Hi & welcome back! NiltoMil is officially off and running again – I’m keywording, submitting, pushing images and then working on shooting some new today.? I’m going to be pushing some older images even though I know they won’t sell as well as I’d like simply because I want the momentum to begin NOW not in a month when I get new stuff edited.

I’m ready for 2010!? January will be a very poor month since I’m starting so late but February should show some recovery.

In the last 6 months when I was mainly gone:

• Shot weddings – and we have 4 other photographers who shot during that time as well.
• Sold my house/bought a new house – a fixer-upper.? We’ve been working on it almost everyday since Nov 20th for 12+ hours per day.
• Delved into the food styling/preparing/photo world.? I’ve read almost every post on Still Life With, Matt Bites, and many other foodie blogs.? I’ve devoured four entire food photography books including Rinder/Smith’s new book and Lou Manna’s classic.
• Redesigned our business brand
• Traveled to Maine, twice.? Traveled to NYC.

Now that I’m back my goal is to create an income that will pay my mortgage first, other bills later.? Our mortgage is $680.? This is an achievable goal that I do have to reach for. I’ll do a more extensive goals post in the next week or so but that’s the start of it.

Current BME: $575.46, July 2008

Let me quote myself.

I am not going to stick around and pretend to be something I?m not.? Too many people set goals and fail to reach them, yet still continue the journey unfazed.? I often share my experiences and ideas in hopes of helping you.? If I can?t help myself first, I can?t help you.

If I fail to reach both goals (10k images, $25k for the year) by 12/31/09, NiltoMil.com will close for good whether I continue to shoot microstock or not.

At this point in the year it is obvious that I will not reach 10k approved images OR $25,000 this year.

I am modifying what I wrote above.? I am not going to destroy or delete Nil. I am going to stop posting earnings, stop posting ideas until they are working better.? I AM going to keep Nil up for the archives and the posts that often get referenced.? I AM going to continue to put up posts of interest to me – whether that’s of interest to anyone else or not.? My journey will continue.

I need to help myself first.? I need to figure out the steps I should be taking to reach my goal? and when I do, I’ll be back full force with the full effort I can give Nil.? Until then, expect sporadic updates on what I’m doing, how stock is going and what I am trying to do to improve.

I’d like to address something – the time I spend on microstock.? I think some people who read this blog are slightly confused about me slaving away and getting nowhere.

In July, I added 15 new images to my sites.? That means I worked on it for under 1 hour in July.? I made $500 in July.

In June, I added 150 new images.? About 4 hours of work.? I also made $450.? I’ve now in 2 months made $950 on 5 hours of work.

In May, I added 160 new images.? About 4 more hours of work.? Made $400.

Grand total: $1400 while doing 9 hours of work.

What I need to do in order to increase my earnings is actually work on microstock.? I do need to continue improving – I’m just really starting my second year of being a stock photographer.? I need to upload with momentum – that’s proven very successful.? But I’m not sitting here day after day churning out work that isn’t selling.? I’m just simply not putting in the time.

Why?

Our studio has 4 photographers, we’re currently hiring 2 more and we’re going to do between 40 and 50 weddings this year combined.? We’ll likely do another 150 portraits and next year will come close to 70 weddings/250 portraits.? Our wedding and portrait business has brought in over $100k each year for the last 2 and will do so this year and next as well.? I am also in the midst of building a studio management software for photographers that will track clients, billing, orders, calendaring, expenses/taxes, and task management.? It’s a huge project but one I love doing.

All that to say, don’t cry for me, Argentina.? I’m here, I’m going to continue working on micro when I can.? Right now I’m being torn in 3 directions and this one is the least of my issues.

Yikes!? Ok, full disclosure I am a photographer in the US so all of this new tax & Shutterstock doesn’t apply to me.? I would bet it applies to many of my friends and readers though so I want to cover this to the best of my ability so you guys get some clear, exact answers in one place.

If you post your questions here, I will do my best to get an answer and post it here as well.? I’ve read all 75 pages of the long thread as well as many of the other threads and have seen a lot of answers already.

Edit to add: Shutterstock just emailed me to let me know that whatever questions you post, we can try and get answers to.

What is the issue?

First, read the original post.

If you are not a US citizen or resident, and you do not obtain an ITIN and provide Shutterstock with a Form W-8BEN, US law requires them to withhold 30% from your earnings. If you are a member of one of our tax treaty countries you will have less withheld, sometimes 0% extra.? If your country is not on the list, you will have 30% withheld for income on Royalties.

Why?

