Microstocking or ministocking...

First payment from PhotoDune...!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:56:00 +0000

Hi..!

Another milestone reached last month, it was getting my first payment from PhotoDune, they are a very new agency in terms of stock photos but they have been selling digital goods in different marketplaces for 5 years, which means they have some clients and I am also feeling that :)

There are still some "issues" regarding PhotoDune such as improving the submission process (MR´s are very hard to handle but I guess I understood it now after months), the other issue is regarding royalties %, they are running on a very low rate, 25% and also EL´s are very cheap but there is a opt out option if you wish

After this small introduction about them, I have reached this milestone after 2 months and a few days (October 11 2011), I started with PhotoDune on the end of July (when they have openned it for all contributors beside the invited ones back in March 11)

I needed 58 sales to reach the 50$ (more exactly 50.15$), I had an EL also for 8.75$, the stats make PhotoDune a very cool agency, at least in terms of sales (everyday I am having sales) if they were giving a nicier % royalties it would be a very cool agency, will see how it goes...

PhotoDune have already more earnings (until today) than: Stockfresh, Featurepics, Crestock, Yaymicro, Graphicleftovers, Mostphotos, Pixmac, Alamy, 3dstudio, Scanstockphoto, Viscoimages, iRockstock, iSignstock

The picture on the beginning of this post was the lucky one, it got me to my first payment there, it is a studio isolation as you can see, it was done in December 2010 and was sold for 0.5$ (buyer spent 2$, the 25% comission!), they have until this milestone a RPD of 0.86$

Next blog posts:
- Microstock Earnings - October 2011

Stock Performer!! (one invite to give away)

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:35:00 +0000

Hello!

Today´s post is about a very cool web application (no downloads, updates, passwords or other), a must have to all stock contributors, it is basically a very intuitive way to track your sales in real-time, you can check how your pictures performed since they are online and many other features that I will show along this post using my own account :)

Let me introduce you Luis Alvarez and Oliver Rivo, the creators of this app:
Luis is a successful stock photographer, currently iStockphoto exclusive, he is mainly focus in fashion photography, runs a very cool blog with tons of lighting diagrams and tips too that I have been following for a long time :)
Oliver has background in Computer Science and Music, never heard of him before but one thing I can tell you, he sure is a very commited person and always ready to help, been very helpful regarding this new app that will bring certainly more joy and efficiency to stock industry :)

After this small introduction, I want to show you the real stuff, I have made a few printscreens (some very big) about the features you will find in Stock Performer, you will see it is a very simple app that will change the way you work, you will have the chance to see in seconds how your photoshoots are performing!

1. Recent sales (occurred on the current day)

2. Current month revenue and downloads (chart and performance (a measurement of the revenue on the same period comparing to last month); October sales)

3. Sales and downloads (since the month/year you started) (uploads included)

4. Sales and downloads (uploads not included)

5. Sales and downloads (ShutterStock sales, % compared to total month earnings)

6. Daily sales (choose the day you want to check on the monthly chart, November 1th revenue/downloads on all 4 agencies available)

7. Top sales daily (pictures earnings on a daily period; iStockphoto and revenue)

8. Top sales monthly (quantity of pictures sold on a monthly period; ShutterStock and downloads)

9. Top sales yearly (pictures earnings on a yearly period; all 4 agencies available and in terms of revenue)

10. Single picture statistics (chart/table showing picture performance; most downloaded picture in ShutterStock)

11. Collections (table showing statistics regarding lightboxes created at iStockphoto; number of files, downloads, revenue, RPD, RPI, STR collections)

12. Augusto collection (chart/table showing performance of the pictures from specific collection)

Stock Performer will be officialy launched on November 5th but it won´t be open to everybody, it is going to be a controlled launch, what I am giving away is a guaranteed spot in that launch, you will in the first round of invited contributors :) (that means 14 days trial)

What do you need to do??
- like SF on Facebook!
- follow SF on Twitter!
- tweet the following: "check the new and powerful analytics app for microstockers @stockperformer @luissantos84"
(November 5th is the date limit to enter this contest, after that I will choose ramdomly a winner and will let you know)

Stock Performer will have a lot more features in a near future, such as:
- a new agency will be added soon (123RF), which means the top 5 agencies for most contributors will be tracked
- make your own collections
- monthly chart for previous months

If you have any question please leave a comment, myself or SF will be happy to answer!

Microstock Earnings - September 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 12:02:00 +0000

Helloooo!

Here I am today to show my September earnings report, it was another BME with over 1060$ and more than 1600 sales! A very nice month once it keeps on climbing up, the trend is really cool and I need to keep this momentum, I had the help of 6 EL´s (SS, IS, FT, PD) :)

This September, my top 5 agencies in order were (SS, IS, 123RF, FT, DT), they have made again a very high % of all my sales, more exactly 80.29%! I don´t like to underestimate smaller agencies once every one is important to keep my earnings stable, we never know when agencies go up other down, I believe I will be always non-exclusive, I cannot depend on a single agency looking at my current earnings and % in the different agencies! MicroStock industry is a very inconstant business regarding how agencies take care of their contributors, so we will keep on collecting and trying to pull the best out of it :)

After this small introduction, I want to step into the facts about this September, so check below:

- SS (went down from the previous month (BME), less 120$ due to only 2 EL´s when the previous had 5 (August), still a good/solid month despite lower EL´s and OD´s, look below for more stats)

- 2 EL´s
- less 16 OD's (from 62 to 46) (29 for 2.70$, 17 for 1.17$)
- less 42 sales, 826 (868 August)

- IS (BME with 1 EL, a very very nice month, despite the current contributors having lower sales, it seems that things aren´t affecting low earners (a lot easier to keep regular sales once they have never gone over the roof), I have never stopped uploading there, my portfolio is now over 1k files, the PP helped a lot this month again once they represent 30.5% of the total earnings, will see what will be the future of IS and my earnings there)
- FT (BME with 2 EL´s, my second month there with over 100 sales, it was a very good month, EL´s sure helped but overall I think they are becoming more consistent (subscription sales are still a big part of the sales but not much we can do, still some time left to reach silver :/ )
- 123RF (a very good month, just 2$ away from the BME, had the highest amount of sales (120), I am loving contributing there, sales/earnings are awesome and just wish them the best, they have my 110% support :) )
- DT (a nice month too, 2$ away from the previous BME (February 2011), despite this I still think they are quite stagnated, sales and earnings seem to be stuck despite constant uploading, will keep on doing my best to increase there!)
- PD (BME with 1 EL (8.75$), it is just my second month there but earnings/sales seem very nice, they are a mid-tier already for me (around 30$/month), I will keep on supporting them (still a lot to upload there), there is another cool thing about them which is the "bundle", the reviewers pick I believe around 30 pics ("best of the best" once they rejected a lot) and they are sold "insanely" during that month, earnings from 300$ to 900$ (per picture selected and size), I really need to get some "picked" by them, it would boost my earnings, will look closely to this! I want them badly to raise the % royalties, only 25 at the moment)
- DP (BME with 31.21$ and 64 sales, 18.22 (credits) + 12$ (subscriptions) + 0.96$ (SMS), RPD on almost 50 cents!)
- MP (not a BME, but still very cool earnings for an agency that haven´t got any kind of review, will kepp on uploading every time I have new pictures, don´t have much to lose, actually only positive, some sales and the free backup!)
- Z (BME, I don´t create much products there, been doing some business cards and will keep on doing them once I remember to, overall they aren´t a bad "agency", just not very consistent but yes they do have "buyers")
- all other agencies I don´t have much to add, they are what they are, will see "tomorrow"!

Hemera and PP stats:
- Hemera collection at Thinkstock (Jun 10 3.75$, Jul 7.25$, Aug 9.25$, Sep 13.35$, Oct 10.50$, Nov 16.75$, Dec 8.75$, Jan 10$, Feb 8.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 12.5 0$, May 14.50$, June 9.25$, July 7.50$, August 5.75$, September 10$)
- Partner Program at Thinkstock (Nov 09 0.3$, Dec 1.75$, Jan 3.75$, Feb 12.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 23.25$, May 20.50$, Jun 20.25$, Jul 21.25$, Aug 30.97$, Sep 29.50$, Oct 10 36.48$, Nov 24.94$, Dec 20.11$, Jan 14$, Feb 23.83$, Mar 22.52$, Apr 28.28$, May 42.39$, June 42.84$, July 37.72$, August 60.10$, September 62.9$)

Now, please look at the following table and charts (like always these don't include referrals or bonus):

Notes:

20th and 21th Extended License (EL) in SS
12th and 13th Extended License (EL) in FT
3rd Extended License (EL) in IS
1st Extended License (EL) in PD
Rate per Download (RPD) decreased to 0.65 (last month was 0.66$)
Best day: 78.88$ (September 19)
Most photos sold in one day: 84 (September 14)
Top seller photo: 28$ (SS)
BME in IS, FT, DP, YAY, Z, PD, A
Referrals: 4.41$ (DT, PM)

P.S: If you have any comment referring to my monthly report or other suggestion about my portfolio,etc please feel free!

2nd milestone in DepositPhotos - 250 downloads..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 03:49:00 +0000

Hiiii!

Another milestone reached, it was at DP, it is becoming a "mid-tier" agency (for me its an agency delivering around 30$/month), I am having sales everyday (subscriptions...) but they seem to be doing their work on finding buyers to my work, will keep on supporting them for sure!

This was reached after 22 months on September 12th 2011 with a portfolio of 4114 pictures, YES a very long way YES but like I have said seconds ago there is something hapenning :)

I have crossed this milestone with the picture on the beginning of this post, it is a very "old" picture done on my first stock month (March 2009), a 5 Eur bill close-up taken with my ex Nikon D60 and 18-55VR lens! (no strobes/other, only the usual home/window light)

1st milestone - 36.82$ (100downs, 0.37 per download) - April 30 2011
2nd milestone - 95.44$ (250downs, 0.38 per download) - September 12 2011
(3rd milestone will be 500 downloads)

Since the beginning and until this 1st milestone, DP has provided me 0,94% of my total earnings (referrals and bonus not included, 110$ for uploads and banner on blog), having a RPD of 0.38

4th milestone in DT - 1000 downloads..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:16:00 +0000

Hellooo!

Another milestone reached last month (September 7th), it was the 1000 sales at DT, it took a while, around 30 months and 2139 pictures online!

They continue to be one of the hardest agencies to get files approved, they have the "similar" and "not what we are looking for" reasons as top rejections, lately I haven´t bored much as I do my best while shooting and editing, so I cannot do more than that, I will continue to support them as every agency is helping me to build income :)

DT is my 5th best earner and my approval ratio in on 54% (I am uploading carefully, one of each subject, then I see what I shall do next, to upload more or simple forget those pictures)

Regarding sales I can also add that they look quite stagnated, I am feeling I am incapable of going over 70 sales/month, despite the constant upload things look quite slow and frozen, no trend to grow but will see what happen next, still have faith :)

The picture on the beginning of this post was the lucky 1000, it was sold as a small size for 0.68$! This photo was taken in my studio, as you can see it is an isolation of flat balloons, as simple as that (don´t remember the setup but certainly at least 3 strobes in action), it was shoot in May 2011! Every subject, every picture you might imagine can be a seller, you just need to keep on working, month after month having more pictures approved!

Some stats regarding DT progress:

1st milestone - 76.31$ (100downs, 0.76 per download) - March 5 2010
2nd milestone - 179.73$ (250downs, 0.71 per download) - July 30 2010
3rd milestone - 378.32$ (500downs, 0.75 per download) - January 05 2011
4th milestone - 795.44$ (1000 downs, 0.79 per download) - September 07 2011

(5th milestone will be 2500 downloads)

Since the beginning and until this 4th milestone, DT has provided me 7% of my total earnings (referrals not included), having a RPD of 0.79$

Next blog posts:
- 2nd milestone in DP - 250 downloads (reached on September 12th)
- Microstock Earnings - September 2011
- First payment from PhotoDune (reached on October 11th)

20000 downloads!! (across all agencies)

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:06:00 +0000

Hello!

I have reached a stunning milestone, I am now with over 20k sales :)

latest 4 months totals:
- 5899 sales (30% of the total sales)
- 3581,18$ (32% of the total earnings)

I never dreamed any of this would be possible, quite amazing how things have developed, I have worked a little of course but I could have done a lot more (we always can), I have learned many things, my photography skills are getting better and better (plenty of stuff to learn, of course) but I can say I can take a decent photo of every possible subject, and thinking more about stock, I am now looking to be more "efficient", I need to think a lot more before shooting, I need to search for better pictures/concepts that will take more sales along time instead of the usual 2 or 3 sales at SS!

The 20000 sale have happened on September 5th 2011, which means exactly 30 months after starting doing stock photography back in March 2009! I am now contributing to 26 stock agencies, highest with over 4500 photos and the lowest 182!

