August updates:

Well, August was really slow for me (and many others, judging by the forums) so I haven't rushed to post my figures. Vacation time, Summer Slowdown, call it what you will but this is what I scraped in:
Shutterstock produced 46 downloads ($11.50). Dreamstime 10 downloads ($9.85). Istock had 1 regular sale at $ 1.77 and 3 partner sales totalling $0.75.
Bigstock showed some life with 2 downloads ($3). And, finally, a pleasing high res sale at Yaymicro netted 5euros.
Nothing in August from Picturenation, Mostphotos or 123RF.

I have had images live at 123 for nearly five months now and not even a little subscription sale. I really hope they can build the marketing for their Editorial images as I know many (non editorial) contributors get regular sales there. One was kind enough to send me a screen shot of his earnings page recently. It was nice to see something other than a page of zeros.

However, not all bad news - I had the last of my "Dash For Cash" submissions reviewed at Veer and was pleased to find I had earned $74 bonus from them. This was double what I was expecting as I had forgotten that the bonus went up from $0.35 to $0.70 if you got more than 100 images accepted. I'd had 106! Now I just need $26 in actual sales to reach payout.
Regards, David.

From Woohaying to No Waying (Istock in turmoil):

Well, I was about to post some stats for August when Microstock events overtook me. Istockphoto announced major commission changes (cuts) from next January. