April Sales Updates:

 

Chancellor Lamont - archive sale on Alamy

A steady if undramatic month in April with with the usual suspects keeping their place at the top end of the rankings.

In first place for the second month running were Redbubble with 5 product sales. Three T shirts, a greeting card and an artboard print were purchased here. 

Second place went to Alamy with 2 downloads. Both of these were from my B/W archives - Norman Lamont (then Chancellor of the Exchequer) and a good $$ sale of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Shutterstock took third place. I hit 5 On Demand sales this month and 3 Single sales. As expected, I also moved up to Level 3 which gives a 25% commission on credit sales. I have already noticed higher amounts earned for On Demand and some bigger subscription sales in the $0.50 to $0.70 range (i.e higher than the old fixed $0.36 I used to get under the previous schedule). Obviously, still plenty of the $0.10 sales in the mix as well.

Fourth place went to Istock with 31 downloads and a reasonable RPD. Travel and music festival shots

Bexhill Hospital - welcome to my portfolio

featured heavily here as ever. Barcelona University seems to be an ongoing seller.

Fifth place was taken by Dreamstime with a bigger than usual 9 downloads (including the rare beast of an actual credit sale).

Adobe came in sixth place with 5 downloads.

Bringing up the bottom of the list in seventh place were Bigstock with just 1 download. There's a problem here as the Bridge to Bigstock link seems to have stopped working. No images approved at Shutterstock from the last week of April have moved over. Its been mentioned on the Microstockgroup forum so it's not just me. It's not the first time this has happened and previously got sorted out in the end.

New shooting included some images of the welcome sign at Bexhill Hospital in Sussex. I had an appointment there so made the most of the opportunity!

Thames Television studios in London, 1989

I have also been revisiting my old archive material and scanning some images that I never got round to before. The Gibraltar Chronicle newspaper building, Capital Radio in London and the Thames Television studios featured in these. Because these were all shot between 1987-1989 I didn't bother uploading to Shutterstock because of their strange rule that any images taken before 1990 have to have a signed property release for each one. Like they cannot believe that any contributor could possibly have taken photographs before that date and must have stolen them from somewhere. Nobody else has an issue with this. 

For anyone that's interested in the technical details of scanning I am using an Epson Perfection V300 Photo scanner. This comes with a special holder for both 35mm negative strips and 35mm colour transparencies. I have scanned some medium format (120) negatives where the point of interest fell within the 35mm size area (if that makes sense). The V300 is an old model but they may well have an updated version available. 

It is always strange initially to be working with these old images because they look so different to todays grain free crisp digital images but, of course, that is exactly the appeal to photo buyers looking for an authentic older look. Regards, David.

April Sales Updates:

 

Red Arrows - still flying out at bigstock

An uncommon line up in the rankings in April due to some (one off) variations in sales.

Istock improved to take first place with 23 downloads and an increased RPD. Music festival images started to make a comeback as some of the World starts to head back to normal life due to the Covid vaccination rollout.

Second place went to Shutterstock but a scarcity of On Demand and Single sales pulled them down in dollar earnings.

Third place went to Bigstock with a staggering 50 downloads -all of RAF aerobatic team The Red Arrows (as I mentioned last month). This run did eventually come to a halt but only, I suspect, because I didn't have any more Red Arrows images to download! Probaly one of those events that I'll never have an explanation for. At least there have been no refunds to date. Anyway that was a BME for Bigstock.

Alamy took fourth place  with 2 downloads. Fairly modest $$ sales which were both from my B/W

Stan Newens - archive sale at Alamy

archives (Bill McCall, trade unionist and the late Labour MP Stan Newens. The latter was used in obituary reports in both The Guardian and Daily Telegraph newspapers, though only one of those sales has been reported as yet).

Fifth place went to Redbubble with 3 product sales. Two greetings cards and a mug. Things are a bit slow there recently.

Adobe came in at sixth place with 4 downloads. These included another Illustrative Editorial sale of an Esso petrol station. Actually starting to see a bit more activity here now though I still only have just over 400 images online.

Esso - Illustrative Editorial sale at Adobe

Dreamstime finishes off the rankings with seventh place with 3 downloads (all subs).