I need to make a special note at SS, which got me almost 50% of my total earnings, they have never let me down a single second, they are an incredible agency, the top agency that never cutted contributors royalties %, they deserve our work/respect and I hope they have a bright future (looking forward to the new Single Image plan for buyers, about 19$ per picture and 28% for me)

The photo on the beginning of this post can be the 20000 or not (I had many that day so not easy to track it down) but I enjoy it a lot, not only because it a picture taken of my handsome brother (who support my efforts in stock, always ready for the sessions I plan and for FREE, big thanks!) but also because it means success and it is a moment to celebrate!

Now, my favorite part which is the statistics, like I have done on the 10000 sales milestone, I have used the same table to illustrate the earnings/downloads/etc along the different agencies (referrals and bonus not included), check it out:

Quick notes:

Since the beginning and until this milestone I had 43 Extended Licenses: 19 (SS), 12 (FT), 4 (123RF), 3 (IS), 3 (DT), 1 (V), 1 (MP)
Top seller photo ever: 43$ (123RF)
Referrals: 91.74$ (DT, 123RF, P, GLO, PM, BSP, YAY)
Bonus at DP: 110$ (100$ for uploads, 10$ for banner)
Bonus at V: 195.3$ (for uploads)
Bonus at VI: 146.3$ (for uploads)

If you have any question please feel free!

Microstock Earnings - August 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Hiii!!

Finally here I am to show my August earnings, what an incredible month, not only because of another BME but more important because I have reached (finally...) a great milestone, I made more than 1000$ for the first time since I have started, it was definitely a very long way with some work too! I am "here" after 30 months :)

Like always my top 5 agencies in order (SS, IS, FT, 123RF, DT) made a very high % of all my sales, more exactly 86.40%! What does that mean? that I should leave all the other agencies and focus on more/better pictures for the top ones? that's a good question!
There are many aspects to consider, perhaps the biggest one is leaving them after so many time like submitting our work (no point of removing), another is that some lower agencies do pay fair royalties such as SF, GLO, but as we know they aren´t "working hard" to get us buyers/sales (they do need more advertising, seo or other) and yes we will wait to see if it happens, there is hope I guess!
I will keep on supporting agencies that are fair to contributors! Beside that I look/work with agencies that got a smooth uploading to agencies (without many ticks, boxs, whatever!), other that perhaps have like 10 sales/year but have a very boring submission process I will think about them and I guess that will send my work sort of yearly, or if there is a lot of free time and patience!

After this long "chapter" about low earners, I want to talk about this August, so check below:

- SS (BME, more 35$ than previous best month (July), 5 EL´s helped out and a lot more OD's than usual (62), look below for more stats)

- 5 EL´s
- more 17 OD's (from 45 to 62) (35 for 2.70$, 27 for 1.17$)
- less 36 sales, 868 (904 July)

- IS (BME with 1 EL (rare thing), hard to predict sales for a lot top contributors there but I do see a nice trend over all year, I have never stop uploading despite the RC's and I am for about 2 months on the 16% royalties, once more PP is a big part of my income there (around 40%))
- FT (looking down but plenty of sales (subs) that don´t help on the $ but I do feel they are doing a good job delivering sales, despite the cut and some recent "ranking levels" issues I still have faith and my trend looks good, cannot wait to reach silvel level (2/3 months) even when it is going to be 25% instead of the old 31%)
- 123RF (a good month, just a little down in terms of $ but regarding number of sales, the highest ever (110), I keep my hope I believe they will go over FT in a few months if they keep this momentum)
- DT (a little up from the latest months but still very disappointing, sales are stagnated, it seems it will stay at the 70's sales per month forever, it is just not happening, will keep on uploading and forgetting about "dumb" rejections such as: "not what we are looking for" or "similar")
- MP (BME, not the last agency I have joined but still a new agency (since May 2012), don´t have much to talk about MostPhotos but they do pay in EUR (10 as minimum payout) and I have already a few nice sales, there is no review and a nice "feature" called free backup!)
- DP (BME with 1 EL for 22.5Eur , something is starting to happen there, I am having sales everyday despite the high amount of subs there are some nice too, I had 51 sales for 19$ so let´s see what next months will bring)
- PD (my first month in PhotoDune and I do have high expectactions, had only 6 sales but September had 34, they are from Envato which is a company on the digital goods for 5 years now, they do have buyers that´s for sure, I really hope they will increase the royalties % in a near future, only 25% at the moment)
- all other agencies I don´t have much to add, they are what they are, will see "tomorrow"!

Hemera and PP stats:
- Hemera collection at Thinkstock (Jun 10 3.75$, Jul 7.25$, Aug 9.25$, Sep 13.35$, Oct 10.50$, Nov 16.75$, Dec 8.75$, Jan 10$, Feb 8.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 12.5 0$, May 14.50$, June 9.25$, July 7.50$, August 5.75$)
- Partner Program at Thinkstock (Nov 09 0.3$, Dec 1.75$, Jan 3.75$, Feb 12.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 23.25$, May 20.50$, Jun 20.25$, Jul 21.25$, Aug 30.97$, Sep 29.50$, Oct 10 36.48$, Nov 24.94$, Dec 20.11$, Jan 14$, Feb 23.83$, Mar 22.52$, Apr 28.28$, May 42.39$, June 42.84$, July 37.72$, August 60.10$)

Now, please look at the following table and charts (like always these don't include referrals or bonus):

Notes:

15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Extended License (EL) in SS
2nd Extended License (EL) in IS
1st Extended License (EL) in MP
First sales on PhotoDune
Rate per Download (RPD) increased to 0.66 (last month was 0.64$)
Best day: 82.11$ (August 31)
Most photos sold in one day: 75 (August 25)
Top seller photo: 28$ (SS)
BME in SS, IS , SCP , DP , FP , MP
Referrals: 5$ (DT , PIX)

P.S: If you have any comment referring to my monthly report or other suggestion about my portfolio,etc please feel free!

Microstock Earnings - July 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:47:00 +0000

Hello!!

Late late but here I am to show my July stock earnings! It was a very good month, a new BME after May, things are really going good and I am becoming more and more envolved and expecting everyday more from it, hope it continues as I keep on working harder and better!

This July I have went over 900$ but having 1 sale less than June! I had my highest RPD ever, more exactly 64 cents per picture sold, still a very low number but I wish I can keep up this trend! (August was even better than July, another exciting month very close to 1k $)

Again SS played the biggest part in my earnings, not only the 4 EL´s but a lot of OD´s too, they are my best agency by miles and miles (always have been), they went over 55% of my total income this month and since the start they represent a little more than 50% regarding all my stock earnings! One more time I need to say that they are my main focus and the first agency getting my pictures, I work thinking of all agencies but there is always a lot of stress once I need to have all my new stuff approved there, they seem to enjoy my work and I wis h it keep like that!

Apart from the KING (SS), I am in love with 123RF too, they seem to be growing every month, they are doing something very positive, they are finding buyers to all my pictures, not only for best sellers but also for new content, what a cool agency to be part of, quite excited to see the future there and what they will be capable of giving to contributors, wi sh them a lot of success!! (and no cut on royalties % please!!)

A last comment about FT and DT, both agencies look a little stagnated, sales go up and down, just like subs or credit sales, I really hope they take another step in my earnings as I get more and more pictures into their collection!

Before showing my statistics regarding this July, I want to tell that I had my first sales at Alamy and iRockStock, the first one I have close to 700 files (there since August 2010) very low agency and the worst/boring upload ever (sale was for less than 1$), the second agency is a brand new agency open for just a few months, don´t expect a lot from them but I have there around 200 files and mainly some of my best sellers, so will see how it will go (few time ago they have increased royalties from 30% to 40%)

Regarding this July, check below:
- SS (BME, more 80$ than previous best month and the first month over 500$, 4 EL´s helped out, 904 sales which equals May sales)
- 123RF (BME, again and again this agency is surprising me, another great month with 100 sales and more than 90$, they are making it happen)
- IS (overall a very good month, close to a BME but still a lot lower than I expected it to be regarding the effort uploading and other contributors sales, PP continue to be a big part of my income there)

SS stats:
- 4 EL´s
- less 2 OD's (from 47 to 45) (32 for 2.70$, 13 for 1.17$)
- more 33 sales, 904 (871 June)

Hemera and PP stats:
- Hemera collection at Thinkstock (Jun 10 3.75$, Jul 7.25$, Aug 9.25$, Sep 13.35$, Oct 10.50$, Nov 16.75$, Dec 8.75$, Jan 10$, Feb 8.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 12.5 0$, May 14.50$, June 9.25$, July 7.50$)
- Partner Program at Thinkstock (Nov 09 0.3$, Dec 1.75$, Jan 3.75$, Feb 12.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 23.25$, May 20.50$, Jun 20.25$, Jul 21.25$, Aug 30.97$, Sep 29.50$, Oct 10 36.48$, Nov 24.94$, Dec 20.11$, Jan 14$, Feb 23.83$, Mar 22.52$, Apr 28.28$, May 42.39$, June 42.84$, July 37.72$)

Now, please look at the following table and charts (like always these don't include referrals or bonus):

Notes:

11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Extended License (EL) in SS
First sales on Alamy and iRockStock
Rate per Download (RPD) increased to 0.64 (last month was 0.54$)
Best day: 87.26$ (July 4)
Most photos sold in one day: 71 (July 7)
Top seller photo: 28$ (SS)
BME in SS, 123RF , MP
Referrals: 4.59$ (DT)

P.S: If you have any comment referring to my monthly report or other suggestion about my portfolio,etc please feel free!

4th milestone in 123RF - 1000 downloads..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:36:00 +0000

Hellooo!

Never blogged so much in such a small period of time but having 3 weeks of "vacations" turned this into microstock diary into a frenetic milestone annoucement!

This time was 123RF, I have reached the 1k pictures sold on August 24th 2011, after 2 years and 4 months there (April 2009) I am quite happy and excited about them because they are climbing fast, having over 100 sales a month and solid too so I have great expectations, won´t make big plans but I really hope they keep on getting more clients to my pictures :)

123RF is my 4th best earner for 2 months, they have crossed over DT which are now 5th and perhaps they will never catch up, will see how it will go! My approval ratio is climbing and very close to 100% on the latest months, not only there but on all stock agencies which means I am going on the right direction, just need to keep up and create more and better!

The picture on the beginning of this post was the lucky 1000, it was sold as a sub for 0.36$! This photo was taken in Gloucester (UK) on April 2010, right on the entrance of my sisters house! (that shows how I try to approach every single "subject" that step into my sight, sometimes not great stocky pictures but sure some turn out great surprises!)

Some stats regarding 123RF progress:

1st milestone - 75.08$ (100 downs, 0.75 per download) - December 25 2009
2nd milestone - 184.23$ (250 downs, 0.73 per download) - July 17 2010
3rd milestone - 411.83$ (500 downs, 0.82 per download) - February 10 2011
4th milestone - 782.42$ (1000 downs, 0.78 per download) - August 24 2011

(5th milestone will be 2500 downloads)

Since the beginning and until this 4th milestone, 123RF has provided me 7,52% of my total earnings (referrals not included), having a RPD of 0.78$

Next blog posts:
- Microstock Earnings - July 2011
- 4th milestone in DT - 1000 downloads (reached on September 7th)

My first Extended License in MostPhotos..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:14:00 +0000

Hi!

So here I am to announce another milestone, it was a great surprise from an agency that I never expected much (beside backup my work) but the real thing is that MostPhotos do have some buyers and they pay in EUR (and the lowest amount across all agencies for withdrawal - 10EUR)

I was on Antigua when this occurred, so I have missed the day to but no problem :) I have got this EL on August 20th 2011 and for 22.50EUR! I am on MostPhotos since April 30th 2011 so it was quite fast to reach the first payment, until this milestone I had 4 sales for a total of 26.88EUR!

The picture on the beginning of this post was the lucky one, quite a simple isolation (but it turned out a nice "collection"), this photo was taken in October 2010!

Having said this, I believe they are worth to upload! The upload is smooth if you have IPTC on your pictures (which I believe you have, if you take stock a little serious), beside that you have the chance to download your pictures if something happen with your hard-drives and such! And like I said buyers are there, might be small but you still have the chance and it looks like it is going up :)

Next blog posts:
- 4th milestone in 123RF - 1000 downloads (reached on August 24th)
- Microstock Earnings - July 2011
- 4th milestone in DT - 1000 downloads (reached on September 7th)

First photo to reach 100 downloads at Fotolia..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 16:14:00 +0000

Hi!

Another milestone reached 3 weeks ago, nothing to be crazy about but sure it is a great achievement!

The picture on the beginning of this post is the lucky one, it is one of my best sellers around all agencies, it is downloaded at least 1 time per day! Regarding FT, it was the first agency to approve this picture and it is online since March 18th 2009 (it was one of my first stock pictures too)

I have crossed this 100 downloads on August 18th 2011, which means 2 years and 5 months after!

A few details regarding this milestone:
- photo taken on March 18 2009
- photo uploaded on March 18 2009
- regular downloads: 100 for 116.83$

Next blog posts:
- My first Extended License in MostPhotos (reached on August 20th)
- 4th milestone in 123RF - 1000 downloads (reached on August 24th)
- Microstock Earnings - July 2011
- 4th milestone in DT - 1000 downloads (reached on September 7th)

1st milestone in Veer - 100 downloads..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:34:00 +0000

Hi! A quick post regarding a new milestone crossed in July 2011 (but I was away for 3 weeks so I have missed a little the right time to post this) but here I am to announce that I have reached the 100 downloads at Veer! It was on July 15th 2011 with the picture that opens this blog post, it was sold for 3.5$ and got to a total of 214$, this picture was taken in August 2009 in the Maldives!

This milestone was reached after exactly 2 years, a very long way but I guess not a bad agency, got 200$ back when there was a promotion, so it now over 400$ if I count the bonus :)

Veer is a nice agency despite low sales (but sometimes big ones), overall the upload is smooth, the main problem is the long reviewing time, sometimes over 1 month, despite that I would say they are worth!

Veer is my 7th best agency and keep a very good RPD, please look at some stats below:

1st milestone - 214$ (100downs, 2.14 per download, 2924 pictures) - July 15 2011

(2nd milestone will be 250 downloads)

Since the beginning and until this 1st milestone, Veer has provided me 2.18% of my total earnings (referrals and bonus not included) having a RPD of 2.14

Microstock Earnings - June 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:08:00 +0000

Hiiiii!

Finally the earnings report for June! Seemed that would never happen (again because of Partner Program) which is taking longer and longer, earnings are increasing but the all thing is quite annoying! Hope that all the migration come to an end and all things shape up nicely! I want badly to say that July was a very nice month with a BME and looks like very close to the 1k $ (just in case you are curious :p)

So here I am today to report June sales, it wasn´t an insane month like May but overall it wasn´t a bad month considering I haven´t got a single EL at SS.. It pretty much hold up nicely and earnings were just a little under 800$ but with a fewer more sales than previous month!

SS once again the King with almost 50% of the total income, looks like no other agency will compete with them, at least regarding my own portfolio

Only 123RF keep on surprising me increasing month after month, really cool stuff and I wish they keep doing their stuff :)

FT seem to be up and down, weird stuff but I will keep up there and all other place and time will tell, I am focusing on producing nice pictures, perhaps taking a little more time but maybe worth it.. stock is a big adventure so I will keep on trying, always keeping expenses low using the props, models that are free and available to develop my skills.. (thanks family!)

This month 123RF took another step and are now my 4th best agency (and you can check that out on my lastest table, on the end of this blog post), 5th place is now DT which keep on selling subs and more subs..

Before showing my statistics regarding this June, I want to tell that I had my first sales at MostPhotos and Isignstock, low sales but I will talk about them perhaps next month if I have a stronger opinion about them! I can tell that MP is worth the effort once the upload is smooth (mainly just upload) and it is a great backup for free.. :)

Regarding this June, check below:
- SS (little down, mainly because of no EL's, number of sales hold up "nicely", having the idea they should go up but let´s wait and work some more, had my first day with over 50 sales there)
- IS (up and down every month but there is some hope, without PP would be bad..)
- 123RF (BME, there isn´t anything negative about them, really nice sales and trend)

SS stats:
- 0 EL´s
- more 12 OD's (from 35 to 47) (20 for 1.17$, 27 for 2.70$)
- less 33 sales, 871 (904 May)

Hemera and PP stats:
- Hemera collection at Thinkstock (Jun 10 3.75$, Jul 7.25$, Aug 9.25$, Sep 13.35$, Oct 10.50$, Nov 16.75$, Dec 8.75$, Jan 10$, Feb 8.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 12.50$, May 14.50$, June 9.25$)
- Partner Program at Thinkstock (Nov 09 0.3$, Dec 1.75$, Jan 3.75$, Feb 12.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 23.25$, May 20.50$, Jun 20.25$, Jul 21.25$, Aug 30.97$, Sep 29.50$, Oct 10 36.48$, Nov 24.94$, Dec 20.11$, Jan 14$, Feb 23.83$, Mar 22.52$, Apr 28.28$, May 42.39$, June 42.84$)

Now, please look at the following table and charts (like always these don't include referrals or bonus):

Notes:

11th Extended License (EL) in FT
Rate per Download (RPD) decreased to 0.54 (last month was 0.59$)
Best day: 48.20$ (June 2)
Most photos sold in one day: 71 (June 9)
Top seller photo: 8.49$ (Z)
BME in 123RF , Z
Referrals: 7.13$ (DT, PM )

P.S: If you have any comment referring to my monthly report or other suggestion about my portfolio,etc please feel free!

4th milestone in Fotolia - 1000 downloads..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:18:00 +0000

Hi!

Here I am for a quick post to announce another milestone, this time at FT, it was crossed in June 27th 2011, it is always nice to reach a "milestone", not that exciting when it doesn´t change anything regarding rank/earnings/whatever but I am following closely this around all agencies so it will be a comparison to keep track of their performance.. It is still holding at 3th best agency (in front of 123RF which is going over the roof these latest months)

After 2 year and 4 months I got finally to this 4th milestione (FT was my first stock agency back in March 2009)

Before the 5th milestone (2.5k downloads) I will reach the Silver ranking if they continue to develop nicely but I am still far from that, contributors need 1000 FULL downloads (subscription sales are divided by 4) so look at the following preview:

476 paid = 476 downloads
524 subs = 524/4 = 131 downloads
TOTAL = 607 downs

So if things keep going this rate I believe in 5/6 months I will reach the Full 1000 downloads! So it will be before 2012 in my calculations, I never do much plans regarding earnings/sales so I won´t be dissapointed but I really hope to reach it before 2012 and have faith that after that they (FT) don´t decide to do another cut on royalties.. BUT more important and until there I will keep on uploading and working like I have been doing!

My approval ratio on FT is increasing along the time nicely, which I believe it is a good sign of what I am doint, it is now at 47%, a lot higher that in the 500th milestone (39% more exactly)

The photo on the beginning of this post was the lucky 1000, not a great picture, far from that but I believe every picture I took helped me learning about photography/stock and such, to get the best possible picture I can "make" under different circumstances! So I cannot say I am proud of that but it actually sold a few times, it was taken in April 2010 on Lisbon Docks (somewhere there lol)

1st milestone - 76.37$ (100downs, 0.76 per download) - December 22 2009
2nd milestone - 232.33$ (250downs, 0.93 per download) - July 4 2010
3rd milestone - 446.10$ (500downs, 0.89 per download) - December 17 2010
4th milestone - 764.43$ (1000downs, 0.76 per download) - June 27 2011

(5th milestone will be 2500 downloads)

Since the beginning and until this 4th milestone, FT has provided me 8.79% of my total earnings (referrals not included, no referrals), having a RPD of 0.76$

Microstock Earnings - May 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:34:00 +0000

Helloooo!

Finally the earnings report for May, Partner Program took a lot longer than used too but seem that it has ended now and not bad..

So here I am to announce another great month with a BIG BME, it was an insanely good month with almost more 200$ than previous BME (March), it was just over the roof, almost everything when pretty good but again SS was the king and got me 54% of the total earnings and reached over 840$! :)

Some agencies haven´t been up to their usual values but other make that up nicely, FT had a big drop after two months with around 70$ (went to 45$) but I believe that in stock we need to get used to it, some go up other down, not great to watch but I won´t lose faith for sure and will keep on producing more pictures and the best I can :)

My big excitement goes to 123RF too that it´s doing very good, I really hope they keep surprising me and continue to deliver great sales (not big ones) but some everyday with a RPD of 0.84$

On the negative side, DT delete once more some of my files this May (around 75) telling me that it will be better to my performance, earnings etc.. I am a little upset but I have less and less expectations from them, sub sales are a constant and weird reviewing with similar and not what we are looking for reasons (and newbie keep getting crappy pics online..) I will keep up there because they still deliver some nice sales and they are my 4th best agency so I need to forget all that annoying stuff and give my best and see how it goes..

This June is going nice too but a "little" down from May, we still have a few days left so hope for some EL or other to push up the earnings :)

Regarding this May, check below:
- SS (another BME, over 450$ (more 100$ than previous month) and more 177 sales too)
- IS (finally a BME after a few months going down, first month over 100$ (PP helped a lot with BME too)
- 123RF (not a BME but only because previous BME had a big sale, it just keeps getting better, they are starting to get more sales and $ than FT, DT and of course all the other below, I will keep up there as usual, they really deserve it)
- CSP (BME with a nice sale at the end of the month for 32.22$, easy upload/submission despite low sales I believe they are worth the time)

SS stats:
- 2 EL´s
- less 16 OD's (from 51 to 35) (6 for 1.17$, 29 for 2.70$)
- more 177 sales, 904 (727 April)

Hemera and PP stats:
- Hemera collection at Thinkstock (Jun 10 3.75$, Jul 7.25$, Aug 9.25$, Sep 13.35$, Oct 10.50$, Nov 16.75$, Dec 8.75$, Jan 10$, Feb 8.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 12.50$, May 14.50$)
- Partner Program at Thinkstock (Nov 09 0.3$, Dec 1.75$, Jan 3.75$, Feb 12.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 23.25$, May 20.50$, Jun 20.25$, Jul 21.25$, Aug 30.97$, Sep 29.50$, Oct 10 36.48$, Nov 24.94$, Dec 20.11$, Jan 14$, Feb 23.83$, Mar 22.52$, Apr 28.28$, May 42.39$)

Now, please look at the following table and charts (like always these don't include referrals or bonus):

Notes:

9th and 10th Extended License (EL) in SS
Rate per Download (RPD) increased to 0.59 (last month was 0.54$)
Best day: 81.85$ (May 31)
Most photos sold in one day: 72 (May 17)
Top seller photo: 28$ (SS)
BME in SS, IS , 123RF , CSP
Referrals: 3.97$ (DT, P )

P.S: If you have any comment referring to my monthly report or other suggestion about my portfolio,etc please feel free!

First payment from Graphic Leftovers...!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 02:18:00 +0000

Hello..!

Just a few days to end this June and things are shaping up nicely but maybe not as good as May earnings that I will post in a few days after Partner Program got into IS account, always a long wait..!

Beside that, I have finally reached the 50$ at GLO (more exactly 52.97$), I was waiting for it for a long time but yes got there and it is another milestone for my humble stock adventure!

So I have reached my first milestone at GLO on June 20 2011 (have started there on March 18 2010) which means 1 year and 3 months to collect my first payment (which was received at my paypal account the same day), the picture that got me there is the one that gives body to this blog post which you may have seen before, Spices and Herbs!! (gorgeous studio session that is bringing nice sales around agencies) this picture was only online there for 8 days and a sale, thats pretty cool!

I needed 18 sales to reach the 50$, mostly sales at 3.12$ (buyer pays 6$), which makes GLO a fair agency :)

Sometimes I get a little upset with them because of their reviews, majority I don´t agree but nothing I can do once they are being approved at top agencies, I give my work to "all" agencies, if they don´t appreciate it too bad and I move on!

Since the beginning and until this milestone, GLO has provided me 0.6% of my total earnings (referrals not included, 0.45$ from 3 referrals), making a RPD of 2.94$

6th milestone in ShutterStock - 10000 downloads..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:25:00 +0000

Hi there and YAY!!

I have crossed another milestone TODAY at SS and a pretty cool one, 10k sales! Last month had a great month with more than 900 sales :) I hope to reach the 10k $ before reaching the 20k sales, just need to have more OD´s and the rare but insanely good EL´s!

Without SS it wouldn´t make sense, they represent 49% of my total earnings since I started stock, they are my favorite and I hope they keep on enjoying my work and selling it too! (big thanks to buyers all around the world!)

The photo in the beginning of this post might be the lucky 10000 but for real I have doubts because I have waken up with a few sales so hard to be sure! But it is one of my latest studio pics which took all day long with spices all around, my brother helped me out because he was afraid of wasting all his spices! :P

So I have reached the 10000 downloads on June 20 2011, took me exactly 2 years (started in SS on June 13 2009) and a portfolio of 3056 pictures!

1st milestone - 33.76$ (100downs, 0.33 per download) - July 8 2009
2nd milestone - 144.71$ (500downs, 0.29 per download) - September 17 2009
3rd milestone - 287.02$ (1000downs, 0.29 per download) - December 11 2009
4th milestone - 822.18$ (2500downs, 0.33 per download) - May 17 2010
5th milestone - 1904.13$ (5000downs, 0.38 per download) - October 27 2010
6th milestone - 4234.86$ (10000downs, 0.42 per download) - June 20 2011

(7th milestone will be 20000 downloads)

Since the beginning and until this 6th milestone, SS has provided me 49% of my total earnings (referrals not included, also 0 referrals), having a RPD of 0.42$

First payment from DepositPhotos...!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:13:00 +0000

Hi..!

How is your month going? I am having a great month, will have a very nice BME!

