This lifestyle image of a couple flying a kite on a beach is a best selling image...but why?
Once again I have been studying my stock photo sales reports
trying to glean some insights on how to grow my income based on what is and
what isn’t selling. As I have reported before, my inevitable conclusion is that
everything sells, some photos sell more than others, and it is just about
impossible to predict which images will become best sellers.
Everything Sells, Predicting Winners Is Tough
When I say everything sells what I really should be saying
is that in my experience images from every shoot sell, and images in every category sell. Predicting
which images will do well is tough. Images that I don’t expect to make a lot of sales do, and
images that I expect to sell well often don’t. To further confuse the
situation, images may go for years before suddenly making a lot of sales, or
conversely, can have an explosive start and then suddenly stop. I am regularly
surprised, when I look at the sales history of individual images, at how some
images that I assume have little or no sales, are suddenly up to a thousand,
two thousand, or even more in revenue.
It happens frequently! The
image of a couple flying a kite at the top of this blog (with Blend Images) is a good example. Over
the last five years that image has earned thousands of dollars…while other
similar images from the same shoot have earned very little or nothing. I can’t
figure out why.
New Versions Of Best Selling Images
In addition to the confirmation that everything (all types
of images) sells, and that I cannot predict which ones will be the best
sellers, I have found that my attempts to create new versions of best selling
images has virtually always failed. Even if they do succeed, they are probably cannibalizing
sales from the first image. I have
also come to the conclusion that whether an image is RF or RM is not nearly as
important as the image itself. A
great selling image works in either RF or RM. Sure, in RM there are those
images that sell once for several thousand dollars and then never sell again,
and that’s fine, but a great selling image sells multiple times in whatever
licensing model it is in. In terms of total revenue earned, my top earning images are about half RF and half RM.
OK, so to summarize:
All kinds of images
sell.
I cannot predict which images will be best sellers.
Sometimes images take years to “mature”.
It is almost impossible for me to successfully duplicate my
best selling images.
The image is more important than the licensing model.
Sage Advice And Photographers Who Are Making It Work
When I look at those conclusions it helps remind me of some
sage advice given to me by Tom Grill…who practically invented stock
photography. He said “What ever your plan is…keep doing it.” My plan is to
create compelling and creative images that either have a clear use in the
marketplace, or are so fun to look at that art directors will find a way to use
them, and to get those images in front of buyers. That last part is probably
the most important part…get the images in front of buyers. Even the coolest
image in the world won’t sell if nobody sees it. Obviously you want to make
creative images with high production values and strong concepts. You want to
diversify the imagery you make so you don’t cannibalize your own body of work,
and you need to get those images out and into circulation. The photographers I
know who consistently do this are doing well.
