Quote from: Firn on October 24, 2021, 11:01

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 24, 2021, 10:48

Quote from: Firn on October 21, 2021, 13:20

Today sums up my whole month on SS pretty accurately: Had 50 sales today and still only a single digit earning amount. 

Single digit from 50 sales. I don't understand. What single digit? Like under $10 you mean? WOW

Yes, under $10 for 50 sales was what I meant. Sorry, English isn't my first language, maybe you don't say it like this in English.

In September I had 89 sales in a day on Shutterstock, but only made $9.12, they were all download from the same location and were all of the same subject.

This is why I don't upload to them anymore.

Same here, 14 cents for the majority of sales.. I just flushed them completely !!

I don't sell much on AS, but I do sell a few photos every week this year. But so far in November nothing at all. While Shutterstock is doing better than last months.
I haven't put any of my work there up for free too.

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 01:30

Quote from: Annie on November 11, 2021, 17:43

Same here. AS has a really great algorithm IMO. If you get quick sales on new work, the algorithm repays you tenfold. And that�s where I am making the most money. More so on AS than other agencies.

I haven't put any of my work there up for free. Don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Please tell me your secret then!
Because I can't get Adobe to sell new content at all. Most of my sales there seem to come from a fixed set of older images that keep selling regularly and once in a full moon some random other image will sell, but I don't have any other agency where new images sell as poorly (= basically not at all) as on Adobe!  Getting new content to sell is difficult on all agencies to begin with, but on Adobe I always thought they had the worst algorithm for promoting new content of all agencies.
 

Firn, I hope you don't mind but I had a quick look at your new work on SS, I should have looked on AS but SS was easier, and I noticed at least 3 things that I do differently to you.

First of all, and I feel a bit awkward giving advice about AS because Mat Hayward is on here and he would know better than me, but I have always thought of AS as the designer agency. So once again, its about knowing your buyers.

So, the things I noticed about your shots vs mine: I offer twice the size as you (ie at least 6000 x 4000 px vs a lot of yours are only 3k x 2k), a lot more copy space than you (especially important if you're selling to designers) and I offer a lot more new trends (eg. colors, themes, etc)

People have been arguing with me about following trends for years, but I stopped listening to them a long time ago, and have been laughing all the way to the bank ever since. You know how many dls I get, so I dont have to go into any more detail than that.

As for selling to designers, I was a graphic designer, so that helps, and early this year I opened up an account with DesignBundles.com, and did a lot of research on what I can shoot to sell to those designers. One day I decided to upload them to AS and they have been selling like hotcakes ever since. A few sell on other agencies, but mainly on AS. Once again, the designer agency (because their buyers come through their software)

I am also on social media every night looking for new and popular trends in colors and styling - and that's how I get so many dls as well. My huge success from my holiday candyland cakes started back then in 2018, and been selling ever since. I remember at the time seeing all these eye-popping crazy cakes on Pinterest that were being pinned like crazy, I checked back to microstock databases and almost nothing there.

And thats the same with sooooooooooo many things I find on social media. I think contributors are still shooting too many traditional things without doing a lot of research.

No, Annie, I don't mind at all, on the contrary, I am very thankful for your advice.

I think you mentioned that you see a connection between good sales and image size before at some point and I actually try to implement this and while I always used to submit in 3kx2k, I now often try to go bigger, but I am afraid I am either simply not a good enough photographer or don't have have the right equipment. Most of my images will have way too much noise or a too soft focus in 6Kx4K size to get accepted by agencies like Shutterstock.
About the copy space I will try to keep that in mind. I actually thought I was already creating versions with a decent amount of copy space, but apparently not. 

