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tntdesigns
Joined: 02 Mar 2012
Posts: 42
Location: South Africa
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 12:59 am
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Hi all
I'm hoping for some advice.
Is SS the best place to sell vector illustrations? It seems to me it is more focused on photography, and I wonder whether there are other specialised microstock sites that will get more hits on vectors?
I'm not keen on the purely "clipart" sites, which seem to have a vast number of very poor quality "cartoon" style images, and not so many high quality graphics.
So far I've earned $15 in one month (from 100 images) - I'm not sure if this is good or not? Better than 3 measly downloads on Fotolia!
I am adding more diversity so hopefully sales will increase.
Any advice on improving sales would be appreciated. |
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baz777
Joined: 03 Dec 2008
Posts: 3433
Location: No idea, I'm old!
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 1:16 am
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99.9% of my port are vectors here, I earn more here in a month than the other sites combined.
Certainly having a diverse port helps to reach more buyers.
Barry |
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theohrm
Joined: 16 Aug 2009
Posts: 455
Location: Ireland
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 2:34 am
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I'd say $15 from 100 images is probably about right for your port. That's how much you earn in Microstock. |
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cyborgwitch
Joined: 19 Dec 2010
Posts: 461
Location: Netherlands
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 3:05 am
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I think there is no "right" amount of earnings, it differs widely and some people make a lot more than others. |
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subarashii21
Joined: 12 May 2011
Posts: 436
Location: Czech Republic
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 5:04 am
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| tntdesigns wrote: |
So far I've earned $15 in one month (from 100 images) - I'm not sure if this is good or not?
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I think it is a good result considering the time you joined SS. All your images are new and new content doesnt sell as well as one year ago. There have been various bugs affecting availability of new images in search for a few months now and even some of the best artists here complained about low sales on new stuff. Dont let yourself be discouraged by comparing your earnings with others who have been in this business for a longer time.
Your portfolio contains mostly images of people in various situations, drawn in unique style. Keep the style, its interesting but you need to diversify the topics more - maybe try some objects, icons, abstracts, kids stuff, animals, patterns.
Also think how you could attract new customers from new locations - there are markets with potential, not only USA but for example the big Asian countries - India or China, then Southern America, Australia.. We just need to come with topics close to their culture :) Im thinking about it myself, as I would like to increase my sales too.
Keep on going and add more images, gradually you will gain regular customers who will be returning to your port in future. |
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tntdesigns
Joined: 02 Mar 2012
Posts: 42
Location: South Africa
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 5:36 am
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Thanks for the reply - I appreciate the encouragement!
I've recently reworked my people images to have neutral skin tones, as I realise my audience are not only wanting African or African-American people. Still waiting for a bunch to be approved.
I'm slowly working through our collection of 1000 images (http://www.tntdesigns.co.za/clipart) trying to figure out which ones will appeal to today's market. If you have the time, would you give me your input on which sections or themes you think will work? As you will see, our collection originated in the 90's - we were pioneers in the Clipart market with our eclectic African characters. Now the market is so flooded!
I'm also developing some updated versions of certain sections of the collection.
Thanks again for your thoughtful response... |
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subarashii21
Joined: 12 May 2011
Posts: 436
Location: Czech Republic
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 7:44 am
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Ive looked at your website and I must say its great! If you have copyright to all these images, submit them right away.
I especially liked the "Ecoclips", "Signmen" and "Internet" collections, I think these will work - they are funny and original. But others are great too, submit all you can.
You can make collections of the simple ones, like put four illustrations to one image because customers like to buy collections - but many of your images are worthy to be submitted individually.
Overall, its really nice simple style and some great ideas there :) Im sure you will see increase in sales once you get them approved. |
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theohrm
Joined: 16 Aug 2009
Posts: 455
Location: Ireland
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 7:48 am
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| cyborgwitch wrote: | | I think there is no "right" amount of earnings, it differs widely and some people make a lot more than others. |
Absolutely. I should clarify that I meant "right" as in: there's no travesty of justice going on here (as there is with at least one person's port that I know of). I am, naturally, giving this opinion from the position of my own sales figures. Maybe I just don't sell much. 0_o
It's also worth remembering that some things are just out of our control. I remember a few weeks ago on the top 50 were THREE different "blue sky with clouds" images from the same contributor. There are bajillions of those pictures on the database, but for some reason these three all managed to sell enough to make the top 50. Who knows why?
