I was able to focus on getting some great editorial images of world #2 Rafael Nadal, #4 Li Na, and several other top players including Sabine Lisicki, Jo Wilifried Tsonga and others.  The day was a great success!

My question to you, readers, is where do you sell editorial?  I currently sell ALL my editorial at Alamy.  I signed up today for a user-journalism site called Demotix, who sell through Corbis, and I know I can submit editorial to some other micros like Shutterstock – but where do you find image sales are the best for ONLY editorial?

Next year my plan is to shoot from the press box.  I want to know how you can turn these little things into bigger things.

Last year wasn’t about shooting or not shooting, though. I shot. I need to get to the next few stages as well.  I’m still using Cushystock to push images and ProstockMaster for prep.  I will have to see if I continue those things or if they slow me down now.

I’ve been making money on many sites – more on Alamy than I ever though I would, consistently well on Shutterstock.  Dreamstime has been MASSIVELY disappointing for the  last few months.  My focus going forward is to build my collection everywhere but focus on getting uploads done to the sites that have proven themselves to me.

In addition to working across the board, I’m definitely going to be pushing stuff at WarmPicture.  As a contributor-owned, contributor-run stock photo agency, we’re ALL working to make it successful and I’d love to see more great sales there.

That’s the start.  Here we go!

Yes, this year sucked for me personally.  I basically lost everything and started completely from scratch.  When I left my business, my family and my life in Syracuse I moved out with $2500, my kitchen gear, a camera bag full of gear and 2 computers…

I normally live on the edge of huge goals.  Not in 2011.

I want to write the post that needs writing.  Right now, that is a post about 2011 and getting ready for the new year.

Most of you already know I’m moving.  In two weeks I am packing up and moving to Melbourne, Australia.  I left Syracuse with nothing and since have gained the only thing I really care about – my amazing wife.  She has been busily setting up shop for us in Melbourne and I cannot wait to get to her.  Two weeks is so short and SO long when you want it to pass.

As I reflect on the past year and the next year to come, I can’t help but think about what a difference the last year has made.  A year ago I was lost.  THAT is the root of my struggle – both in life and microstock.  I struggled because I didn’t know which way to run.  Microstock.  Food. Photography.  Syracuse …

I have to admit now that I seriously thought about quitting and quitting microstock specifically.  Why do it?  Honestly, I’ve made my most microstock income ever this year already (2 months to go.)  I had that done 2 months ago.  In 8 months it was already my best year ever so why quit?  I just didn’t care about anything.  I didn’t care what crap I submitted or what crap sold.  I didn’t care as long as I pushed the button, the number grew and I could delude myself into thinking I was actually trying to hit some fantastical goal.

The darkest hour comes just before dawn?  Maybe.  I just knew I needed a break.  I haven’t submitted one new microstock image in 8 months.  I submitted 100 all year.  I’ve shot – and my backlog is huge – but I haven’t finished.  I didn’t care to finish.

I’ve watched the changes in microstock this year.  Let’s be honest – istock and fotolia giving contributors a bad deal is not new.  It happened in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.  I’m not going to waste time deciding whether to keep submitting there – you either do or you don’t.  Shutterstock has added some great new stuff, Dreamstime is doing well for me.  DepositPhotos and a few other small sites are steadily growing.  I haven’t completely disregarded the idea of dumping all but 6 or 8 stocks but for now I’m happy with making my highest income ever in stock in 2/3 of a year.

When you are at a low point in your life the importance of things changes.  Both advertisers I had earlier in the year have dropped me for good reason (I don’t blog regularly enough – I know this.)  I have over 1100 subscribers to this blog and yet I feel like I really need to get back to writing for me.  That’s when NiltoMil was good.  When you don’t care and you can start over, it’s easy to figure out what you really want.

What does 2012 hold?  I MISS microstock.  I really do.  I will be shooting & submitting starting in December and I really do hope 2012 is a banner year for me.  I plan to blog, I plan to shoot, edit, submit … I plan to do it better than I’ve ever done it.  My life, which has been steadily falling apart for 5 years, is in a MUCH better place.  I’ve never been this happy with my direction, I’ve never been as happy with who I am and what I offer.  Maybe things will change but for now, that is my path.

I know this blog post is long, rambling and neither that informative nor funny/entertaining.  I need to post this for me – that’s what Nil is about: MY journey.  Some of this is news, some is not.  Some is depressing, some is exciting.  If you’ve been with me for the whole trip, I apologize for the delays.  I’m about to reboard and see what I can do.

I understand if my sporadic blogging, overzealous goals and depressing-before-now real life have been a bummer and you don’t want to continue reading.  For those who do, I’ll be here soon. I’m going to do my move and get settled and keep reflecting.  But I’m here.  Ready.

That being said, once this move is done I’m back to stock work.  I miss shooting, I miss doing my food stuff, I miss you all, I miss blogging.  It’s time for Nil to come back from the depths and get back to doing what I do.  It’s been a WILD year + 3 months but after November 20th, no excuses.  All that negative in my life will be gone, done and over.  I’ll be in the best, happiest place I’ve been.  It’s GO time…

Until then – stay well and keep me updated with what’s going on!

Day 7 was the most relevant day for me.

7) Plan your next week’s posting schedule

I did the project dutifully and mapped out 7 days of blog entries.  (This was not one of them, by the way.)  I felt good having accomplished a week of blogging topics on all 3 blogs.  I didn’t know I could feel so far “ahead” on work for the blogs. I always blog impulsively which is why sometimes I blog frequently and sometimes I blog infrequently.  Blogging was the red-headed step child of my businesses.  Shooting, networking, marketing, advertisements, social media, gawker submissions, editing, uploading, keywording … if there was time left over maybe even talk to my woman, hit the gym and cook some food.

