July 2009 earnings

Highlights

Here my top 6 agencies this month ranked by decreasing monthly earning:

1.IS
2.SS
3.DT=SXP
4.FT
5.123RF=BSP
6.CSP

No BME to report this month but it was more or less on the same level than the previous one with SS continuing losing ground against IS, DT and SXP. Microstock earnings were 14 % higher compared to July 2008 earnings despite the fact that some of my portfolio doubled in size. With midstock sales this July actually ended up being slightly better than June just above the $ 400 mark.
For the third consecutive month, IS is my strongest agency and if it was not for some OD sales, SS woulld have been very close to DT and SXP this month.
After encouraging early sales reported by some photographers at the new Veer Marketplace I decided to join and started uploading my portfolio.
Hopefully sales will help offset a soon expected drop of earnings at SXP......

Earning figures in USD

Isyndica stats screenshot

June 2009 earnings

Highlights

My top 6 agencies this month ranked by decreasing monthly earning:

1.IS
2.SS
3.FT
4.CSP
5.DT
6.SXP

A small decrease in earnings was observed compared to May (which was my BME) mainly due to the fact that I did not have any EL. For the second consecutive month IS is ahead of SS and I expect this difference to increase in the coming months. Shutterstock is at an all time low with a RPI of only 0.1 despite six on demand sales this month. Fotolia did better than normal, with just enough earnings to rank number three. With a new BME, Canstockphoto is not far behind followed by Dreamstime.

Stockxpert is on the decline and I do expect this to continue when the subscription scheme Jupiter/Photos cancellation will be kick in. 123RF,SCP and BSP have still low sales and no sales to report on new agencies YAY and Cutcaster:(
I got few sales at Panthermedia though which pushed my earnings very close to $400 this month.

I changed quite a bit my workflow this month using Isyndica platform which I found very useful especially when using a limited broadband access. Although SS and IS are not reported yet, a screenshot below shows respective earnings for the months of June 2008 and June 2009. I found also Deepmeta very useful to submit to IS and I hope to get to 500 pictures online in the near future.
The $ 500 milestone is within reach but I don't see it happening before September.


Figures in USD



June 2009 earnings (Isyndica screenshot)



June 2008 earnings (Isyndica screenshot)

May 2009 earnings

Highlights

Like last year, May sets up a new high for microstock earnings.The most strinking development is that after 24 months, SS lost its number spot to Istock. Two BME to report at IS and SCP this month and a record of $ 0.77 per dl.
I joined Isyndica this month to make my uploading task easier and spread pictures to more agencies . It will be interesting to see if it will help reach my long expected $ 500 target. I will blog on this subject later on.

Microstock one by one

• IS. Put all other agencies in the dust this month and sets the record for the most money made by one agency. Even without the 2 EL, IS would have end up ahead of SS. RPI=0.51
  

• SS. 9 OD's sales and just above $ 100 this month . Earnings down 20% compared to last year with 500 more pictures online ! Growing earnings at SS appear quite limited for the future.... SS represented this month only 25 % of my total earnings compared to 37% last year.
  

• FT. Back to number 3 spot but still on the same flat line despite continuous uploading....
  

• SXP. Down from last month but overall satisfying earnings. It looks like that since Getty got on board some files were desactivated because of IP problems. I noticed that some reviews were not very consistent this month.
  

• DT. Big drop this month , looks like level 2 and level 3 images are not selling anymore.....
  

• BSP and 123RF: quite far from DT in term of earnings with RPI of 0.01......

• Less than 1 % of earnings:CSP, CT (got my 1st payout :)

Earnings in USD

April 2009 earnings

Highlights

This month sets a new high for my microstock earnings just above the $ 400 mark (previous was in May 2008). Several sales contributed to that: 3 extended sales at SS,FT and DT (my first one), a first fotosearch credit sale at CSP. All this translated to 3 best months ever at DT,SXP and CSP and a new record of $ 0.76/dl in average. If 2009 follows the trend of last year sales, I expect May 2009 to be as good or better but we shall see...

