Don't know what it is about June

[Bryan]

My sales always seem to fall away in June, and this year is no exception. We're normally away in mainland Europe in our touring caravan throughout the month, but this year we foolishly decided to stay in the UK and the weather has been awful. Writing this it's blowing a gale outside with torrential rain. I had wondered if the dearth of sales activity in June was linked to the fact that I was not uploading, but this year that's not been the case. Is it that my particular set of photos are unattractive to June buyers, or do they also take their hols in this month? I can think of no logical reason for it, other than inverse serendipity!

[VbFolly]

I haven't previously had a dip in sales during June - in fact it was my best month for my first 2 years with Alamy. February is usually my worst month. Having said that, I don't have any reported sales yet this month.

[riccarbi]

Hi Bryan. My opinion is that depends on the subject. I see you have many travel photos in your portfolio. Possibly, most magazines and newspapers have already completed their travel/ Summer-holiday articles by late-May and, therefore, they don't buy many travel images in June.
Usually, June is a good month for me, but my sales are almost exclusively restricted to pictures of special events rather than monuments, architecture, travel destinations and so on.

[Joseph Clemson]

It often seems that there is no rhyme nor reason to sales patterns here at Alamy. I had nothing in March and April, but have increased my 2019 sales by a third in the course of four days in June. The mysterious ways of the gods of stock photography.

[Cryptoprocta]

Remember that 'date of invoice' doesn't necessarily (or even often?) mean date of sale. So sales reported in June could have been made in March or earlier.

That said, after a good-for-me May, my first reported sale in June was this morning.

[John Mitchell]

Sorry to hear about your June doldrums, Bryan. There really is no rhyme or reason. I'm looking at eight sales so far, so June is actually shaping up to be an above average month. Lots of zooms as well, plus my CTR is at one of the highest (0.98) points that it has ever been. Prices are another story. However, I've seen a lot worse months in that department as well.

 

P.S. Perhaps it's not too late to fire up the caravan (usually called a "camper" here).

[Bryan]

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

Sorry to hear about your June doldrums, Bryan. There really is no rhyme or reason. I'm looking at eight sales so far, so June is actually shaping up to be an above average month. Lots of zooms as well, plus my CTR is at one of the highest (0.98) points that it has ever been. Prices are another story. However, I've seen a lot worse months in that department as well.

 

P.S. Perhaps it's not too late to fire up the caravan (usually called a "camper" here).

 

Cheers John.

 

Only 2 sales to date, and neither very appetising, but you never know what tomorrow might bring!

 

The van is sitting forlornly on our drive, it's raining and cold. The courgettes on my allotment are wondering why they are being subjected to such torture. Last June (when we were in France) there was a heatwave in the UK, with no rain and lots of sun, which partially motivated us to explore more of our own country this year - bad mistake as it turned out.

 

Have booked a short trip to Nice in September, surely there will be some sunshine there..... (There's a super little narrow gauge railway which heads up into the mountains, rode it years ago).

 

Can't complain too bitterly, as we enjoyed a couple of low season bargain basement trips to Spain earlier in the year.  One of the advantages of retirement, you can travel when it's cheap!

[Rick Lewis]

I just went back and looked at my stats for the same time period last year. (Year to Date)   I have sold more than double the amount this year so far, for the year.  My June was dry last year and this year I've licensed two so far.  So far things are looking good for my small portfolio.

 

My challenge is to generate more images.  That is always a challenge for me but I know the more I contribute the more I'll license.  @Bryan, I hope things improve for you!!   You have a great portfolio, head up!!

[andremichel]

3 hours ago, Rick Lewis said:

I just went back and looked at my stats for the same time period last year. (Year to Date)   I have sold more than double the amount this year so far, for the year. 

 

This is just a theory, but I suspect that Alamy may have used much of their cash grab from non exclusives to focus more on the North American market. This is resulting in those whose ports are best suited for North America doing better, while the rest of us are languishing this year. 

 

I draw this from what James West said in his infamous Youtube video where he said "it worked last time around" (i.e. in 2012 when they opened the US office from their previous royalty cut). Also from some of what the other James said during the Cambridge meeting, implying the Alamy brand could do with better exposure in the USA.  

 

Also, though not particularly scientific  I get the impression that more doom and gloom on this forum, is coming from this side of the pond, while more positive posts (like Rick's) are coming from the other side.  

[Bryan]

1 hour ago, andremichel said:

 

This is just a theory, but I suspect that Alamy may have used much of their cash grab from non exclusives to focus more on the North American market. This is resulting in those whose ports are best suited for North America doing better, while the rest of us are languishing this year. 

 

I draw this from what James West said in his infamous Youtube video where he said "it worked last time around" (i.e. in 2012 when they opened the US office from their previous royalty cut). Also from some of what the other James said during the Cambridge meeting, implying the Alamy brand could do with better exposure in the USA.  

 

Also, though not particularly scientific  I get the impression that more doom and gloom on this forum, is coming from this side of the pond, while more positive posts (like Rick's) are coming from the other side.  