I am still awaiting my first sale from Pond 5 and have taken a bit of a break from uploading my back portfolio there. Even a single sale would be some encouragement.

Not a lot to report on the shooting front this month as the UK weather took a downturn (snow in April?!) but I did get out to do a set of a local Electric Vehicle charging point which is an ongoing story in the media. Still, it looks like (some) overseas travel restrictions will be lifted in the coming weeks and I have already started researching a few destinations. We will see. Regards, David.

April Sales Updates:

Poll Tax Riots sold on FineArtAmerica

A surprisingly strong month overall given the Coronavirus pandemic with an unexpected number two in the rankings.

Just retaining their first place were Shutterstock with a decent but lower amount of downloads causing me to miss payout by just a few cents. Never mind, it will be a bumper payment next month with May already off to a good start. On Demand sales made up some 40% of my downloads as is so often the case.

A surprise second place (only just behind SS) were Redbubble with 10 product sales. I wrote last month that maybe people weren't buying art products in the current climate but April proved me wrong with T shirts, prints and sticker sales coming in every few days.

Istock took third place with a reduced download tally of 22 but a decent RPD and a bunch of Connect commissions pushing up the total.

In fourth place it was welcome back to FineArtAmerica with 4 coffee mug sales. These featured my

Coronavirus letter sold on Bigstock

images of the 1977 Rock and Roll Radio campaign march and the 1991 Poll Tax Riots. Firstly an order for two small mugs and then for the same images on two large mugs!

Alamy made fifth place with 2 modest paying downloads. Both from my B/W archives - tennis player Annabel Croft and Robert Sheldon MP (the latter I spotted in the obituary page of one of the Daily newspapers).

Adobe took sixth place with 2 downloads (one of which was a decent paying Custom use).

In seventh place were Dreamstime with just 3 downloads.

Finally we had Bigstock with 5 downloads (all sub sales as they tend to be on BS but, on the plus side, I had my first two sales of my coronavirus letter image. This is the information communication sent out by the UK Government to every household which I photographed laying on a door mat. Not especially original as I found out later - just about every stock photographer seems to have photographed that letter - so I was pleased to get some interest in mine).

Stormy seas at Cala San Vicente in Majorca

I haven't mentioned Picfair for a long time for the very good reason that I haven't had any further sales there (not since 2017). However, I did think it time to have another play with my pricing using their excellent bulk pricing change feature. I've previously tried the premium pricing of £49 per image (with no takers). Went down to £31 (the same as Alamy's Stockimo images on the site). Nothing. So I am now back to £10 (my cut) which is the price point I had my previous sales at. Worth mentioning that Picfair are currently waiving their commission which normally adds 20% to your own price. This continues until July 9 so helps make the images even better value. We'll see if anything happens. Essentially, I see Picfair as like having your own photo selling site. You upload what you want, price how you want and you can group images into albums to promote on social media. And it is free (unless you want to upgrade to a customisable store front there). Uploading is easy enough so I'll just keep going with it for now.

New uploads recently included my previously mentioned Coronavirus letter. I also returned to my 2018 trip to Majorca for some more images of a stormy sea at Cala San Vicente. Travel? You remember that? Maybe next year. Regards, David.

April Sales Updates:

The medieval Torre del Oro in Seville

A varied month in April with a range of good and less good results.

Back up in first place were a much improved Shutterstock. Only one tiny Single download this month but a good number of On Demand sales - making up over half of my income. Editorial reviews at SS have slowed of late mostly taking 2-3 days. I remember the days when editorials would get approved within minutes of uploading.

Second place went to Redbubble with 5 product sales. These were varied with a pillow, mug, phone case, sticker and baby clothes being purchased. The upload interface at Redbubble has been updated with caption and keyword information now coming first before the individual product templates. I must say I prefer getting these done first before getting into slightly the tedious process of setting up the products.In a less welcome change there no longer seems to be an easy share (to Twitter etc) button next to some products - in particular framed prints. Maybe I just haven't looked hard enough yet! I'd ask about that on their forum -if they hadn't scrapped that last year (with no sign yet of the promised return in 2019).

