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

Images are going up now – mostly stuff I’ve shot in the past because we’re moving and my photo stuff is packed.  I am working on submitting older images.  I know they won’t sell quite the way I want but honestly I need to start getting momentum back and start submitting, get into all the right habits and patterns, etc.

Once we get moved a lot of our work is going to be focused on fixing up the house, prepping the new studio locations, shooting some new images, and so on.  I hope to get a bunch of great images from the move but who knows what will happen when we actually get moving.  I don’t want to be the slacker who’s taking photos while my friends & family lift boxes.

So going forward – momentum, new submissions, new imagery, a solid approach to the new 2010.

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.

Speed Editing, Intro

We have examined our workflow many times over the last year in an attempt to gain speed without sacrificing a bit of quality.  The first step in that process is always difficult and time consuming but ultimately necessary and extremely beneficial.

Our first step is to create an awareness of our current situation and workflow.

What steps do you take in order to go from image in camera to image on site?

I would suggest that while there are other steps to many photographer’s workflows, the following covers all of the bases and is a starting point to use.

1. Download the cards to your computer.
2. Backup the original files.
3. Choose the images to edit.
4. Edit the keeper images.
5. Keyword the keeper images and add title/description IPTC data.
6. Upload the images.
7. Backup the edited images.
   
8. Push the images on each site to completion.

Downloading Cards

Normally the download of cards happens while you do something else, such as drink coffee, watch tv, reply to email.  So most people are not concerned with download speed.  If you are trying to absolutely maximize your potential you will care but normally it will not matter much.  Start with a Sandisk ImageMate card reader or a firewire reader.  These are the two fastest options and will pull images from your cards very quickly.

Backup Originals

We prefer to backup our files to two external 1 TB harddrives.  As professional photographers both in microstock and wedding/portrait fields, we know that it is of ULTIMATE importance that we have these originals.  DVD backups fail  more often, period.  However you backup, however, just make sure you do it.  Some photographers never backup or only do it “every so often.”  Bad habits breed problems.  Backup the same day you download, every single time.

Choose the Keepers

I prefer Adobe Lightroom for this step.  If you have it, use it here.  If you do not, you have to look at your current time and make a decision about the speed you are getting.  Four clear choices exist for culling images from the rest.  Adobe Lightroom, ACDSee, Aperture and PhotoMechanic.   Whichever you are using, sorting the wheat from the chaff is going to be one of the most time consuming steps so measure your time here carefully.

Edit the Keepers

Photoshop, Gimp, PSP – these are your main editing tools for this, of course.  Use what is familiar.  Do not try to use Lightroom for the bulk of stock editing.  The detail required in noise removal, sharpening and simple spot editing requires Photoshop to be open.  Even though I am a Lightroom LOVER, it’s going to slow you down in the editing stage.  Stick to single image editing programs.

Add Keyword/IPTC data

I prefer to use CushyStock as my keywording/IPTC editor.  It is simple, fast and helps me do bulk images very quickly.  I’ll be exploring this more in detail soon.  Whether you use Lightroom, ACDSee, CushyStock or ProStockMaster, you should have a bulk IPTC tool for simple series labeling.  Photoshop is *not* the right tool for this job.  It does the job, but it’s not the right tool.  You can use a rock to pound nails in too, but a hammer is more efficient.

Upload the images

Again, because I use CushyStock, I’m sticking in it for this step as well.  Once the images are keyworded, set them to upload and you’re done for now.  This part of the process on 50 images does take some time but a bulk upload tool or FTP program will help you immensely not to have to monitor it for each agency.

Backup the edited images

Do this step here, now.  Once the images are headed online, back them up.  If you do it before adding keyword data you can obviously understand what a mess that would be if you lost the images and had to re-keyword them.  Do it after upload because once an FTP has started they can safely be backed up.  If you backup and then start uploading you can cause conflicts which cause either the backup or the upload to fail.  Doing it in this order is computer-preferable.  Again, we obviously recommend double harddrives.

Push the images on each site

I’m not sure what most people call this step.  Completing?  We call it “pushing” because you’re giving the images one final PUSH toward review.  You need to do whatever it is each site requires to complete the process of uploading once the images have been FTP’d.

Some photographers would add things to their workflow such as tracking accepted images, etc. but realistically these are not part of the workflow that gets your images on a site.  Stick to the basics for now.  Download, backup, cull, edit, keyword, upload, push.  That’s it, that’s all stock is at its basics.

That leads us to stage 2 of improving our workflow for speed.

How long does your current workflow take?

In measuring the time it takes to do your workflow we must have a basis for comparison.  I would suggest that a batch of 50 images is a good standard.  Why 50?  Shutterstock’s full page is 50.  Dreamstime upload limits for anyone under 80% is usually 50 and StockXpert used to be 50 and is now 25, or 2 days of transfer.  It’s a nice round number for figuring out percents as well, as half of 100.

Do this: time every step for your next 50 images.  Separate 50 images you want to do the process to and mark it.  Here’s a guide from my last 50.

1. 3 minutes (2.5 gb, 481 originals) to download.
   
2. 1 minute (2.5 gb to 2 external HDs) to backup drives
   
3. 28 minutes to sort 112 keepers from 481 originals.
   
4. 63 minutes to edit 50 of the keeper images.
   
5. 37 minutes to keyword and IPTC 50 images.
   
6. 1 minute setup (50 images to 14 sites).
   
7. 1 minute setup (50 images) to backup drives.
   
8. 9 sites pushed in 35 minutes, 3 sites remain undone (FT, DT and BSP).

My total from the last 50 edited images, 169 minutes.  Of this, the 28 minutes to sort really gave me 112 not 50 usable images so it counts for about 12 of the 28 minutes for just this batch.  It will take me slightly longer than 1 hour to finish FT, DT and BSP  pushes.  So in roughly 4 hours of work I uploaded 50 new images start to finish.

So get an idea where you are – that’s all for now and I’ll come back later with tips on speeding up, where I save time, where I lose time, and what programs we can use for everything we do.

I learned a huge lesson in the last 3 months. That lesson:

“Success requires first expending ten units of effort to produce one unit of results. Your momentum will then produce ten units of results with each unit of effort.” – Charles Givens

What I mean to say, exactly, is that stock is a momentum game. The more quality images you upload, the more people visit your gallery and thus the more sales you have overall. The first bit of starting requires a harder push than later on but you must start and (here’s the lesson of the day) KEEP GOING.

I’ve watched the downloads of several major contributors this month and last. They nearly always are consistently uploading. Image totals go up here and there and the contributors continue to be successful. Another thing I did was watch a few contributors with totals near mine. Some went up, some did not.  For the most part these type of users make up the majority of active contributors – those who are basically spinning their wheels.  The last group needs no monitoring.  They are the contributors who submit a few times, don’t make $10,000 and go away never to be heard from again.

I’m concerned only with the group that uses momentum in its favor.  This group uploads consistently, 50-200 images  a week almost every week.  This group also seems to make most of the money in microstock.

So what is it that keeps the momentum going?  What keeps a contributor going?  I think they are obsessed.  One of my favorite quotes ever is by John Irving.  He said the secret to business was “You’ve got to GET obsessed and STAY obsessed.”  Many start there – how do  you continue your obsession?  What makes you enjoy the business?

Recently I was away for a few months, reconsidering what I wanted to do in microstock.  Over the summer last year I lost my momentum and it really hurt my sales and my mood.  I have in the last few weeks been kicking it back into gear.  It’s time to run again.  I am obsessed with microstock again.  I want to learn, move forward, WIN.  I want to hit goals, hit higher ones and hit ones so high I have to reset them all.  I am officially OBSESSED with microstock and it’s time to get back to good.  I’m not going to let summer stop me this time.  I am shooting again, editing again, uploading again – with more consistency and less “flurry.”  Powerweeks work against me – that’s figured out.  Moving forward in a consistent manner is the goal.  We shall see!

Thanks for reading – I really appreciate all of you guys.  Leave me a comment and I’ll stop by to see what you’ve been working on too!

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!

Yes!  My goal was to hit $500 for only the third month ever (first since my BME last July) and I did it!

Full earnings spreadsheet is here.

With February’s income totaled, I have reached $508.89

BME: IStock, Fotolia, CanStock (DT $1.10 off)

Shutterstock went up $45 this month, a decent start but not where I want to be.  I expect Shutterstock to be well into the $300s for March.  I am starting to gain traction there again so I hope to regain my momentum.

Dreamstime nearly hit a  BME but failed by $1.10 to reach it.  It was my third month in four with basically $103.

IStock is the same old, same old.  Still 89 images but a new BME of $17.81 so whatever change they made to Best Match has helped me lately.  My last two months are my best two months in 4 years.

Fotolia did the expected and more than doubled this month due to my doubling of portfolio size.  Last month I went from 646 images online to 1350 and now at 1599 so a huge leap from Fotolia was expected and received.  Fotolia became just my third agency to start crossing the $50 barrier.

123RF and Bigstock did about usual.  No surprises.  I would like to see some growth though.  These two were earning $22-30 for me in June and same now but I’ve added nearly 800 new images!

StockXpert continues to improve.  my second $30+ in a row with only my EL month beating it (2nd BME).  I like the reviews there, I’m climing up their user charts and everything is starting to go well for me there.

The only other real surprise this month was Canstock.  I have been dumping my portfolio on Canstock because of the new Fotosearch acquistion of CSP and so far so great!  My previous *FOUR YEAR* earnings were $61 on around 125 images and lately on 470 images.  I finished uploading my portfolio so I now have just over 2000 images there and this month made $26.55 which is HALF of my all-time earnings there!  It won’t make me rich but it’s a start for Canstock.  When Canstock finishes 5th on your list, you know something is weird!

Yaymicro, FotoMind, MostPhotos and most of my small and new sites (Image Catalog, CutCaster, Vivozoom) all were at $0 for the month.  When I do Powerweek I will NOT be uploading to those sites.

Microstock Diaries

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Microstock Junction

Driftless Ramblings

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Pixels Away

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Microstock Experiment