Author Topic: Should we continue to submit new images during a slow part of year or Hold Off (Read 4656 times)

tab62 · « **on:** August 11, 2013, 12:20 »

It appears that the buyers are in hibernation thus should I hold off on submitting new images until they come back from their summer vacation? Or should I continue to upload?

morning.light · « **Reply #1 on:** August 11, 2013, 13:16 »

That's also a question that I wanted to ask. I worked alot this vacation and uploaded a lot of pictures which aren't selling at all. It breaks my heart seeing so much work going to hell. So I was wondering if uploading all these images in September would make any difference.

tab62 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 11, 2013, 15:25 »

based on the silence I would guess 'Duh' ...

ShadySue · « **Reply #3 on:** August 11, 2013, 15:30 »

Quote from: tab62 on August 11, 2013, 15:25

based on the silence I would guess 'Duh' ...

Depends totally on what the current state of the individuals is. In the past, for iS I'd have said, 'keep dripping up series', but right now I'd say, "Don't upload unless the subject is near-unique.
You're in a better position to judge what the other sites are doing.

cthoman · « **Reply #4 on:** August 11, 2013, 15:42 »

Isn't the slow summer part basically over now? That aside, I've grown during the summer before (this summer was really slow though), so I don't think you ever really know how it is going to go. The other thing is that I always saw it as ramping up for the fall. Your shelves are stocked and ready for the busy season. I don't know if that is true though.

jm · « **Reply #5 on:** August 11, 2013, 16:42 »

I don't know - both in 2011 and 2012 August was best month of the year for me. This year it's worse but I still don't consider stop uploading. But I would probably not upload travel & holiday images now as I suppose they would be lost amongst millions of others. Fortunately I have not been on vacation ten years.

michaeldb · « **Reply #6 on:** August 11, 2013, 23:57 »

This is always a difficult question. Some good answers here but I guess no one knows the best answer, including me. I make illustrations for niche concepts, so I expect my images to be found over the years by keywords, so their getting buried isn't as big a problem for me as for others perhaps. So I tend to just submit them as soon as they are finished.

One thing, in the years I have been doing microstock (since 2005) the official end of the summer slump seems to be the first week after school starts back in the US. IMO that would be the time to start uploading again if you have been waiting.

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #7 on:** August 12, 2013, 00:40 »

I have great sales during northern hemisphere summer. I do find reviews particularly unfavourable during these months though. A couple of years ago I got so fed up with rejections in the month of July that I put the images which were sent and rejected in a folder called September. I then sent these images in September. The AR for the contents of this folder was then superb.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #8 on:** August 13, 2013, 21:58 »

Old marketing question and the answer was, when things are slow, you need to work harder, to make up for the lower returns, not take a break.

I can say for sure, upload your Christmas images by October. If you are playing the whole game of placement and age, then upload them when the buyers don't need them, like December. You'll catch the late small use buyers. But most businesses are planning Thanksgiving and Christmas, three months out.

Personally, to each their own. If you think late is better, then do it. If you think you can sell things that are on your hard drive, instead of uploading,. Have a good time. My choice would be work through the slow times.

I find so much superstition and anecdotal "evidence" in Micro that it's hard to tell what's real and what's repeated tales from the mythology.

Mantis · « **Reply #9 on:** August 14, 2013, 07:00 »

I don't worry about when to upload. trying to figure out how search engines work (how fast your images get lost) across all sites (assuming you're non-exclusive) and them sprinkling on how buyers think equates to too much unknown. I sell some holiday images all throughout the year, so it adds more "what?" to the recipe. However, I do believe that in general there is truth to certain things like if you are shooting good holiday stuff (Christmas, for example) that uploading them in October is the right time than, say, December 1. But overall, spend time shooting and uploading all throughout the year.