October Sales Updates:

Planet On Sunday- first and last issue

A strong month in October mainly thanks to one agency.

Way out in first place were Alamy with 9 downloads. Most of these were from my archives including three good $$ (net) uses. Seventies rock band Tom Robinson Band sold for an editorial website. Former Chancellor of The Exchequer Denis Healey sold for use as a museum display and my WW2 ration book was used for a book/ebook. 

Second place went to Redbubble with a good value sale of a framed print of my 1980s B/W image of New Scotland Yard. Maybe a Christmas present for somebody that used to work there? That said, I have yet to see a rush of Christmas type sales as in previous years. It's getting a bit late now.

Shutterstock took third place but no large sales this month. Three On Demand and four modest Single sales helped things here.

Fourth place went to Istock with a disappointing 16 downloads and the lowest month I have had from them in a while.

Adobe made fifth place with 6 downloads. My EV charging point sign featuring again.

Denis Healey - museum sale on Alamy

Sixth place went to Dreamstime with 7 downloads. No credit sales again this month.

Bigstock came in seventh place with 3 downloads - all of the vintage cable car in Barcelona. 

Finally in eighth place were Mostphotos with a rare sale. Another Barcelona image of the beach there. I'm not sure what, if any, marketing they do but they seem never to have expanded out of their home country of Sweden. They have also increased the minimum payout to 35 euros so whether I ever see another payout from them is doubtful. 

Shooting highlight in October consisted of covering the annual Tenterden Folk Festival. This is a bigger deal than it might sound as it attracts folk dance groups and musicians from around the World. I covered the main parade down the High Street as well as individual dance performances that were going on all down the street.

WW2 ration book - good sale on Alamy

New uploading saw me continuing with my "historic" newspapers including an image of National Sunday newspaper Planet On Sunday. Launched in June 1996 with an environmental and conservation mission, it ceased publication just days after launching making my image both a first and last edition. I suspect that is some kind of record for a new newspaper.

I haven't mentioned Picfair for a long time - mainly because there was nothing to report. After two years of paying a fee to have a Store there (and allowing continued unlimited uploads) I finally took the decision to cancel my payment. My store finishes in November so I have stopped any further uploads. Not quite sure what happens after this or what to do with the already uploaded images. I'll see in a few weeks time and report back.

So far, a slow start to November so let's see how it goes. Regards, David.

November updates:

November proved stronger than last month with some slower sites pulling in sales.

Shutterstock produced 67 downloads ($35.56) with just under 50% of that revenue coming from On Demand sales. My friends at http://www.microstockposts.com/ are currently running a poll on just that subject -check it out. Sadly, the month saw me just 20cents short of my $75 payout. On the plus side it will be an even better payout in January.

Dreamstime picked up with 9 downloads ($6.17) -though still far from their best performance.

Istockphoto continued to power up for me with 12 downloads ($14.79) and $0.56 in partner sales. Editorial is still doing well here and my total portfolio rose to 372 (with both editorial and commercial images being accepted).

123RF produced 13 downloads ($10.73). Sales seemed to lift towards the end of the month. A possible cause being that I changed a number of my "faved" images. For anyone not familiar with this useful feature it allows you to nominate 5% of your portfolio as favourites. These then get better exposure in search results. You can remove and add to these (up to your limit) at will.

Bigstock had a good November with 7 downloads ($5.50). Many of these from my celebrity archives. Still waiting on my invite to the "Bridge to Bigstock" program though.

Picturenation had one medium resolution sale (£4).

Yaymicro surprised with a sale paying a healthy 5 euros in commission. An archive image of former Chancellor Lord Denis Healey.

Mostphotos also surprised with a subscription sale paying 1.87 euros. Some contributors there are reluctant to allow subs (its optional) because potentially you can get a low rate per download if the buyer uses their full allowance. The three sales I had have all paid out worthwhile amounts.

Fotalia produced my third sale -a sub download (0.25 credits). Encouraging given that I still have less than 40 images online there.

Still awaiting those elusive first sales at Cutcaster and Canstockphoto and some more from Veer to take me over the payout level.

New uploads in November included images of the Sound Waves Community Choir (pictured) performing in Hastings. These had early success with downloads at Bigstock and 123RF. Choirs seem to be attracting quite a bit of interest these days so I have hopes for these images. Regards, David.