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 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 news is that April marks the first time *ever* I have had three $500 months in a row and both my 3 and 6 month averages are the highest they have ever been.? I haven’t beaten my overall BME yet in 2009 but it is reachable for May.? My 3 month average is up $35 from last month, my 6 month is up $25 and my 12 month is up $26.? While not amazing numbers they are all UP.

Two Best Month Ever’s – the previously mentioned Bigstock and the upcoming Canstockphoto.? Prior to Feb. 1, 2009 I had *total* made rougly $60.70 over FOUR years.? In the last 3 months, I have earned $93.70!? Yes, Canstock is back.? In fact, my 3 month average at Canstock is $22.43 which is my 5th best agency of 18.

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

Did I miss any?? Comment below and I’ll add you for next month!

Don’t be surprised if the overall layout of NiltoMil changes soon – I’ve seen some really great looking sites and I think I know how I want to make this easier for me to post more content.? That would seem to be the goal so I will look into it.

* NOTE: I had to change Canstock stats after this post was release.? At 11:55pm last night I had a Canstock Medium FotoSearch sale for $26.40 which drastically changed some info and resulted in this being my 2nd best month ever.

This is my “very quick start” to fractal generation.? Lately a lot of photographers/graphic designers have been creating fractals and I’m definitely one of those.? Half of my last 5 batches (125/250) have been fractals.

Video Tutorial here (no sound): http://niltomil.com/tutorials/frac/index.html

Here’s a quick example of what I do:

1) Start a new fractal.? Duplicate the triangle 4 times and move them out to evenly spaced spots around the center triangle.

2) Set all Linear 3d variations to a value of zero and all Linear to a value of one.

3) Now you can start experimenting on the red triangle (#1).? Whatever you do will be replicated 9 times around you and fading toward the edges so you will get a good idea of what you have done with each variation.

4) I used julian and juliascope to create some cool shapes and an organic looking background.

5) After picking a color scheme press Ctrl+N to get a random variation of colors if it doesn’t automatically generate correctly (sort of a bug fix to push Ctrl N to add gradients)

6) Render it out!

It’s fairly simple to create fracs and you can make them look like almost anything you want.? Play around with different variations one at a time to get an idea what each does.

Here are some of my favorite fractals that I’ve created:

More of my fractals can be found at Shutterstock.? While you can find scripts to do certain things, I always find that playing around by hand lets you learn faster and eventually do MUCH better at fractal creation.? Good luck!? Link me to your favorite fractals in the comments!

January – blessed January!? How do I love thee?

It was absolutely fantastic to get back to uploading with any sense of regularity.? I only uploaded about 200 new images during our busy bridal show/booking month but 200 is more than enough to get me back on track!

As always, our spreadsheet of microstock earnings is here.

The January numbers were great!? In fact, this was our best month since I stopped uploading last July (other than the ridiculous ELs from SS in Nov (3 of them!)? The final total for all this excitement was 424.82

To put that in perspective for us, Shutterstock was actually down a few dollars.? We had SIX BMEs – Dreamstime, IStock, FeaturePics, Crestock, ImageCatalog and SnapVillage.? Also, StockXpert would have been a BME but we had an EL in Nov.? Our old BME was $19.10 though and so this month’s $30 would have destroyed that!

IStock – no clue.? No new images but it was almost TWICE my BME.? I’ve had almost that many images online for FOUR YEARS and never gone up over $10 really.? $17 was a huge leap.? There’s some speculation that it was a result of all their Best Match changes.? We’ll see if it continues (plus I’m going to be uploading to IStock this month like mad so we’ll see if that helps!)

FeaturePics had a … slightly insane month!? I actually repriced all of my images to $10 from $2 before.? I only had 2 sales but those 2 sales resulted in $15.75, or 61% of my all-time FeaturePics earnings.? It was TRIPLE my prior BME.? I’m going to be working on some ideas to push my FeaturePics gallery around the next 6 months so we’ll see if I can’t keep getting a few sales there each month at the new price.

Check out my Fotolia gallery size increase on the spreadsheet – from 465 last April to 646 as of Dec 31st to 1350 as of tonight!? I over doubled my Fotolia gallery in one month!? The power of the push, I guess.? I worked hard on Fotolia (while watching TV) so we’ll hope that pays off over this month and beyond.

