I am making about $70 a month now with BigStock. ...

3.1/2 cents/image/month ... yikes, that's a low ROI.
Thanks for the info, sharpshot!

Yes, spacing things out does make sense. That's about the only way to get similar images accepted, too.

One thing I was thinking about is how similar images may affect exposure. If you upload 3 similar images and they get, say, 30, 20 and 14 DLs over a short period, you may inadvertently miss the what's hot/best seller list if the cutoff is 40.

...
if you submit large batches with similar shots you are competing with yourself,they will reject some of them.
...

Just curious: How is it possible to compete with yourself? Are you suggesting that by uploading similar images you will have fewer overall sales?

A bit of a slow day on SS for me, but I've had 6 thirty-centers so far. A pleasant surprise that they're coming a day early - maybe I'll get an extra buck out of it.

I wholeheartedly recommend this spreadsheet to track and predict your IS earnings - it's been very accurate for me thus far.

... From my experience with one solitary photo, it looks like it's worth the extra effort required.

I'll second that.

My main concerns with IS are that their reviewers can be inconsistent and overly concerned with technical perfection. Apart from that they're great - I wish I could upload to them at a faster rate.

I currently use Excel to hold data and make charts. I'll be switching to Access soon, though - spreadsheets are not so good for holding related bits of information. I need to have things ready once I have enough data - perhaps in another three months. I'll also have to brush up on my statistics so that I can know how relevent/valid my findings are.

I intend to examine the effect that various factors (e.g. framing, submission day, composition, subject, ...) have on my sales - I've read plenty of anecdotal/common sense/pet theory type of stuff, but don't want to base business decisions on anything so ethereal.

Hey, hatman12, I'm wondering how long I'll have to wait until I can begin uploading. How long did it take you to get approved?

I use 7 day moving averages together with 5th degree polynomials to keep track of things - I haven't been at this long enough to perform any meaningful statistical trend analyses, so I use my data to mostly track my progress for the time being. Here's my summary chart:


As far as overkill is concerned, I don't think it is. I'm in this full time, and I'm not going to depend on chance or luck to be successful. I think it is completely necessary to be as informed as possible about the state of my income.

Or at least as informed as my puny brain will allow.

That's great!

You haven't provided a link to your portfolio - lemme know how things turn out, will ya?

That's great news - I wish you the best success!

Nice timing on my part: I've just reapplied to be a contributor at StockXpert.

Way to go!

Further to my original reply, I use my keywords in the description of the image, usually in the form of [subject] with/in [background, [composition].  Here's a recent example:

title: desc: key1: key2: key3: key4: key5:

airplane propeller airplane flying in stormy sky, silhouette, closeup, b/w, square frame airplane,propeller,executive,business,private,aeroplane,airplane,flying,plane,flight thunderhead,thunderstorm,thunderclouds,stormclouds,storm,clouds,cloudy,weather,sky menacing,turbulent,dramatic,violent monochrome,black,white,blue,bw,closeup,close-up,detail,silhouette,square ominous,adversity,risk,challenge,danger,dangerous,risky,perilous,jeopardy,daring,defiance,bravery,hazardous,determination

With regard to using only 10 keywords - I don't think that is enough to adequately market an image. The above example uses 47 keywords, all of which are related to the image. Sure, I could weed some out, but I want to get the most out of every tool I have in order to maximize my exposure.


... and yeah, I'm the guy who specializes in aircraft.