Microstock Earnings Report November 2007
Posted by Lee TorrensNovember wasn’t a repeat of the freakish results in October, but that wasn’t expected. I’m still pleased with the results, as they were well above average despite my doing very little to improve them. This time of year is usually good for most microstock contributors with each month being better than the previous month up to the end of the year. Let’s hope that holds true for me too.
I’m still a long way from achieving my goal of $1,000 per month by the end of the year, but let’s wait and see what December brings.
I received Extended License sales at Dreamstime(2) and LuckyOliver this month.
| Agency | Earnings US$ | Portfolio Size | Per Photo |
| iStockphoto | 177.64 | 637 | 0.28 |
| ShutterStock | 189.75 | 621 | 0.31 |
| Dreamstime | 103.4 | 553 | 0.19 |
| Fotolia | 21.35 | 469 | 0.05 |
| StockXpert | 34.70 | 105 | 0.33 |
| BigStockPhoto | 10.00 | 212 | 0.05 |
| 123rf | 10.10 | 109 | 0.09 |
| LuckyOliver | 27.40 | 148 | 0.19 |
| Crestock | 3.00 | 104 | 0.03 |
| CanStockPhoto | 5.50 | 363 | 0.02 |
| Totals: | 582.84 | 1.52 |
Observations:
- Not only did Shutterstock remain higher than iStockphoto for a second month, but the three month moving average (dotted line) also overtook that of iStockphoto
- StockXpert rose above Fotolia by a considerable margin. Both trajectories indicate the overtake is sustainable. Unless I can intercede with my optimization experiment!
- Dreamstime produced record earnings if you discount last month’s freakish extended license sales
- Extended License sales at LuckyOliver continue to be disproportionately frequent
Posted December 1st, 2007 by Lee Torrens
Well November is a good month for MS! I actually did enough business to file a report. Totals are rather small but for my portfolio size I don’t think I am doing badly.
Agency…………..Dls…..$$……..Port………..P/Photo……….P/Dl………..%of Ttl$
——————————————————————————————–
LuckOliver……….9…..$0.00….188………….$0.00…………$0.00……….0
Bigstock………….3…..$2.00……63………….$0.67…………$0.03……… 2
Fotolia…………….6…..$5.61……29………….$0.19…………$0.94……….7
Dreamstime……..5…..$5.75……43………….$0.13…………$1.15……….7
Istockphoto…….21…$14.66……58………….$0.25…………$0.70………18
ShutterStock….216…$54.00……31………….$1.74…………$0.25………66
Total……………………$82.00….251………….$0.37*………..$0.33*…….100
*Excludes LuckyOliver.
Cannot explain my goose eggs at Lucky Oliver. I have been there the longest and have the
largest portfolio – essentially a superset of what I have everywhere – but have not had a sale since an Extended License in September. The indications I see there are an overabundance of contributors coupled with a dearth of purchasers. That wold explain the very high view to sales ratios – lots of photographers doing comparisons but not many buyers (sorta like Flickr). How do you do it Lee?
c h e e r s
fred
Hey Fred,
Nice numbers indeed. $1.74 per photo at Shutterstock is amazing!
The trend at LuckyOliver seems to be that people who’ve got sales get more sales. This makes it difficult to break into the club, but once you’re in you get great results.
I don’t get a lot of sales there, but I’ve received extended license sales each couple of months lately, which brings my figures up. I’m not sure why, though I know LuckyOliver has more extended license sales than other agencies, relative to turnover. Overall, I know they’re growing, so hang in there.
-Lee
Lee, It took me forever to get into Shutterstock – 4 trys! – but it has been worth it so far. It is really nice to see a few DLs evry day even if they are only worth $.25 each. I plan to stick it out at LO – if they don’t throw me out, I’ve been pretty vocal in their forum – happy to get some idea of how to do better there.
c h e e r s
fred
Well, your glass is half full!
Another great update Lee.
I had a Best Month Ever, generating $180.04 off a portfolio size of between 100-140 images. Shutterstock beat out iStockphoto for the first time ever as my top earner, largely due to 2 EL sales. I am not yet to the magical $500 Shutterstock commission level. But once I get there, I assume Shutterstock will regularly top iStockphoto earnings.
The full results were:
Shutterstock $90.40 / 0.86 per image
iStockphoto $56.59 / 0.59
Dreamstime $20.55 / 0.16
Stockxpert $7.00 / 0.18
BigStock $5.50 / 0.03
Lucky Oliver $0 / 0.00
BigStockPhoto was a big disappointment in November as I did very well with them in September and October. But I expect my #3 through #5 earners to bounce around a lot due to the much lower volume. I got a few Dreamstime images up to Level 2 status. A few more should really help future earnings.
One Christmas image at Shutterstock sold 47 times in November alone, and produced an EL, to make it my most successful image in my brief microstock history.
Nice work Dan. It’s interesting to see that Shutterstock are overtaking iStockphoto for other contributors too. Sounds like you’ll pass the $500 milestone at Shutterstock quite soon.
What can you do to replicate the success of the top seller Christmas image?
-Lee
Hi Lee, Thanks for a great site. I really enjoy it. I am new to this, about 3 months and I have learned a hell of alot through this site.
I think your figures for StockXpert are really interesting. Only 105 images and yet the earnings are very high considering, I know they pay high commission but this looks very promising for revenue from this site.
Seriously considering making them my 5th agency.
Any tips on getting accepted into shutterstock? They just shot me down for the third time, I won’t give up though I will be trying again in 29 days.
They must be the harshest of all inspectors? They have rejected 30/30 for me and I only submit what has already been accepted harsh inspectors at other microstock sites.
Cheers!
Hi Ciaran,
I’m glad you’ve learned a lot from this blog. It’s great to be able to earn money from helping people.
Yes, StockXpert are doing great. Recently they’ve had the third or fourth highest earnings per image of all my agencies.
Getting accepted at Shutterstock and other selective agencies is a common hurdle for people starting out in microstock, including myself. I collected tips and ideas and wrote an article dedicated to the topic: How to get accepted as a microstock contributor. I hope that helps.
-Lee
Hi Lee,
Thank you for sharing your numbers and experience.
I am just starting submitting to microstock agencies: 3 weeks, 10-20 picture portfolio in 5 places, $3 earnings, failed attempts in ShutterStock and StockXpert (which means that they are worth to get into). It is an interesting learning experience. I will be writing about it in my blog.
-Marek