February Sales Updates:

Turia river park, Valencia

Not only a short month in February but in most cases short on sales as well.

Shutterstock took first place (even with their new commission structure). A worthwhile Single sale plus an Enhanced download and a number of On Demand sales pushed them into top place. As predicted, I moved onto Level 2 during the month.

Second place went to Alamy with 4 downloads. None of them massive sales but welcome all the same. Three were from my B/W archives and the fourth was another use of my Lidl supermarket images.

Third place went to FineArtAmerica with a T shirt sale.

Dreamstime made fourth place with 5 downloads. 

Istock reached a new low in fifth place with just 8 downloads. How a major agency can sell so few I

Museu de Belle Arts, Valencia

don't know. Of course, these were essentially January sales which was bad all over, so we'll see how the February sales go when we reach the 20th.

Redbubble came in sixth place with just a single sticker sale. A far cry from their usual excellent performance.

Seventh place went to Bigstock with 4 downloads. About average for them.

And finally in eighth place were Adobe with just a single download. On the plus side this was my Illustrative Editorial image of the Covid guidance letter sent out by the UK Government. I fear that Adobe might never open up to normal Editorial (i.e. that have people in them) but, at least, the Illustrative route means I have more images to build my little Adobe portfolio (think I am approaching the dizzy heights of some 400 images soon!).

Obviously, shooting new travel images is out of the question at this time but with vaccines rolling out it's starting to look like foreign travel may be possible later in the year. That said I am building up a target list of UK shots as, all being well, travel restrictions within the UK look like being lifted fairly soon.

Montjuic castle Howitzer, Barcelona

With no choice but to trawl past images recent uploads included some from Valencia including the Museum of Fine Arts and the Turia river park. Barcelona also got revisited for an image of a 1898 vintage Howitzer mounted outside Montjuic castle.

Travel companies are going into overdrive in the UK tempting people to book for later in the year so I hope to see an upturn in image sales as the year goes on as well as my other outdoor images such as music festivals. Let's see how March goes. Regards, David.

January Sales Updates:

Mark Barty-King, Bantam Press publisher

A lively month in January with an unexpected winner in first place and, sadly, a not so unexpected taker for bottom place.

Straight in to first place were FineArtAmerica with a large print sale of Thin Lizzy leader Phil Lynott. This follows on from my couple of sales in November after a void of nearly three years of no sales at all. Not sure why this sudden activity is happening but long may it continue!

Alamy took second place with three sales. Two from my B/W archives and a landscape image from my trip to the Greek island of Tilos last year. Alamy is certainly starting to repay my time in uploading my back catalogue to them -even if commission for non-exlusive images will shortly drop to 40%.

In third place were normal frontrunners Shutterstock. About 40% of my total income this month was from On Demand sales but with no Single downloads at all this time.

Fourth place went to Istock with a slow 28 downloads but a much improved RPD (rate per download) over December.

At the lower end were Bigstock in fifth place with 6 downloads.

Sixth place went to Redbubble with a single product sale (a mug featuring former Prime Minister

Megalo Chorio, Tilos island

Tony Blair).

Just behind in seventh place were Fotolia/Adobe with 3 downloads. Uploading via the Fotolia site will end soon so the time is coming for me to get the hang of the Adobe site.

Sadly, in eighth and final place were Dreamstime with just two $0.35 subscription sales. I suppose I could claim that as a 100% increase on December when I had just the one sale but it's still a pretty dismal picture at DT. Maybe 2019 can see a turn around for this likeable and contributor friendly agency.

Sacred Heart temple, Barcelona

Recent uploading saw some images of the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the summit of Mount Tibidabo in Barcelona. I also uploaded a new image of a Bougainvillea filled street in Megalo Chorio on Tilos island. Turning my hand back to scanning I uploaded an archive image of book publisher Mark Barty-King. As head of Bantam Press it was he who decided on the UK publication of Professor Stephen Hawking's book A Brief History of Time. This was taken at a press conference marking the success of the book. Success didn't follow through to my image which got rejected (twice) at Shutterstock for "film grain". I suspect that the days of SS accepting these old archive images may be in the past so I'm glad I got all my main images in some years ago! Never mind, it's on Alamy and elsewhere.

Too early to make any predictions for February so we'll see how the month pans out. Regards, David.

December sales Updates:

Dunsfold aerodrome Boeing 747

A mixed month in December with one great result from one site and a deeply disappointing one from another.

First up in lead place were Redbubble with a hefty 11 product sales and my Best Month Ever there. All manner of goods were purchased and, no doubt, the majority intended as personalised gifts for Christmas. I didn't get anything like this last year so it is good to see some progress made. Sadly, this festive spurt didn't carry over to Fine Art America where I received no further sales after my two in November reported last month.

Pushed to second place were Shutterstock with a fairly slow month overall. Obviously, unlike Redbubble, the holiday season took its toll here with many people on holiday during the final couple of weeks.

Third place was taken by Alamy with just a single sale but at well above microstock rates. This was another of my archive B/W images -this time of Professor Stephen Hawking.

Istock were in fourth place with 34 downloads. A reduced rate per download from last month dragged my income down here this month and I just missed crossing the payout threshold.

Fifth place went to Bigstock with 6 downloads. To be honest, if my images didn't go there automatically courtesy of the (now closed) Bridge to Bigstock I probably wouldn't bother with them. That said, it does gradually build up and I like to leave my earnings way beyond the $30 payout level to make it a decent amount when I do (eventually) cash out.

Sixth place went to Fotolia/Adobe with 5 downloads. I noticed that sales emails now come from Adobe with actual £ amounts shown (rather than the credits shown by Fotolia). A reminder that from

Douglas C-41 touching down at Dunsfold

February all uploading will have to be done at the Adobe portal. That's a new one for me to learn then!

Canstock reminded me of their existence with a single sale to make seventh place. I haven't uploaded there for nearly a year so have no great expectations. I will probably just keep my small portfolio there in case it does one day reach a payout. It's become a site that I now just check into now and again to see if there's been any action.

Finally on the subject of action (or lack of it) we have eighth place taken by Dreamstime with just a single $0.35 subscription sale. Probaly my worst month ever there (even my first month there with only a few files on sale produced more). Now, approaching 2.5k images, I get just one sale? It almost feels like I am being punished for my exceptionally good months a while back. I've said it before, I really like Dreamstime and the people there so I hope they can improve things in 2019. To make matters worse that one sale was on December 4 and not a single sale since :(

Having fun on the beach in Barcelona

Recent uploading saw me mopping up some outstanding images from the Dunsfold airshow back in 2014 including a WW2 Douglas C-41 coming into land and a Boeing 747. This is a retired British Airways airliner which is now used for film and television work. Viewers of the BBC motoring show Top Gear will recognise this aircraft as it quite often appears in the background during filming. More timely, were some beach images from my 2018 trip to Barcelona.

January is off to a slow start but, hopefully, will pick up as people are getting back to normality after the holidays. regards, David.

November Sales Updates:

Stone tower at Emborio on Halki island

A pleasing month in November including the surprise return of a long absent market.

By far, Shutterstock held onto first place with a strong showing of On Demand and Single sales (both combined making up some 60% of my monthly total).

In second place were an improved Istock with 51 downloads and an RPD (rate per download) substantially up on October.

Third place was taken by Alamy with 2 downloads (both from my B/W political archives). Two developments at Alamy pleased and dismayed in various ways. On the plus side they introduced new Portfolio pages coupled with the ability to create individual Galleries (sets). These can both be easily shared on social media to help direct buyers to your images. I've already created a good number of galleries along obvious lines such as Aviation, Barcelona, Majorca etc. You can view my portfolio here My Alamy Portfolio .
The second news was the far less welcome cutting of commission from next February. This drops from an equitable 50/50 split on direct sales to 60/40 ( a drop of 20% in income). They claim this is needed to help fund and develop their business with the usual "you'll benefit from more sales" placebo thrown in. Regular readers will know that I put a lot of time and faith in recent months building up my Alamy portfolio so this comes as a blow. As expected the negative comments on the Alamy forum now run to many pages with a hope that they might re-consider this move and find other ways of funding their business rather than making contributors pay for it. We'll see what happens next.