Istock took third place with 34 downloads. In contrast to Shutterstock editorial reviews are flying

Kayaking action on the Guadalquivir river in Seville

through here, usually within an hour or two of upload. Of course, it is sales not review times that are important but I do like see them going through promptly.

In fourth place was a low key return for Alamy with a single figure presentation sale of the Poll Tax Riots of 1991. Good to see these archive images proving popular but a bigger paying sale would have been nice. My zoom activity has gone up of late so, hopefully, there are some more sales in the pipeline.

Bigstock came in fifth place with 8 downloads. Good to see two downloads of my University of Barcelona image. I had hoped that somebody would find that useful.

Dreamstime managed sixth place with just 4 subscription downloads so a far from good result from them.

Debenhams department store In Ashford, Kent

Bringing up the rear were Adobe with 2 downloads but, as I always say, my port there is only just over 300 images. Whether or not editorial submissions will ever be allowed for normal contributors I still don't know. There have been hints that is coming but still nothing has been forthcoming. I may be being simplistic but wouldn't this just require two things? First a bit of code allowing us to mark uploads as Editorial Use Only and, secondly, telling their reviewers not to reject those images for unreleased people/trademarks etc. Could be up and running by tonight if they wanted it!

Recent uploads mainly concentrated on my April images from Seville. The tourist attraction of the medieval Torre del Oro and some "bonus" images of people kayaking on the Guadalquivir river. It's worth looking out for extra shots such as those in addition to the obvious landmarks in the guide books. My port is lacking in sport and action images so those are useful to have. Closer to home the Debenhams department store chain announced 22 store were to be closed next year. One of those is the Ashford store where I used to live and I got an old image of that onto all my sites (not sure why I never uploaded it before, but it's there now). Still only May 1, so everything to play for this month. Regards, David.

April Sales Updates:

Llibertat Presos Politics march, Barcelona

Another strong month in April with Professor Stephen Hawking images continuing to sell and right at the end a flurry of Amber Rudd sales following her resignation as British Home Secretary.

As usual Shutterstock were way out in front in first place. A good number of On Demand and a double figure Single download pushing them up. April also saw a milestone when my total downloads on Shutterstock passed the ten thousand mark. That's a lot of sales.

In second place Istock returned to form with 43 downloads. As controversial as Istock might be amongst some contributors, their regular positioning in second place for me tells why I continue to upload there. In spite of some very low paying subscription downloads the RPD (Rate per Download) continues to be higher than the old 28cents fixed rate.

Third place saw a good month at Dreamstime with 10 downloads. Two of these were higher paying credit sales which raised them in my rankings.

Redbubble came in fourth place with three product sales (a pillow, a T shirt and a sticker). Some lucky person now owns a pillow adorned with Margaret Thatcher :)

In fifth place were Bigstock with 10 downloads. My Tenterden food and drink festival images continue to sell there presumably to illustrate outdoor summer events. These images have yet to take off on parent company Shutterstock where my Tentertainment music festival images continue to shine. Sadly, this enjoyable local music event is no more following alleged complaints over noise and other matters. Still for over ten years we had a great event and photo opportunity.

Sixth place saw 123rf with 4 downloads. At this rate it looks like it may be a while before I get my

Teleferic de Montjuic cable cars, Barcelona

final $5 to payout and close my account. Meanwhile as well as stopping uploading this year I have also deleted the pending editorial images which have sat there since December. Whilst in delete mode I also removed the only images of Margaret Thatcher that 123 had in their library (unless you count a waxwork model of her!). In an interesting move their sister company -macro agency Inmagine has ceased as a separate site with buyers being linked over to the 123 Evo (premium) collection instead. Inmagine used to mirror 123 images in a Value RF section which might be another reason for falling sales (not every Inmagine buyer is just going to automatically move to 123 instead). It's a shame -123RF was once a good, fair agency for contributors.

Canstock surprised with not one but two downloads to give them seventh place. I have also stopped uploading there as well for now. They are not bad people but simply do not sell enough to warrant the time uploading. Silly rejections such as wanting property releases for public landmark buildings didn't help matters here -especially when the same building is already in their library. I'm keeping my account open there -who knows what might happen in the future?