Since striking off on my own last year I felt it was time to get more organized about how I do things, more self-controlled as far as my blogging habits and get back some of the momentum on this blog. I knew I wasn’t doing what I wanted when an opportunity presented itself to make some serious money blogging and …

I didn’t qualify because I  hadn’t posted frequently enough lately.  On ANY of my blogs.

I’m definitely back now – I have posted 6 times since May 28th on here, another 4 on my food photography blog and another 5 or 6 on my SEO for wedding photographers blog.

So where does this leave me now?

I think of planning my blogs like I plan my stock shoot ideas. It doesn’t take long one day a week to get FAR ahead on it but it takes you a very long time to do everything on the fly.  Last night I was inspired to create blog ideas and actually came up with topics for all 3 blogs FOUR weeks in advance. (Click on image to enlarge it.)

I always decide at the beginning of the week what foods I will make that week (this week I’m making scallop linguine, chicken alfredo, blueberry smoothies, caramel flan and maybe a peanut butter dessert.)  Focusing on my planned foods keeps me from either forgetting to shoot, being too lazy to shoot or simply coming up with simpler plans last minute.  The same seems to be holding true for my blogging so far.

It’s been 9 days since I planned my first week and with only a few minor changes in plan, I’m sticking to it.  Good news for my blog readers!  I should have brand new content up 2-4 times per week, every week.

How do you plan your micro shoots? Do you blog?  Do you plan blog entries, too?

Subscribe to NiltoMil here.  Or add http://feeds.feedburner.com/Niltomil to your feedreader.  (We currently have almost 1200 subscribers – THANK YOU!)

NiltoMil does use @NiltoMil on Twitter to update you on posts.  My own personal Twitter (much more used but less about microstock) is @MattAntonino

I don’t think there’s enough interest to warrant a separate Facebook page so I don’t have one.  If you suddenly inundate me with comments about it, maybe I’d make one.

To contact me for business (sponsorships, shoots, advertising on this site, etc.) please use matt@niltomil.com or add me on Skype (mattantonino) or AIM/iChat (therandian1)

To license my images, I prefer you use GraphicLeftovers.  My other sites are linked in the Agencies tab.

My plan for June is to focus on more salable food images. I may start shooting some of that new iStock stuff as well but I like to push my images everywhere.  Do they sell for you yet?  (The branded images: Coke, ipads…)   I have some model shoots lined up, have foods picked out to shoot and have images already shot that need processing.  It feels like things are going well.

I’m going to do a few posts soon for new micro photographers again. I know these don’t appeal to everyone but please bear with me as they come.  Hits here have been really high lately and I want to draw in some new readers while keeping everyone updated on what’s going on.

Congratulations! You have reached $10000 or more in all time Shutterstock earnings and your Standard License payout rate has been increased to $0.38 per download.

Best Regards,

Shutterstock

Yay!  I know it’s been a long time coming so here’s to the acceleration of my earnings and some great months on Shutterstock ahead!

All that to say that I talk to 1000s of photographers and have watched their businesses in both micro and event for the last 7 years. I have seen businesses go from nothing to something and some from something to “rockstar photographer.”  I see new photographers pop up almost daily and it makes me wonder where our business is going.  I’ve seen them come, I’ve seen them go.  Here’s my take on the next few years:

When I was in law school in 2000-2002, I remember every lawyer telling me “there are too many lawyers, find something else you love to do!”  It was incredibly difficult during that time for lawyers to find jobs.  Now if you search Google for “lawyer shortage” you’ll find that business is cyclical.  Lawyer shortages in NC, MA, and all around the country have prompted the need for more lawyers than ever before.  The foreclosure crisis in the United States has also created new jobs for lawyers.  Bankruptcies are up when mortgages are down.  Nearly every job has an opposing job.  One is up, the other is down.

Right now photography is going through one of those surplus times.  Our industry *clearly* has far, far too many photographers. That’s not a guess. According to Indeed.com’s salary comparisons, average photographer salaries for job postings nationwide are 16% lower than average salaries for all job postings nationwide.

Statistics show that for a photographer, the average annual salary in 2010 was $29,000. The lowest 10% earned less than $16,900, the middle 50% between $20,500 and $43,500 while the highest 10% earned upwards of $62,500.

What does this all mean?  It means if you’re not PASSIONATELY in love with photography – if you don’t think about it day and night, if it doesn’t consume your heart, if you don’t mind taking a paycut to do what you love – then you should get out now.  Things are going to get worse before they get better.

Will they get better?  I think eventually they will.  I think photographer salaries will go so low and require so much work to make a living that people will give up.  Their cameras will break and they’ll have no backups, they’ll get bored with it, their jobs will recover and they’ll be making enough to get by.  Others will get tired of the 60+ hour weeks for min. wage and quit.  The more photographers give up on this dream, the more work will come back to us.

In the meantime, yes, you’re going to have to work harder and longer hours. You’re going to have to learn to work smarter and do more than the competition. If you can’t do it, save your time and find something you can do for now.  Photography is going to be a low paying career for years. Stop expecting that to change.  Make a change in yourself – be better, do more, or decide to walk away for now.  Either way, good luck!  We’re going to need it.

(In good news, if photography is down, something else is up. What is it? Photography workshops? Products?)