In June 2011 I posted 3 year trends in return per image (RPI) from my microstock portfolio. How it looks 6 month later? Here is an update for 2009-2011 years.

How RPI is calculated

Calculating RPI is straightforward for a single agency – just divide earnings from sales by the number of pictures in your portfolio there for a given time period, e.g., a month. It is getting more complicated when you are submitting pictures to multiple agencies. You cannot calculate RPI separately for each agency and then add those numbers together. That would be mathematically incorrect. You need to use the same number of pictures as reference for each agency, e.g., the average size of your portfolio.

I am submitting pictures to multiple microstock agencies. To derive the total RPI for my portfolio I am using the total number of pictures prepared for microstock. This way I can use RPI to compare performance of different agencies. My RPI depends obviously on the acceptance rate. So, the agency, which regularly rejects my pictures as too similar or duplicates, has a lower RPI in my system. The “similarity” issue is a major problem in the case of Dreamstime and to a much lower degree of iStockphoto.

After 4 years of my microstock adventure I have around 3800 pictures in my stock portfolio: 68% in iStockphoto, 83% in Shutterstock, 59% in Dreamstime and 66% Fotolia counting just the 4 top agencies. I do not analyze separately other agencies with lower sales, instead I am looking at total sales from them as “others” (Bigstock, 123RF, Canstock, Veer, Graphic Leftovers, Deposit Photos, PhotoDune, Panther Media, StockFresh, FeaturePics, Yay).

This is a supplement to the previous posts discussing trends in 3 years of my microstock earnings and contributions from different agencies.

Let’s look at the growth of my portfolio in iStockphoto, Shutterstock, Dreamstime and Fotolia. These are my 4 top microstock performers providing 88% of income. I submit pictures regularly preparing between 50 and 100 new files each month.

The gray line above represents a number of all pictures (jpg) produced for microstock including rejects, multiple versions and files which were not submitted. So, this is a measure of my work and efforts rather than a number of files available for stock. I used that number as a reference to derive RPI (return per image).

After 3 years I have quite different portfolios in various agencies. Shutterstock has the highest number of my pictures (2269 by the end of October 2010). Nowadays they accepted almost all pictures. Dreamstime with 1,761 files takes the 2nd place. However, my DT portfolio is growing slower during last year than in other agencies due to their review policy (“too many similar pictures”).

My numbers for IS (1628) and Fotolia (1614) look quite similar, but those portfolio are quite different. FT accepts most pictures rejected by DT. My landscape and industrial pictures rejected by FT are usually selling in IS. It is interesting that the IS portfolio contains some unique pictures which were not accepted by SS, DT or FT.

A year ago, my IS portfolio was the smallest one, but now it passed already FT, and will, probably catch the DT portfolio. The current 30 images/week upload limit at IS is usually more than I can prepare for submission.

Related posts:
Earnings from Microstock Photography – 3 Year Trends
Big 4 in My Microstock Portfolio
Am I Really Making Money from Microstock Photography ? Part 1 and Part 2
My microstock referral links for photographers:
Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics, Panthermedia, CanStockPhoto, DepositPhotos, Graphic Leftovers

My adventure with microstock photography started in November 2007. For the first two years I used to report my monthly earnings from microstock in this blog. Nowadays, I am less obsessed with my statistics focusing more on producing new pictures. However, my 3 years in microstock is an occasion for a statistical summary.

Total Earnings and Portfolio Additions

I am submitting my pictures to 12 microstock agencies. 88% of my income is coming from the top 4: Istockphoto, Shutterstock, Dreamstime and Fotolia (see Big 4 in My Microstock Portfolio).

Above, I am showing my total monthly earnings from all agencies (thick yellow line – left axis) and monthly addition to my portfolio (gray bars – right axis) over the span of last 3 years. I divided growth of my earnings into three periods and added trends into my graph (linear approximation).

1st year (green line). Building my portfolio. Slow, but consistent, growth of earnings $19/month.
2nd year (blue line). More rapid growth of my earnings at $96/month. The only time period where I can see the response of my earnings to the increased number of pictures submitted.
3rd year (red line).. Slowing down … $50/month. More month to month fluctuations.

