This question is directed at the photographers here... I promised myself when I reached a certain earnings level I would purchase a full frame body. However now Im thinking perhaps the money would be better spent on studio lights, flash meter and any other bits and bobs (I currently use continuous lights and have long ago realised there limitations) Any advice much appreciated!

Also I have quite a small space would 400 watt be sufficient or do I need 1000 watt?

Well here's the kicker for me... I had a BME at dreamstime this month in terms of amount of files sold. BUT actual sales revenue was down 30%! Grrrrr!

Am I the only one to think that it's worrying that such a successful microstockerSis only offered the Getty 'pay as you go' deal....

Ive been doing this for 15 months now and only last month did it dawn on me... I was in the shutterstock trap!

By that I mean I was feeling pressurised to keep producing a large amount of images weekly (large for me is about 30 i know its all relative!). I then knew i could expect to earn what was for me a significant amount. The problem is though that quality would sometimes suffer, I would find myself shooting anything on white or creating simple vectors just to keep feeding the beast as at the time shutterstock was way above the other libraries in terms of income. And I wasn't enjoying it.

Now I'm a bit further down the microstock road I have come to believe like some others here that quality does matter, so I've reduced my uploading to about 10/15 files a week, this has meant an immediate hit on shutterstock of down 30% this month (whether that is a time of year thing too i dont know) However my acceptance on istock has shot up and my sales there have doubled this month.... sales across all other sites are on course for a normal month, anyone else find this?

I'm having a terrible month everywhere. SS down 30%. However whatever might or might not have changed with IS best match has favoured me at last. Sales have doubled. But traditionally I did much worse there than others with high rejections and only about 350 images there and 1600 everywhere else.

The email says that from now until the 30th June you can earn up to �1.40 for every image uploaded and accepted, has anyone else received it, Veer are in my top 5 so Im going to be on the case with uploading...

I couldn't agree more. I have no problem with istocks High standards and review policy. I just wish they would strip out all the inferior quallity they have on there which would never get through now... That would truly set them apart and stop me wading through poorer stuff when I'm sourcing images... I just don't get it. Who's benefitting from that?
 

I can't agree more powerdroid. For me as I've taken it more seriously and now woven it into my work plan alongside design jobs I find my monthly graph continues it's steep climb. Otherwise I wouldn't do it as there's plenty of graphic design work now. Whilst there wasn't when I started this at the beginning of the recession. For me it was ' have a go and see ' and now it's part if my job as returns are very good.

I agree, I sometimes get this and resubmit a few weeks later with no problems, I think dreamstime have been very harsh with this lately,.

Last 2 months have seen a great improvement for me. Nearly double normal sales with a portfolio of 1500 images (same for shutterstock)

Microbius

I think we are at cross hairs here, my point was that I only know of 3 people personally in the microstock market that research and create imagery for specific sectors (of course i know hundreds and maybe thousands do, and the pro's undoubtedly). My point was that the 3 people I know personally are all exclusive artists (vector) on istock, they have been for a few years and they do all earn over $80k per annum, 2 are uk based and the other in the states. That is where that figure came from (apologies if I put �'s I wish!)

No I dont earn 80k, if you read back a few posts you will see that that is my aspiration and I know it can be done. I do ok financially and have only been doing this a year part time, (apart from istock where I have been since 2006 just going icons sets, it was in part because the icons sold well on istock that I decided to give this a serious try), I have a young family and full time design job to contend with.

I have removed my links from the post due to some emails I got from other members who said its best to do so to avoid personal attacks re my work and that anonymity would be a good thing, I am proud of my work and yes agree some of it particularly icons and globes  are going to be similar in content to what you would call the big sellers, but I do not copy, I work using a sketchbook and research different topics, I think the icons you are probably referring to are typical website icons, eg search, print, rss etc, and actually I wouldn't say they sell that well actually. But i do try to cover off the basics as well as creating more involved/conceptual work. Unfortunately I agree microstock is full of 'the same done differently', I think RM is the place for the much more involved/time consuming conceptual work and that is something Im currently exploring too.

Sorry no if you read the post the salient issue isnt so much the vector/illustration issue so much as the researching the market and creating saleable images scenario, that is when you can make a dramatic jump in income. I only know 3 other people doing this bar myself and that scenario pans out for us all, albeit I am at the bottom right now!

I think there is less competition with vectors, a lot of the very good vector artists are exclusive at istock, I would say there are far more good photographers than good illustrators and thus competition is less. If you look through the vector collections on all sites other than istock I firmly believe that this is the case.

As for 80k full time, no sweat, I'll get back to you on that when I get there. I can only speak for myself but when i read all these posts that a full time income is impossible I find it truly unbelievable. My 3 full timemicrostock friends are all vector artists exclusive to istock and have been full time for quite some years, though 2 have slowed down now as they have young babies.

I wish! But my personal targets are a little more amitious!