Author Topic: May 2021 Brutally Honest Earnings Report (Read 5271 times)

Brasilnut · « **on:** May 31, 2021, 16:22 »

Welcome back to the May 2021 detailed monthly report during these increasingly strange and desperate times!

April was a real stinker at $546, surely I managed to surpass that...

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2021/05/31/may-2021-brutally-honest-earnings-report/

Alex

steheap · « **Reply #1 on:** June 02, 2021, 09:17 »

My own Brutally Boring results for May 2021. Who remembers the days when there was a race to publish the first earnings report each month in this forum and comments would go on for several pages. What a truly boring industry this has become...

More details (if you can work up the enthusiasm) on my blog.

https://backyardsilver.com/brutally-boring-stock-photo-earnings-may-2021/

Steve

pancaketom · « **Reply #2 on:** June 02, 2021, 16:56 »

The excitement is certainly over for me - unless you mean the excitement of "exciting news". I haven't bothered adding up my sales for May yet, although I guess I'll do that this afternoon - it is hard to muster much enthusiasm to see if it was a bad month or an awful month. I haven't added much in a while - partly because I've been busy - training and doing a few adventure races and supporting my partner who had knee surgery (ACL / MCL). A few years ago I'd have taken heaps of photos of that process and the PT, now I doubt it is worth my time.

If you have a big inventory and can produce images with minimal time and cost it is probably still worth it to keep at it, but it is getting harder and harder. Still, boring is ok if it means you are making enough $ with a reasonable amount of work.

Pacesetter · « **Reply #3 on:** June 05, 2021, 00:24 »

Quote from: steheap on June 02, 2021, 09:17

My own Brutally Boring results for May 2021. Who remembers the days when there was a race to publish the first earnings report each month in this forum and comments would go on for several pages. What a truly boring industry this has become...

More details (if you can work up the enthusiasm) on my blog

Steve

I note the same lack of activity on YouTube monthly earnings updates. Even just a year ago there were more channels reporting their earnings and generating interest and discussion. The same could be said of other contributor forums. Contributors have likely become dispirited, discouraged and demotivated with the ever dwindling decline in earnings despite even continuing to produce content in many cases. This is where I'm at. I actually continue to upload stills and videos and actually had an okay month in May for my standard, but the decline in sales and earnings generally has definitely taken the wind out of the sails for me.

Firn · « **Reply #4 on:** June 05, 2021, 01:01 »

I think there is another reason why some people might not be so keen on sharing their earnings anymore. People are so set on the microstock market going downhill and talking down on agencies like SS or iStock, that people who still submit to them get criticize a lot - we are blamed for "selling out or work for pennies", etc. And when someone is actually making decent money with these agencies it gets worse. It doesn't seem to fit into some people's view of the world. Just like a lot of people complain about Shutterstock's reviews being unjustified because they get "70% of their submission rejected". And when you then say that you have a rejection rate of maybe 1% or that you have 4-figures earnings, you get attacked for it. I was once called a "Shutterstock fanboy" (am a women btw) for talking about them in a positive way and also to "go fuck myself" when I pointed out that if someone gets that many images rejected, there must be something wrong with the images. Some people don't want to hear about other people doing fine on these agencies, so I rather keep my earnings to myself.

Brasilnut · « **Reply #5 on:** June 05, 2021, 03:58 »

Quote from: Firn on June 05, 2021, 01:01

I think there is another reason why some people might not be so keen on sharing their earnings anymore. People are so set on the microstock market going to downhill and talking down on agencies like SS or iStock, that people who still submit to them get criticize a lot - we are blamed for "selling out or work for pennies", etc. And when someone is actually making decent money with these agencies it gets worse. It doesn't seem to fit into some people's view of the world. Just like a lot of people complain about Shutterstock's reviews being unjustified because they get "70% of their submission rejected". And when you then say that you have a rejection rate of less maybe 1% or that you have 4-figures earnings, you get attacked for it. I was once called a "Shutterstock fanboy" (am a women btw) for talking about them in a positive way and also to "go fuck myself" when I pointed out that if someone gets that many images rejected, there must be something wrong with the images. Some people don't want to hear about other people doing fine on these agencies, so I rather keep my earnings to myself.

Interesting point and I do agree with you. Most people are overwhelmingly supportive but once in a while I do get some negative comments / emails.

By no means am I doing "well at Microstock". I've been at this game for 8 years of which 4 have been strongly devoted and to report incomes of $600-$800/month on average with the number of assets it's disappointing. That's why I'm investing so heavily on book covers as I don't see much future in micros.

Steve, as seen above is an inspiration to maintain consistent income over the years.

Covid has no doubt taken a hit on my earnings and May saw a small recovery...not celebrating too early but with things opening up and people being able to travel, albeit with restrictions, hopefully I'll see a return to pre-Covid earnings of around $1k a month. Even at that I'm still not doing "fine". I'll only consider it a "fine earning" at above $2k and I'm still a long ways.

steheap · « **Reply #6 on:** June 05, 2021, 16:20 »

I'm actually taking a detour into "Fine Art" and actively trying to boost my print sales on FAA in particular. I've written a couple of posts about what I am doing and learning, and I get more satisfaction when someone buys one of my prints than I do from a hundred downloads on Shutterstock!

Here is the first of those posts:
https://backyardsilver.com/using-social-media-to-boost-wall-art-sales-on-faa/

Steve

wds · « **Reply #7 on:** June 06, 2021, 12:06 »

Quote from: steheap on June 05, 2021, 16:20

I'm actually taking a detour into "Fine Art" and actively trying to boost my print sales on FAA in particular. I've written a couple of posts about what I am doing and learning, and I get more satisfaction when someone buys one of my prints than I do from a hundred downloads on Shutterstock!

Here is the first of those posts:
https://backyardsilver.com/using-social-media-to-boost-wall-art-sales-on-faa/

Steve

I looked in the FAA discussions and don't see where they annotate the artists average sales per month...where exactly do they post this info?
Thanks.