Author Topic: Volatile Shutterstock Earnings (Read 7235 times)

steheap · « **on:** March 27, 2013, 09:39 »

I've been a bit uneasy recently about the volatility of my Shutterstock earnings from week to week. Yes, perhaps I am getting paranoid, but I wondered if anyone else was seeing something similar. This chart explains my concern:

Look at the two year picture first - I've been steadily uploading images throughout that time - and the earnings have been steadily increasing, with occasional weeks when I get an ED and the numbers are bumped up. All the excursions from the mean are to the upside all the way through November 2012.

The one year focuses in more on that period. Since early December, the pattern has been very different. The low weeks are at levels that I last saw in the summer, and the growth that was steadily happening has just disappeared. Yes there are some good weeks, but the consistency and reliability has dropped away. What makes it worse is that I have continued to upload similar images through December, January, February and now March with little impact on earnings - I have 500 more images online this morning than I had at the end of November.

Am I alone in seeing this unfortunate trend?

Steve

cthoman · « **Reply #1 on:** March 27, 2013, 09:47 »

Looks OK. It looks like you have some big ups and downs (like you said), but overall it's steady. Your last 6 months look kind of flat for growth though. It will be interesting to see how the next 6 months go.

sc · « **Reply #2 on:** March 27, 2013, 10:05 »

Sometimes buyers buy your images and sometimes they don't. That's the only constant.

The only comparison I make is to the same period last year.
I never compare this month to last month or any other month.
If I sell more this March compared to last March than it's all good.
Each month has its own quirks - different number of weekend days, holidays, natural disasters anything can upset the equation.
Bottom line is if I'm doing better than last year I don't worry.

EmberMike · « **Reply #3 on:** March 27, 2013, 10:16 »

Not even looking at one week to the next, in looking at the bigger picture, things look good for you. In the past year, you've earned more than you did in the previous 1-year period. In the past 6 months, you earned more than you did in the previous 6-month period. So it looks like things are steadily improving.

Week-to-week, sure there's volatility. But in the long run, it looks like you're going ok.

Microbius · « **Reply #4 on:** March 27, 2013, 10:33 »

Looks fine to me too, slowly edging out of the post Christmas slump with a few freakishly high outlyers (and one bad week) making it look a lot more up and down than I think the underlying figures probably are. Have you had a few of runs on ELs since Christmas?

gostwyck · « **Reply #5 on:** March 27, 2013, 10:36 »

Quote from: SC on March 27, 2013, 10:05

Sometimes buyers buy your images and sometimes they don't. That's the only constant.

The only comparison I make is to the same period last year.
I never compare this month to last month or any other month.
If I sell more this March compared to last March than it's all good.
Each month has its own quirks - different number of weekend days, holidays, natural disasters anything can upset the equation.
Bottom line is if I'm doing better than last year I don't worry.

Exactly. It's also natural for growth to slow down the larger your portfolio becomes and as older images struggle to compete for sales against the 4-5M new images coming on-line each year.

VB inc · « **Reply #6 on:** March 27, 2013, 10:47 »

Im curious to know how much of it is due to more competition from guys like me that have dropped the crown? There is a longer wait period now than 6 months ago to have your files approved on SS. I think a lot has to do with file visibility with all the influx of new content.

My proven sellers on istock has jumped to the first page in search results on SS in about a months time which i am really happy about. Lets say we have 10 more contributors w similar good content that is taking more room at the front. Maybe the image that was getting you 20 dls a month on page 2 has moved down to page 3 and getting you 5 dls now. Just speculating of course =)

steheap · « **Reply #7 on:** March 27, 2013, 10:54 »

Thanks guys - I do wonder if the inclusion of great shots from iStock are having an impact as you suggest! I better up my game!

I know I am doing well taking one year with another - my reason for posing the question was to see if other people are also seeing the same sort of volatility in the past three months that I have, or it is just the normal ebb and flow. I did have some good EDs and a $50 SOD that explains some of those peaks.

Steve

gillian vann · « **Reply #8 on:** March 28, 2013, 02:09 »

so conversely, with fewer exclusives, iS is looking up?

michaeldb · « **Reply #9 on:** March 28, 2013, 13:05 »

Quote from: VB inc on March 27, 2013, 10:47

Im curious to know how much of it is due to more competition from guys like me that have dropped the crown? There is a longer wait period now than 6 months ago to have your files approved on SS. I think a lot has to do with file visibility with all the influx of new content.

My proven sellers on istock has jumped to the first page in search results on SS in about a months time...

I have a gut feeling that steheap is right. Things are changing at SS in profound ways.

One cause is as VB inc says. Another may be that SS top management is changing (or losing?) its focus. Being a publicly traded company, starting OFFSET, and who knows what else, considering more acquisitions possibly? These things may be turning SS management's attention away from their core business.

The worsening problem with review times (I have 4 vectors which have been waiting for over a month) and the order of reviews (it seems that images are not being reviewed in the order received) and the way these issues have been addressed (or not addressed) may be symptomatic of profound changes at SS, and not changes for the better.

I hope I am wrong.

steheap · « **Reply #10 on:** March 28, 2013, 13:11 »

Thanks for this! I believe the pattern that was very established for my portfolio changed in November and I've maintained earnings (approximately) because of some good one-off EDs and SoDs, but the basic sales trend of subscription and ODs changed for the worse. Maybe the increase in new contributors with some great portfolios, maybe the Google Image changes, maybe the focus on different things after the IPO - not sure. I'll plot the sales from the different categories of downloads once the results for March are in.

Is everyone else seeing the same pattern in those little graphs as I displayed, or is it steadier and more normal for the other contributors?

Steve

gbalex · « **Reply #11 on:** March 28, 2013, 13:48 »

Quote from: michaeldb on March 28, 2013, 13:05

Quote from: VB inc on March 27, 2013, 10:47
Im curious to know how much of it is due to more competition from guys like me that have dropped the crown? There is a longer wait period now than 6 months ago to have your files approved on SS. I think a lot has to do with file visibility with all the influx of new content.

My proven sellers on istock has jumped to the first page in search results on SS in about a months time...
I have a gut feeling that steheap is right. Things are changing at SS in profound ways.

One cause is as VB inc says. Another may be that SS top management is changing (or losing?) its focus. Being a publicly traded company, starting OFFSET, and who knows what else, considering more acquisitions possibly? These things may be turning SS management's attention away from their core business.

The worsening problem with review times (I have 4 vectors which have been waiting for over a month) and the order of reviews (it seems that images are not being reviewed in the order received) and the way these issues have been addressed (or not addressed) may be symptomatic of profound changes at SS, and not changes for the better.

I hope I am wrong.

Yes SS is changing and in my opinion they have lost touch with the core who produced and paid for the tangible assets that allowed them to become successful in the first place.

While they leave us out to dry to suffer the numerous downsides caused by key SS decision makers; life is a party for SS and it's staff.

Shutterstock's product team does the Harlem Shake (extended version) on Vimeo

http(remove to follow link)://vimeo.com/61711297

gbalex · « **Reply #12 on:** March 28, 2013, 13:54 »

Quote from: steheap on March 28, 2013, 13:11

Thanks for this! I believe the pattern that was very established for my portfolio changed in November and I've maintained earnings (approximately) because of some good one-off EDs and SoDs, but the basic sales trend of subscription and ODs changed for the worse. Maybe the increase in new contributors with some great portfolios, maybe the Google Image changes, maybe the focus on different things after the IPO - not sure. I'll plot the sales from the different categories of downloads once the results for March are in.

Is everyone else seeing the same pattern in those little graphs as I displayed, or is it steadier and more normal for the other contributors?

Steve

Yes I am seeing the same pattern. I think changes in search algorithms are contributing as well. They could also be giving key exclusives a boost in the search by holding our images back long enough in reviews for our images to drop off the map.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 28, 2013, 14:33 »

maybe I am missing something but you are doing fine

last 2 years average - 554$ / month
last year average - 719$ / month
last six months average - 855$ / month

steheap · « **Reply #14 on:** March 28, 2013, 15:22 »

I know that I am doing fine in the sense that money is coming in - the point I was trying to make with the graph is that I'm not doing as well as I used to do in terms of earnings per online image, and something started to go wrong for me in November. I continue to add images of a similar standard as before (and not copies of older ones), but the steady and regular weekly growth that the graphs used to show went haywire from December onwards, and now I get erratic performance with very slow days/weeks and then a few good days with an ED or larger SoD. If everyone else doesn't see a change from December onwards and SS is behaving like it used to do, then I'll shut up.

Steve

michaeldb · « **Reply #15 on:** March 28, 2013, 17:24 »

Yes I am seeing the same pattern. I think changes in search algorithms are contributing as well. They could also be giving key exclusives a boost in the search by holding our images back long enough in reviews for our images to drop off the map.
[/quote]

Quote from: gbalex on March 28, 2013, 13:54

Quote from: steheap on March 28, 2013, 13:11
Thanks for this! I believe the pattern that was very established for my portfolio changed in November and I've maintained earnings (approximately) because of some good one-off EDs and SoDs, but the basic sales trend of subscription and ODs changed for the worse. Maybe the increase in new contributors with some great portfolios, maybe the Google Image changes, maybe the focus on different things after the IPO - not sure. I'll plot the sales from the different categories of downloads once the results for March are in.

Is everyone else seeing the same pattern in those little graphs as I displayed, or is it steadier and more normal for the other contributors?

Steve

Yes I am seeing the same pattern. I think changes in search algorithms are contributing as well. They could also be giving key exclusives a boost in the search by holding our images back long enough in reviews for our images to drop off the map.

I for one sure hope this is not true. I am not afraid of ex-iS-exclusives and look forward to competing with them, but that is going to be hard to do if SS will NOT REVIEW MY IMAGES.

Why are images which were sumbitted on different days, even different weeks, all being reviewed on the same day? Is SS reviewing all images in the order received? If not, what is their new policy? I have a normal batch of 4 vectors waiting for review for over a month. Apparently some iS exclusives who recently dropped the crown have had images on SS for weeks now? Is that correct? What is going on?

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Author Topic: Volatile Shutterstock Earnings (Read 7235 times)

steheap

cthoman

sc

EmberMike

Microbius

gostwyck

VB inc

steheap

gillian vann

michaeldb

steheap

gbalex

gbalex

luissantos84

steheap

michaeldb

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