Author Topic: This month's sales (Read 138201 times)

Pacesetter · « **Reply #525 on:** June 01, 2024, 05:37 »

Second best overall month in stock photography and videography | BME on Adobe Stock | BME on iStock | Reasonably good month on Pond 5 | Mediocre month on Shutterstock

Shutterstock was the lowest of the four agencies for May 2024 though still running in 2nd place YTD earnings.

Three Charts

1) YTD earnings Jan to May - Comparison of each year from 2020 to 2024
2) YTD earnings Jan to May - Comparison by agency for 2024
3) Earnings for the month of May - Comparison of each year from 2020 to 2024

cobalt · « **Reply #526 on:** June 01, 2024, 05:49 »

Those are great results, congrats!

All this endless talk about how stock is dead and then some people just go and earn money.

Injustice for all · « **Reply #527 on:** June 02, 2024, 02:49 »

Quote from: cobalt on June 01, 2024, 05:49

Those are great results, congrats!

All this endless talk about how stock is dead and then some people just go and earn money.

what has changed in recent years is that microstock has gone from a passive income to a full time job,unless your portfolio is already really solid,these days you have to continue to upload content with consistency.

regarding AI content,I don't know how much those who have at least 5,000 AI contents for sale earn,but I suspect that they don't sell many,not like before.

I don't know,because I still don't have at least 5,000 AI contents for sale,but I believe that the real difference is made by real contents.

I prefer not to base my portfolio too much on AI content.

cobalt · « **Reply #528 on:** June 02, 2024, 05:35 »

what I like about normal photos is that they are more difficult to copy than ai.

people just look for the prompts on midjourney and some uploaders actually leave their prompts in the title.

if you use the same prompt you get nearly exact images.

when you try to copy a photo, you actually have to put more work into it.

and especially for things like food or locations I am sure customers will always prefer the real thing.

Injustice for all · « **Reply #529 on:** June 02, 2024, 08:56 »

Quote from: cobalt on June 02, 2024, 05:35

what I like about normal photos is that they are more difficult to copy than ai.

people just look for the prompts on midjourney and some uploaders actually leave their prompts in the title.

if you use the same prompt you get nearly exact images.

when you try to copy a photo, you actually have to put more work into it.

and especially for things like food or locations I am sure customers will always prefer the real thing.

we agree,I also think that the contents of people,lifestyle,concepts and illustrations,they can work well with AI,don't need to be real,generally speaking,then depends of course.

as for all the rest of the contents,I think are better real,then naturally there are things that can only be done with AI.

and then yes,the real problem with AI is the massive uploading that happens every day in quantities clearly superior to real content,and then they are easily replicable,copycats etc.

Frankly,for the moment I'm not having great success with this AI content,much more so with real content,but I don't have enough for sale yet to judge.

but something tells me that if we already need 5,000 AI content to have regular sales,in a year we will need 50,000 content,and in two years?

I do and will continue,at least for the moment,to also produce AI content,but I absolutely do not want to base my portfolio on AI.

SuperPhoto · « **Reply #530 on:** June 02, 2024, 18:45 »

lol for people posting charts without context, i.e., numbers/$$$... kind of meaningless... as one could have gone from "$1" in one month to "$3" in the 2nd month... so rather funny...

anyhoo. focusing on increasing sales myself as well

Pacesetter · « **Reply #531 on:** June 02, 2024, 19:33 »

Quote from: SuperPhoto on June 02, 2024, 18:45

lol for people posting charts without context, i.e., numbers/$$$... kind of meaningless... as one could have gone from "$1" in one month to "$3" in the 2nd month... so rather funny...

anyhoo. focusing on increasing sales myself as well

Well probably because we don't want to disclose earnings. But I get your point if someone has a tiny port and then triples the port size then of course their earnings can easily double from there.

For mine, if I achieve over $1000 (USD) a month from the four ports I contribute to then it is a satisfactory month. With exception of Dec 2023 and Jan 2024, I have achieved over $1000 (USD) a month every month since June 2023.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #532 on:** June 07, 2024, 15:20 »

Average May for me.

Pacesetter · « **Reply #533 on:** June 27, 2024, 22:33 »

This is my best ever sale on Dreamstime. I don't even mention Dreamstime when talking about the monthly totals.

Just goes to show Dreamstime can deliver some good sales albeit on the very rare occasion for mine...

Pacesetter · « **Reply #534 on:** June 30, 2024, 23:47 »

Charts, charts and more charts!

But first some commentary...

I managed to achieve my minimum monthly acceptable amount which is $1k combined for the four agencies I contribute to: Shutterstock, Pond5, iStock and Adobe Stock. Adobe Stock was again the strong performer. June 2024 earnings overall was actually down 19.6% on June 2023 despite continuing uploading (especially videos) over the year. I'm kind of still happy with this result as I feel global inflation is probably putting some pressure on budgets for spending on stock photography and videography.

