Micro Tricks & Tips         3 comments

These are some of the tips I’ve picked up along the way that help me earn more microstock money now than ever before. Note: not all these tips will apply to everyone. Some are basic. Like always, take what works and discard the rest.

 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 …

 NiltoMil News         Comments Off

(That’s me – in case you didn’t know)
Flow: the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. *
?
Flow is what athletes refer to as being “in the zone.”? You can’t normally just be there at any specific moment. ? The more you achieve Flow, the easier it is to reclaim, though.? I spend weeks seeking it then days living it.
Flow is:

1. Clear …

 Micro Tricks & Tips,NiltoMil News         3 comments

Let’s see how well you know logos.? Who am I quitting?? Want to guess why?
Do yourself a quick favor and compare the Long Tail we’ve been discussing to the chart on the “Recent Results” page of my spreadsheet.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pZEgM338rPYAiUQorCHGoYQ&hl=en
Now if you understand that I suck at Istock and just move on from there, if this were a Long Tail situation, I would have a few sales at one of the bottom agencies.? I would have fewer but *some* sales at a couple and I’d have nearly no sales but a couple …

 Challenges,Micro Tricks & Tips         Comments Off

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 & …

 Challenges,Monthly Results,NiltoMil News         Comments Off

So what happened?? Did I fail?? Why am I back already?
Well the answers are long & complex – I learned a lot the last 4 days though.? I? have submitted just over 400 images in 4 days.? If I kept going, I would have made a serious run at 1k?in 7 days so why stop?
The answer lies in my beliefs going into the challenge.? I believed that it was easier to shoot 1000 images than to take them from the camera to the stock agency.? I was wrong.? The single …

 Challenges,NiltoMil News         Comments Off

I?m a chronic measurer.? I need to know how much, how long, how many, how can I?? I measure my speed editing weddings, I measure my speed editing a portrait shoot, I measure how many images we take vs. keep, how many we shoot at a portrait session vs. a stock session.? I measure EVERYTHING.? How long my cards take to DL, how long it takes LR to import them.? I can make better decisions if I have more information.
SO – one thing I have no information on is the …