This month I haven’t been perfect about my work but I’ve been better.  I’m already over $630 for the month and will expect to finish near $670.  Once I clear $645, I’m at my second best month ever.  I guess it’s a good time to mention BME is $789.84   I will definitely pass that in September.

With momentum coming back to me and sales starting to dramatically increase, I cannot wait for the next 6 months!  We’re going to see major improvement across all agencies as I go from ~3000 images, many of which I HATE now, to ~6000 images and many of which I will love!

I’ve been fairly vigilant about IStock lately.  I’m hoping that starts to pay dividends.  This month is my lowest month of IS ever so I’m not sure it really is yet but it will, eventually.  I need to push Alamy and get caught up on some other sites but otherwise I feel like it’s starting to pick up and here I come again!  I’m going to attempt to cross $1000 in Sept.  Think I can get there?

Yes!  Things are definitely picking up here at N2M!  It feels great to be doing this job and working hard to make the income I’ve always wanted from it!

July and August were a time of transition.  If you remember, I made $790 and BME in March.  Since then, I’ve  moved out of my house, moved to Maine, restarted my wedding & portrait business AND tried to do stock full time.  Something had to give and as always it was stock.  It plummeted to the point where I made 600 then 500 and last month a very low $461.91.

This month is the exact opposite.  I skipped 500 and 600 on the way back up, though.  I plan to be WELL over $700 again this month, maybe even $800 and if luck and fate smile on me, I will reach $1k next month.  Momentum is building and I can feel my life shifting!

Shutterstock is already way over last month ($50+), 123RF is already ahead of last month, Dreamstime is WAY ahead of last month… It’s going to be a heck of a finish to August!

BRING IT ON September!

The next step in my process is to start approaching businesses locally and trying to work on some commercial projects while also shooting some micro.  Has anyone done this?  How did you approach them?  (Flyer, in person, both, phone, email?)

Ultimately, I would really like to start shooting food for restaurants – they prep, I shoot.  Win-win for both of us.

Restaurant/commercial food photography seems like it would be a very interesting occupation as I keep shooting my own personal food photography.  I just need to figure out how I’m going to approach them and meet their needs as well as mine.

That’s the next step.  I’m currently working hard submitting as well as trying to restart my wedding & portrait business in Portland, Maine ( http://www.bestdayphoto.com )

I also  have 20 pending to iStock, again.  I’m following through on my promise to keep submitting there.  Next: Alamy.

I didn’t mean to spend the entire month without posting but apparently moving is more work that I anticipated.  I thought like a typical guy.  Toss stuff in truck.  Drive.  Toss stuff off truck.  Oye!  It wasn’t quite that simple.

At any rate, I’m back up and running.  I’ve put in a few shoots already and have been so far pleased with the photos I’m getting.  I also added to my collection: 1 new Alien Bee 800, 1 48″ reflective umbrella with removable cover, and 1 8′ lightstand.  So, I’m back to speed on lighting after the move.  I could use a softbox but that will come in time.  I could also use a better way to organize props – but what can you do?

I’ve started to upload many more images to iStock.  I’ve increased my gallery 25% this month alone.  Yes, I only went from 100 to 125 approved but it meant I had to submit multiple times.  I’m starting to add that to my workflow.  I will get better at iStock.  No more iSuck.

I also need to start adding my collection to Alamy.  My account is sitting there with only 5-6 images in it and I know how valuable a tool Alamy can be.  I know exactly what I’m going to use it for and what I’m not going to use it for.  Now I just need to begin that process.

Most of my food photos will go on StartingtoCook.com as soon as I can start blogging there again regularly (probably today, but no promises).  However, I thought I’d show you one photo to illustrate how I’m doing now and my new AlienBee lighting.

Shutterstock recently turned 7 years old!

Some highlights from Shutterstock’s press release:

Today, Shutterstock’s library has over 12 million stock images and more than 200,000 stock footage clips. The site is available in 10 languages to serve a worldwide community of image buyers, and a fast, accurate search engine ensures customers can quickly find the images they need.

