Author Topic: Earnings in the 800-1000$ month range, who makes it? (Read 17772 times)

cthoman · « **Reply #25 on:** June 06, 2018, 15:08 »

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on June 06, 2018, 13:52

I could have uploaded 400 clips of random stuff walking around all day, but most of them would never ever sell, so it would be a giant waste of upload time.

Don't worry. You'll be a commodity soon like the rest of us and it will all be a waste of time. Hooray!

csm · « **Reply #26 on:** June 06, 2018, 15:13 »

Totally agree.

I'm nearly up to a 1000 clips, that has taken me over a year, of constant thinking of new ideas and then planning and creating them.

People get to caught up in numbers.
I know of some top created who have under 10 000 clips.
I have come across a portfolio with clips of "Dog poo bins" and then they wondering why they aren't selling anything.
Not sure who would buy those... and then complaining about lack of sales or saying top contributors are well promoted.
They are only well promoted because they are producing great work which people want to buy, why wouldn't agents want to promote the best work?
Or should they be promoting clips of "Dog poo bins" instead?

You should make every clip count in your portfolio, is my philosophy.

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #27 on:** June 06, 2018, 15:18 »

Quote from: cthoman on June 06, 2018, 15:08

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on June 06, 2018, 13:52
I could have uploaded 400 clips of random stuff walking around all day, but most of them would never ever sell, so it would be a giant waste of upload time.

Don't worry. You'll be a commodity soon like the rest of us and it will all be a waste of time. Hooray!

Sure, if better people (of which there are many around the world) upload enough clips in my area, my clips will stop selling. Absolutely.

What I can do is to continue to improve and learn new things and improve my post processing. Then, and only then, will I stand a fighting chance.

If I sit back and relax, or just continue on like before thinking I know it all (which is what some stubborn people here seem to be doing), sales will surely go down. There will always be someone else more hungry, and there are lots of talented people around the world willing to put in the work.

I can tell you that the stuff I filmed the first 6 months never sold much, and will never sell much, apart from a few lucky shots, because I didn't know what, when, how, and where to shoot. And the equipment was new so it was fun to just point the camera at anything.

5 clips I make today sell more than 200 I made when I first started.

Quote from: cthoman on June 06, 2018, 15:08

Don't worry. You'll be a commodity soon like the rest of us and it will all be a waste of time. Hooray!

By the way, how can it be a waste of time if enough sales to pay for travel, time, and more have already come in? That's the very definition of "not a waste of time", even if they are all deleted tomorrow.

cthoman · « **Reply #28 on:** June 06, 2018, 15:55 »

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on June 06, 2018, 15:18

Sure, if better people (of which there are many around the world) upload enough clips in my area, my clips will stop selling. Absolutely.

That's the thing though, it doesn't really matter if it is better. You eventually get drowned in a sea of images and keywords. That guy that shoots 5000 clips of garbage a year might not make much money, but he'll eventually start cutting into your earnings. Maybe not much this year, but they'll be another hundred or thousand people like him next year. I'm not saying this to be bitter, pessimistic or a jerk. It just seems to be the pattern. As an illustrator, I strolled by several photogs that were probably proverbial canaries in the coal mine.

jpbarcelos · « **Reply #29 on:** June 06, 2018, 16:15 »

Thats something I struggle with. How to know what to shoot ... and that´s the million dollar question.
My question to you guys is: Do you choose based on experience of you selling clips, or do you have an external tool to do it? (google trending topics, suggested themes by the agencies, keyword.io numbers, etc)?
I´m not asking for you workflow, I know thats trade secret, but where do you look to find "what customers want"?
Thanks!

fritz · « **Reply #30 on:** June 06, 2018, 18:29 »

Quote from: jpbarcelos on June 06, 2018, 16:15

Thats something I struggle with. How to know what to shoot ... and that´s the million dollar question.
My question to you guys is: Do you choose based on experience of you selling clips, or do you have an external tool to do it? (google trending topics, suggested themes by the agencies, keyword.io numbers, etc)?
I´m not asking for you workflow, I know thats trade secret, but where do you look to find "what customers want"?
Thanks!

Well, look at commercials,documentaries,TV spots,news,trends....Here's the answer to your question

stock shooter · « **Reply #31 on:** June 06, 2018, 18:49 »

Reiterating what raciro said,

Yea, the "good ol' days" in micro are gone (at least for me) so I'm not sure what it takes to do well anymore. Too many images available and lots of copying. images seem to have a shelf life too, so you're always trying to stay ahead of the wave (the bell curve) of image interest fall off.

I used to make around $1400 per month with about 2000 images. Now I have around 3500 images and don't make anywhere near that. I don't shoot as much as I used to and when I do it exclusively goes to Getty, only what they reject goes to micro. But Getty is not the same agency they used to be. I'm getting mostly "micro" priced sales from Getty nowadays but Getty still overall beats my old micro RPI. (Barely) I just don't have many images on Getty. I'm dabbling in video, did a few time-lapse, but those seem labor intensive to me.

If you're good enough maybe trying to get in with a macro agency like Stocksy might be an alternative but I think they're fairly selective. I've seen some great stuff on Stocksy.

Supermax · « **Reply #32 on:** June 08, 2018, 00:13 »

Quote from: StockGuy101 on June 04, 2018, 08:33

I can sometimes make $800-$1000 a (week)day with 10,000+ clips, but $200-$400 per day is more likely for me.