Microstock agency ranking by $

• Shutterstock: 1 EL and 4 OD's sales this month, 1 zero sale day. It looks very difficult to increase earnings at SS despite a rather large number of new pictures added this month.
• Istock: Very similar to last month, but it always slow to growth my portfolio: upload limit combined with slow review and high rejection rate. Should take over SS one of this day if I manage to get more best sellers (my best seller made alone exactly $ 214.97 in one year with 164 dls).
• Stockxpert: For the first time in a while, credits sales were largely superior to subscription sales and a single image leads to a BME due to a favorable ranking in the search engine towards the middle of the month. It will interesting to follow up on this one !
• Dreamstime: My first EL there and quite a lot of regular downloads made a BME. Working towards a 1000+ pictures portfolio there.
• Fotolia: Despite constant uploading my earnings in FT did not really change in over a year: low search engine ranking ??? If it was not for a EL, FT would have been at the bottom...
  
• Canstockphoto: A nice fotosearch sale the last day of the month :) Hope to have 1000 + pictures on line soon.
• 123rf: An average month at 123rf, it is the first agency where I have 1000+ pictures on line.

Low earners this month with 1% or less of total sales are BSP, SCP and CT (I am 50 cents shy from my first payout there....). No sales to report at YAY and Cutcaster.

Earnings table (figures in US dollars)

Lookstat screenshot

March 2009 earnings

Highlights

A good solid month with a bit more than $ 300 earned  with microstock alone, not far from my BME in May 2008. Midstock added another $43 to the total. No BME this month but all big agencies performed well especially IS. Earnings are well up compared to last month and March 2008 with a new record of $ 0.7/dl in average. If it was not for 1 EL and 9 OD's sales, Shutterstock would have lost its number spot to IS this month. I had also one day with no sales.....
DT ranked third this month followed closely by FT and SXP. SXP looks like more and more like SS since most sales are from subscription. So far it looks like that my increase in earnings is coming from IS,DT and SXP. On the other hand, FT, BSP, 123RF earning curves are flat despite regular uploads..... I had my first download at Snapvillage for $ 15, I've completely forgot about this one......

Compared to March 2008 in ():

Total earnings: $ 325.76 ($ 209.51)
Pictures sold: 445 (402)
Average $/dl: 0.73 (0.52)
Global RPI : 0.82 (0.78)

February 2009 earnings

Highlights

For the time since I started microstock, my earnings were lower by few dollars compared to the same month last year. On a positive side, I had my first sale and Cutcaster and two new sales at YAY.
A good surprise came this month from midstock agencies taking a bit more than 25 % of total earnings including Panthermedia with 32 euros sales in total. Total earnings with midstock brought this month earnings above the $ 300 mark. I found Panthermedia to be a consistent seller in term of sales and type of pictures sold so I encourage to submit there and see what pictures of your portfolio they accept like I did.

Compared to February 2008 in ():

Total earnings: $ 238.33 ($ 239.18)
Pictures sold: 435 (379)
Average $/dl: 0.55 (0.63)
Global RPI : 0.46 (1.06)


Microstock one by one

Shutterstock . Less than 30% of microstock earnings this month way down compared to February last year. It is the first time since I joined Shutterstock that I did not reach a payout.... Only 2 OD sales this month

Istockphoto. Earnings slighty better than last month with a RPI of 0.16 the highest of all the microstock agencies

Fotolia.Number 3 only because I sold a bunch of old and ugly pictures for 0.5 credit each

Dreamstime. One of the most consistent agency this past months in term of earnings and very close to a BME. Above average rejection rate this month though.....

Stockxpert. Earnings are in the normal range this range although a lot of sales came from subscriptions.

A lot of action in low earners this month: 4 BME to report at Crestock, Yaymicro,Cutcaster and Scanstockphoto.

123RF and BSP joined the rank of the low earners this month but all of them made a non negligeable 15 % of earnings. . I had my first sale in 7 months in CSP as I uploaded my entire portfolio there after the Fotosearch acquisition.

Lookstat screenshot

January 2009 earnings

Highlights

A good month in term of earnings considering the slow start of the month and the fact that I did not have any EL and sales in midtock. Among the 10 agencies, I had only one BME at Dreamstime. RPI went up so does volume of sales from last month. However compared to the same period last year, RPI is only half its value and volume of sales about the same despite the fact that I have a larger number of pictures on line.

