Available slots for upload: zero
Sales on 1 October: zero
Sales in September: lowest since January

I don't want  to sound grumpy, but something isn't working as it should here. Is it only me, or are others seeing a similar development?

What I'm also seeing, is that agencies such as DT, FT and StockXpert are closing in on IS from behind. The gap has become much, much smaller the last 4-5 months. Even BigStock, which has always been slow for me, is accelerating.

I'm seeing a more long-term development here, but I agree that it's not a disaster. Others seem to be filling the space.

My sales are improving there but I haven't had a record month since March, despite uploading the maximum most weeks.

What I don't like is that it seems when they change the best match search, it can have dramatic effects on sales.  Other sites are less volatile and I feel I can rely on the income from them.  I couldn't go exclusive with istock, as I rely on the money and would never have an idea about how much I was going to earn each month.

I couldn't say things are going bad at IS but I must admit I was hoping for more in other words I was expecting IS to be my best seller but it takes 3rd place  for me.I wonder what I am missing?

I guess I am in the same club with perrush.

Available slots for upload: 12 (those 3 were for the egg challenge:))
Sales on 1 October: 7
Sales in September: BME (133 downloads)

And all that with 247 mediocre pictures.
I have no idea why but I had 3 BMEs in a row at IS (and I don't think that I am doing anything special.

My sales are down by 25+%, but my XXL images have been selling well to make up for it.

Available slots for upload: 20
Sales on 1 October: 34
Sales in September: BME

Latex,

If I sell 69 images this MONTH it will be an excellent month for me at IS!

Regards,
Adelaide

This quite interesting. Some have had their BME in September, while others, like me, have had their AWMTY (Almost Worst Month This Year).

Let me add to this that, as opposed to most agencies, most of my sales at IS come from a very small group of photos. Maybe my portfolio simply doesn't fit the needs of IS customers very well.

Still, that wouldn't explain the sinking sales every month since April, in spite of more or less max uploads.

...
Sharply, I'm intrigued by your comment about XXL sales.  If I recall correctly you were using a 20D or something up until a few months ago, then it appears you jumped up to a 16mp thing.  Are you implying that having XXL has a positive impact on earnings?  And will the investment in the 16mp thing in effect pay for itself and more?

That's not correct - I've been shooting with a 1Ds MKII for 2+ years now. Before that I used a 1D MkII (8MP) for about 1.1/2 years, and various prosumer Canon bodies before that (D60, 10D & 20D).

It's sad to say, but I don't have very many XXL images on IS. I got into a bad habit of downsizing everything to "L" size in order to quickly build my portfolio, and have only recently realized what a mistake this was. I now use "XXL" or "XL" for my images if possible.

Does it pay to have XXL images? A breakdown of 20 XXL images shows the following: 780 total DLs, 24 XXL DLs, and 37 XL DLs. Assuming that each XXL & XL DL would have been an L DL, this means I earned an $80, or about 15% by supplying an XXL image instead of an L image. Extrapolating to my current IS sales rate of $10k/year shows that I could earn an extra $1500 by uploading only XXL images. Given the additional cost of the camera over a Canon 5D ($7000 v $2500), and assuming that my income from IS will be $20k next year, the camera will have paid itself off in those two years from the additional IS income alone. So I'd have to say yes, shooting with a 17MP camera is worth it.

Perhaps the best reason to have a 17MP camera is that messy images can be downsized to IS L size. I rarely shoot in my studio anymore, and being able to heavily downsize dramatically increases the conditions in which I can shoot and still produce commercial quality images at fairly high resolution. Shooting with a pro-grade camera also eliminates problems experienced with "lesser" cameras (poor focus, slow focus, incorrect white balance, poor battery life, ...).

My experience is that it's a lot harder to get XXL images accepted than even XL ones. My theory is that because so few people use such a high resolution camera, most reviewers aren't accustomed to seeing images in such detail and reject them for having artifacts, when in fact the "artifacts" may just be normal detail that wouldn't be seen if the same scene was shot with an 8 or 10MP camera.

Thanks for those observations sharply.  Of course I use Nikon so I don't yet have the option of going to XXL.  I could upgrade to a new D300 or D3 to get XL. If the D3 could achieve XXL I'd go for it, but as it stands the D300 makes perfect sense and the extra $1,000 or so that would cost after selling my D200 would probably be a very good investment.  I think the upgrade from L to XL would be worth it.

Perhaps Nikon will have a larger resolution thing next year.

Edit:  I should carry out a review of sizes and prices etc at the various agencies - going from XL to XXL at FT is a jump from 10mp to 16mp.

Thank you people! Muchas gracias!

I decided months ago that I wanted to live out of microstock. After a few attemps with photography, realized that my equipment wasn't good enough for microstock, so give it a try with illustration. Since then, it's been up and up and up... most of the time I can't believe it! I think one of the reasons is because I split my time in illustrating and in reserching. That's why my porfolio is small.

It is hard to make a living of what you love to do here in the south, in this very very small but lovely country (Uruguay).
So I'm really really really happy!! 

PS: hope you understand my english

I don�t complain as well�
Available slots for upload: 5
Sales on 1 October: 22
Sales in September: 5th BME in row (175 downloads)

Regards
Tom

Sept. was my worst month all year.  After a BME of 548 in March, my sales have been steadily declining.  Sales in Sept. were all the way down to 244.  Ugh.  Oct. is starting off a couple of DLs per day higher, but I'm not holding my breath.