Bringing up the bottom in eighth place were Fotolia with 2 downloads. Editorial please!

Missing from the rankings for the third month running were Alamy but (thankfully) May has started with a good value sale there so they will be back in next months updates.

The stunning Boquer Valley trail on Majorca

April saw me making my second visit to the fantastic City of Barcelona (this time for a full week). I hit photography gold on my second day there when the centre of the City came to a halt for a massive pro Catalonia demonstration and march (specifically calling for the release of Catalan politicians jailed after the declaration of independence in October 2017). As expected this made for some great photo opportunities. I also packed a lot more into my week including an exciting ride on the Montjuic Teleferic cable car line.

Other April uploading saw more images from my 2017 Majorca trip including a set of the Boquer Valley trail. Starting behind the town of Puerto Pollensa this goat filled trail takes you through the stunning rock formations of the Tramuntana mountains before ending in an isolated cove where you get to share the beach with yet more goats.

All in all a positive and exiting month in April with a wealth of new images to work on.
Regards, David.

April Sales Updates:

Annabel Croft -sold at Alamy

A steady month in April with a couple of highlights in getting my first ever sale at Alamy and another new sale at Picfair.

First place, of course, to Shutterstock with a strong performance for On Demand sales which made up nearly 50% of my monthly income here.

Istock once again came in second place with 32 downloads. As last month there was a spread of payment amounts from very low to well above the old fixed $0.28 for subscription sales. So far, it is looking like the new percentage system is generating higher income overall (though it is still early days).

Third place went to Picfair with a sale of a Jack In The Green festival image. This is my second sale in recent months and it looks like things are starting to happen here with an email newsletter mentioning sales to publishers like The Guardian and Time Inc. They have also just introduced a new (optional) advertising license which pays out at ten times your basic set price. Check the site and opt in to these if you want the chance of making the higher sales.In another move buyers now see the total price of an image. Previously they just saw the price the contributor had set and then had Picfairs percentage and the sale processing charge added on at checkout. It's a good way to be more transparent with buyers.

Fourth place was taken by Redbubble with 3 product sales. T shirts seem to be especially popular on this site.

In fifth place Alamy make their first appearance in my sales updates with first a download of the late actress

Pat Hayes - briefly my first ever sale at Alamy 

Pat Hayes followed closely by another of former tennis player Annabel Croft. Sadly the Pat Hayes sale got refunded a few days later. I don't yet know how common refunds are on Alamy but it was certainly disappointing to see my very first sale taken away! By comparison, I have only ever had a handful of refunds across all my other microstock sites. Certainly Alamy operate in a much more traditional way and with more flexibility to buyers so maybe more refunds are to be expected here.

Sixth place went to steady Bigstock with 10 downloads. They tick over month after month with never any great excitement (such as an extended license). Still, as I am lucky enough to be on the discontinued (for new contributors) Bridge to Bigstock scheme there is no work involved at all for me - Shutterstock acceptances just get mirrored on Bigstock.

123rf managed seventh place with 6 downloads -virtually all subscriptions.

Jack In The Green festival -second recent sale at Picfair

Eighth place was the hugely disappointing Dreamstime with just one single sale all month. I should be grateful that at least it was a (modest) credit sale not a $0.35 sub. I'm at a complete loss to understand what has happened to Dreamstime. With over two thousand images there I really shouldn't be seeing this sort of result. So far, May doesn't look like any improvement with just 2 sub sales to date. A late turnaround is really needed here.

Ninth place went to Fotolia with also one download but as I have frequently mentioned I have less than two hundred images there so do not expect much. For many they are in their top two sites each month. I still hope that eventually they will accept editorial images and I can dramatically increase my portfolio and sales there.

Tenth place went to Canstock with 1 download. Again, another agency where I would benefit if they accepted editorial.

Uploading in April again concentrated on getting my portfolio onto Alamy - a policy which I hope to see pay off in coming months. Shooting this month was centred round my second trip to the vibrant Greek capital of Athens. Lots of images of the massive Zea Marina and a day trip to the little island of Aegina where a prehistoric archeological site proved interesting. They'll be edited and uploaded in due course.
Regards, David.