Redbubble came in fourth place with 3 product sales (I know what someone's getting for

Cap de Barcelona, Port Vell

Christmas!

Fifth place saw the surprise return from the dead of FineArtAmerica with 2 product sales (a mug and a towel). My first sales there since December 2015 so not quite three years. Whether this was a one off event or I shall start seeing more sales will be interesting.

Bigstock were in sixth place with 7 downloads.

Sadly, after a couple of strong months Dreamstime fell to seventh place with 7 downloads (mainly sub sales). Obviously the buyer who had been hitting my port in September and October was absent this month.

Dead rat on Paxos island

In eighth place were Fotolia with just a single download.

Recent uploads included a mixed bunch ranging from a tower of stones on the Greek island of Halki through to the Roy Lichtenstein sculpture Head of Barcelona on the harbour front of Port Vell. For something a bit different I also uploaded images of a dead rat found on the Greek island of Paxos. A good image for pest control/vermin features. I can also envisage this ending up on a T shirt at some point :) Regards, David.

October Sales Updates:

The Red arrows display over Hastings

A positive month in October with some good sales and the end of the long running 123rf saga.

Returning to form were Shutterstock in first place with a pleasing number of On demand sales (making up over 50% of my total income here).

Second place went to Alamy with 2 downloads and a welcome and unexpected DACS payment added to the total. What's DACS? Find out here www.dacs.org.uk but essentially it's a pool of money collected for secondary use of images (e.g. where a university photocopies a text book containing your image). This is then distributed to registered artists. In my case I was happy for Alamy to make this claim for me (they keep 50%) though some who know what they are doing make the claim directly. Worth noting that Alamy would have been #2 even without this payment.

Third place went to Istock with 50 downloads. The RPD (rate per download) was disappointing this month - dropping slightly below the old fixed $0.28 for subscription sales. That's a first as it has usually been substantially higher.

Fourth place was taken by Dreamstime with 29 downloads. Nothing like the huge surge of September

Rough seas at Cala San Vicente, Majorca

but, once again, there was a single buyer who scooped up twenty images of Majorca in one hit. Can't help but think this was the same buyer though - possibly a travel website of some kind. Ironically at the time of writing I have yet to have a single sale for November there!

Redbubble disappointed with just 2 product sales ( a sticker and a baby outfit) to give them fifth place.

Sixth place went to Bigstock with 8 downloads of a mixed bunch of images.

Finally Fotolia made seventh place with just a single subscription sale. Adobe (owners of Fotolia) have recently announced that the Fotolia site will close next year leaving just the Adobe Stock site running. A good time then to register at Adobe and "synch" your Fotolia account as from next February all uploading will be done through the Adobe portal. I'd been putting this off but, in fact, was much simpler than I imagined. That said, I'm continuing to upload via Fotolia while I can. For clarity all images uploaded to either are currently mirrored on both sites.

Llibertat Presos Politics march, Barcelona

So where is 123rf you may wonder? Gone. Consigned to history as far as I am concerned. Once I'd hit payout AND received my payment I set about manually deleting my 2300 images. Remove. Confirm. I did it in stages throughout the course of a single day before emailing them to close my account. I'm sure they would have deleted the images for me anyway but I didn't want to chance having my account closed and the images still there.  In fact, they responded promptly and gave me the correct legal terminology to use to close the account. This done I got confirmation of closure within a couple of hours. Rather sweetly they thanked me for my past contributions and wished me well for the future. At least we ended things on a nice note. They were once a good, fair paying site (they even had a contributors forum at one point). But then the credit sales dried up and they introduced varying commission levels which were never going to work well for a mainly editorial portfolio. Lifestyle and model type images may well be a whole different story.

Recent uploading saw a lot from my trip to Majorca last month including a day of rough seas at Cala San Vicente. I also uploaded a set of a Red Arrows display over the Hastings seafront in July (they were marking the 100th Birthday of the RAF). Backtracking, I also returned to my April images of Barcelona including more from the massive Llibertat Presos Politics (Free Political Prisoners) march.

