March, and April Earnings

            I have not had a chance to blog for awhile, since I was mainly focused on uploading more images to the main microstock sites.
            The month of March was my best month ever at Shutterstock for earnings with $443.98 and I had 608 downloads. Fotolia ,and Deposit Photo did well, but not so good for 123 RF, and Dreamstime which came last. No signs of life for Can Stock Photo, Pocketstock, Bigstock, Cutcaster or Graphic Leftovers.
I decided to cancel my account at Pockestock, Can Stock ,and Graphic Leftovers. No reason to waste time uploading images to those sites, at least for me.
             April seemed to be very promising in the first two weeks at Shutterstock, but the last week of the month was slow. It was my best month ever for the number of downloads with 668, but not for earnings with a total of $391.38. As usual, Fotolia came in second place, then Deposit Photo, and the other sites. I signed up for Pond 5, and uploaded some videos and images, but no sales yet. I heard that Pond 5 is the best place to sell footage. Looking forward to get some sales over there, and I like the idea that we can set our own prices. I have not had any sales at Fine Art America for a long time, and I only had one of $18 on the first week that I signed up. Not planning to be a paid member at this point.
            Soon I will reaching 7,000 downloads at Shutterstock. I'm working on increasing the amount of images in my portfolio, and I hope to reach 5,000 in the next few months.

             Some of my best sellers at Shutterstock:

             http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-757657p1.html

Learning New Skills with Footage

Besides microstock photography, I'm also learning about footage, and it is a lot of fun. I recently bought a Nikon D7000 which has a HD 1080p Video camera, and it is great! After some research,  I was able to add my first 33 videos at Shutterstock, and I can't wait to add more.  The review process for footage is way faster than images, and so far I'm having a 100% approval rate, exciting!

No sales yet, but I heard it takes longer than images to get your first sales. I also added 22 clips to  Pond5, and it should take one to two weeks to get reviewed, crossing my fingers. The uploading process is pretty easy, I use FTP with Filezilla, and I had no problems so far. Now I'm  trying to find new subjects for my next videos, and find out what sales.

Here are three of my clips, still learning, and hoping to improve in the near future.

http://footage.shutterstock.com/clip-3645623-stock-footage-golden-mixed-breed-dog-digging-a-stick-at-the-lake-sand.html


http://footage.shutterstock.com/clip-3645611-stock-footage-waterfalls-lake-stream-flow-movement-background.html


http://footage.shutterstock.com/clip-3645761-stock-footage-waterfalls-stream-flow-movement-background.html

Reached another Raise at Shutterstock

March has been the best to date in downloads ,and earnings. I knew I would be reaching Shutterstock next raise to $0.36, but not that early in the month. An EL ( Enhanced Download) did the magic this morning. The EL image is my best seller at the moment, and gets many sales a day.

Now, it is a long ride to the $0.38 club, but I'm ready for it, bring it on.

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-757657p1.html

February 2013 Earnings

I'm very happy with February earnings and downloads, it is my best month ever at Shutterstock for both, and Fotolia. Weak at Dreamstime as usual, no surprises there. 123 RF , and Deposit Photos had some sales.
Shutterstock was on the  1st place as always with 484 downloads, and $ 363.15 in earnings which is a record for me, never got close to $300 before.  I added many images to my portfolio in the past 3 months, and it is starting to payoff now. I'm really excited with the improvements ,and March looks great so far ,and it could be another best month ever.

Some of my new images:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-757657p1.html

January 2013 Earnings

After the Holidays slow down sales, I'm having great sales, and more downloads day by day. January was almost a best month ever, a little short on downloads, and earnings but a very strong month. Shutterstock is always on the lead compared to all other agencies, and I got 420 downloads, and $216.05 which makes my 2nd best month ever. It could have been number one, if it weren't for the Holidays that affected the 1st week of January.

Fotolia always comes in second, and soon getting more payouts. 123RF, Deposit  Photo, and Dreamstime were slow as usual. Sales are less, and less at those 3 sites. No sales at Pocketstock, and I don't see anything good coming from this agency. Fine Art America had no sales, only one sale so far since I became a member.

I finally passed the 2,000 images mark, and now I have 2,057.  Soon, I will be reaching 5,000 downloads at Shutterstock, and close to another raise in a month or two.

My new uploads ,and best sellers:
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-757657p1.html

December 2012 Earnings

Shutterstock earnings was very similar to November, slightly below as I expected due to the Holidays. A total of 340 downloads , and $ 178.01. Fotolia came on second place as usual, and I get downloads almost everyday now. I had very few downloads from Dreamstime, Deposit Photo ,and 123 RF, and they are not doing well this month either. CanStock, Graphic Leftovers, and Big Stock are a total waste of time, nothing ever happens on those sites.

I recently became a contributor at Pockestock Photo by invitation, and now I have 500 images in my portfolio. I had no sales yet, and it looks like is going to follow CanStock with zero downloads every month. The site is very slow, and freezes all the time, probably affecting buyers also. I will wait 6 months before I give up on them.

Overall, Shuterstock is the best miscrostock site for downloads, and earnings. I just wish they had better reviewers, no bugs on the site, and all of us would benefit from it. On a positive side,  the review process is way faster, and soon I will reach 5000 downloads.

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=115427305

November Earnings

The month of November had a great start for downloads, and earnings at Shutterstock, but it got pretty bad during the third week. I believe was due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, slow image review times, and increased image rejection. Rejection mostly due to SS reviewers's lack of consistency since I was able to get some of them accepted afterwards. Overall, it was not too bad, but I was expecting to hit another BME( best month ever), since it was a trend for the past 4 months. Shutterstock had 343 downloads, and $ 180.39 which was 30% less than October for earnings.

Fotolia had a best month ever, so did 123 RF. Deposit Photos, and Dreamstime showed  some reaction during the last two weeks of the month.

Looking forward to hit some milestones. Shutterstock will reach 4,000 downloads soon, and in a few months, I hope to reach the $0.36 club. Also, I have 1,665 images, and I'm working to get to 5,000 images by April next year.

I reached a new milestone at Fotolia today, now I'm on the next rank level. I need to increase the amount of images over there, but they reject too many pictures that sell pretty well everywhere else.

Some of my  recent best sellers:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-757657p1.html