Driftless Ramblings » earnings

March 2010 Internet Income

astoner — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:37:12 +0000

I’m going to work on getting back in the habit of posting my Internet Income on my blog. Notice I didn’t say just Microstock, like I was doing before. I’ve been working on getting some other internet earnings. Currently eHow is really the only one to speak of I’m going to keep working.

Site	Portfolio Size	Downloads	Earnings	Comments
Fotolia	172	2	$1.10
IStockPhoto	134	4	$4.11
ShutterStock	151	16	$31.75	First Enhanced download!!!
Dreamstime	56	1	$1.01
123RF	239	2	$0.91
BigStockPhoto	46	0	$0.00
eHow Earnings	39	N/A	$4.96
Totals			$43.84

Microstock Diaries
Nil to Mil
Pixels Away

Allen

A review of 2009 for Driftless Ramblings

astoner — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:18:18 +0000

I didn’t do too much to advance the exposure of Driftless Ramblings. I did a little bit with adding to my microstock photography portfolios but not really consistently like I had hoped. My portfolios have been earning slowly but making payouts are still pretty elusive. I got two in 2009, one from Fotolia and one from Shutterstock. Like to get my portfolio built up to the point where I can be getting a payout about every month or so. All the different sites combined earn me about $10 per month, it’s just a matter of getting them to the payout threshhold.

My venture into writing for ehow.com has been going pretty good. I’ve been earning as much there as from my microstock sites. The ehow.com writing also gives me some backlinks to some various sites as I’m trying to get some affiliate marketing going. As a matter of fact I have just received my first payout from ehow.com, $12.27, not much but hopefully I can keep it growing.

Allen

Microstock Earnings April 2009

astoner — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:04:30 +0000

Did not get many pictures uploaded this month. My earnings were actually better this month with some activity finally picking up at IStockPhoto. I’m actually starting to get close to a pay out on a couple of the sites. It’s only taken me about two years.

Site	Portfolio Size	Downloads	Earnings	Comments
Fotolia	172	3	$0.90
IStockPhoto	122	6	$7.15
Crestock	21	0	$0.00
ShutterStock	141	9	$2.25
Stockxpert	236	1	$0.30
Dreamstime	39	0	$0.00
123RF	239	0	$0.00
BigStockPhoto	46	0	$0.00
Totals	Avg. 125	19	$10.60

Microstock Diaries
Nil to Mil
Pixels Away

Allen

Microstock Earnings February 2009

astoner — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:57:40 +0000

I had a 30% increase in microstock earnings from January to February! Mathematically that’s an accurate statement, the reality is that my numbers are still too small to make any assumption from that,I went from under $10 to just over $13. Wah Huh! Sorry, I’m in a bit of a sarcastic mood.

My experiment on rf123 doesn’t really seem to have worked. The ones I donated to get downloaded several times, but I was hoping for some action on some of the similar ones. And BigStockPhoto didn’t do anything in February, like I had hoped it would after it’s good start.

Site	Portfolio Size	Downloads	Earnings	Comments
Fotolia	172	4	$2.58
IStockPhoto	101	2	$1.97
Crestock	21	0	$0.00
ShutterStock	140	16	$4.00
Stockxpert	234	6	$2.50
Dreamstime	39	1	$1.67
123RF	221	1	$0.36
BigStockPhoto	37	0	$0.00
Totals	Avg.121	30	$13.08

When it comes right down to it, I had fun doing it and what ever money I make is a nice extra. Although that doesn’t mean I don’t plan to keep working at it and setting some goals although my 10/week is already shot.

Microstock Diaries
Nil to Mil
Pixels Away

Allen

Microstock Earnings January 2009

astoner — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:11:58 +0000

January has been an interesting month. It started out with better downloads and a renewed commitment from me to keep more pictures uploaded consistently. I did pretty good for about a week! Actually I’m still trying to get into a routine of regularly shooting and uploading. My goal is to ten a week, but I’ve really only done that one week in January.

We just got back from a long weekend where I was doing a bunch of shooting. The down side is that it was at the beach and those shots are tough to get approved and selling. I doubt I came up with anything real original.

I did add another agency this past month, BigStockphoto, and I’ve actually had a couple downloads already.

Site	Portfolio Size	Downloads	Earnings	Comments
Fotolia	164	1	$0.99
IStockPhoto	100	0	$0.00
Crestock	21	0	$0.00
ShutterStock	131	18	$4.50
Stockxpert	177	3	$0.90
Dreamstime	39	0	$0.00
123RF	206	4	$2.08
BigStockPhoto	19	2	$1.50	New one in this month
Totals	Avg.107	28	$9.97

I’m glad to see I kept my average the same while adding a new site.

Here’s a couple other blogs I follow that report their earnings:

Microstock Diaries
Nil to Mil
Pixels Away

Allen

Microstock Earnings December 2008

astoner — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:28:46 +0000

December was really busy with Christmas and everything so not much happened. I hope people don’t find my numbers discouraging, especially since I don’t. I’ve not really been putting much time into this endeavor. I’m doing it more to learning something new and get better at photography.

Site	Portfolio Size	Downloads	Earnings	Comments
Fotolia	155	0	$0.00	Added one file, but no sales
IStockPhoto	98	0	$0.00
Crestock	21	0	$0.00
ShutterStock	111	11	$2.75
Stockxpert	152	2	$0.60
Dreamstime	39	0	$0.00
123RF	174	1	$0.36
Totals	Avg.107	23	$3.71

Here’s a couple other blogs I follow that report their earnings:

Microstock Diaries
Nil to Mil
Pixels Away

Allen

Microstock Earnings November 2008

astoner — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:16:39 +0000

Well it looks like around $10/month seems to be right about where I’m stuck on my microstock earnings. Last month I was disappointed with my earnings but this month I’m figuring that unless I step up my dedication and picture taking that’s about where I’m at. In November I got a total of 3 pictures added to Shutterstock and that’s all the new content I got added.

