December sales - take two

[HodagMedia]

2 minutes ago, Doug Jensen said:

Yeah, you can count on that like clockwork.  Last December I had 55 downloads ($2194) for the month, but only two ($55) came from Dec 25 - Jan. 1.

Oh gee thanks for the bad news. 😉 I was hoping to make up for the low sales from the first half of the month.

Poor little Tiny Tim's rickets will never be diagnosed or treated.

[Former_Poster]

That said, some years (including last year) theres sometimes a last minute rush as people try to complete deadlines before the Christmas break.

A lot of that depends on how weekends, bank holidays and dates align though.

On average i'd say most of us are going to make most of our December money before the 23rd or so.

[Doug Jensen]

1 hour ago, HodagMedia said:

Poor little Tiny Tim's rickets will never be diagnosed or treated.

That's okay, we can tie him to a chair and make him do metadata all day.

Fortunately the dam will burst after the holidays and a lot of pent up demand  gushes forth.  Last year I had 9 sales on January 2nd , and as I said, only two in the 8 day period before that.  The faster I can get a bunch of quick sales the sooner I'll be able to claw my way back to Level 4.

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

Last year, the "normal" download phase ended on december 21 with 23 downloads. On the remaining days of December, there were only 7 downloads a day on average.
On 02 January it began to normalize again.
In 2018 it was the 20th of December, in 2017 it was the 23rd of December.
It always breaks around the same time.

[Thijs de Graaf]

It already seems to stop with me. Yesterday 1 download. Today 0.
Also depends a bit on the subjects that you have photographed, I think. I have no Christmas photos, 1 corona photo and because of the last winters, with only rain in the part of the Netherlands where I live, no winter photos.

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

47 minutes ago, Thijs de Graaf said:

It already seems to stop with me. Yesterday 1 download. Today 0.
Also depends a bit on the subjects that you have photographed, I think. I have no Christmas photos, 1 corona photo and because of the last winters, with only rain in the part of the Netherlands where I live, no winter photos.

Yes, Winter doesn't exist anymore.

[Thijs de Graaf]

48 minutes ago, Wilm Ihlenfeld said:

Yes, Winter doesn't exist anymore.

In Germany a bit more than on the North Holland coast Wilm 🙂

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

1 hour ago, Thijs de Graaf said:

In Germany a bit more than on the North Holland coast Wilm 🙂

There are just under 1000 kilometers of Germany, Thijs. I'm originally from Heidelberg, which is in the south of Germany. Snow at Christmas has always been a problem there. I can remember several years when we had about 15° C at Christmas. Now I'm in the far north. There was once the phenomenon of snow. That has kind of disappeared now.

About 2 weeks ago, the blackbirds sang with us in the morning and in the evening at five. As they usually do in the spring. That has never happened before. In my garden is a willow. It's still full of leaves today. That worries me seriously. Climate change can no longer be denied. Maybe in the near future it will be a much bigger problem than Corona. We just don't notice it yet.

[Thijs de Graaf]

1 hour ago, Wilm Ihlenfeld said:

There are just under 1000 kilometers of Germany, Thijs. I'm originally from Heidelberg, which is in the south of Germany. Snow at Christmas has always been a problem there. I can remember several years when we had about 15° C at Christmas. Now I'm in the far north. There was once the phenomenon of snow. That has kind of disappeared now.

About 2 weeks ago, the blackbirds sang with us in the morning and in the evening at five. As they usually do in the spring. That has never happened before. In my garden is a willow. It's still full of leaves today. That worries me seriously. Climate change can no longer be denied. Maybe in the near future it will be a much bigger problem than Corona. We just don't notice it yet.

I know that area, a good friend of my mother's lived in Heidelberg. As a child I stayed there. And German friends of ours lived first in Darmstadt and now in Dieburg. When we go on holiday to Croatia or Italy, we often visit them for a day.
But that is in the summer.
On the coast it is often warmer in winter than in the east of the Netherlands due to the higher temperatures of the sea water and vice versa in summer. But in recent years we have seen no snow at all and almost no ice. Indeed, the climate is changing.