Let’s look at trends in the individual microstock agencies (the same scale is used in the graphs below).

iStockphoto

Portfolio: 1628 files. iStock was my first microstock agency. Submissions used to be restricted by a weekly upload limit. However, recently they increased that limit. At the same time I reached a gold canister level. So, right now, 30 images/week is usually more than I can prepare for submission. Acceptance rate ~75%.

I experienced a rapid growth of sales at iStock during 2009. Recent earnings are fluctuating, but are still growing. iStock provides 40-50% of my microstock income.

My sale commission at iStock will drop from 20% to 18% in January 2011 and, generally, perspectives for an independent contributor don’t look great there.

Shutterstock

Portfolio: 2269 files. I entered Shutterstock relatively late. It took me 4 attempts to get accepted. The first year was great and SS was my top earner for a longer while. During the last 1.5 year my earnings are fluctuating from month to month, but still shows a slow growth and are somewhat responding to the number of uploaded pictures. My portfolio at SS is the largest among the top 4 agencies. Almost all my pictures are getting accepted.

Dreamstime

Portfolio: 1,761 files. My earnings are growing with some fluctuations and Dreamstime provides around 10% of my total microstock earnings. However, I don’t really expect to increase that percentage. My overall acceptance rate is about 73%, but my effective acceptance rate during last year is only 50-60%. Too many photos/illustrations on the same subject or from the same series. or Image subject is too specific or niche-oriented are popular rejection reasons. I don’t submit all my pictures to DT any more. I feel that I am losing a lot of potential sales at DT.

Fotolia

Portfolio: 1614 files. FT provides about 7-8% of my microstock earnings. A slow growth. Overall acceptance rate ~63%. It seems to be improving recently. I don’t think it is due to any change in FT review policy. I simply submit more product and concept images and less landscape and nature ones. FT accepts all DT rejects.

Of course, this just one side of my microstock photography business – earnings from sales. Expenses and my labor time is another side. In previous posts I discussed a business model I am trying to implement. It may be time to review it.

What’s next?

Further growth? Reaching plateau? Switching to another activity? Looking for some more meaningful photography projects?

Can I use my numbers to make any predictions of my future microstock earnings? So far, I have seen a rather smooth growth of my income.

Related posts:
Big 4 in My Microstock Portfolio
Am I Really Making Money from Microstock Photography ? Part 1 and Part 2
My microstock referral links for photographers:
Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics, Panthermedia, CanStockPhoto, DepositPhotos, Graphic Leftovers

Yesterday, I reached 1000 pictures in my Dreamstime portfolio with this image of green peas from my garden. It feels like just a few days ago I was shooting quite different picture of the same peas. A stormy spring in Colorado with a lot of hail was not very kind for my garden.

Today, I requested my 7th payout from Dreamstime, so it looks like this microstock agency is working pretty well for me. It is on the third position in earnings after iStock and Shutterstock.

However, the growth of my Dreamstime portfolio slowed down during last few months. My effective acceptance rate dropped down below 50%, i.e., I am submitting selected pictures only, and they take only 64% from them. “Too many shots of the same item or from the same series” is the rejection theme. It seems that for some inspectors the main picture subject is not important. The same prop (e.g., my wooden scoop) may be a reason for a rejection.

Here is how my Dreamstime portfolio compares to some other microstock sites. ShutterStock accepts almost everything what I submit. The size of my iStock portfolio is kept down by their uploading limits, but my acceptance rate stays the same at 75-80%. My Fotolia portfolio is also quite small due to rather low acceptance ratio. It used to be really low last year, but improved during recent months.

My microstock earnings in May were still growing (+10%), but I see a slowdown. Summer time? There are some changes in performance of my top players: Shutterstock and iStockphoto.

I spent less time in May in creating new images for microstock, but I managed to increase my average microstock portfolio from 942 to 1002 files. 86 new pictures in SS, 56 in IS, and 45 in DT.