April Sales Updates:

RAF parachute team The Falcons

A fairly average month for April with the usual dominance of one agency, ticking over from some of the rest and no action at all from a number of sites.

As ever, Shutterstock was way, way out in front of the rest. A strong comeback for On Demand sales made up around half of the total and just a couple of small Single and Other Downloads. No Enhanced Downloads at all in April.

Istock performed well to make second place with 5 credit sales and a very strong 45 sub/partner sales (in fact, a record month for those).

Dreamstime was some way behind in third place with 9 downloads. With a portfolio there approaching 2000 images I would really expect to see a much better performance from Dreamstime - a view that seems to be echoed in the forum there. Their levels system (where images with more downloads move up in price) seems to be working against them -at least in my case - as I rarely see those big sales anymore. Just lots of 35cent sub sales.

Peaceful harbour scene on Halki island

Close behind in fourth place were Bigstock with 10 downloads. As usual mainly sub sales. At least I don't have to do any work for them as all my accepted images on Shutterstock automatically get added there as part of the old Bridge to Bigstock program - I consider myself lucky to have got on that.

Fifth place went to 123rf with 10 downloads. The problems with not getting uploads reviewed seem to have been resolved for now with both commercial and editorial images being looked at within a day or two. Editorial continues to do well here and that might explain where my Dreamstime sales have gone.

One for the art sites, an inverted colour forest

Finally in sixth place were Fotolia with just a single subscription sale. Though I only have around 150 images in my port there I would expect a top ranking agency to be making more regular sales than this. I'm waiting and hoping for an announcement that they will start taking editorial images - seems like a logical move as they are the only large site not to accept editorials.

Uploading in April saw me continuing with my images from the Greek island of Halki including one of small boats moored in the harbour. I also revisited my airshow files for some images of the RAF parachute team The Falcons in action. For something a bit different I experimented with some inverted colour images. These weren't very well received by the main agencies but I'm hoping they might get some interest on the art sites like Redbubble. We'll see. May has been a busy month so far for shooting with more images of our newly opened pier, the Jack In The Green festival and then a last minute trip to Athens for good measure! More in due course. Regards, David.

April Sales Updates:

Rum tum at Pirates Day, Hastings

A tad late I know with my April updates but on the principle of better late than never I'm getting this posted now.

Inevitably, in first place were Shutterstock with a very strong month of downloads with a good number of On Demand sales and one good Single Sale (nothing on the scale of last month, sadly).

Jumping into second place this month were 123RF with 10 downloads -several higher paying LEL licences pushed the dollar value up here.

Closed down Phones 4 U, Hastings

Dreamstime ranked third with 10 downloads.

Istock were in fourth place with 5 credit downloads and 18 subscription/PP sales. The PP sales were very low this month with just three sales showing up. New uploads brought my Istock portfolio up to 966 images.

Bigstock brought up the rear in fifth place with 9 downloads (virtually all subsciption sales).

Copperfield Clog morris at Jack In The Green, Hastings

Fotolia and the rest didn't produce any sales in April and I am still awaiting the elusive second sale at Picfair.

Uploading in April included a set of a Phones 4 U branch in Hastings. This mobile phone chain closed down a while back so the images have some historic relevance. I also worked on some more images from last year's Jack In The Green festival (ahead of this years event in May). Finally, backtracking to 2012, I uploaded another fun image from the Pirates Day event -with a heavily pregnant young woman getting into the spirit of the occasion :) Regards, David.

April sales updates:

As ever, Shutterstock stormed head in April -far outgunning all my other agents. And, as ever, I am not allowed to publish the detailed figures due to their Terms Of Service. That's always a shame as it would be good to demonstrate just how well this agency sells stock images. Still, if you haven't already,
sign up for yourself and find out!

Dreamstime produced 17 downloads ($8.29) but, sadly, a lot of subscription sales pulled down the earnings. The big news at Dreamstime was their change of policy towards older unsold images - I'll write a seperate post about that later.

Istock saw an improving 13 downloads ($10.83) and an excellent crop of 19 PP sales ($6.87) -an increase that I imagine is because my editorial images are now also for sale at Thinkstock. I am looking forward to further increases here combined with the new subscription offer at Istock itself. First results should be in at the end of May.

