A steady, rather than exciting, month in May. Shutterstock, as ever, led the way with 42 downloads ($12.69). Dreamstime produced 11 dls ($7.87). Istock achieved 2 partner programme sales ($0.50) and 1 regular sale ($1.56). 2 dls on Bigstock ($1.00) and as previously posted 1 regular sale at Yaymicro (1 euro) and a further 9.70 euro from their 3rd party seller. Nothing this month at Picturenation, VeerMarketplace and Mostphotos.
123RF went live with their Editorial collection at the start of May. I have around 470 live there with a further 40 pending review (in fact, some have been pending since April -which seems a bit slow by anyones standards!). Sadly, no sales there yet but they are only now just starting to market and promote the Editorial collection. I am also hoping that some editorial might also be added to their parent company site Inmagine.com in time. A note in the FAQ there says that they are considering taking Editorial. Certainly some 123RF commercial images already appear in the Inmagine "value images" section.
May also saw a new bit of photo kit. A Giottos aluminum monopod (Model: MML 3270B). Light enough to carry around easily it provides a really sturdy shooting platform (after a bit of practise). I did look at some cheaper options but decided the £40 price (from Jessops in the UK) was a worthwhile investment. I can also combine it with the pan & tilt head from my Giottos tripod for greater flexibility -for example shooting portrait format images.
Regular readers will notice a new image of the late footballer George Best on the left. This has had a flurry of sales in the last few weeks. I believe there is some sort of football competition going on which may explain that!
Meanwhile the Veer "Dash For Cash" payment for uploads continues. To date I have about 30 accepted (the same low acceptance rate that I have always had at Veer!). The promotion goes on until the end of June so I'll see where I am then. What is interesting (and encouraging) is that my views there have shot up in the past few weeks. Will update further on that later. Regards, David.