 

Probably just coincidence, but my third sale of the month was of a shot taken in Virginia, USA. I find that my relatively small collection of photos taken in North America comfortably outperforms the many more that I have from mainland Europe. Could be a more buoyant market or a more proactive sales team, or both?

[Gina Kelly]

1 hour ago, andremichel said:

 

This is just a theory, but I suspect that Alamy may have used much of their cash grab from non exclusives to focus more on the North American market. This is resulting in those whose ports are best suited for North America doing better, while the rest of us are languishing this year. 

 

I draw this from what James West said in his infamous Youtube video where he said "it worked last time around" (i.e. in 2012 when they opened the US office from their previous royalty cut). Also from some of what the other James said during the Cambridge meeting, implying the Alamy brand could do with better exposure in the USA.  

 

Also, though not particularly scientific  I get the impression that more doom and gloom on this forum, is coming from this side of the pond, while more positive posts (like Rick's) are coming from the other side.  

 

Not true in my case  - I'm in the US and the past two months have been a couple of my worst ever

[MariaJ]

4 hours ago, andremichel said:

 

This is just a theory, but I suspect that Alamy may have used much of their cash grab from non exclusives to focus more on the North American market. This is resulting in those whose ports are best suited for North America doing better, while the rest of us are languishing this year. 

 

I draw this from what James West said in his infamous Youtube video where he said "it worked last time around" (i.e. in 2012 when they opened the US office from their previous royalty cut). Also from some of what the other James said during the Cambridge meeting, implying the Alamy brand could do with better exposure in the USA.  

 

Also, though not particularly scientific  I get the impression that more doom and gloom on this forum, is coming from this side of the pond, while more positive posts (like Rick's) are coming from the other side.  

 

Interesting theory but not supported by my results either.   June was really good last year, but this year I didn't have any June sales until one yesterday.

[Michael Ventura]

Its hard to say about quantity of sales being better if you have a large amount of North American images, but I am pretty sure that U.S. photo buyers pay more per image and probably buy more North America content.  

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Michael Ventura said:

Its hard to say about quantity of sales being better if you have a large amount of North American images, but I am pretty sure that U.S. photo buyers pay more per image and probably buy more North America content.  

 

IME the USA has always been the best-paying market, so it should benefit everyone if Alamy is having luck expanding in that direction. I'd love to see Alamy make more inroads into the much smaller Canadian market as well. So far this year, 38% of my sales have the US listed as the region vs. only 19% as the UK. The rest are split fairly evenly between the EU and ROW.

[chris24]

Bryan, I'd love to have some of your rain in northern New South Wales.  It's winter here and cold, 

only  18 Celsius.  Don't laugh.

PS.Sold 3 today, happy with $$$

[chris24]

6 hours ago, chris24 said:

Bryan, I'd love to have some of your rain in northern New South Wales.  It's winter here and cold, 

only  18 Celsius.  Don't laugh.

PS.Sold 3 today, happy with $$$

 

[Sultanpepa]

19 hours ago, chris24 said:

Bryan, I'd love to have some of your rain in northern New South Wales.  It's winter here and cold, 

only  18 Celsius.  Don't laugh.

PS.Sold 3 today, happy with $$$

 

Cold? 18 Celsius? Lucky if we get that in summer here in Scotland. That's T-shirt and shorts weather. lol

[Cassius]

June started slow with just one for $$$ and then yesterday I sold 5. I guess it just fluctuates and may be your portfolio is seasonal!

[Allan Bell]

 

Not had a sale since March and they were distributor sales.

 

Two sales of one image by same distributor (same price). Then two refunds of same image. Then two sales of same image and same distributor for 13pence MORE on each.

 

Allan

 

 

[Bryan]

3 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Not had a sale since March and they were distributor sales.

 

Two sales of one image by same distributor (same price). Then two refunds of same image. Then two sales of same image and same distributor for 13pence MORE on each.

 

Allan

 

 

 

Not a happy state of affairs Allan, but could have been 13 p less! Hopefully things will improve!

[Allan Bell]

59 minutes ago, Bryan said:

 

Not a happy state of affairs Allan, but could have been 13 p less! Hopefully things will improve!

 

Not holding my breath.

 

Allan

 

 

[John Mitchell]

Perhaps there really is something about June. After rolling along nicely for the first two weeks of the month, the train appears to have come to a grinding halt. 🤧

[Sally]

3 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

Perhaps there really is something about June. After rolling along nicely for the first two weeks of the month, the train appears to have come to a grinding halt. 🤧

My train never has not yet got out of the station. No stock sales at all this month so far. Luckily the news keeps me going.

[Cryptoprocta]

Hmm, I just checked back and last June I had ten sales reported, June 2017, I had eight.  Still on one for this month.

Of course, though I have increased my port substantially, my own increase isn't anything like proportionate to the growth of the Alamy collection as a whole.

[Nick Hatton]

Big mistake Bryan, Just had three glorious weeks in our touring caravan in the mountains of south east Spain, some chilly mornings but most days mid 20s and no rain.