Other interesting bits – I passed 2,000 images on FotoMind and MostPhotos and will pass it on a bunch of other sites this month.? Gotta keep pushing!? You’ll note there are *new* agencies on the list – more on that in a future post…

My BME total is $575.46 and I’ll state for the record now that I hope February can beat that.? I’m only $150 away so I think I can make that up without much problem.? I wouldn’t be surprised to go well over $600.? I have a big month ahead – some news coming soon on our next stock photo trip as well!

Other sites reporting earnings:

Microstock Diaries

jrtb

CJ Photography

Microstock Junction

Driftless Ramblings

PDTNC

MelastMohican

Pixels Away

Bankizdjec

Microstock Experiment

Any I’m missing?? This list is getting rather comprehensive!

First of all, I know this is my second post on exclusivity in the last week and so it may appear that I’m considering it.? At this point, we are not.? I do want to consider what exclusivity agencies offer and why it may be beneficial in our future or for others.

123RF

Type of Exclusivity: Per image.
Method: “May be arranged” – asked support and they had no idea.
Terms: An exclusive agreement may be arranged for a better commission.

Dreamstime

Type of Exclusivity: Per image or per photographer.
Method: Per image – upon image submission, check the box.? Per photographer – submit an application.
Terms: Exclusive images earn 10% ($0.10 to $1.40) more per download.? Exclusive photographers earn $.20 per accepted image + 10% more per download.

Fotolia

Type of Exclusivity: Per image.
Method: When submitting a file, choose “Yes” to “Is this file exclusive to Fotolia?”
Terms: Commission is 17% higher for exclusive images.? Maximum sales price on all sizes may also be set higher after contributor reaches the Bronze level instead of Emerald for non-exclusives.? Exclusive images may be opted out of subscriptions.

IStockPhoto

Type of Exclusivity: Per photographer.
Method: Apply when you have 250 downloads, a minimum 50% approval rating, and have no royalty-free stock images, vector illustrations, video footage or Flash files available at other agencies.
Terms: Higher royalties (+5 to +20% so 25-100% higher), extended license bonus, larger upload queue, Exclusive-only events, higher search rankings, business cards.?? Full artist Exclusivity means no images, video or audio files may be sold on other royalty-free sites or businesses with the exception of Getty Images.

Bigstock

Type of Exclusivity: None.

MostPhotos

Type of Exclusivity: None.

Shutterstock

Type of Exclusivity: None.

StockXpert

Type of Exclusivity: None.

So what did we learn?? I think it’s safe to say I won’t be going exclusive for a long time, if ever.? The “best” royalty increase is with IStock on the high end (20%) but as you know, my sales always suck at Istock.? So second best royalty increase is Fotolia.? Again, I make *some* money on FT but not my best results.? 17% more wouldn’t help me enough.

The most likely candidate would be either a) Shutterstock figuring out that exclusive is the way to go or b) Dreamstime.? Dreamstime gives one of the “worst” exclusive bonuses (10%) but 10% of my monthly earnings would almost eliminate one of my smaller agency’s income (say 123RF).? Until that extra 10% would eliminate as well as give me a bonus, I can’t consider it.

Exclusivity has benefits for those photographers in one of three situations:

1) The Time Swamp – if you have a full time job that isn’t microstock and you simply don’t have time to upload *everywhere* you may be better off spending time building your gallery on *one* site.?? At this time, I’d suggest Shutterstock though, and? since they don’t have an exclusive program…

2) The EasySimple – it’s “easier” to upload to one site.? You don’t absolutely have to? use IPTC data for keywords and descriptions, you can manage reading the news on that site, keep up with what’s? new,? and even focus your attention on what downloads when and how you can better yourself.

3) The Student – if you’ve had trouble getting accepted to Shutterstock and IStock and you want to maximize? earning potential it may be worthwhile to try submitting to only Fotolia or Dreamstime for awhile as you grow your talents, not just your gallery.? This is by far the best reason to go Exclusive right now.? Dreamstime and Fotolia are both “difficult” agencies so if you can master them there’s nothing stopping you from Shutterstock and IStock.? Dreamstime and Fotolia both also offer per-image exclusivity so you can “test” exclusivity and see what you like and don’t like about it.