Early results for November are mixed so far so I'll see how the second half of the month goes. Regards, David.

September Sales Updates:

The Boquer Valley, Majorca

As the Summer Slowdown comes to an end (hopefully) September saw a startling result from one agency and some solid results from others.

Straight into the top spot soared Dreamstime with no less than 112 downloads. Around thirty sub sales of the Greek islands of Halki and Tilos were surprising enough but nothing prepared me for the 89 sub downloads of my home town of Hastings and neighbouring Rye. Not even of a specific subject but just random images of different events and locations from across a wide time period. It was such unusual activity that I emailed Dreamstime asking them to take a look. Their prompt reply assured me that there was nothing to cause suspicion at their end and, at the time of writing, all the sales still stand. I'll update if that changes in the coming weeks.

Second place went to Redbubble with 3 product sales. Two T shirts and a framed print of the Greek island of Skiathos pushed them up the rankings.

In third place Shutterstock had another subdued month with very few On Demand sales to push the earnings up. Early October sales are showing distinct signs of improvement.

Alamy made fourth place with a further 2 downloads - both from my b/w archive images. It certainly seems that the time spent uploading my back catalogue to them was well spent.

Istock made fifth place with 43 downloads.

On to my lower earners, we had a rare single sale at Mostphotos to give them sixth place for an On

Eco catamaran at Port Vell, Barcelona

Demand sale. I have now opted out of their basic subscription package, so future sales (when they come) should be for higher amounts.

Fotolia took seventh place with 3 downloads. As last month, these were all for higher than the basic subscription rate. In a surprise move Fotolia announced that they are increasing the minimum payout to contributors for sub sales. If I remember correctly the new minimum for my level (bronze) will rise to $0.33. Further news on Fotolia came when a poster at Microstockgroup said they had been told that Editorial submissions were coming in the future. No official information on this yet, however.

Bigstock only managed 6 downloads to give them eighth place. Perhaps that buyer there who frequently downloads images of Hastings went to Dreamstime this month!

Bringing up the bottom in ninth place were 123RF with (you guessed) 4 downloads. The good news there is that those downloads took me over the long awaited $50 payout level. I'm just waiting for the money to come in and then that's us done I think.

Agia Zoni bell tower, Tilos island

Recent uploads included more from my June trip to the Greek island of Tilos this time of the church of Agia Zoni in the abandoned village of Mikro Chorio. Other images included an electric powered Eco Catamaran at Port Vell in Barcelona. The vessel derives some of its energy from wind and solar power -hence the Eco tag.

Also uploaded were a selection of monochrome versions of my images of the Boquer Valley in Majorca. Though I had art sites such as Redbubble in mind these also got accepted at all my regular agencies as well. We'll see if the buyers like these versions or not :)

New shooting was concentrated on Majorca as well having just returned from a week long trip. I made my maiden hot air balloon flight there which, though magical, was a dawn flight which didn't lend itself to much photography. Still, back on the ground, I shot lots of massive waves breaking in the coves at Cala San Vicente during a day of very strong winds. October looks to be starting well so I hope that continues. Regards, David.

August Sales Updates:

Vintage aeroplane ride at Tibidabo, Barcelona

August saw some slight signs of recovery from the Summer Slowdown (Stall might be a better word) with an unexpected boost from one site but a really disappointing result from another.

Back to first place were Shutterstock but with only a single On Demand sale all month (these normally comprise 40-50% of my monthly earnings. Only two modest (but worthwhile) Single downloads on the 31st pulled things around here - about a third of my monthly total in one swoop.

Istock came in second place with a solid 39 downloads. Lots of new image acceptances here giving hope for a steadily improving future. My Istock portfolio is still way behind others in terms of size as a result of (thankfully, now historic) upload limits, no editorial, and constant rejections for everything imaginable -usually "contains artifacts" (when did you last see that as a rejection reason?).

Still in the game Alamy took third place with another single sale, this time of the Greek island of Skiathos. Good to see a travel image selling there as I have long believed that is probably the area that eventually I will do best with at Alamy. Just look at the travel pages of newspapers to see the large number of Alamy credits.

