I had been looking for an image yesterday – something I was going to put on Zazzle – when I stumbled across this image of mine on G+. I had posted it about a month ago and gotten perhaps 5 comments. Yes, it was only a month ago (or so) that I posted this image under the heading of This and That where I rambled on about the whole digital download thing I was doing at the time.
Original Posting of this image
So yesterday, as I say, I was looking for something else and came across this shot and then looked at it in Lightroom because it was striking and decided that I hadn’t posted any images lately on G+ without stories about the business stuff I was involved in and gave it the full writing plus post treatment (gave some idea of what I saw in the image).
This morning I woke up to see that G+ notifier was at +99. I figured that was a mistake. Nope.
The post had gotten the most reaction of any post that I ever did on G+.
Here’s the link to the post from yesterday. +500, 83 shares, and 128 comments (as of this writing).
The reason I was even looking at G+ in the first place was that it seems that I’m being circled at an incredible rate. I wrote down in my old fashioned diary / journal (yes on paper) what the number was at this time yesterday, and then wrote down what the being circled number was this morning and sure enough there was a 12,000 person difference. In other words, I’m currently adding about 12K people a day.
The first thought that comes to mind is if that’s the sort of thing that I’m doing – I can only imagine what some of the celebrity G plussers are doing.
And the next thought was – that’s like a pretty big town already. I’m adding a large-sized town each day.
And the third thought was (and this is sounding like a Sunday sermon) – isn’t that amazing how that first post slipped through the cracks and this one got so much attention. I wonder why. I figure that somewhere, somehow I got some write-up – or something was posted. But I don’t have any idea where.
And then I thought – time to make some coffee and get going – and make sure to incude this image in one of the download packages. Full circle.
I am blown away by the enormity of your popularity on Google+. I have been trying for years to break through on YouTube, but the most hits I’ve come up with so far is a little over 6,000 for a video I put together to “Spooky Mormon Hell Dreams” from the Broadway play “The Book of Mormon.” I’m very popular among my wife’s family for videos I make for them and I’m a star among old friends from the housing project I grew up in for putting music to 8mm film my father took in the 50s, but you have more new followers in one day than I have had in two years of on my blog! With this amount of internet power you should be controlling world affairs by now.
Dave,
I think in part the popularity is because it’s a straight up, color, “beautiful” picture. People connect with obvious, beautiful, more or less conventional pictures. Perhaps it hit at just the right time on G+ putting it over the top in the statistics realm.
If you think about it, you have had great success with some of you more conventional work – Poet’s Walk as an example. I would counsel you to expand your catalog in that direction. I know it doesn’t tickle your creative bone like the street shooting but let’s face it, you have been in a challenging financial situation. You live in great city that has almost endless possibilities for great “beauty shots”, why not take advantage of it?
On your download strategy, I’m conflicted. On the one hand I admire your ability to try new strategies, on the other I cringe a bit when I see you selling high resolution files for just a few dollars into the “wild west” of the internet. I wonder about misuse and the impact on your print sales. You’re running a interesting experiment for us fellow photographers to share along with.
This experiment had me thinking how a photographer might approach downloads while controlling the possible downsides. It would be a very limited catalog selection to control the effect on print sales. Images would be downloaded securely with an exclusive one time download link. An attorney drafted statement at download, which requires buyer to agree not to redistribute, resell image, etc. All images would be copyrighted, electronically watermarked, limited in resolution (somewhere between 8X10 to 13X19) and created in such a way that picture title and signature would be printed in the border. If you think about it, even stock images that sell for a dollar or less have many of these features to guard against misuse.
Glad you decided to restart the blog, missed your input here. Google+ is different animal altogether.
Ty, I really do miss the intelligent and thoughtful and humorous responses (you are 2 for 3 in that enumeration) that the personal blog gives.
I am sure that I was mesmerized by the incredible numbers I was getting on G+ and believed that somehow they could be translated into money. In my dreams I said: 1 million users. 1 percent of that is … Things like that.
But I was tricked by those glittering numbers.
Your ideas are good except for the reality of what people will buy files for. Put this information into your thoughts. When the files are offered for $14.95 I am lucky to have one sale per week!
When they are offered for $4.95 I have had roughly 400 downloads on the first day, and then trickles after that.
Now the agreement idea is a good one, though technically just thinking about it for the first time I’m not sure how to do that. I suppose there would have to be an extra page before the download that must be clicked?
It’s always hard to know if the downloads effect print sales. I am going to do a sale on the prints when this download sale is over on Saturday. Since I always get a good reaction, this will tell me if the downloads are hurting sales.
I have had a few decent sized print sales while the download sale goes on; and I wonder whether the word sale, no matter what it’s for actually helps print sales.
As far as people using the files to make money with. Frankly, I’ve given up on that. You can do excellent things even with web sized images. And I recently read a post where – I forget who it was now – had created a program to make good high end prints from web images.
I think, like in the music world, that is simply a lost battle. If you find that a company with deep pockets has stolen your work then you are in the money. But companies with deep pockets generally (to the best of my knowledge) call and ask permission and how much do I want for the license etc.
It’s the small time thieves that steal your work. And how would I know. I expect that my prints are already being sold on the streets of (you name the country). I see it as part of the cost of doing business in the digital age.
I believe it’s a great photo and that’s where all the buzz comes from. Sometimes we connect with some photos more than others. Who knows why…