[1 Jul 2009 | 3 Comments | ]
$1000 in Earnings from Microstock Photography in June 2009

I prepared 77 new pictures for microstock in June extending my total portfolio to 1492 pictures. It means that I am slowing down a little bit in shooting for microstock. Fortunately, I don’t see a summer slow down in my earnings. For the first time I reached more than $1000 of monthly earnings!

iStockphoto and Shutterstock provide 70% of my microstock earnings with IS moving to the first place. Adding income from Dreamstime makes almost 80% of earnings, so it’s clear where my focus should be.

I added back a column with RPI (return per image) to my earnings table below. However, my total RPI is calculated now using a total number of my microstock pictures, i.e., pictures prepared for microstock sitting in my computer. RPI = $0.70/image seems to be pretty low, but my goal is to increase that number. Keep in mind that my production costs are also really low.

iStock. BME. IS is returning to #1 position in my earnings . 45 new pictures added. $1.04/ download - better than in the previous month. 755 downloads left to reach the silver canister (2500 downloads).

Shutterstock. 3 EL. A better performance than in the previous month, but still below the April BME. 70 new pictures added. $362 left to reach my next milestone here, $3000 in total sales.

DreamsTime. BME. Good sales, but my effective acceptance rate dropped down below 50%, i.e., I am submitting selected pictures only, and they take only 64% from them. 38 new pictures added. “Too many shots of the same item or from the same series” is the rejection theme.

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istock, news & links »

[16 Apr 2009 | One Comment | ]
1000 Downloads from iStockphoto - Sticky Note Mind Map

A little milestone in my microstock photography: the 1000th download from my iStockphoto portfolio. I have 652 pictures online there after 16 months of submitting. My total earnings from iStock are $1,055.52 which makes just about $1 per sale.

earnings, portfolio »

[1 Apr 2009 | One Comment | ]
Microstock Photography Earnings - March 2009

Lee Torrens at Microstock Diares mentioned that microstock is up and his March earnings report confirms that. However, I got somewhat mixed results from my portfolio.

earnings, portfolio »

[1 Mar 2009 | 2 Comments | ]
Microstock Photography Earnings - February 2009

Great month in microstock! First time I made more than $500 in earnings. 46% increase in comparison to January. BME in Shutterstock, iStockphoto, Dreamstime, Fotolia and StockXpert.

earnings, istock »

[18 Feb 2009 | No Comment | ]
Is iStock Waking Up?

I started my microstock adventure over a year ago with submitting pictures to iStockphoto.

earnings, portfolio »

[1 Feb 2009 | One Comment | ]
Microstock Photography Earnings - January 2009

“Volumewise” my strategy for 2009 is simple: focus on my three top agencies (Shutterstock, iStock, and Dreamstime), 100 accepted pictures per month in SS and DT, and all upload slots filled in IS.