Sales ceilings?

[Brian Yarvin]

John, you didn't miss anything. I was defining the topic in a slightly different way. We photographers always have to be expanding our collections, but for certain subjects, you can just shoot the same thing over and over again and changes in style will take care of any updating for you. This is especially true with cars and clothes.

[John Mitchell]

6 hours ago, Brian Yarvin said:

John, you didn't miss anything. I was defining the topic in a slightly different way. We photographers always have to be expanding our collections, but for certain subjects, you can just shoot the same thing over and over again and changes in style will take care of any updating for you. This is especially true with cars and clothes.

 

So you mean that styles are cyclical?

 

For instance, my button-shirts are now back in style. Glad I didn't give them all away.

[John Mitchell]

22 hours ago, John Richmond said:

 

 

You only have to look back to see that many of us have wild swings in sales from month to month.  This year, for example, I've had as few as 4 (January) to as many as 20 (June).  My graph looks like the Alps in profile.  There is an upward trend this year and year on year but that's hardly surprising when I'm adding an average of 100 images a month and I enjoy a hard worked for reasonable ranking. 

 

When I look at my sales graph, I too see a mountain range (monthly sales range from 3-15 during the past 12 months). It's the consistent monthly average for the past two years that intrigues me. Hence the theory that I'm basking on a plateau with no obvious upward or downward (thankfully) trend.

 

 

[John Mitchell]

6 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

The volume of sales is surely much less important than the revenue that the sales bring in.

 

My graph of sales shows upward growth, the one for revenue does not! 

 

With falling fees having a consistent volume of sales means less revenue. Falling revenue is what I think most contributors have been experiencing over compared with 5 or 10 years ago.

 

Right. My revenue graph also looks like a mountain range, but with a noticeable downward trend, in my case from 2014 on.

[John Richmond]

40 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

When I look at my sales graph, I too see a mountain range (monthly sales range from 3-15 during the past 12 months). It's the consistent monthly average for the past two years that intrigues me. Hence the theory that I'm basking on a plateau with no obvious upward or downward (thankfully) trend.

 

 

Ah, I see what you mean, John.  The obvious questions are how many images have you added in the last two years and how do your sales break down in terms of image (upload) age?  If you've added a lot but your sales are coming from your older images that could be an explanation.  I don't doubt that you can think of many other possible scenarios.

 

In my own case there is no plateau. Yet.  Out of interest I did a 12 month rolling average on my own figures for the months starting 12 months after my last no sale month in Jan 2015 (1 year only on Alamy). There's a beautiful, almost linear upward trend from 4.8 sales for the 12 months prior to Jan 2016 to 10.5 for the 12 months prior to September 2017.  Revenue shows a similar upward trend. Lets hope it continues. 

 

On average I've added about 100 images a month over my time on Alamy.

[John Mitchell]

2 minutes ago, John Richmond said:

Ah, I see what you mean, John.  The obvious questions are how many images have you added in the last two years and how do your sales break down in terms of image (upload) age?  If you've added a lot but your sales are coming from your older images that could be an explanation.  I don't doubt that you can think of many other possible scenarios.

 

In my own case there is no plateau. Yet.  Out of interest I did a 12 month rolling average on my own figures for the months starting 12 months after my last no sale month in Jan 2015 (1 year only on Alamy). There's a beautiful, almost linear upward trend from 4.8 sales for the 12 months prior to Jan 2016 to 10.5 for the 12 months prior to September 2017.  Revenue shows a similar upward trend. Lets hope it continues. 

 

On average I've added about 100 images a month over my time on Alamy.

 

Newer images are staring to do better, but the majority of my sales do still come from older images. That's part of the explanation.

 

We're at different stages in the climb, though. My sales and income grew steadily from 2007 (when I started uploading) until 2014. Chances are you won't reach a plateau for quite some time yet.

[John Mitchell]

16 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

That is why I decided that, short of suddenly becoming a much better photographer than I could imagine being, it made sense to look for sales ( and revenue) elsewhere.

 

The dilution effect on Alamy has been shattering. Going from less than 1 million images to 110 million in 17 years. That is just impossible to keep up with! 

 

Even at the start Alamy suggested to contributors that they looked to supplement income from elsewhere/ And let's face it Alamy have done nothing to shelter contributors from this deluge of images sucked in from all corners of the stock photography universe!

 

Yes, the growth has been mind-blowing. However, with it's open-door philosophy, I guess Alamy really can't really be expected to provide shelter from the storm.

[Michael Ventura]

I do think there is something to this John M.  I have been stuck at around 15 sales per month, as an average, for several years now...even while my collection of photos on sale, has grown and grown.  

[John Mitchell]

4 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

I do think there is something to this John M.  I have been stuck at around 15 sales per month, as an average, for several years now...even while my collection of photos on sale, has grown and grown.  

 

Yes, I think there is something to this plateau thing, especially when someone with a diverse, high-quality collection like yours notices a similar pattern. Interesting that we've both been contributors for roughly the same amount of time (I started uploading in 2007), and we have a similar number of images. That said, 15 sales isn't a bad plateau to be on, either is 10 these days. Actually, my head is now poking a bit above the ceiling this month after a couple more sales popped up, including one for $150 invoiced today.

 

P.S. I don't mean to make this into a conspiracy theory. Nor am I complaining. I just find it an interesting "mystical math" phenomenon.

[Avpics]

My 'September' sales range from April, July, August and September, so I'm not sure that there could ever be any kind of plateau to any given month when they originate from various different months?

[John Richmond]

John, Michael, you're not on a plateau, just traversing the level ground which leads to the peaks you'll surely scale. 

[John Mitchell]

20 minutes ago, Avpics said:

My 'September' sales range from April, July, August and September, so I'm not sure that there could ever be any kind of plateau to any given month when they originate from various different months?

 

You lost me there. Not sure what you're saying.

[John Mitchell]

20 minutes ago, John Richmond said:

John, Michael, you're not on a plateau, just traversing the level ground which leads to the peaks you'll surely scale. 

 

Not with my worn-out hip, I'm afraid. Am waiting for a replacement, though.

[Avpics]

5 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

You lost me there. Not sure what you're saying.

If you're going by the date that they're reported then X number of sales 'per month'  isn't actually the number sold that month because they can originate from such a wide and random time period. 

[John Mitchell]

28 minutes ago, Avpics said:

If you're going by the date that they're reported then X number of sales 'per month'  isn't actually the number sold that month because they can originate from such a wide and random time period. 

 

Good point. Thanks for the clarification. However, I think that looking at sales patterns over a number of years, rather than just for a few months, does give a fairly accurate monthly average.

[Phil Robinson]

For the record, today I passed my number of sales for the whole of 2016, as well as most sales in one month ever, and this is already my best month ever (gross) on Alamy.

My monthly income looks like a seismograph on a bad day in Los Angeles, but I haven't noticed a plateau/ceiling - I just keep uploading, and it is largely the newer images that are selling.