Hi! I am new to the forum and started on Microstock 3 months ago. I am now up to a point where  with with 80 files on Shutterstock I earn 80 dollars a month, and with 30 at Istock I earn 30 dollars a month. Before taxes etc.

I want to increase my efforts and in the next 12 months make it a sort of minimum UK wage (�1000 a month)

hi anc,

it seems that you're rpi (return per image) is over $1 a month across two agencies. i think those are extremely encouraging stats for your port. basically, if you increase your port to a thousand, maintaining the same rpi, you should be able to achieve what you want.

I know it took me probably over two years and 8+ sites to be making that kind of money on a consistent basis.   And that was when there was much less competition.  

i'm surprised you had a slow start, but it seems that it took a sharp trajectory upwards sometimes thereafter. i guess you don't have to be a rocket from the very beginning.  i hope this will eventually happen to my port.   right now it's like watching paint dry.

It didn't feel like a slow start at the time.  I was quite happy with my growth.   But then, I didn't ever expect to be making a living at this.  I don't think many people did when I started in 2005.  

oh, i meant slow compared to your later, faster growth. i wouldn't mind having your 'slow start', that's for sure.

Love to see you're portfolio, any chance of a link ??   Might be able to learn from it !  Very slow start here, but as expected

My question and discussion is - I am entering into Microstock in 2010. I have read various articles about the subject and the subject is "Can someone entering into Microstock in 2010 have much success?"

I definitely think the answer is no.  Stay out.  Nothing to be seen here.

Can it be done, yes. Will it be likely or easy? no.

I was making about 1$/image /month on IS. then they did a best match switcheroo and it took a lot more images to crawl up to making more (but much lower RPI), then they did another best match change and I was back to the same $ total but now with 10X the images I had before the first swap... This is sort of taking the high and low points of the graph, so not statistically very valid, but IS income can take a brutal hit w/o much notice.

Also SS RPI tends to drop off over time, although at least one submitter here that started recently has managed to maintain RPI for over a year while increasing their port.

I guess it mostly depends on how dependably you can submit high quality in demand images. (or video or vectors).

good luck.

Hi! I am new to the forum and started on Microstock 3 months ago. I am now up to a point where  with with 80 files on Shutterstock I earn 80 dollars a month, and with 30 at Istock I earn 30 dollars a month. Before taxes etc.

Well I earn 100-150$ per month on SS with 1044 images now, and 30$ on IS with 555 images. This means that your images must be the nec plus ultra, and that mine are crap. If you earn that amount with that quantity of images, you should continue by all means. If you put 800 instead of 80 images on SS, you will earn there 800$ per month, so hurry up! Why are you asking advice here, since (a) you can do the math and (b) most here are just, ahem, regulars.  

Could we perhaps have a link to your portfolio, par hasard, por favor, Bitte Sch�n, 请 ?  

the earnings you postes are a good start

and trying for the next 12 months seems like a great way to find out: you will then decide whether it's worth or not

in my opinion, it is!

it's not easy and it takes a lot of time and effort, but in the end it's still possible to start in microstock now; when I started in 2007 some people were already saying it was too late and since then I've heard the overwhelming question "the future of microstock?" a thousand times but we're still here after all

that said, the majority of people starting now and looking for an easy and fast way to get rich without effort are failing miserably (luckily), but  you don't seem to be in that number

There's truth in all of the answers posted here, from healthy skepticism to good natured encouragement to sjlocke's half-joking answer "No - nothing to be seen here" (I think deep down we all wish were were the last one to enter microstock and new competition will suddenly stop).

But I'll add my experience to the pool of answers.  I'm halfway through Year 2, and up until hitting a rough patch in April that is continuing (whether it's an early start to the normal Summer Slowdown or larger, more troubling signs for the market) I've had consistent growth and am earning more than your stated goal.  I'm hardly the most talented microstocker in terms of my skills, but I think my greatest asset is my awareness of the importance of marketing.  If you have a similar drive to figure out what is selling and why, and can find some underserved niches the rest of us haven't spotted (yet), you can have some great success here.  But heed everyone's advice that it will NOT be easy, and WILL be a lot of work.

He/She seems to want more information than he/she is willing to share.  Why no link to his/her IS port?  Without knowing what kind of stuff is there you can't make much of a recommendation (maybe it is all images/illustrations/vectors of oil spills or Afghanistan!)  Looks like fishing without a license to me.

fred

Quote from: PowerDroid on June 23, 2010, 03:04

There's truth in all of the answers posted here, from healthy skepticism

... everybody can push a button on a cam, illustrators' talents are scarce.

Come on!!!  

Pushing a button on a camera doesn't make anyone a photographer!   Knowledge and talent are necessary to be a good photographer and have success.

I think the point isn't "anyone can take a picture"... it's more like "many people can learn to become a good photographer" or for that matter, a good practitioner of Illustrator, 3d programs, videography, etc.  Having the technical skills is now like having a high school diploma. It only gets you in the door.  To be successful, one has to put on a business person's hat and figure out what will make him/her different from the thousands of others going after the same buyers.  Most will fail at this and wonder why.  "Hey, I'm an acclaimed photographer, my work has won awards, yadda, yadda, yadda."  The problem is, shots of puppy dogs and rainbows will only take you so far.  What about your work will help a business person sell his products or services?  Motivate his team? 

A technically perfect shot will sell less than one that is flawed yet effectively communicates a concept.

Quote from: Digital66 on June 23, 2010, 08:33

Pushing a button on a camera doesn't make anyone a photographer!   Knowledge and talent are necessary to be a good photographer and have success.

