MicrostockGroup

Hi Guys,

I got a question for you all.   

I have got very, very small portfolios--- 24 photos with Scan stock, 11 photos with Fotolia and 16 shots with BigStock--- but surprisingly I have been getting about 1- 3 sales a month since February.

Anyway... even though I'm making sales every month, it's either been Fotolia or Big Stock or Scan Stock, but never the same agency month after month.

So here is the question... what size was your portfolio when noticed that you were making consistent sales every month with each agency?

I know Scan Stock has a reputation for being a bit erratic in terms of sales but how big does your portfolio need to be to get consistent sales every month with Fotolia or Big Stock??

Also what size was your portfolio when you noticed that your earnings were $25 or even $50 a month?

I am not expecting to get rich off this endeavor but having enough earnings that can result in a regular payout would be nice.

Cricket

Cricket, I suspect it also depends on the type of images. Imagine if you have all christmas images, you will probably do ok from June on and then everthing will dry up on the 26th of December. Whereas if you have a mix of images suitable for Valentines, Easter, Summertime, Autumn and Christmas you would probably have a smoother mix.  And categories like business probably sell ok year round.

Well, this is talking ancient history, but I noticed consistent daily sales started when I hit around 150 images in my portfolio. 

But that was over 3 years ago with a lot less competition.  Now it may be considerably more....

Good to know 150 is still a good number for steady downloads

I do have about 150 pics at DT and SS and it doesnt show regular sales. They do happen but especially DT is much "hit-and-miss", with SS it means about average 3 downloads/day. Beware that downloads at SS decrease very dramatically with time and especially when you do not upload regurarly. I do have mostly nature/travels shots so its not the exactly best microstock stuff but its not crap either. SS shows "quantum mechanics" system - one day 5 sales, another one zero. Also not easy to foretell how many will sell, some for sure but not 10-20/day.

I think it's not all that difficult to reach the 150 mark, specially when contributors upload variations on a theme where you see many images only very slightly different.

I agree, a diverse portfolio covering different subjects will ensure that you show up in as many searches as possible and thus have a  better chance of regular sales.