November 2010 Microstock Earnings Thread

[-m-o-l-k-a-]

i dont think its the same molka

Thank you for noticing that . I really am a different person than the one who has been writing here... that is one reason why I signed in. I have had this name in micros for 4 years, so it was very odd to see someone writing here with the same name... just wanted to make clear that there are two different molkas...

[Jonathan Ross]

Hi luissantos84,

 I made $1254.77 at Istock last month with 1400 images as a non-excusive, it was not a BME for me but it was close. I also like to hear numbers because percentages only shows us what the changes are from company to company not what we are actually earning. For me real numbers help me to establish what work would sell best where as well as many other things. I know a lot of people here don't like it but I am happy to share.

Best,
Jonathan

[lisafx]

I apologize Molka.  I can see from your links that you are not this other person.  It is not a very common screen name, so forgive my confusion.  FWIW, the other Molka is a well known troll around here.  I am sorry to have been unwelcoming to you, thinking you were him.

Welcome aboard! 

[-m-o-l-k-a-]

I apologize Molka.  I can see from your links that you are not this other person.  It is not a very common screen name, so forgive my confusion.  FWIW, the other Molka is a well known troll around here.  I am sorry to have been unwelcoming to you, thinking you were him.

Welcome aboard! 

No problem... I was prepared for some kind of confusion .

[leaf]

I apologize Molka.  I can see from your links that you are not this other person.  It is not a very common screen name, so forgive my confusion.  FWIW, the other Molka is a well known troll around here.  I am sorry to have been unwelcoming to you, thinking you were him.

Welcome aboard! 

No problem... I was prepared for some kind of confusion .

welcome here m-o-l-k-a-, glad you decided to come out of the woodwork

[aeonf]

Hi luissantos84,

 I made $1254.77 at Istock last month with 1400 images as a non-excusive, it was not a BME for me but it was close. I also like to hear numbers because percentages only shows us what the changes are from company to company not what we are actually earning. For me real numbers help me to establish what work would sell best where as well as many other things. I know a lot of people here don't like it but I am happy to share.

Best,
Jonathan

Glad to see some others are posting real numbers (As oppsoed to worthless %%).  1250$ for a port of 1400 sounds like a very good ratio to me.
I will keep on posting our numbers. December started pretty lousy though.
how much do you make over-all if I may ask

[luissantos84]

Hi luissantos84,

 I made $1254.77 at Istock last month with 1400 images as a non-excusive, it was not a BME for me but it was close. I also like to hear numbers because percentages only shows us what the changes are from company to company not what we are actually earning. For me real numbers help me to establish what work would sell best where as well as many other things. I know a lot of people here don't like it but I am happy to share.

Best,
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan, I am also a sharing guy (since I have started almost, you can have a look at my blog)

[Jonathan Ross]

Hi luissantos84,

 I make almost the same from every site each month give or take a couple hundred. Istock keeps growing because I can only upload so many images a week. The other sites have more of my images but make about the same as my Istock, but Istock has my best RPI and should pass the others here soon as my monthly leader. This month SS was $1316 which was a bad month, I usually always see $1500+ consistantly. My Dreamtime was also down from $1500 to $1300 ( i am not clear how to get an exact monthly amount out of their site maybe someone could point it out to me, all I get is the graph and it has me somewhere between 1300-1400 so I am not dead on for them but I have another 1000 images to add to that collection as well so hopefully more growth there. Fotolia is coming in at $ 735.24 a down month, this has been my biggest disappointment they used to make me good money like the rest but they have dropped the fastest for me. The other 7 agencies add up to about $1500 a month all together so my monthly total for November was $6105 give or take a few bucks, x 12 = $73,260 if all the months averaged out to be the same as this month. I make about $200 dollars a day. This is from images I uploaded two years ago and have not uploaded since. I hope this helps.

Best,
Jonathan

[luissantos84]

Hi luissantos84,

 I make almost the same from every site each month give or take a couple hundred. Istock keeps growing because I can only upload so many images a week. The other sites have more of my images but make about the same as my Istock, but Istock has my best RPI and should pass the others here soon as my monthly leader. This month SS was $1316 which was a bad month, I usually always see $1500+ consistantly. My Dreamtime was also down from $1500 to $1300 ( i am not clear how to get an exact monthly amount out of their site maybe someone could point it out to me, all I get is the graph and it has me somewhere between 1300-1400 so I am not dead on for them but I have another 1000 images to add to that collection as well so hopefully more growth there. Fotolia is coming in at $ 735.24 a down month, this has been my biggest disappointment they used to make me good money like the rest but they have dropped the fastest for me. The other 7 agencies add up to about $1500 a month all together so my monthly total for November was $6105 give or take a few bucks, x 12 = $73,260 if all the months averaged out to be the same as this month. I make about 17-21 dollars a day. This is from images I uploaded two years ago and have not uploaded since. I hope this helps.

Best,
Jonathan

Thanks for sharing but I want to say that I have never asked for this.. My two only comments on this topic were regarding why being exclusive at istock (talking to aefon) and another telling that in my opinion sharing stock figures is not rude, it is our business if we want to share or not

[Jonathan Ross]

Hi luissantos84,

Sorry for the mistake my post were directed at aeonf. Thanks for pointing it out.

