Comments on: Microstock Earnings Report September 2009

By: microstock photo earnings comparison September 09 | My Stock Photography

microstock photo earnings comparison September 09 | My Stock Photography — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:27:31 +0000

[...] MicrostockDiaries – Microstock Earnings Report September 2009 [...]

By: Lee Torrens

Lee Torrens — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:39:38 +0000

Hi Leo,

Yes, Jack has built his portfolio in a relatively short time, which is one of the factors which explain his relatively low earnings – his portfolios don’t have the advantage of a metrics history. Additionally, his shots are very simple (location shots “usually” sell better than studio shots), don’t have a lot of variety, and are a competitive subject (people isolated on white). His earnings so far are quite close to where his expectations were for this content.

-Lee

By: Leo

Leo — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:26:51 +0000

Hi Lee,

Thanks for the earnings comparison. It seems to me that the largest factor in getting stable earnings from microstock is time. For instance, Jack has surpassed your portfolio count in a very short time (of course, he has an arsenal of photos prior from a week’s long studio session, as you mentioned), but his earnings are still relatively small.

What do you think? I believe it’s harder to get accepted and the ball rolling these days, but if one keeps pursuing it with quality work and consistent uploads, eventually time will stabilize earnings from, at the very least, the major sites.

You’re doing an excellent job, by the way. Take care!

Leo

By: Lee Torrens

Lee Torrens — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:03:23 +0000

Hey Maluson, yes, there’s a general consensus that illustrations are more lucrative than photos. It makes sense when you consider that the prices (for vectors) are higher and there’s less competition than with photos. Lucky for those of you who can create great illustrations!

-Lee

By: Maluson

Maluson — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:58:54 +0000

Altough I’m quite new to microstock with vectors (since june), I must say that my numbers were quite good thanks mostly to shutterstock (BME).
It seems to me though that Vectors and Illustrations are most of the time better sellers than photos.

Thanks for your wonderful website Lee!

By: Orson

Orson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:08:42 +0000

For me, September was the best month ever in microstock, I had the highest earnings on Shutterstock and Dreamstime. For more details, you can look at my September microstock earnings report.

By: Matt Antonino

Matt Antonino — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:16:39 +0000

I enjoy seeing Jack’s numbers too – he’s doing fairly well so far! I just updated my numbers for Sept as well and given the lack of summer effort on my part I’m ok with my totals. Now we get into the part of the year where I really love to be submitting! I can’t wait for the next 9 months of micro!

Matt

By: Holger Mette

Holger Mette — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:30:50 +0000

As usual thanks for the stats Lee!

For me the big news of the month is the resurgence of Istock – I suspect this is not quite so obvious in your figures if they’re deleting files, and with the upload limits seriously limiting Jack’s portfolio. For me its a BME in terms of overall $$ – the first since the big plunge last year, and the best this year for download numbers.
Its also the first month where IS has overtaken the total revenue on SS. Looking at the Alexa stats is showing pretty strong growth.

By: Cory

Cory — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:10:30 +0000

September was a great month for me. Also, congrats to you on getting mentioned in the Macworld article.

By: plrang

plrang — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:28:12 +0000

‘my expectations are way too high for my skill level’ – sounds familiar and that’s the way:), greetings