yep, that pretty much hits the nail on the head. Number of images going up faster than number of sales.

Under "Contributors" PP 6-7 or so it is unclear when you are talking about images licensed per year and images licensed per quarter.

Nicely written.  From my observations the article seems completely accurate. 

last year i have 1300 images and 50 sales per day, this year i have 1900 and 140 per day, last year images with +100dl are still selling this year every day mostly

140 dls per day with only 1900 images? That must be a very special port, congrats. I envy you.

Thanks Jim. My thoughts exactly. Some one should post this link in a new thread on SS. With Jims permission Only.

nothing special, i am below average photografer, only thing is important to figure out what to shoot, you  must extremly focus on story on image.
if u shoot technician on work, you realy must find scene or make scene, sometime i set up furniture at home two hours or more, but image is downloaded at least 100 times, SS is very good , almost 0% chance is, that your image will be lost in search, if it  is good, maybe 10 images  that are sell well on other agency and on ss dont

buyers need authentic scenes. i dont make instagram,landscape,food

Quote from: Cesar on May 14, 2015, 16:08

last year i have 1300 images and 50 sales per day, this year i have 1900 and 140 per day, last year images with +100dl are still selling this year every day mostly

140 dls per day with only 1900 images? That must be a very special port, congrats. I envy you.

I guess the speed of the decline for returns will be as fast as the ascension.

all agencies need to subdivide their content and create micromarkets within their �bermarketplace.

they all know it, it is the challenge of the coming years.

Someone should take a look at Shutterstock's profits, and look how their

1) profit per image
2) profit per contributor (do we know the total number of contributors?)

have developed... If those numbers are going up and our earnings down, they are screwing us.

your images have mostly zero action, that is not selling. you have kid and father, that is good one!  i like it.


you are not active contributor, you have maybe 80 last half year, common, on ss is stuff hot first 2   two months, you have to upload every day something new, you dont have 666, you have 50 images online, one year old image is dead.

economy  of SS is your  weak point.

Quote from: cobalt on May 14, 2015, 21:15

that must be a super special port that has 140 downloads a DAY! Never heard of anyone getting even close to that number. Not even with much larger ports. Congratulations!

personally, i have great success with video on SS, but  I find the returns from images in exclusive collections much higher, so I try those agencies  first, especially if it is a more time intensive shoot and only ultrageneric content  goes to the Micros.

would love to see your port.

... one year old image is dead.

That's just rubbish.

Perhaps if your port is only a year or two old you haven't any experience in how this works?

Or by "dead" do you mean something other than "is no longer selling"?

im very afraid to post my portfolio it is very easy to copy and there are some niche series i woold realy not see by other, like i said i am below average photografer, quality is my problem, so i  try made images with " story"

a lot of thinking and time was spend for small ideas, i spend mostly time how to make scene at home, this is priceless, not for  shooting and editing.

im contributor from mid 2012 and my first 300 images sux.

dead, i meant not selling any more

 i earn a lot of money, more then my regular salary, please understand me.

but in $ i have earnings about  the same last 20 weeks on SS

thank you.

 i realy like your presence on this forum,  it think  forum is reacher. i miss some "old" like lisafx

I understand.

this week will be average  cca. 125 (monday-friday)( yesterday , today is sucky )

i lied, a i have little less images ,  i shoot only business and technology, no other category

i have 3 images  that sell 5/day ( 15 )
i have about 20-30 images about 2/day ( 50 ) every day
other is about 60-70  but mostly new ( from june 0214 )

maybe i have luck...

Cesar..
Very impressive...you must be on the top of the searches....
are you exclusively on Shutterstock or on other agencies as well??? would you mind telling us if your experience with other agencies in terms of downloads is good as well???

this week will be average  cca. 125 (monday-friday)( yesterday , today is sucky )

i lied, a i have little less images ,  i shoot only business and technology, no other category

i have 3 images  that sell 5/day ( 15 )
i have about 20-30 images about 2/day ( 50 ) every day
other is about 60-70  but mostly new ( from june 0214 )

maybe i have luck...

SS is 2.5x more more than istock
5x more then fotolia
3x more fotolia
10x more dreamstime
12x more 123rf
12x more then bigsotck
20x more envato

i stoped to deposit ( criminals ),  i dont upload to alamy, pond5, i dont why, i dont have time, i really hate uploading

i didnt try to stocksy, i dont have single image for acceptance, believe or not.

keywords are not so important on SS, a lot of sales is by category

i dont use any keyword tool, every image i keyword manually from my head, it takes more time, but i use much more words and every time diffrent,
maybe i use google for keyword, financial images i keyword from articles for examples.  to many images have the same keywords. ( that is another secret i posted)

i hit the wall in march, march was so strong, april was down 400$.
Buyers want concept, they dont look if corner is dark or not.

im tired after shooting , because i shoot a lot of myself or 2 persons, difficult to focus  manual myself with timer

theme is most important

Shutter also hiding some images from popular  and offering  them by search statistics  to others buyers

Cesar..
Very impressive...you must be on the top of the searches....
are you exclusively on Shutterstock or on other agencies as well??? would you mind telling us if your experience with other agencies in terms of downloads is good as well???

Quote from: Cesar on May 15, 2015, 13:57

this week will be average  cca. 125 (monday-friday)( yesterday , today is sucky )

i lied, a i have little less images ,  i shoot only business and technology, no other category

i have 3 images  that sell 5/day ( 15 )
i have about 20-30 images about 2/day ( 50 ) every day
other is about 60-70  but mostly new ( from june 0214 )

maybe i have luck...

Not that I like DPC.

What is DPC??

OK thanks.  Not sure if I am part of it or not as I haven't heard of it.

Quote from: fotografer on May 16, 2015, 09:05

OK thanks.  Not sure if I am part of it or not as I haven't heard of it.

IIRC, if you're in Fotolia, you're likely to be in it. I think you were 'in' by default, but part of the campaign was only to be 'opt in'. You'd need to check.

Thank you.  I will check it out.

Quote from: fotografer on May 16, 2015, 09:12

Quote from: ShadySue on May 16, 2015, 09:08

Quote from: fotografer on May 16, 2015, 09:05

OK thanks.  Not sure if I am part of it or not as I haven't heard of it.

IIRC, if you're in Fotolia, you're likely to be in it. I think you were 'in' by default, but part of the campaign was only to be 'opt in'. You'd need to check.

Thank you.  I will check it out.

In case you miss it, I've added the msg links to my earlier post.

,
Thank you.  I've checked it out and my images are there.  I make between 31c and 42c for sub images at Fot.   I might be missing something but why is this any worse than any other site that does subs?

Quote from: fotografer on May 16, 2015, 10:44

Quote from: ShadySue on May 16, 2015, 09:13

Quote from: fotografer on May 16, 2015, 09:12

Quote from: ShadySue on May 16, 2015, 09:08

Quote from: fotografer on May 16, 2015, 09:05

OK thanks.  Not sure if I am part of it or not as I haven't heard of it.

IIRC, if you're in Fotolia, you're likely to be in it. I think you were 'in' by default, but part of the campaign was only to be 'opt in'. You'd need to check.

Thank you.  I will check it out.

In case you miss it, I've added the msg links to my earlier post.

,
Thank you.  I've checked it out and my images are there.  I make between 31c and 42c for sub images at Fot.   I might be missing something but why is this any worse than any other site that does subs?

Because a basic subscription image pack at DPC starts at only $10.
Subscription profits mainly come from higher pricing points (say $100 for a subscription), buyers not using all of their allotted downloads and expiring downloads after the end of the month.

DPC's doesn't have any of those limits, so a subscription package is basically a disguised credit pack for cheap, for which you'll receive subscription royalties. It will in the end erode your credit sales if buyers would walk over to DPC. That's why DPC is good for Fotolio (more market share), but bad news for us contributors.

Thank you for the explanation.

Quote from: cobalt on May 15, 2015, 11:10

Good files can earn money for many, many years .

That certainly has been my experience. Some of my current best-sellers have been on SS for several years.

Cobalt & Martha, that's my experience too - they sell for years. My best sellers, backgrounds and travel images of places that haven't changed, consistently sell for me. I don't have the traditional stock photo portfolio with people (I have nearly all my people photos as RM elsewhere) and don't have stuff shot on white, so I don't get the same returns those would, but the types of images I have uploaded keep selling. My only "dead" images are those that didn't sell right away, and even some of them have sold years after I uploaded them.