Compared to January 2008 in ():

Total earnings: $ 265.08 ($ 179.26)
Pictures sold: 462 (446)
Average $/dl: 0.58 (0.42)
Global RPI : 0.48 (0.89)

• Shutterstock. A good month above the $ 100 mark again due a large number of OD sales which represent 15 % of the earnings, up from 5-8 % normally RPI=0.17. I had however my first 0 sale day ever this month.
  
• Istockphoto. Sales are getting better again. IS new price structure certainly boosted my earnings.RPI=0.16
  
• Fotolia. Very close to the second position this month and earnings. RPI=0.05
  
• Dreamstime. A BME by few dollars hope it continues this way. RPI = 0.04
  
• Stockxpert. A lot of sub sales this month since I had a only 6 credit sales on 45 sales. RPI=0.03
  
• Bigstockphoto . Dissapointing month with earnings lower than in december
• 123RF. Dissapointing month as well, a bit better than last month but still far from past performances....
  

Less than 1%: SCP (no sales this month),CSP,CT


On the midstock front no sales this like I mentioned earlier. I have 500 pictures on line now on YAY and decided to hold uploads now on. I give a bit more time to Cutcaster but still wait for my first sale there. I hope Zymmetrical and Panthermedia will pick up next month....



Stats

Lookstat screenshot January 2009

The trends of this month are clearly visible on this screenshot from Lookstat. FT should be added shortly to the list of agencies and it worth mentioning that Lookstat implemented a new feature this month to track earnings per picture. I will do a post about this later on but it is definitely a very good tool to analysis strengh and weakness of a portfolio.

Detailled earnings January 2009 (figures in USD)

December 2008 earnings

Highlights

As expected, a slow month in microstock especially during the second half of the month .Looking at the yearly graph, earnings dropped from September despite adding new pictures which is the opposite of last year. Compared to december 2007 most agencies are down also.
This month is the 2nd worst month of the year for earnings, the lowest RPI and $/dl with just below $ 200 for microstock. Quite unusual month as I did not have BME in the big 6 this month. No help from extended sales but a sale a panthermedia brings total earnings to almost $220. I also had my first payout there. Shutterstock was the only agency not be affected this month. I definitely looking forward to january to see an increase in downloads!

Compared to December 2007 in ():

Total earnings: $ 192.47 ($ 163.46)
Pictures sold: 383 (446)
Average $/dl: 0.50 (0.37)
Global RPI : 0.38 (0.90)

• Shutterstock. A pretty good month considering the slow down at the end of the year, SS takes almost 50% of the earnings this month. As last, I sold less pictures this december than the one last year but because of the higher commission earnings are few dollars up. On demand sales made up for 5 % of the earnings.RPI=0.16.
• Istockphoto. Very similar to last mont with RPI of 0.11 hopefully IS will pick up again next month. Got my first sub sale there for $ 0.19.
  
• Fotolia. A big drop compared to the last two months at Fotolia. Very RPI at 0.02
• Dreamstime. A bit slower than last month. RPI 0.02.
• Stockxpert. A decrease compared to last month despite my first ppd sales of $ 7.5 via photos.com. RPI of 0.02
• Bigstockphoto . Not bad considering the performance of other stocks. RPI 0.01

CT had a BME but still under 2 % of total earning. I tried to resume my uploading but got 100% rejection! I think I will just for my first payout there !
Less than 1%: SCP,CSP


Stats

For the first time, I include this month stats provided by Lookstat that I joined recently. At the moment it allows to track the stats of SS,DT and IS. I had Rahul Pathak , CEO of Lookstats,on the phone recently to give him some feedback. Exciting developments are on the way, the ultimate goal being to move away to the classical Excel spreadsheet. Some features like tracking earning by keywords across agencies would a powerful tool since it very difficult or impossible to do that manually . FT will be added next as well as more flexiblity about the date periods selection.

November 2008 earnings

Highlights

I was complaining about last month but November was worse for me with less than $ 250 sales for Microstock. However, one sale at Yaymicro (5 euros), one at Panthermedia ($19.3), one at Zymmetrical ($21) plus referrals push this month earnings to $ 285. Global RPI sunk to 0.46 and average $/dl was 0.59.

