April Earnings

This is now my 10th consecutive earnings report and the best so far closing down on the $ 300 mark. For the first time, SS lost his number one spot over FT. All the other sites are performing as usual no surprise there. I got my first sale (11.97 euros) at Panthermedia with a very small portfolio which is encouraging.

The surprise this month in microstock was LO announcing that they will close down the 15th of May due to a lack of funding. Got one payout there and have so far $ 3.40 on the piggy which will probably get lost.... Other agencies are following this path and it looks like that on the long term, micro will evolve to midstock.
Next month should see an increase in earnings: SS will announce and implement its raise for its contributors in the first two weeks of May, I hope it will be something like $0.40.... IS will implement subscription at the end of the month (26th) and finally 123RF implements its new credit prices today the 2nd of May.
Go back to stats now with microstock one by one

Microstock one by one

• FT (+74%). BME. My best earner this month for the time since I started contributed to SS last August. A exceptional month at FT with good sales volume and a record of $ 2.57 per download due to an extended sale ($ 26, picture was exclusive to FT). Global performance of 14 %.

• SS (- 5%). Despite uploading new pictures, earnings do not increase like they did before , it is hard enough to maintain them.... Hopefully with the raise coming and more uploads it will possible to make $ 100 a month on SS. Global performance down to 29 %, an all time low.

• IS (+72%) A good month at IS with a average of $ 0.72/dl this month and a global performance of 27 % just behind SS...

• DT (+28 %). Not far from a BME this month. Average return of $ 0.85/dl and global performance of 4 %.

• 123RF (+31%) A dip in sales compared to last month but 123RF is pretty stable otherwise. Hopefully earnings will go up this month when the new credit prices will kick in this month. Performance of 3 % and average of $ 0.72/dl.

• SXP (+8%) BME. SXP continues its slow progression with an average of $ 1.44/dl (subscriptions opt-out). Global performance 6 %. 200 + portfolio this month.
  

Low earners (less than 2 % of earnings)
BSP, LO (RIP), SCP, CT (a slight improvement in sales this month). No sales at CSP for 2 months in a row (next to go down ??).

• Big 6 rankings

$: FT>SS>IS>DT>123RF>SXP

Performance: SS>IS>FT>SXP>DT>123RF

$/DL: FT>SXP>IS>123RF>DT>SS

Detailed earnings Figures in USD. Note: 100 % global performance is defined by a portfolio with an average of sales of $ 1 per picture.

March earnings

Highlights

For the first time since I started this blog, I had a drop in earnings of 14% but I am still above the $ 200 mark. Three BME at FT, SXP and 123RF and an EL at FT. Regarding midstock this month only one sale of $ 7 to report at Zymmetrical which is not bad considering it was a small size.

Some news in the microstock world this month: SXP and 123RF followed IS and FT in the increase of prices which is good news for contributors. SS is expected to implement a raise next month and it was the subject of a lot of discussion across the forums.
I will be interesting to follow SS this year to see if they will stick to the subscription model: a lot of photographers noticed a significant drop in sales at SS this year. I observed this also despite having from 0.25 to $ 0.30 and the upload of new pictures.
Because SXP in their new price structure include a XXXL size I am still opting out for subscription. I did the same at Snapvillage and decided for the time being to put all my pictures at $ 50 treating SV like midstock not microstock. However I do not have any sales to report it there.

Microstock one by one

• SS (- 19%). A significant drop in sales this month despite a raise at $ 0.3/dl early this month. It looks like SS is slowing declining , hopefully the coming new price structure will compensate some of it. Global performance down to 32 % which is the lowest since I starting uploading there.
  

• FT (+13%). BME. A good month at FT where the effect of the price increase are still there with an average $/dl close to $ 1.5. Global performance of 9 %.
  

• 123RF (+31%) BME A surprise 3rd place for 123rf. A lot of credit sales with few sales at $ 3.75 which is much higher than all the other sites for a 5MP picture. Performance of 5 % but a good $ 0.89/dl this month.
  

• IS (-47%) IS did not continue its progression of last month after the price increase. Less sales and a slight drop in $/dl explain this result. Good performance of 16%
  

• DT (-38%). Despite the fact the DT is my 3rd largest portfolio among my leading agencies, sales are not really following. I still do not have any level 2 images but the $/dl is not bad at $ 0.85. Performance at 4% so less than 123RF.

• SXP (+85%) BME helped by the new prices in place at the end of the month with the highest $/dl of all the major sites at $1.5 . Performance 7 %

Less than 3 % of earnings
BSP, LO, SCP, CT(1 sale at $ 0.25). No sales at CSP this month

• Big 6 rankings

$: SS>FT>123RF>IS>DT>SXP

Performance: SS>IS>FT>SXP>123RF>DT

$/DL: SXP>FT>123RF>IS>DT>SS








Detailed earnings Figures in USD. Note: 100 % global performance is defined by a portfolio with an average of sales of $ 1 per picture.

February earnings

Highlights

Very good month overall and with the help of my first referrals earnings I am now just above the $250 mark (+24%). 5 BME on the 5 main agencies. I saw this month a very positive effect of the price increase at FT and IS with return of more than $1/dl. I got for the first time 2EL at Shutterstock!

On a previous post I was speculating about the increase of the $/dl and it really happened this month with the highest I had so far with $0.69.

However nothing to report on the macro site this month, not a single sale despite the fact than one of my picture (green spiral staircase) is on the frontpage of Zymmetrical with few others.