Microstock earnings and payments from May 2008 to May 2009

Shutterstock. 37.6% of earnings (was ~50% in April). The first decline in earnings since August 2008. Number of downloads was at the same level as in April, but only two ELs and much fewer downloads on demand. The average earnings per download dropped from $0.53 to $0.46. 86 new pictures added (almost all accepted). $722 left to reach my next milestone here, $3000 in total sales. 2 or 3 months?

iStock. 30.6 % or earnings (was 22.5% in April). BME and a big one! Will IS catch up with SS? 53 new pictures accepted, i.e., more than in DT. A lot of sales from a couple of pictures uploaded in May. Mostly X-small sales, but in average $0.89/download.

DreamsTime. BME. Good sales, especially, in the end of May. Only 45 new pictures added. A lot of rejections: “Too many shots of the same item or from the same series”. “This is a very well covered subject in our data base or the subject of your image is too specific”. I am not submitting all my pictures to DT any more. Nevertheless, my acceptance ratio dropped down to 63%.

Fotolia. Lower earnings than in my April, but still almost at a payout level every month.

StockXpert. BME. 64% from subscriptions.

123rf. Slightly lower earnings than in April which was BME.

Big Stock Photo. Earnings lower than in April, but sufficient for my monthly $30+ payout. March’09 was my BME.

CanStockPhoto. BME. One big sale through PhotoSearch and a few $0.30 subscription sales puts CSP into the same income league as 123RF and BSP. I added CSP to my earnings graph.

Featurepics. No sales.

Panthermedia. 350+ images in my portfolio. 1 sale in May.

agency	portfolio size	downloads (EL)	earnings	% earnings
Shutterstock	1199	687(2)	$314.06	37.6%
iStock	728	286	$255.90	30.6%
DreamsTime	942	92	$85.60	10.3%
StockXpert	1163	111	$49.20	5.9%
Fotolia	780	56	$44.62	5.3%
CanStockPhoto	1039	7	$29.55	3.5%
123rf	1121	55	$29.03	3.5%
Big Stock Photo	1103	35	$27.00	3.2%
	1002 average	1329 total	$834.96 total

May was my 18th month in microstock with $5221 of total earnings.

Some other bloggers are reporting monthly earnings from microstock:
Microstock Diaries … Microstock Experiment … NiltoMil … jrtb … Driftless Ramblings … bankizdjec.pl … MeLastMohican’s Blog … Probably Due To Network Congestion

My latest stock photos on Dreamstime

Related posts:

• 13 Months of Microstock Photography Earnings: May | June | July | August |September | October | November | December | 2009 January | February | March | April | May
• A Reverse Look at Microstock Sales from My iStock and Shutterstock Portfolios
• What Sells in Microstock? My List of Picture Bestsellers
• How to Get Accepted by ShutterStock? Don’t Give Up!
• My microstock referral links for photographers:
  Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics, Panthermedia, CanStockPhoto.

April was a good month for my microstock photography – 22% increase of earnings in comparison to March. BME in Shuterstock, iStock (the last two weeks were great), Dreamstime, Fotolia, and 123RF. I managed to increase my average microstock portfolio from 859 to 942: 106 new pictures in SS, 70 in DT, and 46 in IS.

Microstock earnings and payments from April 2008 to April 2009

Microstock portfolio growth from November 2007 to April 2009

Shutterstock. ~50% of earnings. BME with 3 ELs, but the actual number of downloads was lower than in March. I see more and more older pictures in my sales as illustrated by my recent analysis.

iStock. BME. Last two weeks were very good. Effect of Best Match 2.0 ?

DreamsTime. BME. Still on the 3rd place due to several sales in the last day of the month. Increased number of rejections: Too many shots of the same item or from the same series. Unfortunately for me, a scoop of rice and a scoop of wheat or other grain is the same subject according to DT inspectors.

Fotolia. BME. The same high rate of rejections as usual, but much better sales. It is my smallest portfolio, except IS.

StockXpert. A little lower earnings than in March. 57% from subscriptions.

123rf. BME. They usually accept everything, but, recently, requested a property release for my watercolor painted backgrounds. A complement? Am I getting recognized as an artist? Or just silly inspector?

Big Stock Photo. Earnings lower than in March, but sufficient for my monthly $30+ payout.