Early in the month I thought it was going to be Shutterstock to win my nomination for Alex Rotenburgh's Turd of the Month Award. But as the month came to a close, it was Shutterstock's controlled Pond5 that won the nomination for the Turd Award for June 2024 with not a single sale after June 6! Well, may as well be both Shutterstock and Pond5 win nomination for the big Turd Award.

A brief explanation of the following four charts:

1) YTD earnings from January to June 2020 to 2024
2) YTD earnings from January to June 2024 by agency
3) Month of June comparison for each year 2020 to 2024
4) A different kind of chart here that shows how each agency performed in June 2023 compared to June 2024.

I hope you find this entertaining.

cobalt · « **Reply #535 on:** July 01, 2024, 00:49 »

Just looking at Adobe: 16% less than May 24, but 62% more than June 2023.

Had a BME in volume at Dreamstime with 15 downloads and 7 dollars

Still not uploading enough, especially not enough videos. I keep taking them, but they just pile up.

Focus for July: upload daily people ai, start processing the non ai photos and videos, make a shooting list for outdoors photo/video session, use the camera again more often.

Still have a huge backlog of ai illustrations. They were fun to make, but the money, at least for me, is in ai photos. Will still try to get them uploaded, so they can pay off their prompting costs.

But I am not going to spend more time on research for that genre.

Injustice for all · « **Reply #536 on:** July 01, 2024, 04:23 »

Good month.

on AS 25% more sales in numbers and 110% more in earnings compare to June 2023.

but this is only what concerns sales,excluding the bonuses of the free collection in this year and the previous year.

if I also include bonuses in the calculation,my total earnings in June 2024 compared to June 2023 are only 10% more this year,because this year they have selected fewer photos for the free collection.

on SS seventh BME in 6 years of activity,therefore a good result.

Brasilnut · « **Reply #537 on:** July 01, 2024, 04:40 »

The Good:

- Finally above the $1k mark
- 2 book cover sales at Arcangel
- Adobe Stock upfront payment was decent

The Bad:

- Super low clip prices everywhere (average of around $4 per download)

The Ugly:

- Pond5 pulled in 50cents
- No news on getting sued via Alamy

Full report here:

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2024/06/30/june-2024-brutally-honest-earnings-report-finally-over-1k-in-earnings/

Mimi the Cat · « **Reply #538 on:** July 01, 2024, 10:19 »

Quote from: Pacesetter on June 01, 2024, 05:37

Second best overall month in stock photography and videography | BME on Adobe Stock | BME on iStock | Reasonably good month on Pond 5 | Mediocre month on Shutterstock

Shutterstock was the lowest of the four agencies for May 2024 though still running in 2nd place YTD earnings.

Three Charts

1) YTD earnings Jan to May - Comparison of each year from 2020 to 2024
2) YTD earnings Jan to May - Comparison by agency for 2024
3) Earnings for the month of May - Comparison of each year from 2020 to 2024

I'm not being picky but without a Y axis the graph is meaningless.

As it says $ I presumed you made $6 this year

yuriy · « **Reply #539 on:** July 01, 2024, 11:31 »

Quote from: Mimi the Cat on July 01, 2024, 10:19

Quote from: Pacesetter on June 01, 2024, 05:37
Second best overall month in stock photography and videography | BME on Adobe Stock | BME on iStock | Reasonably good month on Pond 5 | Mediocre month on Shutterstock

Shutterstock was the lowest of the four agencies for May 2024 though still running in 2nd place YTD earnings.

Three Charts

1) YTD earnings Jan to May - Comparison of each year from 2020 to 2024
2) YTD earnings Jan to May - Comparison by agency for 2024
3) Earnings for the month of May - Comparison of each year from 2020 to 2024

I'm not being picky but without a Y axis the graph is meaningless.

As it says $ I presumed you made $6 this year

you can easily estimate the y axis. OP said the total was about 1000. just do basic algebra to figure it out from the last one with all 4 agencies in the same month. i'm going to assume the graph is linear and starts at 0 (otherwise ignore what i just said).

Pacesetter · « **Reply #540 on:** August 02, 2024, 22:08 »

So July 2024 ended up doing okay overall with Shutterstock taking out the lead followed by Adobe. A dry July for iStock and especially Pond5 (slowest month on Pond5 since Jan 2024).

Overall combined earnings achieved the monthly traget of >$1k with $1076.55 in July 2024 vs $1120.06 in July 2023 - so a slight drop from the previous year and still been pretty consistent with uploading in particular video.