Fourth place (and here's the surprise) went to Fotolia with 8 downloads. Not just subscription sales

Volleyball on the beach, Barcelona

either but almost all paying out at 0.99 credit levels. I'm actually in danger of getting a payout at Fotolia if this keeps up :)

Bigstock produced 8 downloads to make fifth place. Greek island images continue to sell here as well.

Sixth place went to Redbubble with a single T shirt sale featuring (yet again) Margaret Thatcher.

Seventh place was 123rf with (shock!) 4 downloads. Yet another month in which the 4 downloads rule applies. Barely one dollar to payout level now -then it will be time to Shower The Horse (as Anne-Marie didn't sing). You might have to Google that....

Megalo Chorio on Tilos island, Greece

Finally in eighth place ( and the big disappointment) were Dreamstime with just a single $0.35 subscription sale. Two thousand and three hundred images there and one sale. It's genuinely a shame to see what is happening here. They're a nice agency run by nice people (and I'm not just saying that as a former "artist of the week"). It's been reported that they are taking action against Google because of their low ranking in search results - which I'm sure is a factor here. I have no intention of stopping uploading here and just hope things can be turned around.

Uploading (now super-fast thanks to my previously mentioned new broadband connection) concentrated on my 2018 trips with the 1928 vintage aeroplane ride at the Tibidabo park in Barcelona as well as a lively volleyball game on the beach. Also up were a set of Megalo Chorio the Capital of the Greek island of Tilos. The medieval Crusader Knights castle can be seen on the hill in the background.

Hopefully, September will start to see some improved results all round. Regards, David.

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.

May Sales Updates:

Protestor climbing a comms mast in Barcelona

A steady month in May with  no major surprises or dramas.

The usual top of the tree placing went to Shutterstock though a decreased number of On Demand downloads pulled the dollars down here.

Making a welcome return into second place were Alamy with 2 downloads. One fairly modest one and one substantial one. These were both from my B/W archive collection from the 80s/90s. I now have approaching 2.5k images there and still have some older digital images to upload.

Istock took third place with 40 downloads. They would have been second but for the Alamy sales and are still, in general, my second best site for sales and income.

Redbubble came in fourth place with 3 product sales (bag, T shirt, poster). One of the things I really like about Redbubble is they pay out any cleared earnings on a monthly basis - no waiting to hit a fixed payout level like with most microstock sites. Equally, it's one of the things I don't like about Redbubble because I never get to a substantial amount (I'm sure some do!). It might be nice to have the option of letting it build up a bit.

Fifth place went to Dreamstime with 7 downloads. There are certainly more signs of life at DT these

Lidl supermarket, retail success in the UK

days and the bad old days of rejecting similar images are long gone.

Bigstock came in sixth place with 9 downloads. The ever popular Tenterden food and Drink festival images still continuing to sell here. May saw the second year of this event so I have some fresh images ready and waiting.

Seventh place saw the (leaving when I get payout) 123rf with a paltry 4 downloads. Just four dollars left to payout now. Except for April when the Stephen Hawking effect kicked in, 123 have delivered exactly 4 downloads every month this year!

Finally in eight place we have (still waiting for editorial) Fotolia with a single download. In common with most other sites FT seem to be rejecting little these days so my portfolio is gradually growing there - but still only about 200 images.

Medieval Crusader castle on Halki island, Greece

As well as covering the food and drink festival in May I also took a series of my local Lidl supermarket. Retailing (and in particular food retailing) are big ongoing media stories in the UK so I plan to start adding more storefront type images to my portfolio. I also shot my local Esso petrol station (it's next door to Lidl so silly to miss it). One of the interesting (for me) by products of stock photography is the amount of (sometimes useless) knowledge you pick up when researching for caption information. Esso, it turns out, is an acronym for Eastern States Standard Oil. Who knew? Not me that's for sure.

Other uploading in May included more shots of my April trip to Barcelona including the dramatic moment when a protestor climbed a communications tower to unfurl a banner. He was cheered and clapped by the thousands in the Placa Espanya below. Another series uploaded was of the medieval Crusader Knights castle on the Greek island of Halki. 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.

