Hello everybody!
First of all I take the opportunity to introduce myself.
I'm Diego from Argentina, Buenos Aires.

I've been following this forum for a while now. It has been super useful  from resources to personal opinions about the business. It really gives me an idea of what to expect.
I understand that this will not be my main source of income but I'm crazy about photography and enjoy selling my photos.

I'm really a newbie with only 200pics portfolio and the first main issue I'm having is that in SS the sales are going great and as I expected with good growth when uploading but this agency on it's own is not enough. I read several times that it should represent more or less 50% of my income and the other 50% the combinations of other agencies.

Right now I'm uploading to this agencies and this are the results for June 2014:

- Shutterstock $44 (Usually $35-40)
- Dreamstime $3.5
- Istock $12
- Fotolia (First uploads then stopped) $0
- Canstock $0
- Bigstock $2.25
- 123RF $4.37

As you can see:
Total $66.12
SS 66.54%
Other Agencies 33.45%

I'm doing something wrong?
Should I take other approach to other agencies?
In order to keep growing my income which is the minimum percent I should increase my portfolio per month?

Any suggestions are more than welcome.
Thanks in advance!!



 

There really are no hard and fast rules, but the best thing you can do for your earnings is grow your portfolio - worry about which agency sells the best after you're over 500 or 600 images.

As far as percentages, that obviously varies, but there's always a risk if one agency is a huge percentage of your total - one change in the default search results there and your sales can suffer badly.

Another thing to consider is that the summer (northern hemisphere) is a slow time every year, so it's hard to draw many conclusions from slow-ish sales.

At many of the agencies, you get paid more after you earn more (SS is total $$, DT does it by the image as it moves up to higher levels, 123rf is a rolling 12-month calculation of your previous sales totals) so those agencies start to do much better over time, something you probably won't notice just yet.

Grow your portfolio as you much as you can - more images will likely earn you more than fewer But what you upload as well as how much will make a big difference - the libraries are too mature now for you upload just anything and see big returns.

Good luck!

Thank you very much for the tips! I understand it's not a perfect science.
Yes I should probably focus on growing my portfolio.
How do see my earnings according to the portfolio size?
Should I wait summer to end to keep uploading?

Buenos d�as, dc2013! Let me start by saying I've been to Argentina. What a gorgeous canvas you have for your camera!

I agree totally with those that have contributed to your topic. It took me a number of years to realize that my portfolio very much adapts well to specific agencies.

Like you, SS is on the top but unlike many contributors, DP is a not-too-distant second when it comes to total sales per month. And as well, DP often sells images that have never seen the light of day with other agencies. For me, DT is a floater. No sales for a week and then suddenly a cluster within a few days. 123RF is dead in the water. But I don't blame the agency. It again comes down to an agency's principle pool of buyers and what they're after. I've just started with IStock and hope that my body of work bodes well with the agency.

Thank you ALL very much for your advice!!
It's seems that the first step it's to step up my portfolio size and then worry about income and different agencies. 

My small portfolio is basically of different trips I've done with my girlfriend. I tried a couple of objects but didn't sell well.
Any tips to find a nich o different subjects to produce from home? I've started a home studio based on another project to make product photography at the same time so I've got some tools.