But, Annie, this is all good advice to get more sales overall, but I am not sure it explains why on Adobe I can't get new images to sell? Because for me it's really a problem that stands out on Adobe. This year around Halloween I wasn't really able to establish and decent bestseller, but last year for example I added a series of images that performed well on ALL agencies - Expect on Adobe. 0 sales there. I was really frustrated about it, because that shoot was so much work and I felt like the images could have done so well on Adobe, if only they promoted them correctly. So for me it's really Adobe that fails to promote my new work and I am not sure image size or copy space is the reason why new images sell on other agencies but not on Adobe? That's what baffles me. I am not complaining about poor sales in general, just how on Adobe my newer works seems to stay unnoticed.

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 03:34

Quote from: Annie on November 12, 2021, 03:21

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 01:30

Quote from: Annie on November 11, 2021, 17:43

Same here. AS has a really great algorithm IMO. If you get quick sales on new work, the algorithm repays you tenfold. And that�s where I am making the most money. More so on AS than other agencies.

I haven't put any of my work there up for free. Don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Please tell me your secret then!
Because I can't get Adobe to sell new content at all. Most of my sales there seem to come from a fixed set of older images that keep selling regularly and once in a full moon some random other image will sell, but I don't have any other agency where new images sell as poorly (= basically not at all) as on Adobe!  Getting new content to sell is difficult on all agencies to begin with, but on Adobe I always thought they had the worst algorithm for promoting new content of all agencies.
 

Firn, I hope you don't mind but I had a quick look at your new work on SS, I should have looked on AS but SS was easier, and I noticed at least 3 things that I do differently to you.

First of all, and I feel a bit awkward giving advice about AS because Mat Hayward is on here and he would know better than me, but I have always thought of AS as the designer agency. So once again, its about knowing your buyers.

So, the things I noticed about your shots vs mine: I offer twice the size as you (ie at least 6000 x 4000 px vs a lot of yours are only 3k x 2k), a lot more copy space than you (especially important if you're selling to designers) and I offer a lot more new trends (eg. colors, themes, etc)

People have been arguing with me about following trends for years, but I stopped listening to them a long time ago, and have been laughing all the way to the bank ever since. You know how many dls I get, so I dont have to go into any more detail than that.

As for selling to designers, I was a graphic designer, so that helps, and early this year I opened up an account with DesignBundles.com, and did a lot of research on what I can shoot to sell to those designers. One day I decided to upload them to AS and they have been selling like hotcakes ever since. A few sell on other agencies, but mainly on AS. Once again, the designer agency (because their buyers come through their software)

I am also on social media every night looking for new and popular trends in colors and styling - and that's how I get so many dls as well. My huge success from my holiday candyland cakes started back then in 2018, and been selling ever since. I remember at the time seeing all these eye-popping crazy cakes on Pinterest that were being pinned like crazy, I checked back to microstock databases and almost nothing there.

And thats the same with sooooooooooo many things I find on social media. I think contributors are still shooting too many traditional things without doing a lot of research.

No, Annie, I don't mind at all, on the contrary, I am very thankful for your advice.

I think you mentioned that you see a connection between good sales and image size before at some point and I actually try to implement this and while I always used to submit in 3kx2k, I now often try to go bigger, but I am afraid I am either simply not a good enough photographer or don't have have the right equipment. Most of my images will have way too much noise or a too soft focus in 6Kx4K size to get accepted by agencies like Shutterstock.
About the copy space I will try to keep that in mind. I actually thought I was already creating versions with a decent amount of copy space, but apparently not. 

But, Annie, this is all good advice to get more sales overall, but I am not sure it explains why on Adobe I can't get new images to sell? Because for me it's really a problem that stands out on Adobe. This year around Halloween I wasn't really able to establish and decent bestseller, but last year for example I added a series of images that performed well on ALL agencies - Expect on Adobe. 0 sales there. So for me it's really Adobe that fails to promote my new work and I am not sure image size or copy space is the reason why new images sell on other agencies but not on Adobe? That's what baffles me. I am not complaining about poor sales in general, just how on Adobe my newer works seems to stay unnoticed.