February Sales Updates:

Santa Eulalia merchant schooner in Barcelona

February saw some improvements over the dismal January I am pleased to say.

Back on form in first place were Shutterstock with much improved sales and the return of a good number of On Demand downloads. Several modest Single sales also added to the results here.

Second place went to Istock with 25 downloads with my Tentertainment music festival images continuing to do well.

Redbubble came in third place with 3 product sales. I continue to be impressed with this site and always look forward to seeing what products from my range are purchased. Sadly, as yet, no one has bought a calendar -which I had expected to do well.

Fourth place went to Bigstock with 7 downloads -a mix of local images and Greek islands.

Vintage tram at Port Soller in Majorca

Dreamstime made fifth place with 5 downloads (all subscription sales).

123rf were in sixth place with just 4 downloads. To be fair, as well as stopping new uploads to them I

also opted out of their Partner sales so this is bound to have a downward effect. I am just waiting their promised "good news" announcement at the end of March before probably pulling the plug on them entirely.

Bringing up the rear were Mostphotos with just 1 download (a subscription sale for just a few euro cents). Some people, I gather, do quite well here but it has never really taken off for me. The ability to download your own images for free makes them useful as an additional back up for my files.

Nothing from Alamy in February but I continued to upload my back catalogue to them and now have around 2200 images there. I am hoping that because all my images are available with a Royalty Free license (they have to be because they are RF on other sites) I'll have a bit of an edge there. Carrying out test searches on my image subjects often throws up a lot of competition -until you exclude Rights Managed images from the results and a lot of the competition vanishes.

Zea marina at Piraeus in Athens

Nothing from Picfair either but I did make a major move by increasing the price of all my images from £10 to £40 (making them just under £50 when Picfair add their margin on top). Crazy move when a lot of photographers are only charging a pound or two? Maybe, but now I'm selling on Alamy the Picfair price just looked too cheap for what (I perceive) is a similar market. I also factored in that Picfair is now representing the long established Robert Harding (travel) picture library (prices well above mine!) and even the mobile phone images division of Alamy -Stockimo. If both those think they can get sales at premium prices then I didn't want to be selling myself short. Picfairs global price changer makes it easy to amend all your prices at any time in moments so I can always rethink my strategy at any time.

Recent uploading had me working through my various trips from last year including those from  Athens, Barcelona and Majorca. This year I am returning for an extended stay in Barcelona and going to the Greek island of Tilos -so I'm busy doing research to get stock image ideas ready. I'll report back on those later in the year. Regards, David.

December Sales Updates:

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - archive sale at Alamy

A steady if unexciting month in December which, of course, saw the Christmas through to New Year holidays for many buyers.

As normal Shutterstock took lead place (despite a total of seven zero sales days). A reasonable single download pushed the income up a bit here.

Second place went to Redbubble with a pleasing six product sales (including, for the second month running, a print sale). I would assume that a good number of these items were destined to be Christmas presents. Sadly, I have yet to sell my first calendar there -despite having a number of different ones available.

The Arc de Triomf in Barcelona

Alamy took third place with 3 downloads -all from my political archives. An early image of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown (before they both went on to be Prime Minister) was amongst these. I have high hopes that the work I put into Alamy in 2017 will continue to pay off in the coming year.

Istock made fourth place with 36 downloads. A lack of high paying commissions brought the revenue down here this month.

Fifth place was taken by Bigstock with 6 downloads.

123rf were in sixth place with 6 downloads (a big change from November's surge). They also seem to have stopped reviewing my new uploads again with several batches still pending after some weeks.

Seventh place was another sad month for Dreamstime with (as November) just 3 subscription sales.

The famous La Rambla in Barcelona

Bringing up the rear were Fotolia with just a single sale. Maybe 2018 will be the year they throw open the doors to editorial submissions. I'm quite sure they'll be climbing my rankings if they do.

Recent uploads continued to focus on my Barcelona trip including a series of the Arc de Triomf (the Barcelona one!) and an image of the iconic La Rambla -the pedestrianised road that every tourist (and photographer) goes to. The regional elections which took place in Catalonia in December helped put the spotlight on Barcelona so I have hopes for these images in 2018.