Ranking $: SS>FT>IS>DT>123RF

Ranking performance: SS>IS>FT>DT>123RF

Ranking $/DL: SCP>FT>IS>LO>CSP

Microstock one by one

• SS (+37%). BME. My highest earner for the 7th consecutive month but % earnings continue to decrease down to 41% this month. I got not only one but two exclusive extended sales this month which is pretty unusual. Without them, SS would have taken just under 30% of earnings. Global performance 45%.
  

• FT (+29%) BME. A nice growth this month mainly due to the new prices put in place because I had less sales than the previous month. This is the highest $/download I ever had with $ 1.46 ($ 0.91 last month). Performance up to 8%.

• IS (+36%) BME. IS continue its growth and due to the price increase a very good return per image at 1 $/per download ($ 0.79 last month). I get more pictures accepted because of my better camera resolution now I think. Global performance up to 33%.
  

• DT (+71%). BME. A surprisingly good month with a significant decrease in subscriptions sales (4 out of 27) which gave a much higher $/dl than last month at $ 0.87

• 123RF (+40%). BME. I continue to be impressed by 123 RF , earnings are up this month again with almost a perfect split between subscription and credit sales.
• SXP (-11%) A slow month at SXP , sales did never really pick up since I started.
  
• Slow sites (less than 2% of sales each): BSP,CSP,CT,SCP,LO. LO and SCP are actually the best of this pack. Only sub sales at CT , I will pause my uploads there from now on.
  

• 379 pictures sold (229 on SS)
• Best day: $ 29.36 (25/02)
• Average per download: $0.63
• Global performance : 106 %

Detailed earnings Figures in USD. Note: 100 % global performance is defined by a portfolio with an average of sales of $ 1 per picture.

January earnings

Highlights

In term of sales, January was quite the opposite of last month: a very slow start and a good finish. Overall January earnings took over December at the very end of the month and thanks to one sale at Mostphotos, I was few dollars away from my $ 200 target. +8 % growth and + 20 % including midstock. % earnings between agencies is starting being more balanced now since I have steady sales not only at SS and FT but also IS,123RF,DT and SXP. So overall a BME with BME at IS,123RF,SXP and LO.

Ranking $: SS>FT>IS>DT>123RF

Ranking performance: SS>IS>FT>SXP>DT

Ranking $/DL: SCP>FT>BSP>SXP>IS

Microstock one by one

• SS (-22%). Still the highest earner but it was a disappointing month; sales did not really follow the trends of previous months since with a bit more than 200 pictures now, I was expecting to make around $ 110 this month. New uploads did not really sale like hot cakes as previously observed. Global performance down form 54 to 35 %. 200 + portfolio this month.
  

• FT (+32%) Better than last month despite no having EL. For 5 months now FT in my number 2 earner but IS and DT are getting closer and closer. Like IS FT put in place new prices so logically earnings should go up if customers do not download too much the new XS size.600+ portfolio this month.

• IS (+128%) BME. More downloads and more $ due to the new price structure put in place at the beginning of the month. This was reflected in the $/dl: 0.79 per picture sold ($ 0.65 in December) .For the first time I sold more pictures than the number on line. Very good performance of 29% not too far from SS this month.
  

• DT (-19%). A slight decrease in earnings this month. A significant decrease in $/Dl down from 1 to 0.67 due to an increase in sub sales (4/20 this month, 0/17 in december). The new keywords feature in place is quite interesting and it was in my case very relevant to the pictures downloaded. Approval rate of 68 % this month.
  

• 123RF (+83%).BME. Almost beat DT this month, I have few pictures who sell very well there. 400+ portfolio this month
  

• SXP (+46%). BME. A slight increase this month. I opted out for the subscription sales and did not see any detrimental effect on sales. On the negative side, slow and inconsistent reviews.

• LO performed better than usual with 7 sales this month and take 3 % of the earnings.
• Slow sites (less than 1% of sales each): BSP,CSP,CT. I am disappointed to have only 0.25 c sub sales at CT I wish they had a system to opt out like SXP. I started contributed to scanstockphoto as well this month and sold one picture for 1 Euro.
  

Midstocks agencies

I am now on Mostphotos (280 pics), Zymmetrical (15), Panthermedia (7) and Zoonar (1).I had my first sale this month at Mostphotos (€ 12.5). I like the easy upload there and the fact that pictures are on line immediately. If you want to register with my referral link please do so here.

Panthermedia an already well established german midstock agency is now available in English. Commission is 30% for pictures already on microstock sites. Note that IPTC is now currently available. Depending on picture size and assuming you have 30 % royalty you will get between 1.5 and 24 Euros in your pocket. For extended license the maximum you can get is 72 Euros. If you do register please not that Panthemedia is divided in two entities: Stock Agency (SA) and Photocommunity(PC). Join SA is the cheaper option to sell pictures and only cost 0.35 euros to cover for the Paypal setup fees.
Here is my referral link below if you are interested to join:

Zoonar is another midstock agency based in Germany. Pictures can be sold as discount, standard or premium rates. With the 50 % commission offered, you can expect to get between 15 and 85 Euros if the original size of your picture is downloaded. A desktop application called Zoonar media manager allows you to upload conveniently entire folder of images. Please note that the minimum size of pictures to upload is 6MP. However upsizing is allowed (up to 1 MP) if it does not create too much artifacts.
If you want to register with my referral link please do so below:

Miscellaneous stats

• 425 pictures sold (281 on SS)
• Days without sales: 0
• Best day: $ 17.58 (23/01)
• Most pictures sold in one day: 27
• Average per download: $0.42
• Global performance : 88.71 %

Detailed earnings Figures in USD. Note: 100 % global performance is defined by a portfolio with an average of sales of $ 1 per picture.