July 2003: Shutterstock is founded by Jon Oringer, president and CEO, who uploads 30,000 stock photos to the site.

February 9, 2006: Shutterstock is the first among its competitors to expand into stock footage.

August 5, 2008: Shutterstock launches “On Demand” subscription plans to further meet the needs of image buyers.

It makes me very happy to report Shutterstock hits 7 – but it makes me sad that I’ve done so poorly since I was such a slacker in the past!

It’s nearly Monday – and I’m about to start back to work.  So many questions – what should I shoot, what’s going to make me the most money per hour, how much can I still make at microstock, when will my momentum get back to normal, and will I be able to do this!??

I think my biggest fear is trying my absolute best and still not ramping up stock enough to make a living at it.  I have all the time I need now to do it but I just need it to actually happen.  We’re about to see – and I have my thoughts/fears/doubts/hopes.

2010 is going to be my biggest year in microstock ever.  Even without extra effort.  I’m only $2100 away and I should make way more than that for the rest of the year.  It’s surprising to me that with very little extra uploading my income total is up for the 4th straight year.  That must mean something overall too.

Tomorrow will be my first micro shoot in over two months.  I hope I can still do this at the same level!  I haven’t setup a shoot in MONTHS!  I’m on pace for $576 for July as of today.  I plan to increase that and TRY to hit $700 for July if not a bit more.  August goal is to top $850 for the first time and September $1000.  That is the type of acceleration I need right now – and the type of results that will make me happy.

So I said I’d be working to catch up and I am.  Here are my results in straight income for the past 6 months:

$433.03
$539.39
$789.84
$640.94
$515.82
$517.88

After the $790 month (a bme) things got crazy here at home.  That’s when I decided that I do want to pursue micro.  In the few months since everything has been a blur of preparation for Tuesday (when I move!).  So yes, earnings decreased again but I saw a lot of hope in March.  March gave me the idea to do some portfolio sized projecting.

In March Fotolia was a BME.  That definitely helped. So were 2 other sites as well.  But not IS or SS.  I know with “full momentum” what my earnings are (June 08 results help define that).  I think my full max BME right now is about $1200.  I can achieve that by September.  Then my goal has to be to grow to a $2k+ platform to build my new life on.

One thing is clear to me – Shutterstock is fully dependent on “momo” (momentum) to keep up the earnings.  When I was at “full momo” in June 08 I made almost $400 just on Shutterstock – in March 2010 I also made well over $300 and only uploaded  a few new images but on a regular schedule.  I haven’t uploaded more than 150 images in a month in a year!  So the big jump from $433 to $790 in 2 months was a result of working out some things that had been plaguing me about micro for awhile.

I want to record some stats for the future.  As of right now I’ve made $15,313.66 in micro.  BMEs are:

Shutterstock – $398.59
Dreamstime – $125.75
Fotolia – $111.94
123RF – $60.08
Bigstock – $38.50
IStock – $17.81
Canstock – $56.20
MostPhotos – $25.00

I have been contributing some images to IStock and Alamy lately – hopefully those will boost my earnings as well.  I hope to catch up my Alamy portfolio soon and push my max at IStock every week until I can’t push anymore!  My ultimate goal is for August 30th to write ALL new BMEs.

Shutterstock – $800
Dreamstime – $200
Fotolia – $150
123RF – $100
Bigstock – $70
IStock – $40
Canstock – $70
MostPhotos – $50

That would put me WELL over my goal of “$1200 in 1 month by September.”  Away we go!

Lately my posts have mentioned a ‘life reboot’ – and change.

So I briefly mentioned this but wanted to let it go so I can get back to creating and writing.  I am moving out of my house (without my now-ex fiancee) and moving to Maine.  I will be starting a new wedding photography business in Portland, Maine as well as shooting mostly food photography and of course some micro.

