Author Topic: How much can a best/better selling photo generate in one year on Shutterstock? (Read 37263 times)

helloitsme · « **on:** January 17, 2015, 23:27 »

For example, one of those popular photos of people.
http://www.shutterstock.com/cat-13-People.html

Any idea anybody?

tickstock · « **Reply #1 on:** January 17, 2015, 23:37 »

The #1 best selling photo probably makes about $2,500-$3,000 in one year.

helloitsme · « **Reply #2 on:** January 17, 2015, 23:43 »

Quote from: tickstock on January 17, 2015, 23:37

The #1 best selling photo probably makes about $2,500-$3,000 in one year.

That's great. My best selling one with a female model made about $350 last year.

roede-orm · « **Reply #3 on:** January 18, 2015, 06:54 »

In my case the best selling pic made ca. 350 -400 $ too, in 2014 I had a couple of these well selling pics. And I have one picture, that made at least 300/year since 2009 without a break.

fieldsphotos · « **Reply #4 on:** January 18, 2015, 11:42 »

Is there an easy way to get those kind of stats on Shutterstock? Now I am curious as to what my best seller there makes a year.

cascoly · « **Reply #5 on:** January 18, 2015, 13:16 »

report of best selling mage prices isn't very helpful. how many of those images were best sellers over several years? how many other images were close?
unless you have multiple images that make more than $250 a year over several years, this is another useless exercise -- all you need is one $300 EL license that hides the fact that most of your images make < $50 per year. and you still have no way to predict what other images will be best sellers

helloitsme · « **Reply #6 on:** January 18, 2015, 15:51 »

Quote from: cascoly on January 18, 2015, 13:16

report of best selling mage prices isn't very helpful. how many of those images were best sellers over several years? how many other images were close?
unless you have multiple images that make more than $250 a year over several years, this is another useless exercise -- all you need is one $300 EL license that hides the fact that most of your images make < $50 per year. and you still have no way to predict what other images will be best sellers

So, it's better to quit?

ShadySue · « **Reply #7 on:** January 18, 2015, 16:30 »

Quote from: helloitsme on January 18, 2015, 15:51

Quote from: cascoly on January 18, 2015, 13:16

report of best selling mage prices isn't very helpful. how many of those images were best sellers over several years? how many other images were close?
unless you have multiple images that make more than $250 a year over several years, this is another useless exercise -- all you need is one $300 EL license that hides the fact that most of your images make < $50 per year. and you still have no way to predict what other images will be best sellers

So, it's better to quit?

No, so the conclusion is that everybody's experience is different.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #8 on:** January 18, 2015, 16:50 »

Quote from: cascoly on January 18, 2015, 13:16

report of best selling mage prices isn't very helpful. how many of those images were best sellers over several years? how many other images were close?
unless you have multiple images that make more than $250 a year over several years, this is another useless exercise -- all you need is one $300 EL license that hides the fact that most of your images make < $50 per year. and you still have no way to predict what other images will be best sellers

true. looking over the span of inception of microstock with me, and seeing ss is my main earner, the earning of mainly from the oldest to mid recent images that make me 60% of my earning.
which is not very encouraging when you look that 80% of the images earning less than 10 bucks in its lifetime. worst, like u say, the single sale of 20-100 bucks per sale gives me the deception that i am in fact doing the BME BDE BxE when in fact if u remove these single big earnings
the sales have not really improved much in its lifetime.

but do we quit? why quit? the images are there earning for you and me. only the sad reality that our new images which are far surpassing in production quality and style are not keeping up with the sales expectation. iow, we raise the bar to our work but the clients still buy the lowest quality work of ours.

conclusion being the old boy mentality of what makes a good stock image persists till today. how we change this? no way until maybe the buyers get sacked and replaced by new younger thinkers of what is good today. similar problem with music example where woodstock and wooly booly garbage still outsell everything today... and rolling stones, floyd,etc still outsell concert tickets even when the newer performers are much better musicians (and i don't mean lady gaga or miley cyrus crap).

jatrax · « **Reply #9 on:** January 18, 2015, 16:51 »

Quote from: cascoly on January 18, 2015, 13:16

report of best selling mage prices isn't very helpful. how many of those images were best sellers over several years? how many other images were close?
unless you have multiple images that make more than $250 a year over several years, this is another useless exercise -- all you need is one $300 EL license that hides the fact that most of your images make < $50 per year. and you still have no way to predict what other images will be best sellers

Most of my images make less than .36 per year

cdwheatley · « **Reply #10 on:** January 18, 2015, 19:21 »

Sad to see all the buyers in the last couple of years going to shutterstock. It's just really hard to make a lot on a good seller.. My best seller on Istock made over $21,000 since 2011. This is probably pretty low compared to the best selling images. I don't think there is the traffic anymore to support these kind of returns. Shutterstock being the leader of the pack is not a good thing, it just means less money for contributors overall.

helloitsme · « **Reply #11 on:** January 18, 2015, 19:46 »

Quote from: cdwheatley on January 18, 2015, 19:21

Sad to see all the buyers in the last couple of years going to shutterstock. It's just really hard to make a lot on a good seller.. My best seller on Istock made over $21,000 since 2011. This is probably pretty low compared to the best selling images. I don't think there is the traffic anymore to support these kind of returns. Shutterstock being the leader of the pack is not a good thing, it just means less money for contributors overall.

