Is that why my feet hurt? I thought it was just old age. I won't tell you about the other places that hurt when I sit at the desk.

All I can see is that I need to get off my butt and get above the $500 level, in which case that's a 32% raise. Can't complain about that!

__________________

Could be SS are in trouble - I said it on their forum the other day that one reason why people have noticed sales dropping is maybe their subscription model isn't working as it use too - as a buyer myself I like to buy the image I want, when I want it. When subscription was cheap I did use it but not anymore.

SS make most of their money (I assume) from the underachievers so its no surprise they didn't get a pay rise.

I believe you're right. Another sign SS might not be doing very well is that Jon did not post anything for a while. He used to proudly announce that SS was getting record revenue month after month after month... last time was at least 6 months ago.

Wouldn't it be nice if they used the extra money from the 50% increase to finally improve their search engine? Too many images of popular subjects disappear into oblivion. They haven't made any search improvements in two years.

And it would sure be nice if they improved our private portfolio search so we can find out images more easily without having to wade through 100 pages to see how a new image is selling. Sean Nel has been asking for this feature ever since I started in 2005!

__________________
Photography by Karin Lau | SmugMug Pro Account | Shutterstock | Mostphotos | StockXPert | Dreamstime | iStock | 123RF | BigStock

You both make good points. Yuri made some excellent points in the SS forum about being bold and moving forward - I agree, something needs shaking up! MS has become a serious business these days, I hardly need to go to the likes of Getty and Corbis to get what I'm looking for and that's all there used to be once upon a time!

Hey Karin, hope all is well - shame about LO eh - did your foot heal okay?

Hey Steve! Long time no see! My ankle is much better, although it's still broken just a little bit and has some residual stiffness...but I'm out of the cast and walking about two miles a day now. Woo!!!

__________________
Photography by Karin Lau | SmugMug Pro Account | Shutterstock | Mostphotos | StockXPert | Dreamstime | iStock | 123RF | BigStock

Yuri's "paralyzed by success" theory is spot on.

Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic - 2008 Raise Details...

Doesn't surprise me, if the current downward sales trend continues, that he is thinking about leaving SS. I've been thinking the same thing, and probably would have left by now, if my overall income from other sites was about 30-40% higher. SS has become a source of never-ending frustration for me. I don't give a hoot if they are my highest earner...by now, I should be making about twice of what I am.

Sure hope they introduce a rockin' search engine!

__________________
Photography by Karin Lau | SmugMug Pro Account | Shutterstock | Mostphotos | StockXPert | Dreamstime | iStock | 123RF | BigStock

It is strange that SS hasn't tried more ways to sell our images. They should try pay per download from the main site. The other site they had was hard to find and closed down. I would like to see them find ways to bring some of the old photos that are now lost in the search back to life. The lucky oliver sideshow should make a comeback That would surely increase earnings for them and us.

There are lots of simple ideas they could implement to boost sales. Perhaps up to now they have thought if it ain't broke don't fix it. Now is the time to do something.

__________________
istock-Shutterstock-Bigstock-Mostphotos-Dreamstime-Stockxpert

I doubt we'll see a day where there's an action like that to back up the talk.

I'm pretty happy with the 6 cent raise, although it would have been nice if it was more. I figured it would be at least 5 cents, a penny more means $1 more per month for every 1000 downloads. ha! I really like Shutterstock, I hope they continue to do well.

__________________
s e l l p h o t o s . t k

Top Sellers ? Shutterstock ? Fotolia ? Dreamstime ? BigStock ? StockXpert ? FeaturePics ? MostPhotos ?