I calculated the earnings per image per month from each of the main sites last year, and tracked it by quarter. Not a lot of work if you already have the data, but this is the table that summarizes the results.


I've no idea if these are good, bad or indifferent - they simply are stats from my own images on the stock sites I submit to.

The full discussion is here: http://www.backyardsilver.com/2011/12/earnings-per-image-what-can-you-make-from-each-photo/

Steve

this is a common mistake - you cant simply add up averages with different denominators [portfolio size in  this case] to get a 'total' RPI - instead you have to add the total income from all sites and divide by the total # of images in your portfolio.    this will of course still give distortions, since your entire portfolio wont be represented on any 1 site.

it just exposes how little use stats lie RPI and even more so, RPD - they don't really give any indication of what is probably more important -- actual income.    every portfolio is unique, so a $2 RPI may be fine on a small portfolio, but it will make less money than a $.02 RPI on a huge portfolio.

Quote from: Mantis on April 22, 2012, 15:02

Quote from: Microbius on April 22, 2012, 03:26

Quote from: stockmarketer on April 20, 2012, 11:59

Quote from: Ed on April 20, 2012, 11:53

LOL...and this is why people get confused when others talk about $2.30 RPI in their portfolio (and why I never believe them) 

My RPI (for month of March) was $3.92.   Daily hovers around $.12.  No tricks.

That is really impressive, as you know I calculate the same way as you and hover around the 3.50 mark

It is really the right way to assess a business (rpi) if you treat it like a business. A real company is not going to want to invest in production costs if there is no return.  RPI really must be a key measure of business success.  Why? What if you plot RPI over time and you are on a downward trend? Now there's a lot that can cause that but wouldn't you want to know?

again, it's irrelevant - if i contribute 4000 images to 3 new sites that don't sell, my RPI will nosedive, but as long as my income from major sites increases, i'm fine.  as others have said, the COST of producing or submitting images is just as important

Did I not say production costs in my statement? I agree with you that you have to consider cost relative to success and RPI is but ONE measure of success, not the only measure of success.

Quote from: stockmarketer on April 25, 2012, 03:38

To everyone who says, "All I care about is my total earnings... if it's growing, then I'm doing the right thing"... I think this is like having your head in the sand.  Your growth could simply be coming from older pics selling better and better but your new stuff is DOA.  If you're afraid what real-time RPI will tell you, ignore it at your own peril.  

I honestly don't understand this.  I do a visual check of what sells every day, and I can tell from that what sells and what doesn't.  I use that visual reference to tell me which subjects have a good market, which subjects don't and which subjects might be failing because I didn't think the pictures through well enough.   I watch both my port and the market and consider carefully on past performance what to shoot and how to make every shot count.  I just don't think I need to calculate RPI to tell me what I can see by straightforward observation.

Mind you, I've always thought number-obsession was more a 'boy thing'.    <duck>

ETA:  I'm not afraid of what my RPI will tell me.  Far from it.  I've just 'been there, done that' and didn't find that it had any advantage over what my eyes tell me from looking at the agency information.  I prefer to do it this way because it doesn't break my creative flow so much - it keeps my mind in a more fluid state.  

Each to his own.

Yes I do exactly the same as you and I also sell thousands rather than 100s a month.   I keep an eye on how my new images are selling and monthly totals.  Like you said must be a boy thing this obsession with numbers