Bigstock continued its growth with 16 downloads ($7.32) with lots of the $0.38 subs sales. It's good to see the increasing number of sales here which do not seem to have harmed my sales at parent company Shutterstock. Obviously, should they drop the special $0.38 sub rate for Bridge to Bridgestock participants my opinion may well change as my sub rate will drop considerably.

123rf ticked over with 13 downloads ($6.07) -mainly $0.25 subs. Reviews of both editorial and commercial images continue to be prompt.

Over at Fotolia I had 5 downloads (2.40 credits). Fotolia continued to be on peoples minds because of the launch of their subsiduary agency Dollar Photo Club. Again, this will be the subject of a seperate post.

Recent uploads included the 24th Hastings Mini Run (held in conjunction with the Hastings Half Marathon race). I also covered the two big May Day events in Hastings. The traditional Jack In The Green festival, where images included Flora the Singleton Giant. Pageant or Dancing Giants are a centuries old tradition in Britain and are reputed to protect their home towns from danger. Flora caused me some problems when I accidently renamed her Clara and had to spend time re-editing my captions!
The other big event was the annual May Day bikers rally which takes place on the seafront. This has been going for many years but just keeps growing in size. This year was certaily the busiest I've seen with an estimated 30,000 + motorcycles arriving in town and it is now said to be one of the biggest motorcycle events in Britain. I spent a lot more time photographing it this year -with a number of images already uploaded and accepted.  It certainly made a change of pace going from Morris dancers and Giants to all that horsepower on display. Regards, David.

April sales update:

Anyone familiar with this blog or my portfolio will realise that April was never going to be a normal month for me following the death of Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Britain. My archive B/W images of her from 1991 were in great demand after the announcement with Shutterstock alone having 72 downloads on the day and many more since.

Starting with Shutterstock then I had a BME with a stunning 278 downloads ($122.79). I'm pleased to say that these weren't all Margaret Thatcher images, with a whole variety of subjects being downloaded. As Summer approaches my other good selling subject, the Tentertainment music festival, saw an uplift in sales.

Dreamstime also produced a superb BME with 26 downloads ($63.22). Much of this income was generated  by the levels system there, with repeat credit sales of Margaret Thatcher producing over $6 in commission each time.

Istockphoto rebounded from its recent slump to produce 12 downloads ($21.01) with a further $1.12 in PP sales. No Thatcher images there yet - though they do now accept "celebrity" images they do require accreditation details (or the images to have been taken in a public place). I'm trying to think of a way round that as, obviously, I don't have accreditation details from 22 years ago.

Yaymicro had a good month with 6 downloads (8.25 euros). Surprisingly, no Thatcher images sold but, on the day, three sales of politicians of the same era -so I presume they were related.

123rf produced 24 downloads ($8.03). I have had a re-think with them. After months of not uploading I was still seeing regular monthly sales and decided that, really, I was just leaving money on the table by not uploading there. The debate, as ever, is do buyers shop around looking for the cheapest sites and are my sales at higher priced sites harmed by having images at 123rf? For now, my personal conclusion is that this isn't the case. Sites have their own sets of buyers that, by and large, stick with that site. Microstock prices are low enough to make shopping around a waste of time (therefore money) for most buyers. Just my view. It took a couple of days of intensive uploading to catch up with the backlog but I'm pleased to say a 100% acceptance on editorials and a surprisingly high acceptance on commercial images as well.

Bigstock did well with 11 downloads ($7.64). The much criticised new subscription plans didn't have much effect with most of my downloads being regular credit sales.

Fotolia saw just 2 downloads (1.65credits).

Mostphotos saw a sub sale of Thatcher (0.28 euros).

Picturenation proved disappointing as despite a number of my Thatcher related images on their home page they got just one web size download (£0.40).

Overall then, an excellent month which demonstrated just how much events can dictate the success of editorial images. Regards, David.

April sales updates:

April saw another strong month at Shutterstock with 96 downloads ($52.51) and, as usual, a good number of On Demand sales.