Best,
Jonathan

[microstockphoto.co.uk]

My Dreamtime was also down from $1500 to $1300 ( i am not clear how to get an exact monthly amount out of their site maybe someone could point it out to me, all I get is the graph and it has me somewhere between 1300-1400

in http://www.dreamstime.com/stats.php there should be a table just below the graph, with earnings month by month

[Oldhand]

Many thanks Mr. Ross. Great info, and well done to you.

I hope your success continues - hard work pays off...

Rgds

Oldhand

[cathyslife]

Here are my stats:
          Nov 09    Nov 10    Change
IS       57.45%   41.64%   (-15.81%)
SS      20.65%   17.41%    (-3.24%)
DT      15.44%   27.30%   (+11.86%)
Veer     0%        7.68%     (+7.68%)
BigStock     6.46%    5.97%     (-.49%)

I am not surprised that IS's share of the pie is dropping. And it looks like, for me, DT might take up that share.
edit: also I have not uploaded anything new since about August at IS, and only uploaded a small amount of files at SS, DT and BigStock. Started uploading my port to Veer and earnings are reflected, but they do not include the Dash for Cash promo monies.

[PixelsAway]

I am showing real earnings numbers in my blog through October 2010. November was ~10% up.

Earnings from Microstock Photography � 3 Year Trends

I am going to update my graph after 1st quarter of 2011 to see how the IS situation is affecting my earnings. I am trying not to pay too much attention to the month to month fluctuations.

[Jonathan Ross]

Hi microstockphoto.co.uk,

 Thanks for sharing unfortunately it dropped my sales by 1k. I am doing terribly at Dreamstime. They are at $540. This is very disapointing when they used to bring in so much more. So drop my monthly sales to more like 5.5k+. I can see the drop off at Fotolia and Dreamstime but my IS and SS has always been stable. Hope sales pick back up there.

Best,
Jonathan

[aeonf]

Hi microstockphoto.co.uk,

 Thanks for sharing unfortunately it dropped my sales by 1k. I am doing terribly at Dreamstime. They are at $540. This is very disapointing when they used to bring in so much more. So drop my monthly sales to more like 5.5k+. I can see the drop off at Fotolia and Dreamstime but my IS and SS has always been stable. Hope sales pick back up there.

Best,
Jonathan

Your numbers are incrediable! 5.5K per month is VERY respectable. Gives us a lot of motivation to keep up the hard work. 0.58K is not enough
We should reach the silver canister + the 30% level sometime next year which will greatly help us up our income. (I hope IS dont raise the 12,500 redeemed credits goal, we will seriusly consider dropping the crown if they do!).

[microstockphoto.co.uk]

Hi microstockphoto.co.uk,

 Thanks for sharing unfortunately it dropped my sales by 1k. I am doing terribly at Dreamstime. They are at $540. This is very disapointing when they used to bring in so much more. So drop my monthly sales to more like 5.5k+. I can see the drop off at Fotolia and Dreamstime but my IS and SS has always been stable. Hope sales pick back up there.

Best,
Jonathan

Don't forget to add "Referral earnings" (if any): they are not included in the "Earnings" column.

[ceeker]

I made $358 at Istock in November (Not a BME, but close, BME was actually October - $423) which represents about 60% of my income across 5 agencies (IS,SS,DT,FT,CS,DP)

I have had fairly steady growth at IS this year, having increased my port from 250 to 580 images.
As IS represents such a large chunk of my income, I am strongly considering going exclusive next year and have already dropped BS and Veer.
I am a little concerned now however as quite  few people seem to be experiencing a drop in IS income. Just wondering if any IS exclusives are seeing this trend also?

[lisafx]

I am a little concerned now however as quite  few people seem to be experiencing a drop in IS income. Just wondering if any IS exclusives are seeing this trend also?

Here's Istock's November stats thread.  Vast majority of the posters there are exclusive.  You can draw your own conclusions:

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=278072&page=1

[KB]

I am a little concerned now however as quite  few people seem to be experiencing a drop in IS income. Just wondering if any IS exclusives are seeing this trend also?

I became exclusive around mid-year, and I did not notice a change in the downward trend of sales after becoming exclusive. I wouldn't count on exclusivity making much, if any, of a positive impact on the number of sales. But with the bump in prices for exclusive images, plus a 25% commission increase (from 20% to 25%), for someone making 60% of their income at iStock exclusivity might make sense. (It would have been a no-brainer before the announcement this Summer, but now it's difficult to recommend exclusivity to anyone.)

[ceeker]

Thanks Lisa, very enlightening, looks like a mixed bag but the majority seem to be doing OK.

KB, thanks so much for sharing your info.

my projections really only take into account the almost 100% price increase by moving to exclusive, so the 25% commision increase is a bonus, and any extra sales would be fantastic, but not really counting on that.

Thanks again guys

[KB]

Yeah, I should've added (probably more helpful) that my average RPD increased by about 150% (i.e., it's about 2.5x what it was).

[ceeker]

Thanks KB,

That makes me feel much better about my decision!

[aeonf]

Thanks KB,

That makes me feel much better about my decision!

I can guarantee you will make more money then today. you can expect at least double income from your (very impressive) port.

[KB]

If I had looked at his port first, I wouldn't have given him the info!