Ok, I just had another quick look at your Halloween searching by fresh images - and I see a lot of pumpkins and a lot of orange. Very traditional.

I dont shoot pumpkins anymore because that subject is too oversaturated for me. My thought is, its already done so why shoot it.

I made killing on AS this October - and I can give this away now because Halloween is over - I looked at Pinterest for what was trending a few months ago - and it was PINK halloween. So, this year I did one big Halloween party table shoot in pink, black and white theme, and lots of background flatlays - and some of my images and stop motion videos made it to the first page of those respective searches on AS. A couple on SS as well. It was big hit. Not a lot of competition. Thats what you have to go for.

But that's all the tips and trade secrets from me for now  - I dont want to give too much away on a public forum. lol ;-)


Firn, I think you're a great photographer. I love your puppies. So cute. You've done extremely well for someone who only started a few years ago. I think you just need a few tweaks here and there and you can do even better.

But AS's algorithm is great if you can find new stuff that designers want. A friend explained this me just this morning: "Yes, I like Adobe, remember they have that 30 days rank thing, then images are pretty well fixed where they are. Early views and sales are important. Which is good for your current type of material, instead of long run kind of things."

Pumpkins and "traditional" Halloween stuff don't do well for me on Halloween. What sells well for me are my dogs - same as on all other holidays. That's where I make the most money with.
I admit I don't look out so much for new trends, that's certainly something I have to look into. But as said, since it's my dogs that sell well and I like to stick to that as it works for me I am not sure trends is something I can implement there. Though, thinking about it, actually I could probably have made some "pink Halloween" themes with my dogs too.
Again, thanky ou for your advice. Thanks for taking the time! I will try to work on my copy space issue and try to look out more for new trends.

Quote from: Annie on November 12, 2021, 03:55

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 03:34

Quote from: Annie on November 12, 2021, 03:21

Quote from: Firn on November 12, 2021, 01:30

Quote from: Annie on November 11, 2021, 17:43

Same here. AS has a really great algorithm IMO. If you get quick sales on new work, the algorithm repays you tenfold. And that�s where I am making the most money. More so on AS than other agencies.

I haven't put any of my work there up for free. Don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Please tell me your secret then!
Because I can't get Adobe to sell new content at all. Most of my sales there seem to come from a fixed set of older images that keep selling regularly and once in a full moon some random other image will sell, but I don't have any other agency where new images sell as poorly (= basically not at all) as on Adobe!  Getting new content to sell is difficult on all agencies to begin with, but on Adobe I always thought they had the worst algorithm for promoting new content of all agencies.
 

Firn, I hope you don't mind but I had a quick look at your new work on SS, I should have looked on AS but SS was easier, and I noticed at least 3 things that I do differently to you.

First of all, and I feel a bit awkward giving advice about AS because Mat Hayward is on here and he would know better than me, but I have always thought of AS as the designer agency. So once again, its about knowing your buyers.

So, the things I noticed about your shots vs mine: I offer twice the size as you (ie at least 6000 x 4000 px vs a lot of yours are only 3k x 2k), a lot more copy space than you (especially important if you're selling to designers) and I offer a lot more new trends (eg. colors, themes, etc)

I am also on social media every night looking for new and popular trends in colors and styling - and that's how I get so many dls as well.

No, Annie, I don't mind at all, on the contrary, I am very thankful for your advice.

I think you mentioned that you see a connection between good sales and image size before at some point and I actually try to implement this and while I always used to submit in 3kx2k, I now often try to go bigger, but I am afraid I am either simply not a good enough photographer or don't have have the right equipment. Most of my images will have way too much noise or a too soft focus in 6Kx4K size to get accepted by agencies like Shutterstock.
About the copy space I will try to keep that in mind. I actually thought I was already creating versions with a decent amount of copy space, but apparently not. 

