Monthly Results         7 comments

Very late, I know.? I went to Maine for two weeks near the end of July and was basically non-existent on the ‘net for that time!? Sorry.
July 2009 results
As always the fastest and easiest way to see stats is on the spreadsheet using the above link.? However, I’ll detail a bit of my month in here as well.
July total was $543.49 which was almost up $100 from June ($88!).? I’ll take that result.? However, only DT was a BME.? Shutterstock accounted for a lot of the leap with a gain …

 Monthly Results         13 comments

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 …

 Micro Tricks & Tips,NiltoMil News         14 comments

My upload strategy of late has been momentum.? I think if we upload consistently rather than doing Power Week then nothing, we’re going to be better with sales and have a better acceptance ratio.? So far that has proven to be true.? I am now almost a full week into this consistent strategy and what I’m finding is that sales on SS, DT and SXP are rising.? Fotolia always takes awhile and BSP/123RF don’t sell enough to notice trends yet.? This consistent approach is also good for my portfolio.? Let’s …

 Monthly Results         17 comments

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 …

 NiltoMil News,The Microstock World         5 comments

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 …

 Monthly Results         3 comments

Total Earning: $555.49
So April was both a good month and a bad month, depending on your point of view.?? The good news is that my earnings rose $5 even with a sizable drop from SS, IS, and FT.? Last month those three combined for $340 while this month just $289.? However, Dreamstime recovered up $13 and Canstock and Bigstock had a BME.
My gallery size stayed very near the same numbers as March as SS went up 27, DT 26 and SXP 72.? So that is mainly the bad news.
The good …

 Monthly Results         6 comments

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 …

 Challenges,NiltoMil News         2 comments

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 …

 Challenges,NiltoMil News         5 comments

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 …

 Monthly Results         9 comments

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 …