So, keep uploading. Make stuff which is useful to buyers and as commercial as possible. Upload to as many sites as you have patience to.
I don't think it's worth going through your whole port and giving the people white skin - buyers can do that themselves and some of them don't work IMO (a white skinned person in African dress, for instance? Or with African features?) Some of them - yes, but some of them no. Look at which would be useful to buyers.
Also, some of us have Zazzle stores (they do Print on Demand products like T-shirts, bags, phone cases etc You upload your design and people can buy it from your online store). I think your stuff might go well over there. You have a particular style which appeals to a specific market and which (I think) would look really good. Check it out. |
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tntdesigns
Joined: 02 Mar 2012
Posts: 42
Location: South Africa
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:05 am
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| subarashii21 wrote: | Ive looked at your website and I must say its great! If you have copyright to all these images, submit them right away.
I especially liked the "Ecoclips", "Signmen" and "Internet" collections, I think these will work - they are funny and original. But others are great too, submit all you can.
You can make collections of the simple ones, like put four illustrations to one image because customers like to buy collections - but many of your images are worthy to be submitted individually.
Overall, its really nice simple style and some great ideas there :) Im sure you will see increase in sales once you get them approved. |
Great, thanks for taking the time. It's good to hear you're confirming the direction I was heading - I'm about to upload new bunch of signmen which are more slick. I was preparing them in sets of 4 too!
So I'm on the right track - thanks again for the support. |
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tntdesigns
Joined: 02 Mar 2012
Posts: 42
Location: South Africa
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:10 am
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| theohrm wrote: |
So, keep uploading. Make stuff which is useful to buyers and as commercial as possible. Upload to as many sites as you have patience to.
I don't think it's worth going through your whole port and giving the people white skin - buyers can do that themselves and some of them don't work IMO (a white skinned person in African dress, for instance? Or with African features?) Some of them - yes, but some of them no. Look at which would be useful to buyers.
Also, some of us have Zazzle stores (they do Print on Demand products like T-shirts, bags, phone cases etc You upload your design and people can buy it from your online store). I think your stuff might go well over there. You have a particular style which appeals to a specific market and which (I think) would look really good. Check it out. |
Good advice, thank you. I've done all my pale folks already, so we'll just have to see how they do. Think of them as universal people in funky clothes!
I will check out the Zazzle thing. A lot of our images got made into products like T-shirts over the years since they initially sold to Corel in the early 90's. |
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vreddane
Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 72
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 2:04 pm
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I see your up to 500 images already, thats really good. I hope sales reflect the hard work you are putting in. I have 43 images and I have been working none stop to even get that many (i don't think i am very fast, haha) I noticed you added some more diversity as well. Good luck and keep it up. |
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figalip
Joined: 29 Apr 2010
Posts: 45
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 6:41 am
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What do you think sells better photo or vectors?
Last edited by figalip on Mon May 21, 2012 10:04 am; edited 1 time in total |
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darla
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Posts: 889
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 9:27 am
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Vector or photo is not so important as subject matter. Different sites cater to different parts of the market, and the topic will affect sales more than the format. |
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aquafish
Joined: 10 Oct 2007
Posts: 82
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 5:56 am
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Not bad for vector sales here but it's getting tougher - nearly 20 million images on here now - maybe 10-20% of those are vector images. My advice - Diversity, quantity, quality. Look for keywords with not many results and good luck! |
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suwanneeredhead
Joined: 28 Jul 2005
Posts: 1148
Location: Dante's Peak
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 7:55 pm
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| figalip wrote: | | What do you think sells better photo or vectors? |
For me, my vector illustrations (and their matching rasters) sell many, many times more often than my photographs (I have more photographs than illustrations online). It's a big difference with me. |
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