US tax law imposes a 30% withholding tax on US source passive income, such as royalties, that are paid to persons who are not citizens or residents of the United States. US tax law requires the person paying the royalties to withhold the tax and pay it to the US Internal Revenue Service. If the person receiving the royalties is a resident of a country that has an income tax treaty with the United States, the withholding tax may be reduced or eliminated. However, to take advantage of the lower withholding tax US tax law requires that the person receiving the royalty payments provide a properly completed Form W-8BEN. US tax law also requires that the person who provides a Form W-8BEN for this purpose have an ITIN.

A lot of people are wondering “why do we pay this – what benefit do we get in the US?”? The answer, although you won’t like it, is that you get the benefit of selling your work in the US and under IRS tax law, you ARE doing business in the United States if you sell to US companies.

More Details

If you are in a country with no tax treaty with the US, you seem to be stuck paying 30% no matter what.

The payouts going out for May will not be affected but June’s may be affected.

If you wish for your account to be removed, the SS CEO is offering to remove it for you.

Yes, US residents pay their tax – we pay it in April as income tax.? We know you pay yours in your home country too.

At the end of the year, you will get a Form 1042 from Shutterstock.? This can be found here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1042.pdf? You will know your tax liabilities in the US.

ITIN Info

• ITIN FAQ’s in English
• ITIN FAQ’s in Spanish
• Obtaining an ITIN from Abroad
• Publication 1915, Understanding Your Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (PDF)

So what can we do?

Step By Step Tutorial

Armenia

Australia

Canada

Czechs

Croatia

France

Germany post

Greece

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Malta

Malaysia

Mexico

Netherlands

Poland

Russia

Romania

Serbia

Sweden

UK

How to Notarize a passport (copy) info (multiple countries)

A bit of info in Spanish

All questions for Shutterstock about taxes can be directed to their new forum on tax questions.

Again, if you post your questions here, I will do my best to get an answer and post it here as well.? I’ve read all 50 pages of the long thread as well as many of the other threads and have seen a lot of answers already.

So I know I’ve gone about two weeks since the last update.? I’m still here – it’s just that season.? We’ve been meeting with brides a lot, shooting some early season engagement sessions, finishing taxes for 2008 and yes, working on a business plan for a new software we are developing.? So let’s take that in order.

Brides and weddings and such are the main thrust of our business.? We own a studio of 4 photographers, each shooting 15-30 weddings a year.? I do all of the editing, most of the marketing and a good deal of the shooting for it.? It has been interesting balancing a “shoot and edit quickly” type of thing like weddings with a “Shoot and then photoshop as good as you can no matter what” type of stock shoot.? I think sometimes I try and edit stock too fast which is why it ends up in rejection mode.

Taxes basically suck.? The more money I make from stock, the more I pay in taxes.? With our wedding business we have figured out where the expenses will go, what we’re spending on so we’re not paying taxes on EVERYTHING, etc.? Stock is basically using the same gear I already have, a few travel receipts and tons of income proportionally speaking.? Making $6000-10,000 in a year is good.? But when you only keep $3500-6000 of that, you have to wonder what you’d need to make for it to be worth it!

Oh and our business plan – we are creating a software for small service business management that will basically do everything – track clients, appointments, shoots, income, invoices, tasks to be done, everything.? It’s going to be amazing and should be done late summer, early fall assuming we can find ANYONE to finance us.? If and when that happens I’ll be sure to post about it as well.? I’m really excited for the possibility of solving some of our problems as well as helping others with it.

So that’s my last few weeks – Sarah’s still shooting and I’ve done some editing.? I think I have 300 edited but not yet keyworded to get on.? That should be a good goal for the next few weeks – keyword everything, edit more, get a few 100s submitted.

Coming up soon on NiltoMil: Picniche’s toolbars, Photoshop tutorials including “Editing without a mouse” and “Workflow Speed 2.”? With the trouble Cushystock has given me lately I may also pull out a Prostockmaster vs. Cushystock post.? Stay tuned (and visit the sponsors to the right who help keep us here!)

Ok, I know Powerweek was over awhile ago and I haven’t written.? To be honest I needed time to think about my next steps.

Here’s what happened

I submitted 550 images in 4 days.? Easily enough to beat the 700 in 7 days mark.? The “fail” for Powerweek v3 was our image quality.? On day 4, we had a BUNCH of images reviewed across many sites.? And the results were absolutely terrible.? Not my editing, not my keywording – but I had 4000 trip images to sort through and many were unusable at 100%.? I hadn’t noticed that while culling in Lightroom but upon closer inspection I knew it was going to be a hard week.

The second major issue we ran into was overdoing it.? Honestly it’s not a great idea to submit 1000 images in one week.? You lose the benefits of continued growth and spread as well as you “feed the beast” once instead of continually, which results in another loss for you.

1) My process ARE better.? I could easily edit and key MORE images than I should rationally submit in a week.? I like that.

2) I still need to get more new images up – we had several shoots since Powerweek which has kept me busy and one of our major goals is to improve our photography dramatically in the next 12 months.? I definitely think that will help all around.

3) Our trip images were not what we needed.? We had a great time, I’ve sorted through and picked another 1200 or so we can use but overall the images themselves were iffy at best and not very good stock.? Lesson learned.

What’s Next?

I think my next goal will not be a Powerweek but a Growth Month.? I would love to grow our gallery fast still.? I think a better way than 700 in a week and 150 for the rest of the month would be 50 new images uploaded 3 times per week.? 150 new images a week for a year is not enough but I can add some in whenever possible to add to that.? I still want 10k up by the end of this year although I’m not certain I will close N2M if I do not, given our new education.

I still need – I still hunger.? I have to work on my lessons and what is next for us.

What is a Powerweek?

Basically I’ve cleared my schedule for the next 7 days.? I will be doing *nothing* except microstock from Sunday March 8th through Saturday March 14th.? I will track the total number of images submitted to my top 10 agencies.

Why do it?

I think I can get 700 images up in one week and break 1000 for the month.? But it’s not been done.? As far as I know about, the record for NEW image uploads in one month to the top 10 agencies is 1035.? I would like to break that mark one week!

What happened in Powerweek 1 and 2?

Powerweek 1 resulted in 400 new images in 4 days.? I quit 3 days short of goal because I simply ran out of images.? I believed it was easier to shoot 1000 new images than get them up to the agencies but that is incorrect.? To quote myself “The single most difficult and time consuming part of the microstock process is to shoot stock worthy images.” I learned that you need a backlog when you start.

Powerweek 2 resulted in about 400 new images in 3 days.? I quit before the halfway mark because I was simply going too fast to too many agencies.? I was submitting 200 images a day to 15 agencies.? My upload speed is decent but I waited too long to upload the first batch.? Do not upload 200 at a time.? The upload time kills you!

How will this time be different?

So I just admitted to “failing” by not completing Powerweek v1 or v2.? In truth I’m not sure how much 800 images in 2 weeks is failing but I have learned.

1) I’m only uploading to 10 agencies for the next 7 days. I will have a backlog of images to go to the others later if necessary.

2) I’m uploading batches of 50, not 200. 50×10 = 500 total images per upload.? That should take 1/6th of my previous batch time.? I’ll make up for the smaller batches overnights when I do 100 at the end of the day.? That should allow me to do 200 per day if I can edit that quickly.

3) I have my backlog! I have 3200 images to edit now.? I will not run out.

4) My processes are better. I edit faster, keyword smarter and don’t waste my time on borderline images.

5) Need. I have to get through as many images as possible to earn as much as possible so that we can schedule our next trip.? The more we make the better, of course.? I like money.

So, wish me luck and see you in 8 days!

Most bloggers in microstock are very polite, respectful and friendly to everyone.?? I try to be the same but there are some times and some issues that push my buttons and I think it’s appropriate to respond to issues that come up.? I would like to say that I will talk to, help and work with any agency that wants to listen.? On the other hand, I don’t feel bad for the agencies that get upset by criticism and don’t change.

(Short version: I’m going to bust some chops.? Don’t like it, fix it.)

• Categories – I would love to know the stats on images bought through categories vs. keywords.? Are these seriously necessary?
• Shutterstock refusing to update the photographer side of the site (views, easy image management, etc).
• Banning & removing contributors for having differing opinions on how things should work.
• Fotolia flat out changing the rules mid-stream without telling anyone ALL THE TIME.
• Flat sales in a down economy – this is when we should be picking up new business partners for life.
• 123RF‘s negative review wording “bad this” “poor that” “Snapshot” – ack!
• Editorial captioning rules that are ridiculous – and this includes almost every site that allows editorial images.
• Some sites show off work on their main page that has blown highlights, poor lighting, and looks awful.? It wouldn’t be accepted if you submitted it today – don’t show it off!
• Submission processes that take too long: IStock, Fotolia and several smaller sites – I’m talking to you.? This is a time-oriented business.? Make it FAST for us.
• Small sites that promise to do things different and get no sales.? Ever.? That’s not different.? That’s the same if you’re a small site.? Here’s a hint: photographers + images + sales = more of all of the above.? Thousands of images with no buyers, thousands of buyers with few images – neither works.? Stop trying to do it overnight and BUILD your site.
• Inconsistency.? I subbed 50 to a site and 45 were rejected.? I resubmitted in anger the same exact 45 with *no* changes and 43 were accepted.? Please. Fix. This.
• Make things easy – how many times do I have to repeat this on the list for stock sites to get it?? Not just submissions – make getting our money easy, make resubbing for missing model releases easy, make updating an image data easy. (thank you Bigstock for nailing this!)
• If I submitted an image 3 years ago and I have better PS skills now, allow me to replace the image with a better upload without losing all my stats, views, etc.
• Sites without FTP annoy me.
• Great looking/usable sites without views/sales/revenue – what IS that?? You have the site right.? Just sell.? If you can’t sell, close the business.? This business is ALL sales.
• Get rid of images 4+ years old with no sales.