I think my record for images sold in one day on SS is 9 and if I sell 5-6 in a day that's a "good" day - but I have 292 images and most of them are my "seconds" so I can't expect more than that. I do have a handful of better travel images and some trendy vintage-processed images that could easily sell on traditional sites and they are among my top-sellers on SS.  I am floored by Cesar's 50-140 image DLs a day with only 1500 -1900 images. Would love to see your portfolio Cesar but understand your reticence to share.

Microstock isn't my main photography focus so I don't upload regularly but when I do upload a bunch I rarely get a rejection and I see a modest spike in sales. I like being on shutterstock, however, because it gives me a good sense of what's popular thanks to the volume of sales and I've learned so much about stock from being there and from being part of this group. So, despite my traditional stock focus, I'm not a micro-basher, though I'm bound to complain when my modest sales tank-can't help it!   

thank you for sharing your experience.

The thing about Caesars very impressive success (basically one fifth as successful as yuri with a lot less files than him) is that the niche seems to be so small that if just a few people discover it, he knows his income is dead.

I'm not sure what Yuri has to do with this but from what I remember Yuri had 3,000 or 4,000 downloads per day.

i m angry now

1. first make every day 2-3 images and mix themes, you dont know how it is difficult.
2. every week you have to upload 15 images, no matter what, vacation  or not,
3. every day thinking in car and and at home situations what to shoot
4. find places
5. do this 2 years non stop, then reply to this theme

i will never post dls on this forum, ask leaf how much he is making, he is making a looot more then me. ask him how strong was march. does his shoot bricks or walls?
no he dont.  he  thinks was business need! he is making not talking.

Quote from: wordplanet on May 16, 2015, 12:19

Quote from: marthamarks on May 15, 2015, 11:19

Quote from: cobalt on May 15, 2015, 11:10

Good files can earn money for many, many years .

That certainly has been my experience. Some of my current best-sellers have been on SS for several years.

Cobalt & Martha, that's my experience too - they sell for years. My best sellers, backgrounds and travel images of places that haven't changed, consistently sell for me. I don't have the traditional stock photo portfolio with people (I have nearly all my people photos as RM elsewhere) and don't have stuff shot on white, so I don't get the same returns those would, but the types of images I have uploaded keep selling. My only "dead" images are those that didn't sell right away, and even some of them have sold years after I uploaded them.

I think my record for images sold in one day on SS is 9 and if I sell 5-6 in a day that's a "good" day - but I have 292 images and most of them are my "seconds" so I can't expect more than that. I do have a handful of better travel images and some trendy vintage-processed images that could easily sell on traditional sites and they are among my top-sellers on SS.  I am floored by Cesar's 50-140 image DLs a day with only 1500 -1900 images. Would love to see your portfolio Cesar but understand your reticence to share.

Microstock isn't my main photography focus so I don't upload regularly but when I do upload a bunch I rarely get a rejection and I see a modest spike in sales. I like being on shutterstock, however, because it gives me a good sense of what's popular thanks to the volume of sales and I've learned so much about stock from being there and from being part of this group. So, despite my traditional stock focus, I'm not a micro-basher, though I'm bound to complain when my modest sales tank-can't help it!   

Don't be angry.   Sounds like you have found a smart formula and workflow that are bringing you success.  Don't worry what anyone else thinks.  Just be happy with what you are doing.  I envy your enthusiasm and discipline.   Been long time since I had the same.

There is no reason to be angry, you have done really well and should be very proud. I hope you continue to be successful.

It would be great if we could maybe get a general idea of how many downloads top portfolios have, if yuri had 3000 a day, instead of 600, that would bring a different perspective. Or maybe his fathers post was a very old one and is getting quoted again and again over the years.

I really like the fotolia system where they give you a total rank and a weekly rank based on your downloads. Makes it easy to see where you stand and how far you can still  go. And the number is private, so just by looking at your port people don know where you stand.

The question how we can best make money is complicated, some will go for the trendy stuff and do well, others will plod along with boring things and also achieve whatever goal they have.

For me the biggest challenge was to figure out what type of contents sells best at a specific agency. I hope I now have a system that will work for me.

Thank you! Wonder how many he would have had now, if he had stayed.

Well, what the large studios with 50 people make, just gives you an upper level.

I need to compare my ambitions with those of other single artists.  I don�t mind working slowly over many years, I just need a realistic goal.

If I believe that I need 10 000 files to make 2000 dollars a month just on SS with photos, then I have no problem with that. I also don�t care if someone else can achieve that with 500. I just need a realistic perspective for myself.