Are you exclusive?? Why or why not?

I’m posting the December results, though as many of you know by now, I’m tracking my earnings on the spreadsheet now.? I’ll let you look at the spreadsheet to get the full data but my December 2008 total was $368.09.

NiltoMil earnings spreadsheet

December was a lower month for me than November but that’s due to the three EL’s I had on Shutterstock in November and the lack of ELs in December.? My licenses sold actually increased from around 350 to near 500 in December, which is a great sign.

The most surprising move in that bunch came from MostPhotos.? I sold two images on MostPhotos last month for $25.? That brought MostPhotos into the Long Tail just after I’d expelled half of my agencies from my uploading queue.? Given that MostPhotos acts like a full resolution backup of all my images AND that it started selling for me again, I’ve resumed uploading to MP and hope to make enough sales this year (say 10?) to make it worthwhile.

My 3 month average is down from my 6 month average from $433 to $398.? I expect over the next 5 months that will reverse entirely though.? July is still being counted in my 6 month average and July was my BME.? (My 5 month average is $404, much closer to my 3 month).

On a site related note, December was the best month in NiltoMil history by far.? 14, 484 page loads, 6144 unique visitors.? I’ll take that any day of the week.? Thanks for visiting!

Top 20 19 Microstock Agencies

The BEST Sellers

1. Shutterstock

Shutterstock offers something most of the other agencies do not ? fast sales, early income. Shutterstock has *no* exclusivity program currently. High pay, high sales, commissions vary by user.

2. Istockphoto

The Godfather of microstock, IstockPhoto is one of the most difficult agencies to have images approved at and seems to give large bonuses to exclusive photographers such as larger upload queue, faster reviews, and higher search engine placement. High pay, medium sales, commissions vary for exclusive vs. non-exclusive and for photographer level.

3. Dreamstime

Images have to ?season in? before they will make you the most money but once that happens you will find fantastic returns from Dreamstime. Image approvals are probably easiest here of the BEST sellers group. Dreamstime offers per-image or photographer exclusivity. High pay, high sales, commissions vary by Image Level.

4. Fotolia

Fotolia has very strict, sometimes difficult to understand acceptance criteria for images. They also offer per-image exclusivity. Fotolia?s income potential is very high although they recently reduced this for newer photographers by making it harder to push through some of their ?contributor levels.? Medium pay, medium sales, commissions vary by photographer level.

The NEXT best

5. 123RF

We have over 92% approval rate at 123RF and although it does not sell like the top 4, sales beat almost every other agency each month. Medium pay, low sales, commissions vary by image size.

6. BigstockPhoto

BigstockPhoto is a ?fair reviewer? agency ? it?s difficult to argue with their rejections and is thus a great site to learn from. The income varies dramatically ? one month being a new high and the very next month half the income and then right back up one month later. High pay, low sales, commissions vary by size.

This agency has one of the simplest upload procedures but limits of 50 per day transfer. The two combine to make growing your gallery fast but not amazingly so. Medium pay, medium sales, commissions vary by size.

7. StockXpert

StockXpert is one of those sites that varies too much month to month.? Their new arrangement with Photos.com makes it so that one Photos.com sale changes your stats by a lot.? Fortunately, it’s a good thing.? UNfortunately, when you don’t make those sales, you don’t make as much here as I’d like to make.? Medium pay, medium sales, comissions vary wildly.

The NOT best

1. FeaturePics ? set your own pricing, 70% commissions, few sales.
2. FotoMind ? high payout threshold, few sales, could still grow.
3. MostPhotos ? high payout (12.50? per sale), few sales, easy upload.
4. SnapVillage ? very few sales. A newer agency.
5. YayMicro ? very few sales. A newer agency.
6. Zymmetrical ? very few sales. Difficult approvals. A newer agency.
7. Crestock ? difficult approvals, very few sales.
8. CanstockPhoto ? very few sales, one of the older agencies, low commissions.
9. ImageCatalog
10. CutCaster
11. PantherMedia
12. Moodboard
13. ?