CanStockPhoto. I uploaded most of my pictures there, but so far I have got only a few $0.30 subscription sales.

Featurepics. No sales.

Panthermedia. I started to upload some of my microstock pictures two months ago. Submission is quite time consuming and sometimes doesn’t work. ~70% acceptance rate. 290 pictures online. So far, 2 sales, ~14 euros total.

agency	portfolio size	downloads (EL)	earnings	% earnings
Shutterstock	1113	683(3)	$363.54	48.1%
iStock	675	153	$170.01	22.5%
DreamsTime	897	74	$61.81	8.2%
Fotolia	735	60	$49.49	6.6%
StockXpert	1038	97	$44.70	5.9%
123rf	1203	40	$31.67	4.2%
Big Stock Photo	1038	34	$31.00	4.1%
CanStockPhoto	941	9	$3.15	0.4%
	942 average	1150 total	$755.29 total

April was my 17th month in microstock with $4386 of total earnings.

Some other bloggers are reporting monthly earnings from microstock:
Microstock Diaries … Microstock Experiment … NiltoMil … jrtb … Driftless Ramblings … bankizdjec.pl … MeLastMohican’s Blog … Probably Due To Network Congestion

My latest stock photos on Dreamstime

Related posts:

• 13 Months of Microstock Photography Earnings:
  2008 March | April | May | June | July | August |September | October | November | December | 2009 January | February | March
• A Reverse Look at Microstock Sales from My iStock and Shutterstock Portfolios
• What Sells in Microstock? My List of Picture Bestsellers
• How to Get Accepted by ShutterStock? Don’t Give Up!
• My microstock referral links for photographers:
  Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics, Panthermedia, CanStockPhoto.

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. My revenue went up almost 14% in comparison to February. Taking into account that March is 10% longer than February and my portfolio is still growing in size about 8-9% every month, the March performance was actually lower than February.

Microstock earnings and payments from March 2008 to March 2009

I managed to increase my average microstock portfolio from 776 to 859: 98 new pictures in SS, 78 in DT, and 49 in IS. So, my submissions were a little bit higher than in February.

Shutterstock with one extended license performed as expected providing 50% of my earnings. I have now more than 1000 pictures in the SS portfolio.

iStock went down a little bit, but its good performance in February was due to one EL. A single EL has still significant impact on the performance of my small portfolio.

Dreamstime sales were also down with the end of month really slow. Site upgrading? I had problems with pictures uploading.

Now good news. All my smaller players (SXP, FT, BSP, 123RF) were up and reached their BME in March. StockXpert moved to the 4th place in my portfolio and it looks promising (reaching payout every month).

No sales at Featurepics. I started to upload pictures to CanStock and got one $0.30 subscription sale from about 400 images online. Another $0.25 sale at Crestock from 20 pictures I managed to upload there before giving up with them.

agency	portfolio size	downloads (EL)	earnings	% earnings
Shutterstock	1007	750 (1)	$309.41	49.9%
iStock	629	96	$116.95	18.9%
DreamsTime	827	57	$54.28	8.8%
StockXpert	995	89	$48.4	7.8%
Fotolia	665	55	$37.40	6.0%
Big Stock Photo	922	26	$34.5	5.5%
123rf	965	18	$19.05	3.1%
	859 average	1091 total	$619.63 total

March was my 16th month in microstock with $3631 of total earnings.

March was also time for me to work on 2008 taxes. I don’t have a lot of net income from microstock photography since most of my earnings were reinvested in equipment. However, I have some other streams of income from internet which help this business running.

Some other bloggers are reporting monthly earnings from microstock:
Microstock Diaries … Microstock Experiment … NiltoMil … jrtb … Driftless Ramblings … bankizdjec.pl … MeLastMohican’s Blog … Probably Due To Network Congestion

My latest stock photos on Dreamstime

Related posts:

• 13 Months of Microstock Photography Earnings:
  2008 February | March | April | May | June | July | August |September | October | November | December | 2009 January | February
• What Sells in Microstock? My List of Picture Bestsellers
• How to Get Accepted by ShutterStock? Don’t Give Up!
• My microstock referral links for photographers:
  Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics.