So just a quick post to let you know that I have reached my first milestone at DP, it was today (May 31 2011) that I have crossed the 50$ (50.28$ more precisely, 10$ from banner on blog) with the photo on the beginning of this post, entitled "Beautiful beach bar view in Maldives " and it was taken on August 2009!

It took me exactly 17 months to reach the first payment and 111 sales!

I have talked before about DP and I still have the feeling they are starting to deliver some sales, mainly 0.3$ ones but they are increasing so it is worth IMHO!

Since the beginning until today, DP has provided me 0.5% of my total earnings (referrals not included, 0$), making a RPD of 0.37$

Cheers and keep up :)

Microstock Earnings - April 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:34:00 +0000

Hi!

Here it is the most exciting post, the monthly report, this April was a very nice month very close to March where I had a BME, this one was only 5$ away from it so I think that my sales are starting to get stable, I had a few more sales this April too, close to 1200!

Regarding May I can tell you that I am having an awesome month, $ and sales have increased significantly so I am very close to my BME already with a few days left :)

This April I have uploaded massively like never before, I was around 100 to 150 but this month got over 200 on a few agencies and the more important one at SS where more than 55% of my monthly earnings are made!

The "worst" thing regarding this month was getting a few pictures remove from DT (49 pictures more exaclty), mainly they have told me that it won´t hurt my "search placement" and that these pictures were very similar to ones that I have already online... That´s why I have less pictures this month there than in March.. But things are looking good I am getting more approvals and of course picking the best like I do at IS, let´s see how it will go...!

Regarding this April, check below:

- SS (another BME for just 2$)
- FT (another BME with 100 sales (for the first time) and again around 70$)
- 123RF (a very nice month with 61 sales and 40$, I am feeling they are becoming a very nice agency, very close to DT in total of earnings)

SS stats:
- 51 OD's (16 for 1.17$, 35 for 2.70$)
- more 1 sales, 727 (726 March)

Hemera and PP stats:
- Hemera collection at Thinkstock (Jun 10 3.75$, Jul 7.25$, Aug 9.25$, Sep 13.35$, Oct 10.50$, Nov 16.75$, Dec 8.75$, Jan 10$, Feb 8.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 12.50$)
- Partner Program at Thinkstock (Nov 09 0.3$, Dec 1.75$, Jan 3.75$, Feb 12.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 23.25$, May 20.50$, Jun 20.25$, Jul 21.25$, Aug 30.97$, Sep 29.50$, Oct 10 36.48$, Nov 24.94$, Dec 20.11$, Jan 14$, Feb 23.83$, Mar 22.527$, Apr 28.28$)

Now, please look at the following table and charts (like always these don't include referrals or bonus):

Notes:

9th and 10th Extended License (EL) in FT
Rate per Download (RPD) decreased to 0.54 (last month was 0.56$)
Best day: 48.86$ (April 30)
Most photos sold in one day: 63 (April 21)
Top seller photo: 11.15$ (PM)
BME in SS, FT, 123RF , C
Referrals: 2.74$ (DT, PM, P, GLO)

P.S: If you have any comment referring to my monthly report or other suggestion about my portfolio,etc please feel free!

1st milestone in PantherMedia- 100 downloads..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:42:00 +0000

Hi!

So another quick post regarding a new milestone crossed, this time at PM! It was on the beginning of this month (May 2) with the photo that opens this blog post, it was for 0.45$ (web sale) which was taken in May 2009! (one of the most famous landmarks in Lisbon, Portugal)

This milestone was reached after 25 months, it was a long way for sure but PM does deliver some nice sales and I am currently making efforts to pull all my portfolio there, it is "hard" because their uploading submission have a lot of ticks, boxes etc.. but I belive they deserve the hard work, they are my 6th top earner agency with the highest Rate Per Download!

My portfolio until this milestone was at 482 pictures (this month I am already at 742) so will keep up there, hoping that sales keep increasing too :)

1st milestone - 204.77$ (100downs, 2.05 per download) - May 2 2011
(2nd milestone will be 250 downloads)

Since the beginning and until this 1st milestone, PM has provided me 2.8% of my total earnings (referrals not included) having a RPD of 2.05

1st milestone in DepositPhotos - 100 downloads..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Sun, 15 May 2011 22:05:00 +0000

Hello!

So I am not that excited to announce my first milestone in DP , I have crossed it on April 30 1with the photo on the beginning of this post for 0.3$ (sub sale) and it was taken in January 2011!

This milestone was reached after 17 months, it was a long way (very slow agency) and a portfolio of 2949 pictures but I would feel they are starting to deliver some nice sales so I am "updating" my work into their agency!

1st milestone - 36.82$ (100downs, 0.37 per download) - April 30 2011
(2nd milestone will be 250 downloads)

Since the beginning and until this 1st milestone, DP has provided me 0.5% of my total earnings (referrals and bonus not included, 110$ for uploads and banner on blog), having a RPD of 0.37

Microstock Earnings - March 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 14:53:00 +0000

Hello!

Finally reporting my March earnings! What a GREAT month with more than 100$ than previous BME in November 2010! So I am now on the 600$ club and for the first time crossed the 1k sales in a month! And for this April was pretty much the same so things look good, a lot of uploading is helping too perhaps!

This March 2010 is also a milestone, yep it has been 2 years since my start in stock photography, I guess I have learned a lot but haven´t earned that much, stock ain´t easy so let´s see what the future will be and bring, and if it is possible to continue the relative success I have been having!

It was a very nice month with a big month at SS for more than 350$, other agencies also performed very nice, having a few BME too but the more relevant SS and FT!

Another great thing that provide this new BME was certainly the raise at SS, on the middle of March (check here) I have reached the 3k $ mark which means I am now at 0.36$ regular sales and also on demand sales raised quite good (a raise of 9%)

Like always I push the max pictures to SS, they are my main earnings, more than 55% of my income is made there, so I gotta keep up more and more! :)

I could go and talk again about IS, but I guess not worth, there are still very far from performing well to me, don´t get but I will continue the upload, maybe with some miracle they start delivering nice sales! I guess the recent cut isn´t helping to, so I might be increasing a little actually but the royalties drop is "online" so I better stop thinking where I would be if there wasn´t any right? But I would be honestly a lot better without FT and IS cuts!

This March I have continue the studio work mainly with models (brothe r, sister, cousin) so things look good, learning a lot every time I shoot regarding lighting and photoshop too, a lot of experiment that is building my people portfolio on stock agencies!