If not for Shutterstock where just on 79% of July's earnings accrued in just 4 consecutive days and 94.7% of earnings were from video, then it would of been a poor month overall.

A couple of illustrative charts attached : YTD earnings for each year 2020 to 2024 | YTD earnings by agency for 2024 | July earnings for each year 2020 to 2024.

Pacesetter · « **Reply #541 on:** August 02, 2024, 22:29 »

Double post

trucic · « **Reply #542 on:** August 03, 2024, 02:00 »

Quote from: Pacesetter on August 02, 2024, 22:08

….

If not for Shutterstock where just on 79% of July's earnings accrued in just 4 consecutive days and 94.7% of earnings were from video, then it would of been a poor month overall.
…

… were those consecutive thay at the end of the month…?! Btw, during last days of July, SS was like we all remember… so, I hope that someone will MSSGA…

Pacesetter · « **Reply #543 on:** August 03, 2024, 02:42 »

Quote from: trucic on August 03, 2024, 02:00

Quote from: Pacesetter on August 02, 2024, 22:08
….

If not for Shutterstock where just on 79% of July's earnings accrued in just 4 consecutive days and 94.7% of earnings were from video, then it would of been a poor month overall.
…
… were those consecutive thay at the end of the month…?! Btw, during last days of July, SS was like we all remember… so, I hope that someone will MSSGA…

Those sales occurred on 9/07, 10/07, 11/07, 12/07 four day period.

trucic · « **Reply #544 on:** August 03, 2024, 02:52 »

… yes, during those days, too… they are testing something…

cobalt · « **Reply #545 on:** August 03, 2024, 03:28 »

I am focussing 90% of uploads on Adobe and I am seeing improvement over last year.

Over all agencies combined, with what is still coming from istock, envato blackbox I will probably be around 550 dollars for July.

Just for Adobe there is a 300% revenue increase yoy, 489 dollars. There were several extended licenses and also video sales that really pushed it up. By volume it is 126% and in line with the rest of the year so far.

Overall, I am seeing rates of around 100% more per month compared to 2023 on Adobe.

Really curious about August. It is still a summer month and usually the slowest in the year for me.

I am expecting August to be less, maybe around 300 dollars.

Pacesetter · « **Reply #546 on:** August 03, 2024, 19:23 »

Quote from: trucic on August 03, 2024, 02:52

… yes, during those days, too… they are testing something…

Yeh interesting what they were testing, good in this case but feels like luck of the draw. Looking at my July results, it would of been a very poor month not for those sales. Suggests to me that overall sales or at least the rpd continues to fall. Can see this even with long-term contributors such as Microstock Life. See his latest report here ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZF-dBbQ2SA .To be uploading all year especially video and to have less earnings than at this time last year is demotivating.

trucic · « **Reply #547 on:** August 04, 2024, 00:49 »

... as I was not uploading there for 4 years now, I can see constant drop in sale numbers... but, if there are some `benefits` from not uploading, I can see when something changes drastically... SS have experimented with pricing or with `richer` customers during that period and at the end of the month... or some kind of postponed reports were triggered then...

Pacesetter · « **Reply #548 on:** August 04, 2024, 01:38 »

Quote from: trucic on August 04, 2024, 00:49

... as I was not uploading there for 4 years now, I can see constant drop in sale numbers... but, if there are some `benefits` from not uploading, I can see when something changes drastically... SS have experimented with pricing or with `richer` customers during that period and at the end of the month... or some kind of postponed reports were triggered then...

Come to think of it, I did get another $43.61 video sale on 29/07. While not a huge sales commission, it's still quite decent for stock these days and as you mention, it occurred toward the end of the month.

alijaber · « **Reply #549 on:** August 04, 2024, 03:16 »

Quote from: Pacesetter on August 04, 2024, 01:38

Quote from: trucic on August 04, 2024, 00:49
... as I was not uploading there for 4 years now, I can see constant drop in sale numbers... but, if there are some `benefits` from not uploading, I can see when something changes drastically... SS have experimented with pricing or with `richer` customers during that period and at the end of the month... or some kind of postponed reports were triggered then...

Come to think of it, I did get another $43.61 video sale on 29/07. While not a huge sales commission, it's still quite decent for stock these days and as you mention, it occurred toward the end of the month.

I had my 76$ video sale on 24/07...

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Author Topic: This month's sales (Read 138201 times)

Pacesetter

cobalt

Injustice for all

cobalt

Injustice for all

SuperPhoto

Pacesetter

Zero Talent

Pacesetter

Pacesetter

cobalt

Injustice for all

Brasilnut

Mimi the Cat

yuriy

Pacesetter

Pacesetter

trucic

Pacesetter

trucic

cobalt

Pacesetter

trucic

Pacesetter

alijaber

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