So for me, I will try to become better in video and plod along slowly with normal photos. For faster returns with photos, I can send other content elsewhere.

It�s ok, it�s not a problem.

Reliable income streams, SS and many others, it all adds up.

Quote from: cobalt on May 16, 2015, 15:08

If I believe that I need 10 000 files to make 2000 dollars a month just on SS with photos, then I have no problem with that. I also don�t care if someone else can achieve that with 500. I just need a realistic perspective for myself.

When you get to 10,000 you will find that the horizon has moved to 100,000.

Probably ...

Quote from: tickstock on May 16, 2015, 14:40

Quote from: cobalt on May 16, 2015, 14:33

It would be great if we could maybe get a general idea of how many downloads top portfolios have, if yuri had 3000 a day, instead of 600, that would bring a different perspective. Or maybe his fathers post was a very old one and is getting quoted again and again over the years.

"It is a long time ago since Yuri only had 1000 downloads a day at SS. A typical day at SS had between 3000-4000 downloads!!"
http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/abt130434-0-asc-45.html

Hmm very interesting, Yuri's dad announced he's leaving SS but his portfolio is still active. Maybe he changed his mind at later point.

Saw that too but it does look like he hasn't uploaded in 2 years or more. 

I have been suggesting very much what this article is saying for years now, not just towards SS, but all  microstock agencies. The writing was on the wall years ago. This feeding frenzy of accepting almost every image from photographer's of varying skill levels is pure nonsense and ultimately only benefits the site proprietors and/or shareholders.

It is hard to conceive of a way to solve this problem other than non-biased human editing, but such editing costs money.

as quoted from the article second to last paragraph, this is the kiss of death combined with the very destructive subscription model. call me old school, but editing is a healthy process and certainly makes one improve their skill, but this accept it all is just plain and pure nonsense, and the amount of whining I see on this forum alone about the scratchy and hurt bozo feelings over rejection is sad.

Seems to me if you want to keep ahead of the game with 3 to 4 times the number of images every year you will need to be your own editor and a tough one at that, but if you are that good why microstock?  No matter how many images are added every year there will only ever be one first page of the search.  Unless you are one of the chosen ones for Premier Select you will always be swimming against the tide.

Reliable income stream is the important thing here, unfortunately for many of us at some point we are running to move backwards - or in my case walking...

SS is definitely turning into Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass (I don't remember which).  As the Red Queen said to Alice, "If you want to stay where you are, you must run as fast as you can.  If you actually want to get anywhere, you must run twice as fast."

Or to put it in SS terms:  as Jon said to all the contributors, if you want to keep the same royalties, you must shoot and upload as fast as you can.  If you actually want to increase income, you must shoot and upload twice as fast.    

Quote from: w7lwi on May 17, 2015, 20:25

Or to put it in SS terms:  as Jon said to all the contributors, if you want to keep the same royalties, you must shoot and upload as fast as you can.  If you actually want to increase income, you must shoot and upload twice as fast.    

Your version of this tale has a ring of truth.

But what Jon forgot to mention was that he was, simultaneously, instituting a system where SS reviewers (be they humans or robots) would only accept 1/Nth of the number of uploads that SS had accepted in the remote past (ie, 2 months ago).

So, therefore, in order merely to maintain your income, you contributors must shoot and upload 5-6 times as many images as you did before. And if you're crazy enough to want to actually increase your income, you must shoot and upload 10-12 times more than you did 2 months ago.

And thus it came to pass.

True. And the only ones who might survive are the production mills. But I bet even they have to up their game.

I dont really give a * at this point about the major players.I dont consider them,neither friend nor enemies and certainly not rivals or worse yet people that i aspire to become like one.

Of course that doesn't mean that i will be happy when or if they go down,but in the meanwhile the vast majority of people in this business are freelancers,
people who range from barely affording to buy their stuff, cover insurance,bills,expenses etc, and live a lifestyle that usually ranges from "im barely making it" to "i'm relatively comfortable with maybe a few grand in the bank but i still work hard".

So most of them/us can hardly claim that we've got a few hundred k's in the bank to sustain ourselves if everything suddenly collapses.At least i will not have to lay off people
and i consider that an achievent in life in a weird sort of way.
Depends on your philosophy in life i guess.

Thanks Jim. someone else did. Good piece.