Istock pleased with 11 downloads ($16.54) and three PP sales ($0.84). Editorial images were well to the fore here including two downloads of RAF display team The Red Arrows (pictured). The airshow season is approaching here so I expect to see more sales on Red Arrows images in the coming weeks. Also pleased to see that they are scheduled to do a display here in Hastings on July 22nd - the first time in twenty four years they have been here.

123RF produced 16 downloads ($8.24) , again mainly from my editorial images.

Dreamstime managed 6 downloads ($7.67) -a slow month for them.

A dissapointing single sale at Bigstock produced $0.50 (jumping ahead, May has started off much better for them).

Yaymicro saw one editorial sale (0.75 euros). I had hoped to see a jump in sales at Yay as they signed up with a number of new partner sites. Sadly, for various reasons, they are not currently including editorial images in these arrangements - thus excluding most of my portfolio. They tell me that this might change in the future.

Finally, Mostphotos produced one subscription sale (0.20 euros).

Uploading in April saw a continued push on my archive political images with a near 100% acceptance rate bringing my portfolio numbers up substantially.

Regards, David.

April Updates:

April saw a Royal Wedding and continuing Summer like weather here in the UK. Both driving sales of my Westminster Abbey images and the Tentertainment music festival throughout the month.
At Shutterstock it was another BME with 84 downloads ($30.78) of which six were welcome On Demand sales paying $1.88 each. I passed the payout level again in April and continue to progress towards $500 total earings when my commission rate will go up.

Dreamstime also had a good month with 16 downloads ($19.87). This figure was buoyed up by several Level 2 and 3 sales paying a good amount of commission.

123RF produced a BME there with 25 downloads ($10.91) many of which were subscription sales of my archive pop music images. I am experimenting with making a handful of images available for their free (web resolution) download section. The beauty with 123 is that you can donate them for as little as just one day and it is not a permanent arrangement. I took a selection from across my portfolio(e.g. politics, pop music, travel, etc) and am viewing this as an advertisement for all my images. By donating for a day at a time you also ensure that the images rise to the front page as they reach expiry. In a new development, parent company Inmagine.com are now also including Editorial as well as Commercial images from 123 on their site.

Istockphoto, as previously posted, also had a BME with 8 dowloads ($7.26) and three Partner Program sales ($0.84). Editorial images continue to attract interest (and sales) there.

Bigstock looked like being a slow month until right at the last it produced 7 downloads ($4.50). All Editorial this time (mainly of the annual Jack In The Green festival in Hastings).

Yaymicro had no site sales but finally posted the Third Party sales for the last quarter of 2010. At 6.71 euros it was a bit dissapointing compared to previous ones but, netherless, enough to bring me my second payout from Yay.

Uploading in April saw a return to my Editorial archives with a number of negatives being scanned and submitted. These got pretty much 100% acceptance at most sites but I got unlucky at Bigstock when I got the inspector that doesn't like grainy B/W photos. Three batches rejected 100% despite all having been accepted within a few hours at parent company Shutterstock. So it goes... Regards, David.

April Updates (finally):

A rather late update on my stats for April. Blame that on Veer as I have been busy "dashing for cash" (no results on that one yet but 121 pending).
Meanwhile over at Shutterstock (where my portfolio passed the 800 mark) I totalled 53 downloads in April ($14.88). The hoped for General Election boom for my archive political images didn't happen there (or anywhere for that matter). Certainly there were some sales but probaly no more than average. A Conservative party election poster on SS and a polling station sign at Dreamstime being the only specific election related sales. Staying on Dreamstime, April brought 15 sales (netting a healthy $12.04). Istockphoto produced no regular sales but 7 partner program downloads at 25cents each ($1.75). British agency PictureNation produced another 3 web resolution sales at £0.40 each (£1.20). Bringing up the rear in April, Bigstock had one editorial sale at 50cents.
No action last month for Veer, Yaymicro, or Mostphotos. Nothing at 123RF as none of my editorial images were live in April. As for BritishImages -who knows. They do not have a views/download counter and I am still unable to change my contact details for payment on the site.
April also saw a return to my editorial archives as I finally got round to scanning and uploading more of my B/W negatives. Highlights included Ted Heath, former British Prime Minister, and a new (old) one of Gordon Brown (now, of course, also a former Prime Minister). Regards, David.