Comments on: Microstock earnings in September http://erikwkolstad.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/microstock-earnings-in-september/ Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:26:51 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Rahul Pathak http://erikwkolstad.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/microstock-earnings-in-september/#comment-56 Rahul Pathak Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:06:06 +0000 http://erikwkolstad.wordpress.com/?p=88#comment-56 Hi Erik, Great post and thanks for sharing you experiences. I'd love to get your feedback on an earnings tracking service we have been working on. Please drop me a line if you get a chance. Sincerely, Rahul Hi Erik,

Great post and thanks for sharing you experiences. I’d love to get your feedback on an earnings tracking service we have been working on. Please drop me a line if you get a chance.

Sincerely,

Rahul

]]> By: Erik W. Kolstad http://erikwkolstad.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/microstock-earnings-in-september/#comment-45 Erik W. Kolstad Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:24:32 +0000 http://erikwkolstad.wordpress.com/?p=88#comment-45 Hi Lee and thanks for your comment. You have a point with Shutterstock; you get more downloads and this adds up to healthy earnings. If you make your living in the microstock market, you probably can't afford staying off Shutterstock. I'm mostly in this for the fun of it, though. After a while, I found that I was less comfortable with their business model than with those of other sites. An additional, important factor (to their low royalties) is that images get buried very quickly underneath the mountain of new uploads. On some other sites, you have a chance to "build the reputation" of an image. It seems to me that iStockphoto have a healthier search algorithm, with a more or less sensible weighting between freshness and popularity. At Shutterstock, you have to keep uploading at a tremendous pace to keep your head above the water. I could never do that; there simply isn't time. I don't want to do it either, I want the work I put in each image to have a bit more staying power than it has at Shutterstock. By the way, Lee, thanks for sharing your info with the rest of us on your excellent site! All the best, Erik Hi Lee and thanks for your comment. You have a point with Shutterstock; you get more downloads and this adds up to healthy earnings. If you make your living in the microstock market, you probably can’t afford staying off Shutterstock.

I’m mostly in this for the fun of it, though. After a while, I found that I was less comfortable with their business model than with those of other sites. An additional, important factor (to their low royalties) is that images get buried very quickly underneath the mountain of new uploads. On some other sites, you have a chance to “build the reputation” of an image. It seems to me that iStockphoto have a healthier search algorithm, with a more or less sensible weighting between freshness and popularity.

At Shutterstock, you have to keep uploading at a tremendous pace to keep your head above the water. I could never do that; there simply isn’t time. I don’t want to do it either, I want the work I put in each image to have a bit more staying power than it has at Shutterstock.

By the way, Lee, thanks for sharing your info with the rest of us on your excellent site!

All the best, Erik

]]> By: Lee Torrens http://erikwkolstad.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/microstock-earnings-in-september/#comment-44 Lee Torrens Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:28:40 +0000 http://erikwkolstad.wordpress.com/?p=88#comment-44 Hey Erik, good to see you getting a high sales to portfolio ratio going here. Nice work. I find it interesting that you find the 25 cent royalty at Shutterstock insulting while you're happy with iStockphoto who pay 19 cents for blog resolution sales. See if this perspective provides any new openings: - you're loaning your portfolio to the agency for a month, and at the end of the month the more money they send back, the better they did their job - Commission-per-sale is low across all microstock agencies. Your average at Fotolia was just 73 cents. Is that such a low way from 25 cents? Plus, stick with Shutterstock for five months (at your stated earning rate) and your commission will rise to 33 cents. Many photographers get attached to what they see they're giving away for the money, and that's fine. We each deal with these numbers in our own way. Perhaps consider Alamy as an alternative to microstock. A single sale each month there would eclipse your entire current monthly microstock earnings. Either way, good luck, and keep having fun. -Lee Hey Erik, good to see you getting a high sales to portfolio ratio going here. Nice work.

I find it interesting that you find the 25 cent royalty at Shutterstock insulting while you’re happy with iStockphoto who pay 19 cents for blog resolution sales. See if this perspective provides any new openings:

- you’re loaning your portfolio to the agency for a month, and at the end of the month the more money they send back, the better they did their job -

Commission-per-sale is low across all microstock agencies. Your average at Fotolia was just 73 cents. Is that such a low way from 25 cents?

Plus, stick with Shutterstock for five months (at your stated earning rate) and your commission will rise to 33 cents.

Many photographers get attached to what they see they’re giving away for the money, and that’s fine. We each deal with these numbers in our own way. Perhaps consider Alamy as an alternative to microstock. A single sale each month there would eclipse your entire current monthly microstock earnings.

Either way, good luck, and keep having fun.

-Lee

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