I completely agree.  Anyone can take a picture, but it takes skill to make a good picture and a combination of skill and talent to make great pictures.

But I do think that the line between people who can take good stock photos and those who just think they can is blurry.  

OTOH the line between people who can draw well and people who can't is pretty darn sharp.  There are far fewer illustrators because everybody and their cousin doesn't imagine they are good at it - unlike photography.

Just go to the thephotoforum.com and look at some of the critique threads. Some images are really so so so bad and the posters really believe that they are phenomenal artists - BECAUSE their neighbors said so!

Some members responding to the posts, call the animal by its name but will be called as rude and unprofessional for destroying somebody's self esteem (simply by being honest...). Other members do (also) think that using almost every filter in Photoshop can only enhance the quality of a photo and applaud to obvious photoshop-raped images.

It's always subjective.

However, the buyers will decide if the subjective opinion will prevail in the long run aiming for some income.

hey guys, wow i didnt check the forum for a day and a half and so many replies!

thank you for all of your replies and advice.

Yeah -  I am reluctant to show you my portfolios because I think a lot of newer people like me will want to copy my images to get the same RPI.

Perhaps in 12 months I will post links to my IS portfolio once lots of my images have gold flames and newer images which are copies of mine will not have a chance to overtake mine. As right now if someone copied my images they could overtake mine in downloads when I spent a lot of my time looking into what is not on Istock to find a niche. Does that makes sense to everyone or is that totally dickish? Some of my images for closely related keywords there are only 5 images similar to them! So I want my niches to have some time for my images to become the leaders before I show anyone my portfolio and open up the door to copycats. Not implying that any of you are - but in my first few weeks as a newbie I myself thought "duuuh why not make the same images as the top sellers" until I did it with one image and got pretty much no sales - as the ones I copied had blue flames, and which one would you rather download a blue flamed image or a brand new one?

I am not a photographer though I do 3D images and photoshop created images.

As you have been so kind in giving me advice without me showing my portfolios I will try and tell you what has worked for me so far (bearing in mind I am so new and green it is not funny and not in anyway trying to be know best on the subject) ---- I make generic images on subjects which there are not much of on istock.

For example say a graphic designer is doing a poster for a veterinarian and they need an image of a dog, if I make a generic 3D cartoon dog it is probably more likely to be downloaded than a photo of a border collie. Why? Because what if the graphic designer is in, i dont know, egypt - where they dont have border collies, or hollywood where most of their customers have Maltese dogs --- my generic dog has more chance of being downloaded more times internationally. So that is what I have found successful for me so far - creating generic images and before creating them checking how many of that type of image are on istock so i dont completely waste my time.

Now saying that I don't think that my portfolio has proved it will survive or continue yet. As i think I said before it has been consistent for 3 months which is nothing seeing some of your ports.

No vectors but I would like to in the future.

I do think my SS portfolio will drop in RPI. as already after such short time my first images I uploaded are not getting downloaded anymore! shame!

But I am confident in IS will keep going strong for me the more I add.

I am going to persist and work very hard at it. I wish I had the finances to do it full time but I don't - however with my fiance away for 2 months I do have some free time to work hard!

Thanks again for all the advice. I hope to create a portfolio as good as some of the great microstockers who have commented on this thread.

So I will keep working hard on it --- and if I fail ---well it was fun anyway, its funny to get a kick every time I log into my portfolios at my day job and see a little increase in earnings

Quote from: FD-regular on June 23, 2010, 03:31

Quote from: PowerDroid on June 23, 2010, 03:04

There's truth in all of the answers posted here, from healthy skepticism

... everybody can push a button on a cam, illustrators' talents are scarce.

Come on!!!  
Pushing a button on a camera doesn't make anyone a photographer!   Knowledge and talent are necessary to be a good photographer and have success.

I should have added a smiley. The fact is that there much less (good) illustrators than there are photographers, and that illustrations are in demand.

Yeah -  I am reluctant to show you my portfolios because I think a lot of newer people like me will want to copy my images to get the same RPI.

If you are an illustrator and if you developed your own style, it's hardly possible to get successful copiers. In photography, it's much easier to copy, depending on the setting. Apart from style and technical skill, the choice of your concepts (if they fill in a niche) could pose a vulnerability though. Although we are a community, we are also competitors, at least some. Your concern is fair enough.

I am not a photographer though I do 3D images and photoshop created images.

Well that says enough. Illustrations in general have a much higher RPI, and if you mastered a style and you found subjects that the market likes, you will certainly continue your success. It would have been totally different if you were a photographer shooting more of the same. Being a graphic designer gives you a buyer's feeling of what is needed and missing, which is more than most of us have.

I do think my SS portfolio will drop in RPI. as already after such short time my first images I uploaded are not getting downloaded anymore! shame!

You will have to live with that. You'll get a higher exposure as new contributor for a while, plus that new images get a boost. After that, they fall back on a baseline. You'll have to keep feeding the beast to keep it going. It will be compensated by iStock that only takes off after a while.

And the million and one glossy buttons, Apple-esque silos, swirly Xmas tree or whatever style is in vogue this week.

Yep, it happens. Probably not as much on IS, but on SS it seems to happen quite a bit. These images get on to the free pirate sites and it is open season. There is actually a thread now in the SS Illustrator forums about this. You are probably safer with 3D, but there's always someone out there trying to make a quick buck on someone else's work.

time to come out with a newer, harder to copy style....

Not me. Nobody would bother to copy my stuff. I'm not a home run hitter.  Just base hits.

Aww shucks.    I guess I'm just jealous of all those people that create those quadruple blue flame images at IS. But, I have a lot of fun doing my own style and the money isn't bad either.