$21,000 for 3+ years from a single photo? That's incredible!!

OM · « **Reply #12 on:** January 18, 2015, 21:11 »

Quote from: fieldsphotos on January 18, 2015, 11:42

Is there an easy way to get those kind of stats on Shutterstock? Now I am curious as to what my best seller there makes a year.

Easy. Go to 'Earnings' and from the dropdown menu choose 'earnings summary'. Ignore the current month and view the top of the page under 'Earnings Summary'. You'll see 'By Month' and all the various possible sale types. Under each dl type, your best sellers are ordered in largest dl numbers with a dollar amount earned. Just click through the various dl type and add up the dollar amounts then divide by the number of years you're on SS, to get an annual average of sales for that particular image.

cdwheatley · « **Reply #13 on:** January 18, 2015, 22:33 »

$21,000 for 3+ years from a single photo? That's incredible!!
[/quote]

Those days are long gone. Nothing new sells anymore, couple sales and done. How do you justify spending money on a shoot under the current state of things. I don't have much hope for the future of still images as a main source of income.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #14 on:** January 18, 2015, 23:06 »

Quote from: helloitsme on January 18, 2015, 19:46

Quote from: cdwheatley on January 18, 2015, 19:21
Sad to see all the buyers in the last couple of years going to shutterstock. It's just really hard to make a lot on a good seller.. My best seller on Istock made over $21,000 since 2011. This is probably pretty low compared to the best selling images. I don't think there is the traffic anymore to support these kind of returns. Shutterstock being the leader of the pack is not a good thing, it just means less money for contributors overall.

$21,000 for 3+ years from a single photo? That's incredible!!

yes, that's remarkable earnings for one image. but wasn't that what made istock the contender to ss for all those years of staying exclusive? the dignity to earn more than pennies per dl? all of which went down the drain after the owner sold out. and now ss is just about to take the same route.
..as joann said like the old man leaving his old wife for a younger one after the old lady paid for his education etc. ironically, istock started as an agency which gave away images for free, didn't they?
but before the end, actually made money for exclusive. remarkable for sure.
cdwheathley, is this really the end of microstock?

Rinderart · « **Reply #15 on:** January 19, 2015, 14:44 »

Not the end , By a long shot. always a need for cheap Images. also Known fact that 80% of all Images used are stolen and not paid for. There will never be a shortage of submitters willing to take anything as small Inexpensive cameras get better and better along with Phones and instant Uploading. I wrote about this in detail in 2006.

cdwheatley · « **Reply #16 on:** January 19, 2015, 17:24 »

Right, not the end. Those that need to make more money to survive will do something else, only to be replaced by those that need less. The agencies still make their money, people need images so microstock continues on. Many predicted what is happening now many years ago, not a surprise really. I feel fortunate to have enjoyed a great lifestyle with no boss, good times!...hope it continues.

fieldsphotos · « **Reply #17 on:** January 20, 2015, 00:34 »

Quote from: OM on January 18, 2015, 21:11

Quote from: fieldsphotos on January 18, 2015, 11:42
Is there an easy way to get those kind of stats on Shutterstock? Now I am curious as to what my best seller there makes a year.

Easy. Go to 'Earnings' and from the dropdown menu choose 'earnings summary'. Ignore the current month and view the top of the page under 'Earnings Summary'. You'll see 'By Month' and all the various possible sale types. Under each dl type, your best sellers are ordered in largest dl numbers with a dollar amount earned. Just click through the various dl type and add up the dollar amounts then divide by the number of years you're on SS, to get an annual average of sales for that particular image.

I had no idea when you clicked on those other tabs that info was shown! Thanks!

So, my best seller on SS has made $415/year (it was uploaded in 2013). Not too shabby, but yeah, nothing like those old IS numbers folks were bantering around back in 2007 for flamed images.

pancaketom · « **Reply #18 on:** January 20, 2015, 13:10 »

At least in my case IS produced quite well for a very limited number of images - so one image might take off and get flames and earn as much as all the others combined 'til they changed the best match and sales stopped. This was great if you were one of the favored or otherwise managed to get some images to "take off". Otherwise not so much.

On SS things were a little flatter and deeper - so with the same number of images and income on SS 50% might come from the top 20 percent of images and on IS they might come from the top 5% of images.

I have no idea how things work at IS now though.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #19 on:** January 20, 2015, 16:39 »

Quote from: cascoly on January 18, 2015, 13:16

report of best selling mage prices isn't very helpful. how many of those images were best sellers over several years? how many other images were close?
unless you have multiple images that make more than $250 a year over several years, this is another useless exercise -- all you need is one $300 EL license that hides the fact that most of your images make < $50 per year. and you still have no way to predict what other images will be best sellers

yes, i was curious to see how a OD or Single sale could just blow your regular top earnings out of the water with just a couple of these sales. case in point, i have a handful of low earners which total up to as much as the earnings of the top regular earners.
so like you say, it's not helpful at all . the bottom line is all that matters really.

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Author Topic: How much can a best/better selling photo generate in one year on Shutterstock? (Read 37263 times)

helloitsme

tickstock

helloitsme

roede-orm

fieldsphotos

cascoly

helloitsme

ShadySue

etudiante_rapide

jatrax

cdwheatley

helloitsme

OM

cdwheatley

etudiante_rapide

Rinderart

cdwheatley

fieldsphotos

pancaketom

etudiante_rapide

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