[stevemart]

3 hours ago, Thijs de Graaf said:

I know that area, a good friend of my mother's lived in Heidelberg. As a child I stayed there. And German friends of ours lived first in Darmstadt and now in Dieburg. When we go on holiday to Croatia or Italy, we often visit them for a day.
But that is in the summer.
On the coast it is often warmer in winter than in the east of the Netherlands due to the higher temperatures of the sea water and vice versa in summer. But in recent years we have seen no snow at all and almost no ice. Indeed, the climate is changing.

Mid 1980's...Ijsselmeer (fast ice) kruiend ijs! I hated those winters!

[Thijs de Graaf]

5 hours ago, stevemart said:

Mid 1980's...Ijsselmeer (fast ice) kruiend ijs! I hated those winters!

Nice Steve! Love it.

We have to make a winter topic. 😉

Winter in 2010 in our garden in the good old days.(Not good enough for Stock) Hope to see it this winter and to take better photos.

 

[stevemart]

At least you have a garden! We have a carpark.😀

11th December 2017

[Thijs de Graaf]

41 minutes ago, stevemart said:

At least you have a garden! We have a carpark.😀

11th December 2017

 

Ah but your photo is nice 👍  and with more snow that day (looked at my photos also taken on 11 Dec  The only day with snow.)

[stevemart]

2 minutes ago, Thijs de Graaf said:

Ah but your photo is nice 👍  and more snow that day (looked at my photos also taken on 11 Dec.)

A fair bit of PS on mine...it wasn't that nice originally!

[HodagMedia]

23 hours ago, Thijs de Graaf said:

It already seems to stop with me. Yesterday 1 download. Today 0.

It's Saturday, consistently the worst day of the week for me.

This is what January and February look like around here.

I always hope that someone with a sub pack that ends on Dec. 31st, will want to grab what they can. So far, that doesn't happen.

 

[Thijs de Graaf]

21 minutes ago, HodagMedia said:

It's Saturday, consistently the worst day of the week for me.

This is what January and February look like around here.

 

I always hope that someone with a sub pack that ends on Dec. 31st, will want to grab what they can. So far, that doesn't happen.

 

Last Saturday I sold some photos. Now nothing. I don't expect to much.

Yes that's the snow I want.or ice for skating. Not the whole winter, but for some weeks 😀

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

My grandfather came from Rheiderland, which is right on the border between Germany and the Netherlands.
For centuries, people there skated on the frozen canals in winter. You could have easily glided through half the Netherlands from there. Right to your doorstep, Thijs and Steve. All the residents there are excellent skaters.

It's been years since they last took out their skates. Skating there was just as characteristic as the landscape. Everything is changing.

I don't know when you were in Heidelberg for the last time, Thijs. In the meantime, palm trees, kiwi trees and meter-high bamboo grow in the front yards. That was unthinkable in my childhood, although Heidelberg was and is one of the warmest places in Germany.

[Former_Poster]

We used to get quite a lot of snow when i was growing up, now almost none at all.

If they get 1 day a year its a newsworthy event whereas previously we'd miss at least a week of school or more because of it and it hung around for ages.

So when we had a rare fall here 2 weeks ago on the highest peaks thousands of people came out to see it (and ski, sledge).  Cark parks full by 7am (an hour before sunrise) and roads blocked for a mile in each direction with more cars.

Sadly the days of enjoying snowfall every winter seem to be gone forever.

 

[Thijs de Graaf]

3 hours ago, Wilm Ihlenfeld said:

My grandfather came from Rheiderland, which is right on the border between Germany and the Netherlands.
For centuries, people there skated on the frozen canals in winter. You could have easily glided through half the Netherlands from there. Right to your doorstep, Thijs and Steve. All the residents there are excellent skaters.

It's been years since they last took out their skates. Skating there was just as characteristic as the landscape. Everything is changing.

I don't know when you were in Heidelberg for the last time, Thijs. In the meantime, palm trees, kiwi trees and meter-high bamboo grow in the front yards. That was unthinkable in my childhood, although Heidelberg was and is one of the warmest places in Germany.