Regarding this March, check below:

- SS (BME for more than 100$ from previous BME, reached the 3k $ milestone)
- FT (BME with 94 sales and more than 50$ (70$ almost), it was on 75 sales)
- DP (looks promising too, so with time I will get all my portfolio out there)
- every agency performed nicely expect IS which is performing quite low, still far from expected!

SS stats:
- 39 OD's (3 for 1.07$, 5 for 1.17$, 12 for 2.48$, 19 for 2.70$)
- more 182 sales, 726 (544 February)
- 1 EL

Hemera and PP stats:
- Hemera collection at Thinkstock (Jun 10 3.75$, Jul 7.25$, Aug 9.25$, Sep 13.35$, Oct 10.50$, Nov 16.75$, Dec 8.75$, Jan 10$, Feb 8.5$, Mar 12.75$)
- Partner Program at Thinkstock (Nov 09 0.3$, Dec 1.75$, Jan 3.75$, Feb 12.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 23.25$, May 20.50$, Jun 20.25$, Jul 21.25$, Aug 30.97$, Sep 29.50$, Oct 10 36.48$, Nov 24.94$, Dec 20.11$, Jan 14$, Feb 23.83$, Mar 22.52$)

Now, please look at the following table and charts (like always these don't include referrals or bonus):

Notes:

8th Extended License (EL) in SS
Rate per Download (RPD) increased to 0.56 (last month was 0.54$)
Best day: 49.04$ (March 15)
Most photos sold in one day: 60 (March 22)
Top seller photo: 28$ (SS)
BME in SS, FT, SCP, DP
Referrals: 3.18$ (DT)

P.S: If you have any comment referring to my monthly report or other suggestion about my portfolio,etc please feel free!

Second photo found in ACTION...!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:40:00 +0000

Hello! :)

Not that often (I guess max of 3 times since I have started) I have tried to found out a picture in action, I guess we need a lot of luck or perhaps sell before like tons of the same photo.. :)

It was found searching on google: "luis santos shutterstock credits" and it is the first link actually :) (I guess it will depend on the place you live and where your internet provider is located)

It looks like a nice website, somekind of online Encyclopedia (wiki) where you kind find a lot of informations, etc..

The picture itself doesn´t have many sales, just a few in a few stock agencies but from SS it has only 8 regular sales and 1 on demand sale, so I guess without having the credits it would be hard to find this one!

Picture was taken in March 27th 2009 in Botanical Garden in Lisbon, Portugal (here)!

3rd milestone in iStockphoto - 500 downloads..!

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:11:00 +0000

Hi!

Another milestone but not that great once IS isn´t reaching my expectations despite my effort every week on uploading my best work and some that have sold nicely before in other agencies, so a good selection I think..

Reaching 500 downloads doesn´t mean anything, it is just a milestone that I have been reaching in other agencies and reporting here at my blog!

This new milestone was reached a month ago on the 25th of March 2011 with the picture on the beginning of this post (taken in December 2010), which was one of my first studio pictures regarding model/people, the setup was really simple, two softboxes at the background lighting the back/hair of the model and then a softbox right in front!

Like I said before, despite the cut in commissions I am keeping up there, uploading the maximum slots available every week (20 slots until reaching 2500 sales) but I am not getting a nice return of uploading that consistent, I see a few sales from new pictures but not as good and far from what I expected..

IS is still my 2nd best earner and my approval ratio is on 64%! (latest batches are almost 100% approved, mainly isolations and people pictures)

1st milestone - 186.34$ (1.86 per download, 100 downs) on 29th March 2010
2nd milestone - 358.87$ (1.43 per download, 250 downs) on 16th September 2010
3rd milestone - 614.65$ (1.23 per download, 500 downs) on 25th March 2011

(4th milestone will be 1000 downloads)

I am a opt-in contributor regarding Partner Program, since November 2009 and until March 2011 I had 1148 downloads for 318.65$

Since the beginning and until this 3rd milestone, IS has provided me 9% of my total earnings (Partner Program not included, with PP included would be 14% of total earnings)

Microstock Earnings - February 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Luis Santos) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:12:00 +0000

Hi!!

Finally reporting my February earnings :) it was a second BME a little far from the BME ever in Nov 10.. but I can tell you that this March will be over the roof! :P

Overall, it was a great month once February had only 20 week days, the top agencies beside IS performed very nice with BME across SS, FT , DT!

I am wondering what is going on at IS.. I was hoping that with bigger portfolio my earnings there would raise too quite significantly but that´s not happening, they have daily problems so that might be the reason, honestly they approving like never before so I will keep up the 20 weekly slots wishing that buyers and IS notice some of my work and fix their bugs :)

DT this month approved a few more pictures than the latest months, why? mainly because I have upload people pictures on white, from around 100 only 60 got in.. when other agencies approved almost everything, stock right? not problem I will continue to keep up!

This February have entered mostly my latest brother pictures done with beauty dish and reflector and 2 strobes at the back to produce clean white background, they are having regular sales everyday, hope they continue along time :) (thanks brother!!)

Regarding this February, check below:

Positive:
- SS (BME for only 0.48$)
- DT (BME due to 2 EL sales)
- FT (BME with 75 sales, it was on 56 sales)

Negative:
- IS performance, earnings decreasing despite uploading effort, 4 months in a row!

SS stats:
- 19 OD's (16 for 2.48$ and 3 for 1.07$)
- more 79 sales, 544 (465 January)
- 1 EL

Hemera and PP stats:
- Hemera collection at Thinkstock (Jun 10 3.75$, Jul 7.25$, Aug 9.25$, Sep 13.35$, Oct 10.50$, Nov 16.75$, Dec 8.75$, Jan 10$, Feb 8.5$)
- Partner Program at Thinkstock (Nov 09 0.3$, Dec 1.75$, Jan 3.75$, Feb 12.5$, Mar 12.75$, Apr 23.25$, May 20.50$, Jun 20.25$, Jul 21.25$, Aug 30.97$, Sep 29.50$, Oct 10 36.48$, Nov 24.94$, Dec 20.11$, Jan 14$, Feb 23.83$)

Now, please look at the following table and charts (like always these don't include referrals or bonus):

Notes:

new agency entry after 8 months waiting, StockFresh with a nice 2.5$ sale!
7th Extended License (EL) in SS
2nd and 3rd Extended License (EL) in DT
Rate per Download (RPD) decreased to 0.54 (last month was 0.59$)
Days without sales: 0
Best day: 51.40$ (February 22)
Most photos sold in one day: 52 (February 23)
Top seller photo: 28$ (SS)
BME in SS, FT, DT, BSP
Referrals: 3.19$ (DT)

P.S: If you have any comment referring to my monthly report or other suggestion about my portfolio,etc please feel free!