Back in the Seventies and Eighties I founded and ran several Fleet Street photo agencies specialising in stock images of celebrities from pop stars to politicians. These were syndicated to the National and International press and Television. These days I am active in the Microstock world and this blog charts my journey as well as, hopefully, providing inspiration and ideas to others. Image buyers should also find this blog useful with links to my portfolios and regular updates on new uploads. Unless otherwise stated all images are my copyright and may not be reproduced or copied. Comments are very welcome but will be reviewed before publication. Enjoy your visit. Regards, David.

Wednesday 1 August 2018

July Sales Updates:

Vintage cable car over Barcelona, Catalonia
The Summer Slowdown months frequently throw up some interesting results and July 2018 was no different.

No Shutterstock in top place this month as Alamy takes the lead with a single three figure sale. Even after deducting 50% commission this still left them way out in front. My portfolio at Alamy has now passed the 2.5k mark and I look forward to continuing sales with them (especially for those sort of amounts).

Reduced to second place Shutterstock had a poor month. It's a long time since I failed to make the minimum payout level here but my sales stopped just short of that. The almost complete absence of higher paying On Demand sales (just one) dragged them down. A couple of Single downloads helped pull it back a bit but not enough.
Roman bridge at Pollenca, Majorca

Third place went to Redbubble with two print sales (an Art Print and a framed canvas print). Always good to see actual print sales knowing my images are destined for someones wall.

Istock took fourth place with some 47 downloads bringing them close to Shutterstock (but with a much smaller portfolio).

Fifth place went to Bigstock with a pleasing 22 downloads. (Greek islands featured strongly here in particular Halki and Tilos).

Dreamstime managed sixth place with 9 downloads most of which came in the final days of the month after several weeks of having just a single sale.

Medieval wall of Rhodes Old Town, Greece
Bringing up the rear in seventh place were 123rf with 5 downloads (all subscription sales so still leaving me a couple of dollars to payout).

A busy month of uploading new images thanks to my new super fast broadband (mentioned last month). Highlights included the vintage (1929) cable car over Barcelona harbour, the Roman bridge at Pollenca on Majorca and the medieval walled Rhodes Old Town - starting point for my June trip to Tilos island. The latter is a UNESCO World Heritage Site so should attract some sales going forward.

The Summer months continue into August so it will be interesting to see what the coming weeks throw up. Regards, David.

2 comments:

Warren, Dad, Papa said...

Continuing to follow your blog. Thanks for continuing updates.
As an aside -- I backed away from multiple sites, narrowing my outlets to Shutterstock, istock(Getty) and Bigstock.
Slow sales at all of them.

David Fowler said...

Thanks Warren. Sales are certainly slow at the moment -especially at Shutterstock I am finding. Certainly worth adding Alamy to your list - you may have to be patient waiting for sales but when they do come are often for higher rates than microstock. Kind regards, David.