But, Annie, this is all good advice to get more sales overall, but I am not sure it explains why on Adobe I can't get new images to sell? Because for me it's really a problem that stands out on Adobe. This year around Halloween I wasn't really able to establish and decent bestseller, but last year for example I added a series of images that performed well on ALL agencies - Expect on Adobe. 0 sales there. So for me it's really Adobe that fails to promote my new work and I am not sure image size or copy space is the reason why new images sell on other agencies but not on Adobe? That's what baffles me. I am not complaining about poor sales in general, just how on Adobe my newer works seems to stay unnoticed.

Ok, I just had another quick look at your Halloween searching by fresh images - and I see a lot of pumpkins and a lot of orange. Very traditional.

I dont shoot pumpkins anymore because that subject is too oversaturated for me. My thought is, its already done so why shoot it.


Firn, I think you're a great photographer. I love your puppies. So cute. You've done extremely well for someone who only started a few years ago. I think you just need a few tweaks here and there and you can do even better.

But AS's algorithm is great if you can find new stuff that designers want. A friend explained this me just this morning: "Yes, I like Adobe, remember they have that 30 days rank thing, then images are pretty well fixed where they are. Early views and sales are important. Which is good for your current type of material, instead of long run kind of things."

Pumpkins and "traditional" Halloween stuff don't do well for me on Halloween. What sells well for me are my dogs - same as on all other holidays. That's where I make the most money with. The shoot I was talking about that failed so miserably on Adobe was from this one: https://www.shutterstock.com/de/image-photo/french-buldog-dog-wearing-red-halloween-1831416523
So much work, I sew all the costumes myself, drove all the way to a cemetary where I could take dogs, embarassed myself by desecrating graves and then none of the images sold on Adobe at all. That was disappointing. 
I admit I don't look out so much for new trends, that's certainly something I have to look into. But as said, since it's my dogs that sell well and I like to stick to that as it works for me I am not sure trends is something I can implement there. Though, thinking about it, actually I could probably have made some "pink Halloween" themes with my dogs too.
Again, thanky ou for your advice. Thanks for taking the time! I will try to work on my copy space issue and try to look out more for new trends.

OK> another tip. I am trying not to be too negative. So dont worry too much about what I say - only take on what you think is ok. In the bulldog wearing red halloween pic - there is too much distraction in the background. Another angle perhaps?  If I was a designer looking for a pic like that - I would move on to something else. Because of lack of copy space usually.

What I do is shoot something like that with a full background is have one like that - and then move everything else to the side and shoot with a lot of copy space. Or for your puppy I might have brought him home and shoot him against a plain background with lots of negative space in a studio shot. And then see what sells most.

Your doggy pics are great though and wow, you do a great job on the costumes! I didnt know that. Well, play to your strengths, I always say. Your doggy pics and costumes are great. 

Fan of Annie's work (watched from the Shutterstock forum often). Not from Social Media. I never read that, but understand that it can be useful for sales. I don't have very expensive equipment, know a lot about insects, but that's not a subject that you sell a lot of, or you have to spend much more money on lenses, lighting.
So I don't mind, understand that my sales are not very high. I do like the fact that I can pay my provider of my website with the earnings of the photos, that I have money left over and that the earnings continue to rise.
I do find it strange that I didn't sell anything at Adobe in November, while November is not a bad month. But according to the probability calculation, it is probably not very special either. Who knows next week will be much better. 

the last several replies is why I join this site! Love it. Taking notes 

Annie, Firn: maybe you could do a regular 'celebrity' discussion slot for us now and again 

LOL. This is hilarious and a bit embarrassing. Not sure what else we can do.

*SisterAct*


But it shows that people are looking for real answers to real problems in microstock. And not just all the usual grumbling. Which is a good sign.