Okay I’m done for now.? Please feel free to comment, wish me luck in my next career…(laughing), etc.? Someone has to say it.

(chart taken from StockXpert top portfolios)

Figuring out where I rank on stock sites is a curiosity more than a necessity.? I don’t need to know – my goal is $1,000,000 regardless of whether Yuri or Lise has made $55,000,000 or what Lumaxart is doing.? However, it’s interesting to compare progress and see where we’re at and where we reach in what time periods.

Here are the tracking tools I’m aware of:

Istock Charts

Bigstock Gallery Size Listing

StockXpert Gallery Size Listing

(Araminta Studios has a great listing but it’s currently offline.)

As far as my own rankings are concerned, I only? have rough estimates of past results and all of today’s current data.? These rankings are for GALLERY SIZE only.

IStock – last time I looked, I was roughly 7900th.? Today I’m 7213th.

Bigstock – last time I looked, I was on page 9 ranked roughly 420th.?? Today I’m ranked 267th and on page 6.

StockXpert – last time I looked, I was roughly 750th.? Today I’m ranked 338th.

So it looks like there are roughly 350ish photographers with? larger galleries than I have online.

What would it take to make progress?

On IStock, just 100 new images would raise my ranking from 7213 to 4480.
Also on Istock, just 300 new images would raise my ranking from 7213 to 2375.
Real progress would be 369 new images and top 2000.

On Bigstock, just 130 images raises me to page 5 and rank #240.?
On Bigstock, just 750 images would raise our ranking from 267th to 144th.
Real progress would be 1360 new images, bringing us in the top 100.

On StockXpert, just 100 images would raise us from 338 to 295th.
On StockXpert, just 620 images would raise us from 338 to 200th.
Real progress would be 1738 images and would take us from 338 to 100th.

3000 new accepted images (my goal for 2/28/09) would give us the following rankings:

Istock (140 new images max) – 3180th.
Bigstock (3000 new images) – 43rd.
StockXpert (3000 new images) – 60th.

So that Istock one may be a bit of a reach – but top 100 on the other sites?? Totally doable.? Where do you rank?? Post below and you’ll always have it to look back on – and compare to!

? Tomas Marek, Dreamstime.com

While NiltoMil covers a wide variety of topics from SEO on Technorati to shooting with models, the main point of its existence is to document our progress from $0 to $1,000,000.? As such, the end of the year is a good time for 2008 wrap up and goal setting for next year.

As of December 31st, our total earnings will be just a shade over $6,500.? While a decent amount of money, we will not get to $1,000,000 with years like that.? Obviously there’s? a need to greatly increase our number of salable images quickly.

Goals in microstock may be measured by many different statistics:? RPI, earnings, download rates, sell through, approval percent, size of your portfolio, etc.? For NiltoMil, we’ll focus on the obvious two: portfolio size and earnings.

My goal for 2009 portfolio size is to have more than 10,000 accepted images by 12/31/09 on most of my sites (Istock will be an exception of course, Fotolia may be as well).? Shutterstock, 123RF, Bigstock, Dreamstime, MostPhotos and StockXpert should *definitely* hit this goal for me to be successful.

My goal for 2009 earnings is to earn $25,000 in stock photography for the year. While not “huge” by any definition, this would be around $2000 a month for the year and would represent the figure that would continue our journey in a positive direction.

So here’s a reason to continue reading NiltoMil.? I am not going to stick around and pretend to be something I’m not.? Too many people set goals and fail to reach them, yet still continue the journey unfazed.? I often share my experiences and ideas in hopes of helping you.? If I can’t help myself first, I can’t help you.

If I fail to reach both goals by 12/31/09, NiltoMil.com will close for good whether I continue to shoot microstock or not.

So wish me luck!? I wish you luck in 2009 in reaching all of your goals.? (Luck wishing appreciated by clicking “Comment” below)

Track our progress at the NiltoMil Spreadsheet