Compared to November 2007 in ():

Total earnings: $ 233.57 ($ 143.9)
Pictures sold: 396 (377)
Average $/dl: 0.59 (0.38)
Global RPI : 0.46 (0.93)

Microstock one by one

• Shutterstock. By far number 1 again despite a pretty bad 1st half of the month. For the time for a while, just below the $ 100 mark this month Like last month I had four on demand sales taking 8 % of the earnings. A good split between old and new files regarding downloads which is good. My lowest RPI ever this month at 0.16... I sold more pictures than last year at the same time but because of higher commission now I actually earned more.
  

• Fotolia. Similar number than last month with a nice EL

• Istockphoto. Lost its solid second place. Earnings went down for the second consecutive month and I am back to money I was making at the beginning of the year.
  

• Stockxpert. I decided finally to opt-in in an attempt to get some pay par dl's sales at photos.com. It did not happened yet, but I had quite a lot of sub from Jupiter image.

• Dreamstime. Pretty slow month, a lot of sub sales which explains the low number this month
  

• Bigstockphoto. BME by one dollar this month. I managed to have 500+ photos on line now.

• 123RF. Very dissapointing month, sales came to a halt. It is actually my year Worst Month !
  

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

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

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

August 2008 earnings

Created with Picasa 3

It was the slowest month of this summer with earnings just below the $ 300 mark. It was also my most productive month ever in microstock but it was not apparently enough to overcome the slump :( Numbers are very similar to last month, SS and IS still leading the pack taking close to 70% of earnings. Only SXP took a noticeable dive.

No sales to report this month on the midstock agencies. I continue uploading to Cutcaster and Yaymicro as a test while I stopped uploads to Mostphotos. I was accepted after two attempts at Alamy which will allow me to send some RM pictures there as well are in Photoshelter.

Microstock one by one

• SS is just above the $ 100 this month but still number one . RPI went down to 0.24. No EL this month but one on-demand sale for $ 2.48 which is the equivalent of a large size at IS.

• IS had a BME and rising for the 5th consecutive now mainly due to ….one picture… which took since May 50-60 % of IS total earnings. RPI of 0.38 and highest $/dl ever at 1.14. Still no sub sales...
  

• FT Nothing much to say expect that I do not upload there anymore, $ figures did not move for a year and review process still does not make sense to me and to a lot of people as well….
  

• DT Stable earnings compared to last month. 500 + on the portfolio but I still would expect more $$$. I did not notice any increase in the $/dl due to the new levels.
  

• 123RF after a slump last month went back to its previous levels. I have 700 + images on my portfolio now.
  

• SXP Disappointing month especially following the recent upward trend. I noticed that pictures uploaded since 2 weeks did have any views or few views….I do not know if it explains the lack of sales

Big six ranking

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

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

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

Figures in USD

July earnings

Highlights

Despite new uploads, I am still in the $ 300-400 bracket, for three consecutive months now. The same global trend within microstock agencies was observed: SS and IS leading the pack taking more than 60 % of earnings this month. These two agencies have been increasing steadily the past three months and I had a BME for both of them.

On the midstock front, things were still very quiet with no sales for the past two months . I registered at YAY micro last month but nothing happened yet so I gave it a go at Cutcaster, the uploading and approval were very fast, let’s see what happened. I sent my first right managed pictures to Photoshelter which I do not propose to microstock , I will probably expand to Alamy in the near future.

Microstock one by one

• SS Above the $ 100 mark again this month but RPI continues to go down at 0.33 despite new uploads and an EL this month
• IS (+18 %) BME. IS confirmed its second place this month and the $ gap with SS is closing down. Best RPI this month at 0.37 doing better than SS for the first time. I did not have any sub sales yet.
• FT. Normal month for FT stable compared to last month but always under performing with a RPI of 0.06. They still reject almost everything so my pictures are in the queue waiting for better days…..
• SXP (+38%) BME. A very good month at SXP with again the highest $/dl at $ 1.94 /dl this month. SXP pictures will be available for sales at www.photos.com in August and this caused a lot of controversy amongst contributors ( low price of EL and the impossibility to opt-out).
• DT. Very average month but on the positive side a new price structure is in place now so $/dl should increase, logically ….
• 123RF. Disappointing month again at 123RF where I did not even made $ 10 this month. Credit package sales did not change anything for me. RPI is 0.02 the lowest of the big six
  

1% or less of earnings: CT, SCP,CT,BSP. BSP and SCP are the only ones where I continue uploading.

• Big six ranking

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

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

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

Earning figures in USD