Quote from: thijsdegraaf on November 12, 2021, 06:20

Fan of Annie's work (watched from the Shutterstock forum often). Not from Social Media. I never read that, but understand that it can be useful for sales. I don't have very expensive equipment, know a lot about insects, but that's not a subject that you sell a lot of, or you have to spend much more money on lenses, lighting.
So I don't mind, understand that my sales are not very high. I do like the fact that I can pay my provider of my website with the earnings of the photos, that I have money left over and that the earnings continue to rise.
I do find it strange that I didn't sell anything at Adobe in November, while November is not a bad month. But according to the probability calculation, it is probably not very special either. Who knows next week will be much better. 

Yippee! My first two sales this month from Adobe. Only unfortunately twice 0.33. But because of the number I am a bit closer to permission to upload my more commercial photos.
And since yesterday in level 4 at Shutterstock. Only my first sale after that was of course 0.10 

Congrats, Thijs!

But one question: is there an upload limit at AS? Never heard of this before. Or was it a joke?

Quote from: Wilm on November 15, 2021, 08:59

Quote from: thijsdegraaf on November 15, 2021, 08:49

Quote from: thijsdegraaf on November 12, 2021, 06:20

Fan of Annie's work (watched from the Shutterstock forum often). Not from Social Media. I never read that, but understand that it can be useful for sales. I don't have very expensive equipment, know a lot about insects, but that's not a subject that you sell a lot of, or you have to spend much more money on lenses, lighting.
So I don't mind, understand that my sales are not very high. I do like the fact that I can pay my provider of my website with the earnings of the photos, that I have money left over and that the earnings continue to rise.
I do find it strange that I didn't sell anything at Adobe in November, while November is not a bad month. But according to the probability calculation, it is probably not very special either. Who knows next week will be much better. 

 

Yippee! My first two sales this month from Adobe. Only unfortunately twice 0.33. But because of the number I am a bit closer to permission to upload my more commercial photos.
And since yesterday in level 4 at Shutterstock. Only my first sale after that was of course 0.10 

Congrats, Thijs!

But one question: is there an upload limit at AS? Never heard of this before. Or was it a joke?

Thanks Wilm
Not a joke. Until now I am not allowed to upload photos with illustrative editorial content. That's only allowed if you've sold more than hundred photos, I thought.
That will take a while, because I don't sell a lot on AS. I have many photos suitable for that. I hope I get in January approval.

Okay, Thijs, now I get it. Yes, I know about the illustrative editorials in combination with sales. I was probably just confused because you used the term "commercial photos". But you didn't mean the license type, but your personal commercial success.

Quote from: thijsdegraaf on November 15, 2021, 09:14

Quote from: Wilm on November 15, 2021, 08:59

Congrats, Thijs!

But one question: is there an upload limit at AS? Never heard of this before. Or was it a joke?

Thanks Wilm
Not a joke. Until now I am not allowed to upload photos with illustrative editorial content. That's only allowed if you've sold more than hundred photos, I thought.
That will take a while, because I don't sell a lot on AS. I have many photos suitable for that. I hope I get in January approval.

My current RPD for this years downloads is $.97

I'm at $1,25 at AS vs. $0,61 at shutterstock. More than twice as much. Since the introduction of the new earnings structure my RPD at shutterstock decreased by 15.3% at shutterstock.

Since my downloads and revenues at AS are very constant (apart from the monthly differences), but those at shutterstock are declining, it is clear that AS now brings in more money than shutterstock - in contrast to before. And the poll results also show that it is obviously the same for most contributors. The numbers used to be the other way around. Shutterstock was always in first place. I am very sure that this trend will continue and strengthen.

In addition, there is another medium- to long-term problem for shutterstock from my point of view. If revenues no longer cover production costs, image styles and content will change and become more influenced by the cultural origin of the countries where images will be produced in the future. This may mean that buyers from the countries where new images are no longer being created will no longer be able to find the image material that suits their cultural background. Models, architecture, graphic styles, colors, layouts, etc. are all influenced by our cultural background. And this is naturally different in the various regions of the world.