case previously.
64
« on: December 13, 2022, 10:34 »
The shot list is interesting but hardly vital. As a practical matter, I shoot whatever catches my eye.
65
« on: December 10, 2022, 10:56 »
I like to know where my photos sell but I don't need to see them on a map. The list of last 20 sales with where they were sold is enough. Do I need it? Probably not. I don't get it from Adobe. But I had it before and now the list has gone for no particularly good reason that I can see.
The old dashboard was fine for me. Why change it? If it ain't broken, don't fix it.
66
« on: December 06, 2022, 07:50 »
I have this on my phone where it is unusable. Fortunately, the phone app is still usable. For some reason, my laptop still shows the old screen which I'm very comfortable with.
67
« on: December 01, 2022, 13:21 »
On SS, November was a poor month (3rd worst this year) for revenue and the worst month of the year for downloads.
On AS, November was the best month of the year for downloads and 3rd best for revenue. AS revenue and downloads January to November are ahead of the full year numbers for 2021.
On SS there is a definite fall off in downloads in the second half of the year. The average for July - November is down 11% compared to the average for January to June. On the plus side, revenue from January to November is ahead of full year revenue for 2021.
68
« on: November 24, 2022, 21:39 »
Yes Pete, I had read the answer from Firn. But I don't know if that is the case with others - except Firn and me. Two people are not representative and can be a pure coincidence.
I guess you didn't recall that mine were also doing the same, old or new, everything with the keyword Christmas is at the end of Most Popular. How many people will it take, in different countries before you say it's not just some pure "coincidence"?
We need to ask more people to look at Catalog Manager > Most Poplar and see what's last on the last page. For me it's all my Christmas images.
So far the count on that is 3 for 3. 
Just looked. Don't have many Christmas images but the ones I have are on the last page.
69
« on: November 19, 2022, 20:02 »
I'm doing okay on Adobe. Already got more downloads than in the whole of 2021 so fairly happy.
70
« on: November 06, 2022, 13:59 »
For me, AS is pretty constant - apart from small high and low deviations. Let's see if the pngs can possibly bring in a little boost. But SS is gradually going down the drain. I don't even want to think about the coming beginning of the year....
Compared to 2021, I'm ahead on revenue at both SS and AS. AS downloads are also ahead of 2021. SS downloads are at about the same level as 2021 which isn't bad as a Covid related bestseller in 2021 has hardly sold at all this year and given the general economic downturn. RPD at both AS and SS is ahead of 2021.
71
« on: November 01, 2022, 06:55 »
With October now officially over, I can report that the number of downloads continues to disappoint. I'm down 18% compared to October 2021.
And compared to October 2020, what is the fall?
I'm better than October 2020 but it isn't really comparable as my portfolio is quite a lot bigger now than it was then.
72
« on: November 01, 2022, 05:17 »
With October now officially over, I can report that the number of downloads continues to disappoint. I'm down 18% compared to October 2021. This is clearly a trend but could well be due to general economic conditions rather than specific to SS.
However, in terms of revenue, October 2022 was my best month ever on SS so I'm not complaining about that.
AS was okay. An average month in many ways.
73
« on: October 31, 2022, 00:50 »
if shutterstock doesn't want them, I don't care. They'll do fine somewhere else - I'm pretty sure!
It's funny to see the images rejected by SS, but being sold next day on Adobe ...
It happens in both directions. I have images rejected by SS but which sell on Adobe and images rejected by Adobe which sell on SS. I've stopped trying to look for any logic in the decision making.
74
« on: October 21, 2022, 12:29 »
This week has been okay at SS. Not enough to make up for the shortfall in the last couple of weeks, but okay.
75
« on: October 10, 2022, 14:53 »
My October month has been absolutely awful until now...
Got stuff all over the place and October, which is normally pretty good month usually, is terrible so far.
Scratching my head and wondering what's going on.
I've noted a slowdown too. Not just this month but September too. I don't think it's SS, however. Seeing similar with AS. Could be the general economic slowdown as countries slip into recession.
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