I was going to list a top 20 but microstock is not a place to joke around with how many agencies you can *possibly* join. Here are some thoughts ? unless you opt for exclusivity with Istock, Dreamstime or Fotolia, you should be on the top 4 sites. There?s no (good) reason to avoid them. Accept the rejections that come and learn from them. The next three sites are great to learn on, grow on and get some sales under your belt. If you?re ?worried? about rejection, start there. They are fewer and easier to take. Bigstock has professional, superb reviewers and if you get rejected there it was probably for a good reason.

The rest of the sites on the list are sites to mainly avoid. If you *have* to keep adding sites, #8-12 are the best places to start. Moodboard is almost not microstock (it?s midstock). Your time would be better served getting ONE sale on Alamy then a year?s worth of sales on all of the sites #8-19 combined.

Total November Earnings: $445.31

First of all, you’ll notice a few changes in my earnings tables this month.? I am going to be tracking my NiltoMil project on Google Spreadsheets.?? NiltoMil Microstock Earnings

I found out something interesting though, related to my results.

Now you know that my main goal the last week or so has been “The Long Tail” of microstock.? If you look though, my “tail” breaks completely after the top 7 agencies. That’s not a tail – that’s a waste of time.? As of today, I’m no longer uploading to MostPhotos, YayMicro, FeaturePics, FotoMind, Crestock or Canstock.? I have cancelled my account with Zymmetrical and will do the same with Crestock.? Once we get our MostPhotos and Fotomind money, we’ll likely be closing up shop there too if sales haven’t improved.? We will give Yaymicro until the end of 2009 and then reevaluate but I’m sticking with the 1500 images there, no new ones.

This is an example of where you should NOT think about Long Tail earnings. 1500 images on MostPhotos = $0 for 3 months.? Let’s do the math and 150,000 images ALSO = ~$0.? Do not waste your time on these false tails.

When I do my “Power Week” uploading, one thing I’m always running into is upload time.? As of today, I just cut it in half.? I hope this allows me to add FAR more images to the agencies I do stay with and who do help me earn money from microstock.? I’ll have a full evaluation of Power Week v2 in an upcoming post.

November 2008 Earnings
October 2008 Earnings
September 2008 Earnings
August 2008 Earnings
July 2008 Earnings
June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings

I’m on a bit of a Power Week v2 right now.? I’m trying to find out how many images I can get uploaded in a week – from editing, keywording, uploading & submitting.

Here’s the issue – you run into bottlenecks, tie-ups – places that slow you down.? It doesn’t matter where that place is, somewhere along the line you will hit it if you’re fast enough.? Does anyone remember Power Week v1?? My bottleneck was not having enough images to process.? I could literally edit images faster than Sarah & I were shooting them.? I ran out of images after editing 400 in 3 days.

Fast forward to Power Week v2 – I’ve now got a backlog of almost 4,000 shots from our trip to edit & upload.? I will NOT run out of images this week.? So what now?

My internet upload speed.

I edited 200 images yesterday.? After about 4 hours of work on those same images today I had them ready to upload.? I pushed upload SIX hours ago.? I was out for a few hours this morning and pushed images at 6:30 pm.? It’s almost 1am and I am 31% done with my upload!!? According to this speed, if it stays constant, it will take anywhere from 19 to 24 hours to complete my UPLOAD.? In the meantime, I’ve already edited another 85 files.? By the end of that 19 hours, I should have another 150 to upload.? I am pushing the VERY limits of my upload speed.

I think my next post will focus on ALL of the steps in this process – so I can find & eliminate bottlenecks before this happens.? But for now, just know that if you submit 200 images to 123RF, Bigstock, Dreamstime, FeaturePics, Fotolia, ImageCatalog, MostPhotos, Shutterstock, StockXpert and Yaymicro at the same time, you will beuploading for a LONG time.

No image with this post – I’m too busy and too lazy at the same time.

Ok, I know I didn?t post Sept OR October results.? I do have them.

I?m going to make new charts for my stats.? In the meantime, here?s what I did:

September

OK grand total of $407.57

October

Grand total of $380.67

So let?s recap quickly.? I stopped uploading around July 15th with about $580.? My income retained 66% over 3 months.? Not bad!

November 2008 Earnings
October 2008 Earnings
September 2008 Earnings
August 2008 Earnings
July 2008 Earnings
June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings