very quiet

[Avpics]

On 25/12/2018 at 12:50, Marb said:

......after the hours spent invested here.

Sorry, but the number under your avatar just doesn't illustrate that. I'm sure you're sick of the advice but there's no point expecting the sales to just pop up without putting in the effort. Try to avoid any expectation of sales until you've at least doubled your current portfolio. Do the graft now, expect benefit from that effort in 12 months time or more. That's how it works.

[Marb]

13 hours ago, Avpics said:

Sorry, but the number under your avatar just doesn't illustrate that. I'm sure you're sick of the advice but there's no point expecting the sales to just pop up without putting in the effort. Try to avoid any expectation of sales until you've at least doubled your current portfolio. Do the graft now, expect benefit from that effort in 12 months time or more. That's how it works.

 

Sorry but for the amount of images I have I should be averaging at least 2-3 sales a month looking at my stats. December has bombed.

[Marb]

14 hours ago, John Morrison said:

 

Rather than, say, relentless negativity?

 

I am just reflecting my experience here. I have also been happy to report when sales have been good in the past.

[Colblimp]

Seven sales for me so far this month, with a possibility of more to come.  Another great month for me.  You have to stay positive and keep working hard!

[Sally]

31 minutes ago, Marb said:

 

Sorry but for the amount of images I have I should be averaging at least 2-3 sales a month looking at my stats. December has bombed.

We have been here before. There are no ‘shoulds’ in this game. You wrote off November on the 19th then got five sales on the 23rd. Similarly for other months. We don’t need to hear about the days or weeks when you don’t get a sale. We all get those. With the size of your portfolio you cannot expect to get sales every month.

[Radim]

Yes, We don’t need to hear about the days or weeks when you don’t get a sale

[Alex Ramsay]

25 minutes ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

AND THE 28TH...

 

Snap!

[Michael Ventura]

Three dropped in this morning  but two were nearly micro prices 

[wiskerke]

1 hour ago, Michael Ventura said:

Three dropped in this morning  but two were nearly micro prices 

 

Same here. Except all three were like micro.

12 in total below $10 this month. Have to check if this is a personal record.

Last month of the year - bargain basement folks. ;-)

(Had some good ones as well this month. Still $90 shy of last year.)

 

wim

[Cryptoprocta]

4 hours ago, Marb said:

 

Sorry but for the amount of images I have I should be averaging at least 2-3 sales a month looking at my stats. December has bombed.

There's no 'should' as Sally says, but if you*'re not getting the average sales (if the average is 1 in a thousand) you need to think about why you're not reaching the average.

Are you supplying the images Alamy's customers want?

Is there a lot of supply in the areas you supply? How do your images compare with the competition?

Are you constantly below the first page in searches for some of your most important keywords?

Is there something you can do to supply more pics of the sort Alamy's customers want, without incurring a lot of expense?

If not, is there somewhere else your files would sell better?

If not, how else can you make a living?

(*When I say 'you', I mean 'we'; these are questions we should all be asking ourselves all the time.)

[Phil Robinson]

Worst month for more than two years. Number of sales and money both well down. A few newspaper sales yesterday but it will need a VERY busy New Year's Eve to get the figures up to anywhere near normal.

[Marb]

15 hours ago, Phil Robinson said:

Worst month for more than two years. Number of sales and money both well down. A few newspaper sales yesterday but it will need a VERY busy New Year's Eve to get the figures up to anywhere near normal.

 

Careful, you might be upsetting folk here for being too negative. Don’t want to bring down the ones having a ball with sales.

 

 

[spacecadet]

45 minutes ago, Marb said:

 

Careful, you might be upsetting folk here for being too negative. Don’t want to bring down the ones having a ball with sales.

 

 

Phil's observations are useful because he has a long track record here, so his results are  a useful bellwether to those of us with regular sales and general collections of a certain size.

He's earned the right to be listened to. He doesn't moan.

BTW assuming that's what it is sarcasm doesn't suit you, IMO.

[Sally]

43 minutes ago, Marb said:

 

Careful, you might be upsetting folk here for being too negative. Don’t want to bring down the ones having a ball with sales.

 

 

I don’t think you get the point which is about the difference between a fair representation of how things are going versus relentless and continual negativity when there is no evidence for it.

[Marb]

I have just as much right to voice my opinions here but as any other member. I don't have to "earn" anything from anyone or any exclusive clique. I am not offensive or using bad language which was freely flowing on the thread regarding the % drop from some members. 

[spacecadet]

31 minutes ago, Marb said:

I have just as much right to voice my opinions here but as any other member. I don't have to "earn" anything from anyone or any exclusive clique. I am not offensive or using bad language which was freely flowing on the thread regarding the % drop from some members. 

Sure you do. But so do I, and when anyone takes a sarcastic swing at the expense of a top performer for a useful report, they can expect that to be commented upon.

Just because one can say something doesn't mean one should.

And no, I don't use red arrows, only greens to counteract them where necessary.

Time to ignore, I think.

[Starsphinx]

Going to throw my 2 pennyworths in (in fact it's not worth that much)

I have been contributing less than 6 months.  I have (now) 425 photos in my port.  I have not had a single zoom and have a CTR of 0.

In that time I have had 2 sales on here (OK prices not good)

I am new, inexperienced, and having a good crack at making every mistake in the book.  I had an estimation of 6 months and/or 800 images before I got a sale. 

I did not and do not expect to get rich off of this - I hope, after a bit of time, to generate a relatively constant trickle income that I can slowly increase over time by continuing to contribute.

So far sales numbers have exceeded expectations - even if prices have not. 

If a middle of the road newbie like me is seeing sales then I don't think either stock or Alamy is quite dead yet - and considerably further from dying than many make out.  So stop worrying on the downers and get out and take pictures - remember why you love taking pictures - and give things a chance.

[Marb]

24 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Sure you do. But so do I, and when anyone takes a sarcastic swing at the expense of a top performer for a useful report, they can expect that to be commented upon.

Just because one can say something doesn't mean one should.

And no, I don't use red arrows, only greens to counteract them where necessary.

Time to ignore, I think.

I wasn't having a pop at Phil, merley the general climate of this forum.

[imageplotter]

If one brags, one tends to have a desperate need to do so to flatter one's own over-inflated ego.

[Phil Robinson]

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

[John Mitchell]

6 hours ago, imageplotter said:

If one brags, one tends to have a desperate need to do so to flatter one's own over-inflated ego.

 

So contributors should not post images that have licensed or discuss how things are going for them because that would be bragging?

[gardenbush]

6 hours ago, Starsphinx said:

Going to throw my 2 pennyworths in (in fact it's not worth that much)

I have been contributing less than 6 months.  I have (now) 425 photos in my port.  I have not had a single zoom and have a CTR of 0.

In that time I have had 2 sales on here (OK prices not good)

I am new, inexperienced, and having a good crack at making every mistake in the book.  I had an estimation of 6 months and/or 800 images before I got a sale. 

I did not and do not expect to get rich off of this - I hope, after a bit of time, to generate a relatively constant trickle income that I can slowly increase over time by continuing to contribute.

So far sales numbers have exceeded expectations - even if prices have not. 

If a middle of the road newbie like me is seeing sales then I don't think either stock or Alamy is quite dead yet - and considerably further from dying than many make out.  So stop worrying on the downers and get out and take pictures - remember why you love taking pictures - and give things a chance.

Hey Starsphinx - I agree with you - Ihave under 600 images and have 10 sales in total but 6 this year !!! :-)  I'm inspired to increase my images in 2019...best part of your post? 'remember why you love taking pictures' - well said :-)

[Ed Rooney]

Same to you, Phil! And to you all.

 

I've had an average month for sales and prices. 

[Starsphinx]

3 minutes ago, gardenbush said:

Hey Starsphinx - I agree with you - Ihave under 600 images and have 10 sales in total but 6 this year !!! :-)  I'm inspired to increase my images in 2019...best part of your post? 'remember why you love taking pictures' - well said :-)

Well, I only ramped up my photography to go part-time professional in summer - and outside of Alamy, I have just cleared over £100 this month off my own site where I do photos of football matches.  Things are going a lot better than planned or expected (which makes me as nervous as a cat lol)

I get that for many who have been doing this a while prices are dropping and orders might be getting less frequent - but as a newcomer, I think I see it with a slightly different perspective.  I don't think the market is dying I think it is just shifting somewhat. 

[andremichel]

24 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

  I don't think the market is dying I think it is just shifting somewhat. 

 

It may not be dying for those hobbyists who still love doing what they do, and do not the count costs, both financial and time spent, against what they earn at this.