I didn’t even get any other posts made here, although I do have a couple more that I want to make.

Site	Portfolio Size	Downloads	Earnings	Comments
Fotolia	154	0	$0.00
IStockPhoto	96	0	$0.00
Crestock	21	0	$0.00
ShutterStock	109	27	$8.43
Stockxpert	152	2	$0.60
Dreamstime	38	0	$0.00
123RF	164	1	$1.20
Totals	Avg.104	23	$10.23

Here’s a couple other blogs I follow that report their earnings:

Microstock Diaries
Nil to Mil
Pixels Away

Allen

Microstock Earnings October 2008

astoner — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:17:50 +0000

OUCH! Last month I thought I did okay while not getting much work done on adding photos. Well this month I’ve done more to get pictures uploaded, but did quite a bit worse.

I think the next thing I need to work on is actually doing a shoot specifically for stock. Right now I’m taking opportune shots but not doing the work to do a shoot that ‘tells a story’ or is specific ‘concept’. Today I think I got some good fall decoration shots, but it’s really too late in the year for them to be of much value this year. Should I wait until next summer to upload them?

I did hit one of my goals of getting 100 images in my ShutterStock portfolio. I was hoping to get it done on IStockphoto as well but they’ve been so slow at reviewing I haven’t made it. And it has seemed that most of my images have been getting rejected anyway by IS.

Site	Portfolio Size	Downloads	Earnings	Comments
Fotolia	154	1	$1.65
IStockPhoto	93	4	$5.55
Crestock	21	0	$0.00
ShutterStock	106	18	$4.50
Stockxpert	152	0	$0.00
Dreamstime	38	0	$0.00
123RF	164	0	$0.00
Totals	Avg.104	23	$11.70

Here’s a couple other blogs I follow that report their earnings:

Microstock Diaries
Nil to Mil
Pixels Away

Allen

Microstock July 2008 Update

astoner — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:58:30 +0000

It looks like this should be the month I switch over to reporting only monthly earnings. I almost doubled my entire previous earnings with 48 downloads raking in $27.85, giving me a total from microstock of $61.37. Guess I wont be getting any new camera equipment for a while. I would like to cover some of cost of the Nikon 18-200 VR lens I bought recently. The way the earnings are being made across several sites makes it look like I’m still several months from a payout.

The horse picture I refered to in my post Microstock RPI (return per image) actually accounts for a large portion of this months earnings. It was 2 of the 3 downloads from Stockxpert for $6.50 and several downloads on ShutterStock. The other big picture for the month was another animal shot, namely our wonderful alpaca cria that was born recently. The head shot was the EL from Fotolia and the only download for the month from IStockPhoto. And I didn’t think alpaca shots would sell very well!

Overall I’m really pleased with my results for the month. I’m still working out a workflow that will hopefully allow me to get some more consistent uploads, especially to SS, but to also build my portfolios on the other sites. Verizon finally made DSL available in my area so it’s a big help actually having broadband at home and not having the take the files to work an upload them. Actually one of my goals now is to get my microstock earnings to cover the cost of it on a monthly basis.

It’s still July somewhere but I think I’m pretty safe to post this a couple hours before midnight at the international dateline. Maybe some one from Hawaii will buy one in the next couple hours and I’ll have to edit the post.

Sites	Portfolio Size	Downloads	Balance	Comments
Fotolia	144	2	$8.25	I doubled my balance here with only two sales. Got my first EL which accounts for $6.60 of the total.
IStockPhoto	55	1	$2.10
Crestock	21	0	$0.00	The only thing that changes as this site is my portfolio size.
ShutterStock	54	42	$10.50	Didn’t nearly as many new ones on here as I had hoped.
Stockxpert	99	3	$7.00	Still trying to figure this site out. Have gotten several images online, but not working with it effeciently
Dreamstime	14	0	$0.00
123RF	110	0	$0.00
Totals	Avg.71	48	$27.85

Here’s a couple other blogs I follow that report their earnings:

Microstock Diaries
Nil to Mil
Pixels Away
Captured Little Moments <– Just found and added

Allen

Microstock June 2008 Update

astoner — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:46:11 +0000

I did okay getting some more images added to my portfolios in the beginning of June, but with preparations for and a vacation at the end of June I didn’t get much done then. Hopefully in July I’ll be getting some of the stock worthy shots from vacation uploaded.

I have been reading that the summer months are usually a little slower in microstock. Hopefully I’ll be able to make up for that with additional uploads and have more there for when things pick back up in the fall.

I really want to hit getting images onto ShutterStock. With only 39 images, which is less than my average portfolio size, it accounts for almost half my overall earnings. I still want to give some of the other sites a chance but I just can’t seem to get many images accepted Crestock and Dreamstime.

Sites	Portfolio Size	Downloads	Balance	Comments
Fotolia	138	14	$8.25
IStockPhoto	52	6	$7.06
Crestock	11	0	$0.00
ShutterStock	39	71	$17.85	My first week accepted here back in May was better than the entire month of June. I didn’t get nearly as many pictures on as I would have liked in June though.
Stockxpert	67	0	$0.00	Still trying to figure this site out. Have gotten several images online, but not working with it effeciently
Dreamstime	14	0	$0.00
123RF	90	1	$0.36
Totals	Avg.58.7	92	$33.52

Here’s a couple other blogs I follow that report their earnings:

Microstock Diaries
Nil to Mil
Pixels Away

Allen