February, 2018 was my BME, averaging $5,000 per week during that month.

So, it can be achievable with hard work.

Who you are? Quentin Tarantino? Robert Rodriges? or one of The Wachowskis ?

Supermax · « **Reply #33 on:** June 08, 2018, 00:19 »

Mostly not many people are far to that numbers you've mentioned, but there is tricky moment:
not all numbers work that way (obviously) like we could think. for example if your portfolio mostly vectors is 100 files, could be that it brings you 100$ in three month, or like you have 50 - 100 video files in you portfolio and each one is selling for 160-250$ . so, numbers can get you stacked with math.
But,
the good thing is all-time-working rule.

Work hard
Work a lot
Upload as much as possible
and good luck!

ShadySue · « **Reply #34 on:** June 09, 2018, 02:37 »

Quote from: pfiverzv on June 06, 2018, 12:38

Certainly are contributors, top contributors, who earn thousands of usd per month, but it's easy to spot them: they are well promoted, they have account with 20K, 40K, sometimes 80K footage, professional cameras, actors, huge investments in their portfolio etc.

So far more important is profit, not earnings.
Earnings in the $800-1000 range is next-to-nothing if you have, say, $600 or more pm in expenses.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #35 on:** June 09, 2018, 02:41 »

Quote from: ShadySue on June 09, 2018, 02:37

Quote from: pfiverzv on June 06, 2018, 12:38
Certainly are contributors, top contributors, who earn thousands of usd per month, but it's easy to spot them: they are well promoted, they have account with 20K, 40K, sometimes 80K footage, professional cameras, actors, huge investments in their portfolio etc.
So far more important is profit, not earnings.
Earnings in the $800-1000 range is next-to-nothing if you have, say, $600 or more pm in expenses.

Which is why I stopped shooting models ;-). The key metric is really return on investment i.e earnings less cost including your time. Ideally the "opportunity cost" of your time...what would you be earning on your next best activity.

madman · « **Reply #36 on:** June 09, 2018, 09:30 »

800 dollars is not enough money for living, if you dont live in a country where the dollar is not very valuable. I do not think anyone can live comfortably only with little money if you are not doing an additional job, I am earning less than these amounts right now with around 6000 images. In the last few years, although I have increased my portfolio, my profits are getting smaller and smaller, I think that's the truth and I'm not hopeful for the future. If it continues this way, I will earn around $ 100-200 a few years later. This is a very thought-provoking and annoying situation. Unfortunately we brought ourselves to this situation, our pictures are sold for a few cents, even at the expense of nothing, we allow to do this and we do nothing to change it, while contributors are losing day by day, sales sites are increasing their profits day by day. iStock had good commissions in the past, but thanks to these low priced sites, they also changed their style to survive on the market. not all of what I mention may not seem related to the subject but what I really want to tell you that, starting from zero to earning $ 800 a month is no longer easy.

niktol · « **Reply #37 on:** June 11, 2018, 09:31 »

Quote from: madman on June 09, 2018, 09:30

800 dollars is not enough money for living, if you dont live in a country where the dollar is not very valuable. I do not think anyone can live comfortably only with little money if you are not doing an additional job, I am earning less than these amounts right now with around 6000 images. In the last few years, although I have increased my portfolio, my profits are getting smaller and smaller, I think that's the truth and I'm not hopeful for the future. If it continues this way, I will earn around $ 100-200 a few years later. This is a very thought-provoking and annoying situation. Unfortunately we brought ourselves to this situation, our pictures are sold for a few cents, even at the expense of nothing, we allow to do this and we do nothing to change it, while contributors are losing day by day, sales sites are increasing their profits day by day. iStock had good commissions in the past, but thanks to these low priced sites, they also changed their style to survive on the market. not all of what I mention may not seem related to the subject but what I really want to tell you that, starting from zero to earning $ 800 a month is no longer easy.

There can be only one

Rage · « **Reply #38 on:** July 29, 2018, 21:50 »

It's amazing just how many countries will consider that as very lavish income. In india, Pakistan, bhutan $800 is going to be what a graduate with 5-6 years of experience earns. So very very liveable

pkphotos · « **Reply #39 on:** July 29, 2018, 22:47 »

Quote from: Supermax on June 08, 2018, 00:13

Quote from: StockGuy101 on June 04, 2018, 08:33
I can sometimes make $800-$1000 a (week)day with 10,000+ clips, but $200-$400 per day is more likely for me.

February, 2018 was my BME, averaging $5,000 per week during that month.

So, it can be achievable with hard work.
Who you are? Quentin Tarantino? Robert Rodriges? or one of The Wachowskis ?

I would not take the post seriously. Anyone making that much from stock would not be so stupid and naive as to share their financial results even if they had a good size ego.

derek · « **Reply #40 on:** July 30, 2018, 01:22 »

Sean said some years back! dont do the mistake of thinking Quantity! sure it helps but with the right content! people can have port of 50K images of just average/mediocre material and still not even reaching payout! others have smaller niched portfolios of a couple of thousand shots earning more then payouts every single month.
Dont forget its the Quantity game that have ruined this business and nowadays in the case of SS any fool with just what we refer to as garbage can be a member.

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Author Topic: Earnings in the 800-1000$ month range, who makes it? (Read 17772 times)

cthoman

csm

increasingdifficulty

cthoman

jpbarcelos

fritz

stock shooter

Supermax

Supermax

ShadySue

Pauws99

madman

niktol

Rage

pkphotos

derek

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