We do care about our members at Newsflare - both new ones and those who've been with us for a very long time. Receiving their good feedback and hearing stories of success brightens up our day here in the office and makes us feel great!
Today, we decided to share some Newsflare stories of success with everyone and motivate those who still have doubts of uploading their content.
Enjoy!
Jacob Strickling - jacobmakesciencefun
Jacob works as a Science Teacher and earns his 'pocket money' with Newsflare, by producing technology videos 'aimed to excite, engage and educate'. So far, he's earned around 15,000 GBP and his videos keep on selling independently from the time they were shot! When we asked him about the reasons for deciding to join Newsflare, he said:
'Newsflare contacted me when they saw a YouTube video of me 'talking' to whales with a special machine I had made. I had nothing to lose so I uploaded it to Newsflare. When my video made the first sale - it felt awesome! 'Congratulations, you've sold a video' is a fantastic email to get! I didn't expect the video to be sold multiple times and I didn't realise I was also going to earn royalties as well!
Moreover, one of Newsflare clients noticed Jacob's video and invited him to do several Science segments on the TV show! Lately, 'this was seen by a book publisher, so I've now also written and published two Science books for children. None of that would have happened without Newsflare. Without the encouragement of selling videos through Newsflare, I probably would have given up making regular videos like I do. '
Newsflare member Urban Pictures UK has been working with us for the past 4 years, covering 'events, protests, demos, current affairs'. For obvious reasons, member's identity has to be kept anonymous. He says:
' I actually work in the media, in post-production, providing Audio Description (a voiceover narrative for the blind) to TV programmes on the BBC. Shooting footage for Newsflare is now a part-time job for me. I would love to make it a full-time role but I haven't yet made that leap into the freelance world entirely! '
A reporter found Newflare via online search - it was the first suggestion which came up when he was looking for an online outlet to sell newsworthy videos.
' My first video sold was a footage of of a relatively dull fracking demonstration and it was £300 from a German television channel. I was utterly astounded because I really didn't think the video was up to scratch. The quality was poor, the audio was terrible but for someone, that didn't matter; and that encouraged me to upload more and more.'
Urban Pictures UK would like to keep the earnings info secret, however he said: '
'It's entirely changed my life. In many ways, it's the one thing that keeps me in London! Every day I am not working in my "actual job", I wake up and scour sources, looking for things that are "newsworthy" to film for Newsflare. I recently had my entire house wood-laminated!; and I'm saving for a new kitchen. It's helped me save for several holidays, including a recent trip to New York (though I did take my camera on holiday...just in case!). But I also purchase new camera equipment with anything leftover.'
Alex - XelaFootage
Alex is a full-time TV Production student at university in London, so it’s been great for him to be able to put work with Newsflare on his CV and drop in some big names that have paid for his videos.'
'I discovered Newsflare because an annual event was coming up in London which I had footage of from the year before. I was watching my footage back and thought “this isn't too bad actually”. I edited together a short package and was wondering if there was somewhere to put it that would be better than YouTube for media to find it. I found Newsflare through a Google search and they seemed perfect for my needs. Uploading to the site is actually one of the best impulse decisions I’ve ever made. Newsflare now occupies a fair bit of my free time as I’m out filming events & content around current affairs and such. I’m doing what I love - shooting video - and being paid for it regularly. I genuinely enjoy contributing to the platform, especially considering the success I’ve had with my videos. They’ve gone further than I ever imagined they would. One time I asked a friend to translate some Japanese captions that were superimposed on one of my videos!'