Author Topic: Progress report (feedback appriciated) (Read 3833 times)

gnesher · « **on:** January 31, 2017, 11:18 »

So,
After having a very small collection of photos (<50) for about 3-4 years (generated 100$ during that time) I've decided to give microstock photography a real chance. I've started taking / uploading photos in September (5 months ago) adding 550 new photos so far (so a total portfolio of about 600 photos up to date).

Main earner is obviously Shutterstock which went from selling 4 photos in Aug to selling 42 photos in Jan. This means I'm making a littler over 10$ a month for the past 3 months (this month I've made a bit over 12$).

Other agencies I upload to are 123RF, BigStockPhoto, CanStockPhoto, DepositPhotos, Dreamstime and Fotolia. I've made about 6$ in the past 5 months in Fotolia and < 1$ in the rest of the agencies. Upload is done via StockSubmitter (mac which is quite limited).

I've also upload photos to Society6 and FineArtAmerica making one 7$ sale in Society6 over the time.

I'm quite happy with how SS is progressing, it's slow and not a lot of money but I can visibly see sales grow (and come in) every day. The rest of the microstock sites / prints are pretty much dead.

This means that at the moment I've got around 7% of my SS portfolio selling each month (by number of total photos sold vs total number of photos in portfolio). I'm not sure if this is a good measure?

It also means I'm making virtually no progress in all other sites. I'm wondering if there's anything better I can do there?

I have also just started iStock (using qhero) it's easier to upload now but the review process has been extremely slow in Jan and I've only got 80 photos or so in so far (1 sale).

SS portofolio for reference - shutterstock.com/g/guyn happy to share other portfolio links if relevant.

Thanks
G.N

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2017, 13:09 »

Quote from: gnesher on January 31, 2017, 11:18

So,
After having a very small collection of photos (<50) for about 3-4 years (generated 100$ during that time) I've decided to give microstock photography a real chance. I've started taking / uploading photos in September (5 months ago) adding 550 new photos so far (so a total portfolio of about 600 photos up to date).

Main earner is obviously Shutterstock which went from selling 4 photos in Aug to selling 42 photos in Jan. This means I'm making a littler over 10$ a month for the past 3 months (this month I've made a bit over 12$).

Other agencies I upload to are 123RF, BigStockPhoto, CanStockPhoto, DepositPhotos, Dreamstime and Fotolia. I've made about 6$ in the past 5 months in Fotolia and < 1$ in the rest of the agencies. Upload is done via StockSubmitter (mac which is quite limited).

I've also upload photos to Society6 and FineArtAmerica making one 7$ sale in Society6 over the time.

I'm quite happy with how SS is progressing, it's slow and not a lot of money but I can visibly see sales grow (and come in) every day. The rest of the microstock sites / prints are pretty much dead.

This means that at the moment I've got around 7% of my SS portfolio selling each month (by number of total photos sold vs total number of photos in portfolio). I'm not sure if this is a good measure?

It also means I'm making virtually no progress in all other sites. I'm wondering if there's anything better I can do there?

I have also just started iStock (using qhero) it's easier to upload now but the review process has been extremely slow in Jan and I've only got 80 photos or so in so far (1 sale).

SS portofolio for reference - shutterstock.com/g/guyn happy to share other portfolio links if relevant.

Thanks
G.N

Might be a good time to make some personal notes. I wish I had. Text file or spreadsheet, doesn't matter. Log earnings last year for total, since everything is growing. Log January 2017, how many files on each agency that's active.

Nest January, log how many total files on each agency and how much you made for the year on each agency. You can figure RPD for each agency also, since it's your files compared to your mostly same files.

You'll be able to see if maybe it's not worth your time and effort some places, or if you feel it is?

But mostly you'll see how things grew in a year. Then January 2019 see how the year was, same numbers, files, total income, income by agency, RPD on agency.

If someplace makes me $5 a download and I only get one a month, not sure it's worth the time? If I get 38 cents a DL and they get 10 a day, that's $100 a month, not bad. Only you can decide whether you want to feed the low earners for your hours of work and spread your work to every sub place and partner, some you'll never know where your work is being sold. Or if you want to have a few choice sites and watch your business.

No matter what. Write down now, number of images, where, and have some baseline totals so you can see how the year went. Next year do the same. Try to work like a business would.

Brasilnut · « **Reply #2 on:** February 04, 2017, 11:32 »

Quote

SS portofolio for reference - shutterstock.com/g/guyn happy to share other portfolio links if relevant.

I see you have done quite a bit of travelling around Italy (where I'm based) - what a beautiful country. Also Israel which I will visit soon.

The key is trying to capture those touristic locations in a way that could get your image in the first page of a competitive key word - not easy at all. No offence, but some of the travel images look like nice snaphots.

Quote

It also means I'm making virtually no progress in all other sites. I'm wondering if there's anything better I can do there?

Just keep submitting and improving your technique.

I've noticed you have not submitted any editorials, I think it's worth submitting some of interesting illustrative editorials and newsworthy stuff - you were in Israel so i'm sure there was plenty of newsworthy stuff to photograph, even check-points.

$1 return per image per year, in my opinion, is a rule of thumb for beginners. This was a lot higher a few years ago.

Good luck

Brasilnut
www.arotenberg.photoshelter.com

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Author Topic: Progress report (feedback appriciated) (Read 3833 times)

gnesher

YadaYadaYada

Brasilnut

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