Since I’ve known you, I’ve had this relationship.  I started NiltoMil a couple years in – we’ve been together almost 7 years now.  I know I’ve never brought up personal things on N2M but I think it is only fair you know why things went from fun, creative and interesting on this blog to kinda dry and not very interesting.  It’s hard to be motivated to create and be creative when you feel worn out. It’s harder yet to write about how things are going when they’re really not going all that well.  Professionally, as a microstocker, I feel like I’ve NEVER been able to give this business my full attention because of other situations.

That will be the main change.  I am going to be first a micro photographer and second a wedding & portrait photographer.  I would like to cut  back from 30+ to about 20 weddings so I can keep producing all summer and never lose that all important momentum.

I guess this is all to say that I’m back, I’m here – I’m ready to go!  Things are going to be more interesting, more fun, more happening.  I’m going to push things I couldn’t push before (istock, alamy, etc) and do things I didn’t have time for.  I’m going to blog more regularly and keep you updated on the journey once again, not just the month to month result or the periodic press releases I get across my email.

To agencies, ad reps and such – I’m sorry this blog has been so up & down.  It is going to improve from here forward.  Thanks to those who have stuck with it and I’m going to do my best to make sure anyone who advertises here on N2M sees the right kind of rewards.

To the pessimists who believe I’ll fail in reaching my goal: you’ve had your turn. It’s mine now.

To microstock bloggers – please comment with your link.  I am so far behind on checking out things and I want to get back to reading everyone’s stuff.  If you do monthly earnings reports please let me know so I can include you on my monthly reports in a link.

Thank you all for still being here and bearing with the hardest 2 yrs of my life.  I will be moving over the 4th of July holiday week but otherwise should be very accessible here, through Facebook and Twitter (@mattantonino).

I feel microstock is changing right under our feet.  Gone are the days everyone rushed to post their earnings at midnight on the 1st of the month.  Gone are the days when there were 2-3 micro blogs.  Now everyone has one but we are all saying basically the same noise.  This site said this, that one did that. Nothing about how bloggers are striving to improve their own situation, nothing about the daily struggle or the mission.

I’m going to get back to core here – I’ll still be posting the news I see fit but I really want to get to a place where I’m making real progress on my goals. So what is my current situation and goal?

Currently I’m landing between $550 and $800 a month on micro.  It’s an improvement over my last postings but not as much of one as I’d like.  As I said last post I’m moving forward, shooting & submitting – and it has to help.

I think I’ll awaken a sleeping giant in Shutterstock.  I would expect my numbers to more than double in July and maybe triple.  I think I can make as much on SS in one month as I make now with ALL my sites.  I’m submitting to iStock and Alamy whether they take my stuff or not.  I’m going to be less focused on rejection and more focused on creation.

Next post (in 2 days) will talk about my ‘life reboot’ I keep mentioning in passing.  Things are changing…

So I’m still waiting for my StockFresh approval or denial.

One thing that’s been bothering me about my collection and my efforts is the lack of synchronicity between sites.  Some sites have 3600 images available, some under 200 (Alamy, Istock, etc).  One of my goals in the next year is definitely to push against those two sites and see what I can do.  Everyone has told me for years to improve iStock enough that it improves my overall folio and I think that’s definitely something I need to be doing regularly.

I haven’t shot for about a month – life is crazy here.  If you’re on Facebook with me you know why.  If not, it’s enough to say that I’m moving next month (again) and will be restarting my business and my life soon.  I have needed a good head clearing for awhile so I guess I’m taking it.

NiltoMil has had a very scattered direction for awhile – I think because of things going on in my life more than anything.  I’m going to be charting a new course in life starting in July so I will also be getting N2M back on track with some updates, some info about how I’ve been going, etc.  I do have all my info and stats tracked, I just haven’t put much into updating you all.  That’s my mistake.

Anyhoo – what else is new?  Summer slow down has obviously begun. In May I had a BME (over $750!) so that was great.  I will be consistently over $1k and then $2k very soon.  I have to be!  I guess we’re going to see how few I can do that with (quality) or how many it takes (quantity) but it’s happening either way so … we’ll see.

It’s going to be a great, crazy, fun, exciting, interesting, unusual, scary, immense year.  Starting….now.