Heidelberg was quite a few years ago. This year we were supposed to drive through Germany to Italy, but that did not happen. We are thinking about making a tour through Germany next year when the Corona has disappeared.
As a child I lived near a canal where we were skating. 

Every year in the Netherlands we hope that the Elfstedentocht   will continue. (A skating competition / skating tour through eleven cities, which is only possible in a severe winter).

The top photo looks cozy @Former_Poster  I don't know where it is, but I can imagine the snow is being missed here.

 

[Tim photo-video]

We used to often have a winter month of -40 Celsius, but recent winters are very mild. Although I like what's warmer, it's often dusk, which was rare before. I call these winters Moscow winters. There is also little snow, but we have had it for a long time and the last one may fall in the month of May. And it should be noted that I have the south of Siberia, agriculture is very developed here and a lot of grain is grown))

Since in many countries there is now a lockdown, it is not worth waiting for good sales in January, and business is not sure what will happen in the spring, it will be careful with advertising companies. So my forecast is rather negative.

[HodagMedia]

On 12/13/2020 at 1:40 PM, Former_Poster said:

Ive got 3 images that have been on page 1 (out of thousands) for literally years.

They sell consistently every week, are my highest earners and always have done.  Im not aware of them ever being switched off.

 

  

17 minutes ago, Former_Poster said:

Id say the better people are doing the MORE they lose.

SS has a huge incentive now to modify search and advertising to keep as many people as possible on as low a level as possible.

They wont have to pay out for those pesky people who have earned >$10,000 in a decade when they make less per sale of their media than someone elses under the old system.  The higher ranked a contributor was, the less money SS made from them.

Make up your mind please?

 

[Former_Poster]

57 minutes ago, HodagMedia said:

  

Make up your mind please?

 

Both statements reconcile with each other.

A simple statement that after the rest theres much more of a financial incentive to do so than now.

That isnt saying they have done it or will done it, purely theres more reason to think about it from next month.

[Milleflore Images]

On 12/16/2020 at 1:35 AM, Wilm Ihlenfeld said:

It will be very difficult to determine the impact of the lockdown on downloads, Marcel. December has been the worst month for me for years. Around Christmas time and the turn of the year, many companies and agencies are closed. That has always had an impact on downloads and revenue - at least in the second half of December.

I started off ok but things quickly petered off here for me this month.

I am down 300 DLs and over $400 on SS last year.  However, my total sales across all agencies have hit $2,000 USD with 10 days to go, and even iS is 25% up. SS used to bring in 40% to 50% of my sales, so it looks like the problem is here on SS - for me at least. ☹️

Hope your December comes in well, Wilm. We have ten days to go. But as you said, historically the lowest sales days of the year. (Unless, of course, we get some Christmas miracles. 😉)

[Steven Tritton]

A surprising video sale each on Friday and Monday (today) have helped to boost my earnings for this month - for my standards anyway. 😛 December 2019 was a terrible month and that's taking into account just being 9 months into stock. Up 453% December 2019 vs December 2020.

[Wilm Ihlenfeld]

1 hour ago, Milleflore Images said:

I started off ok but things quickly petered off here for me this month.

I am down 300 DLs and over $400 on SS last year.  However, my total sales across all agencies have hit $2,000 USD with 10 days to go, and even iS is 25% up. SS used to bring in 40% to 50% of my sales, so it looks like the problem is here on SS - for me at least. ☹️

Hope your December comes in well, Wilm. We have ten days to go. But as you said, historically the lowest sales days of the year. (Unless, of course, we get some Christmas miracles. 😉)

Hello Annie,

December is unfortunately extremely disappointing for me. And I can't keep up with your impressive numbers anyway.

I have not even reached half of your downloads on shutterstock.

At AS I have exactly the same download volume as in the same period last year, but with 32% less revenue. Compared to SS, I still have 70% more revenue at AS. I can't even imagine how big the difference would be if I had already been downgraded to level 1. 

As it looks right now, it could be my worst month ever at shutterstock. We'll know more in 10 days.

I wish you and everyone else here a Merry Christmas! And stay healthy everyone!!!

Many greetings to Down Under!