Wishing all readers of this blog a happy and sales filled New Year. Regards, David.

November Sales Updates:

Barcelona bicycle sharing rank

A pleasing month in November with some strong results from some and only really one big disappointment.

Shutterstock had a good performance to stay at first place. A large number of On Demand sales and a rare Enhanced License kept them out in front.

Second place went to Redbubble with 3 product sales including a canvas print (products seem to sell better here so it was nice to get an actual art print sale). I have mentioned my lack of sales at Fine Art America many times so decided to go in and reduce my prices across the board there. I'll see if that has any effect.

Istock made a strong third place with 28 downloads and a pleasing amount of revenue. I am finding the batch uploading and editing on their ESP platform vastly quicker and easier than their old one at a time uploader.

A return for Alamy who made fourth place with the sale of another of my 1980s archive shots - this time of

Passeig de Colom, Barcelona

former Conservative MP Michael Latham. I continued to upload my (non archive) back catalogue here and now have a port of circa 2100 images.

In fifth place were 123rf with an outstanding 27 downloads. There was a theme there as nearly all the downloads were of my Greek islands images.

Sixth place went to Bigstock with 5 downloads. My images of the Tenterden Food and Drink Festival seem to have taken off here with several downloads turning up each month.

Dreamstime proved to be the disappointment in seventh place with just 3 subscription sales (and 35c sales at that). After last months upturn things just slipped away here.

Local Summer event - Tentertainment music festival

Fotolia, Mostphotos and Canstock took up places eight to ten with 2, 1, 1, downloads respectively.

Recent uploading continued with my Barcelona trip images (ahead of the Catalonian elections on December 21). I'm hoping my parliament building images get some sales in the coming weeks. I also edited and uploaded my images from the 2017 Tentertainment music festival -a subject that has always done well for me. For some reason the Istock reviewer rejected these as an Entertainment event best suited to the Getty newsdesk -despite just being people in a park at a local event that took place nearly six months ago! I'll re-submit those in due course as Istock have never had a problem with this type of image before and previous Tentertainment images are regular sellers on their site. Regards, David.

October Sales Updates:

Placa de Catalunya, Barcelona

October saw no sales at Alamy so they drop right off the list this month. It seems to be that it takes time to build regular sales there so I would expect them to jump on and off my rankings for some time to come. With a portfolio there now just passing the two thousand mark I am continuing to upload my back catalogue (as well as new images) and gradually building a presence.

With Alamy absent that, of course, leaves Shutterstock in top place and a good solid month of sales there. Shutterstock have recently caused some excitement by introducing a new submission editing page. I've only used it a few times but after spending thirty minutes trying to submit my first upload I found things got better once I grasped how the page works and I'm sure it will soon be totally familiar.

Redbubble made a strong second place with two sticker sales and a good print sale. As I approach the second anniversary of my last FineArt America sale I can only wonder at the big difference in performance from these two POD sites.

Istock came in third place with 35 downloads. Not as good as some recent months but subscription sales

Fountain in the Placa de Catalunya, Barcelona

are still averaging well above the old 28 cent flat rate payment.

In fourth place were Dreamstime with 5 downloads. A higher paying credit sale (above $5) and several of the $2 sub sales improved things here a bit.

Bigstock made fifth place with 9 downloads. A variety of sales but I'm still seeing a trend to local Hastings and area images - as I have noted many times before.

Sixth place saw 123rf with 7 downloads. I'm still languishing down at level 1 there and I'll need to see a lot more sales than that to have a hope of returning to level 2.

Catalonian Parliament building in Barcelona

Canstock made an infrequent appearance in seventh place with 2 downloads.

Fotolia brought up the rear in eighth place with just a single download (editorial submissions -please!).

Recent shooting and uploading has concentrated on my last minute trip to Barcelona following the declaration of independence there. Though only a two day trip I managed to get a number of key Barcelona images including, of course, the Catalonian parliament building. Hopefully, these will see some sales as fresh elections approach there. It was a brief but fun introduction to an exciting City and I will certainly be returning for a longer stay in the future. Regards, David.