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.

I managed to increase my average microstock portfolio from 698 to 776: 94 new pictures in SS, 77 in DT, and 46 in IS. So, my submissions were a little bit lower than in January.

Microstock earnings and payments from February 2008 to Febraury 2009

The most notable feature of February was a revival of my iStock earnings. Even without that one EL the growth would be impressing. I wonder if iStock earnings will stay in that level.

123RF was the only agency with decreased earnings in February. Also, no sales in Featurepics.

In December I made an experiment and was submitting my pictures to Crestock. 10% acceptance rate! I managed to get accepted 22 pictures before I gave up. I had one sale in February: $0.25.

February was my 15th month in microstock with $3012 of total earnings.

agency	portfolio size	downloads (EL)	earnings	% earnings
Shutterstock	909	689	$260.49	47.8%
iStock	580	92 (1)	$131.92	24.2%
DreamsTime	749	61	$56.70	10.1%
Fotolia	599	43	$33.20	6.1%
StockXpert	887	82	$30.30	5.6%
Big Stock Photo	837	26	$23.00	4.2%
123rf	872	15	$9.30	3.1%
Featurepics	892	0	$0	0.0%
	776 average	1008 total	$544.91 total

Some other bloggers are reporting monthly earnings from microstock:
Microstock Diaries … Microstock Experiment … NiltoMil … jrtb … Driftless Ramblings … bankizdjec.pl … MeLastMohican’s Blog … Probably Due To Network Congestion

My latest stock photos on Dreamstime

Related posts:

• 13 Months of Microstock Photography Earnings:
  2008 January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August |September | October | November | December | 2009 January
• What Sells in Microstock? My List of Picture Bestsellers
• How to Get Accepted by ShutterStock? Don’t Give Up!
• My microstock referral links for photographers:
  Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics.

I was busy with shooting and submitting pictures to microstock in January. I didn’t have time to write anything in this blog, although, I have a few posts in a draft including summary of 2008 years and goals for 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.

I managed to increase my average microstock portfolio from 605 to 698: 104 new pictures in SS, 107 in DT, and 53 in IS (delayed reviewing of December submissions). My earnings went up 26.5% in comparison with December and/or November. I had only one extended license from Fotolia in January.

Microstock earnings and payments from January 2008 to January 2009

Shutterstock is providing now 57% of my microstock income. It is the only agency demonstrating clear growth in my earnings during last 6 months. It is great, but I would prefer more diversification. 10% of SS earnings come from on demand downloads.

A number of downloads in IS is going up, but earnings are going down. Small sizes and low payments are dominating my sales. A similar tendency is visible in Dreamstime. I had BME in January there concerning the number of downloads, but the earning didn’t reach the BME of November.

My other four agencies, FT, BSP, SXP, 123RF are showing more turbulent fluctuations from month to month. The combined earnings from them during last three months: $59, $48, and $66. No sales in Featurepics in January.

agency	portfolio size	downloads (EL)	earnings	% earnings
Shutterstock	815	594	$215.12	57.8%
iStock	534	59	$56.20	15.1%
DreamsTime	676	48	$35.10	9.4%
Fotolia	545	25 (1)	$21.85	5.9%
Big Stock Photo	755	23	$18.00	4.8%
StockXpert	805	39	$14.50	3.9%
123rf	759	25	$11.66	3.1%
Featurepics	796	0	$0	0.0%
	698 average	813 total	$372.43 total

Some other bloggers are reporting monthly earnings from microstock:
Microstock Diaries … Microstock Experiment … NiltoMil … jrtb … Driftless Ramblings … bankizdjec.pl … MeLastMohican’s Blog … Probably Due To Network Congestion

My latest stock photos on Dreamstime

Related posts:

• 13 Months of Microstock Photography Earnings:
  2008 January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August |September | October | November | December | 2009 January
• What Sells in Microstock? My List of Picture Bestsellers
• How to Get Accepted by ShutterStock? Don’t Give Up!
• My microstock referral links for photographers:
  Dreamstime, ShutterStock, BigStockPhoto, 123RF, FeaturePics.