Microstock Earnings Report April 2008
Posted by Lee TorrensNormally a relatively slow month, I was very pleased with my earnings for April. While my top two agencies both experienced dips, the next three all rose sharply, two recording new record highs. Total earnings for April were slightly higher than March and just $12 below my current record.
| Agency | Earnings US$ | Portfolio Size | Return per Image |
Sell-through Rate % |
| iStockphoto | 219.77 |
733 | 0.30 | 72 |
| Shutterstock | 170.10 | 791 | 0.22 | 90 |
| Dreamstime | 145.10 | 694 | 0.21 | 60 |
| Fotolia | 62.16 | 579 | 0.11 | 46 |
| StockXpert | 55.30 | 242 | 0.23 | 28 |
| BigStockPhoto | 15.50 | 352 | 0.04 | 28 |
| 123rf | 7.32 | 269 | 0.03 | 15 |
| LuckyOliver |
1.80 | 288 | 0.01 | 17 |
| Crestock |
3.75 | 277 | 0.01 | 18 |
| Total: | 680.80 | Avg: 0.13 | Avg: 42 |
Observations:
- I had Extended License sales at Dreamstime (2) and Fotolia (1) this month
- This is my 13th earnings report – last April I earned $462.33 from seven agencies
- StockXpert and Fotolia both hit new record highs
- After my shoot daily and contribute nightly challenge my portfolio is growing quicker
Next Month
Historically, I’ve always earned more in May than in April, which is also the experience of other contributors with larger portfolios. Add to this the anticipated commission rise at Shutterstock and the potential earnings increase from iStockphoto subscriptions, and it looks like May will set a new record for total earnings.
Posted May 1st, 2008 by Lee Torrens
5 months of data from my microstock photography and I see the first drop in my earnings despite of the portfolio growth, no ELs last month, IS and SS went down, FT went up:
Pixels Away microstock
Portfolio growth, sales are up! Good words to hear! Soooo close to your BME – but maybe that will inspire even more.
Thanks for the comparison to last year’s sales as well. For those of us who’s records don’t go back quite that far, that’s very helpful!
Wow. Your sales earnings is great!
It will be nice if we can see your portfolio.
Hi Han,
There are links to my portfolios on the About page.
-Lee
Great post and numbers as usual Lee!
I *really* like your html formatted table. Awesome! I certainly wish I had more time to dedicate to shooting so that I could take part in your challenges, oh well! With my new daughter (2nd), I’m lucky to have time to check sales! 
My numbers are very similiar to yours and I had the same dip at Istock and Shutterstock. I’m really hoping May will be as good as we all predict!
When you become exclusive at Istock, the number of pictures sold jump by about 30%, plus there’s the exclusivity bonus.. Your Istock results are not very significant, I was exclusive on Istock since 2005 and actually, my return per image is around 2.75$ (with a portfolio made of 98% 8MP pictures). There’s a lot you can do to improve your sales; good keywording, effective lightboxes system, erasing the not selling pictures on your portfolio to improve its overall quality ratio (with buyers, reputation is king).
Good luck to all, but remember; the results you get are proportionnal to the time you spend on your business.
It was a great month for me too!
I can’t wait to see what happen in May
Nice numbers Lee. I put my earnings in a new graph like you suggested before , looking forward to May !
Laurent
http://microstockexperiment.blogspot.com/
I’ve recently found this blog through DPS and I will definitely be visiting again, it’s great to see somebody elses journey. It’s very inspiring… and informational!
Thanks for sharing.