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!

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.

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.

Total Earnings: $440.55

That’s a number I can live with.? Granted it doesn’t get me a lot closer to the “mil” portion of this goal but it also represents an increase over August of $13 and an increase over last Sept of $31.? I upload no new photos, keyworded nothing and submitted not a dang thing.? So an increase in my earnings with no new work is definitely motivating and exciting.

As always my fully detailed results are in my Google Spreadsheet here.

Well, the summer is almost over and I’m almost back to work.? September represents the next-to-last month of me not able to focus on microstock.? That being said I’m always happy if I make a few dollars anyways.

Specific results that are important:

Shutterstock finished +$74 from last month.? I would expect something more in the middle like $160 for October.

Dreamstime was way down but Fotolia was up.? I can’t wait to see what happens with Bigstock since the SS acquisition.

NO BMEs for the first time since I started tracking stats – that’s a little disappointing but gives me some new goals and motivations.? I’d like to have one month set EVERY BME just so I had a guideline to improve from.

Others reporting microstock income:

Microstock Diaries

jrtb

CJ Photography

Driftless Ramblings

PDTNC

MelastMohican

Pixels Away

Bankizdjec

Microstock Experiment

MyStockPhoto

Stock Illustrator

Ah June.? Smells of bbq, flowers and sales worth dog poop.

As always my chart (which was done on the 1st btw!) is here.? And for Lee who is self-proclaimed lazy, I’m posting a June chart:

The work … well … let’s see.? For the month I started strong and have had a terrible last two weeks.? I had some personal stuff come up that has interfered with “work.”? I would say for the month I did about 4 days of uploading at about 2? hrs a day so 8 hrs of work.? My income increased from last month by $47 and I earned a total of $455.02. I did no shooting for stock in June and added only about 160 new images to my galleries.? That’s consistent with the time I think I put in.? So my income increased slightly on very little work.? Eh.

Two BME’s – StockXpert continues to burn up the charts, continuing in 3rd on my charts behind only SS and DT.? CutCaster also earned $4.02 breaking the previous high of $3.19.? Heh.?? Other notes: Canstock had another Fotosearch DL, the 5th one in 5 months.? I like that.? I have many non-earners that may get permanently removed very soon.

At the halfway point of the year I think it’s important to take a look at where I am.

I’m not shooting enough.
I’m not editing enough.
I’m not uploading enough.

That about sums it up – decent return for almost no work I’ve done but wow, ok.? I am done playing around now.

Total Earnings: $408.01

I knew this month was going to be bad about 1/3 of the way through when I was on my way to possibly a Worst Month Ever.? I didn’t quite get that far down as May finished just over $400 for my 4th worst month since I started tracking in detail.? I’m fairly certain it couldn’t get much worse so I’m looking for a REALLY huge bounceback month in June!

Onto the details.

One BME to report – StockXpert – at $44.50 was my BME.? I didn’t have a $30 Photos.com sale this time, like I did in November, so I’m pleased with that BME.

Canstock was also notable this month – fourth consecutive month over $10 and 3rd of 4 to have over $25.? Considering that in 4 months I have now more than doubled my previous 4 year earnings, I’m very pleased with Canstock.

Shutterstock had a worst month for the last 12.? My momentum was completely gone by the beginning of the month and sales were tanked.? Then we seemed to have some database/sales problem as EVERYONE’s early May tanked.? I’m very sure my new momentum uploading will rebound Shutterstock in a BIG way.? I wouldn’t be surprised for a very large jump here next month.

Dreamstime was also off – about $20-$25 off my average month.? Not good news as I have no idea what caused the drop.? Normally I have at least some explanation but not for this.? Just a seasonal dip perhaps as last May was very low.? I need to continue adding new images to DT as well though.

IStock – well I don’t know why I was at $17 and now I don’t know why I’m back to $4.? Either way if I don’t have more than 100 images online, my months are bound to vary from superb to suck.

Fotolia – after three good months on Fotolia, this month was so bad I had to double check my results and I’m STILL not sure it’s right.? Terrible month here.

123RF was near a BME but not quite.? Bigstock was SmallStock once again with terrible earnings.? Nothing at all on MostPhotos, Crestock, ImageCatalog, CutCaster, Vivo or YayMicro.? Don’t honestly know why I bother with most of those.

As they are throughout the month and at the end of every month, detailed results are available here.

Others reporting microstock income:

Microstock Diaries

jrtb

CJ Photography

Driftless Ramblings

PDTNC

MelastMohican

Pixels Away

Bankizdjec

Microstock Experiment

MyStockPhoto

Stock Illustrator

March was up overall but not a BME.? Kind of sad given a Powerweek in the middle of the month should have spurred new heights but when 50%+ gets rejected you don’t get very far.

Detailed results are here.

So let’s see, Shutterstock still hasn’t gained the momentum I need simply because I’m not consistent enough.? I’m going to make myself cry if this keeps up!? Dreamstime was down $15-20 from my last few months.? Istock was in the right range.

The good news was the other big agencies: Fotolia was BME at $83.68, BSP also a BME at $31.50 and SXP a BME at $43.50.

Overall March earnings: $550.15

That’s good enough for second best month ever ($575.46 is overall BME).? I would be happier if SS was picking up momentum but in June I had $398.59 with 1247 images online and now $241.97 with 2143 online.? Sad!

Portfolio size average for my top 6 agencies is now 1903.? Fotolia’s 1599 brings that total down but SS, DT, 123, BSP and SXP are all now over 2000.

Coming soon: my first year back and what’s next for N2M.

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!