October 2008 earnings

October pictures (collage Picasa 3)

Highlights

An pretty slow October (especially the second half) with 500 pictures sold for a bit less than $300 . Referrals and midstock pushed my earning to $ 320. No extended licences sold this month but one sale at Zymmetrical. Global RPI is only 0.63 down from 0.84 last month. I continue uploading to YAY micro and Cutcaster as a test but no sales so far....
The only got thing is that the dollar regained some strengh against the Euro...
Compared to October 2007 in ():

Total earnings: $ 296.35 ($ 122.53)
Pictures sold: 501 (275)
Average $/dl: 0.59 (0.45)
Global RPI : 0.63 (0.84)

Microstock one by one

• Shutterstock. By far, my best earner this month even if RPI went down to 0.22. I had four on demand sales taking 8 % of the earnings. I noticed that new uploads did not get as many downloads as usual and that the second half of the month was noticibly slower than the first.
  

• Istockphoto. More than 50% down compared to last month probably explained by change in best match : my best seller lost a lot of ground but on the positive side I sold some ''old'' pictures for the first time.
  

• Fotolia. Pretty similar than last month and I still hold my uploads over there, just clear out the queue from time to time...
  

• Dreamstime. Not far from a BME but $/dl decreased compared to last month since I had few level 2 picture sales.
  

• Stockxpert. Up again after two slow months, hope to see this trend continue in the future
  

• 123RF. Earnings are in the normal range this month but nothing spectacular. I have now 800 + pictures on line.
  

• Bigstockphoto. BME. I included BSP in the detailled earning this month as I had a big jump in sales (3 % of total earnings). It is probably due to the fact that I cleared my pending queue of pictures.

Less than 1%: Crestock,Scanstockphoto,Canstockphoto (no sales).


Detailed earnings, figures in USD

Microstock sales commission: highs and lows

Few dollars more to break even :)

This year saw many microstock agencies increased their prices and their contributors' commission. Often articles about microstock are talking about photographers making pennies but overlook that commission for the same picture varies quite a lot....
Sales commission depends on multiple factors : the business model of the agency (subscription and/or credit sales), the resolution of your camera (if you downsize or not as well), being exclusive or non exclusive contributor, your own ranking or the one of your images.

These numbers are not absolute but related to my ranking in some agencies and my gear as well : I have a 10 MP camera, a bronze level at Fotolia with some exclusive photos there, few level 2 images at Dreamstime, sold more than $ 500 worth of pictures at Shutterstock but less than $ 3000.


I had a look at my sales this year at each microstock agencies and these are the highs and lows I registered so far (excluding extended licenses):

• Shutterstock : between $ 0.33 (subscription) and $ 2.48 (on demand sale)
• Stockxpert (subs opt-out) : between $ 0.5 (XS size) and $ 7.5 (L size, pay per download Photos.com) .
  
• Istockphoto : between $ 0.19 (XS size) and $ 2.70 (L size)
• Fotolia : between $ 0.35 (subscription) and $ 4.16 (L size, exclusive)
• Dreamstime : between $ 0.30 (subscription) and $ 2.90 (L size, level 2)
• BigStockphoto : between $ 0.5 (small) and $ 2 (large)
  
• Crestock : between $ 0.25 (subscription) and $ 1 (S size)
• 123RF : between $ 0.36 (subscription) and $ 4.5 (Mega High XL TIFF)

In my case I can get as low as $ 0.2 at IS and as high $ 7.5 at SXP for the same picture!
123RF is the agency where the difference is the more important...

However, because of my large volume of sales at Shutterstock my average monthly sales commission fluctuates between $ 0.6 and $ 0.7 per picture....

September 2008 earnings

Highlights

A 20 % increase compared to last month and a few dollars shy of a BME. The couple (SS + IS ) took 65% of the earnings and I had 2 BME at IS and DT. Cumulative RPI was 0.84 this which is much lower than my BME last May with 1.11.
I sold 548 pictures this month with an average of 0.61 $/dl with no extended license sales to report:(
I continue contributing to YAYmicro and Cutcaster but no sales so far. PS is no longer there so i my RM pictures go to Alamy. I earned $ 10 at Panthermedia , the only midstock with sales to report this month.

Microstock one by one

• Shutterstock. 2nd BME with on demand sales taking 4 % of the earnings. I have now close to 500 pictures in my portfolio. RPI pretty stable at 0.27. I still try to gather more referrals so here is my link : Submit Photos to Shutterstock and make $$$!. Thanks !
  

• Istockphoto. BME this month with an increase for the 6th consecutive month now. My best seller took 43 % of the earnings. I have sold now 500 pictures at Istockphoto since the beginning. Highest RPI of 0.38 (same than last month).
  

• Fotolia. Noticeably down compared to last and a poor RPI of 0.05. A big drop in $/dl as well.I still have some files on the queue but did not upload any new pictures there last month

• Dreamstime. BME with earnings almost doubled compared to last month. 1.15 $/dl which is a record so far for DT.
  

• 123RF. A nice surprise there with a second BME and a very high $/dl at 1.27. I think it will the first agency where I will reach 1000 pictures by the end of the year.

• Stockxpert. Like FT, a big drop compared to last month and still the same problems with the views. Hope sales will start again soon because SXP has the highest $/dl at 1.71 this month.
  

Big six ranking

$ : SS>IS>FT>DT>123RF>SXP (same than last month)

Performance (RPI): IS>SS>DT>FT>123RF>SXP

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

Less than 1% of earnings: SCP,CT,CSP (no sales). I got my first payout at BSP !,took more than a year though...


Figures in USD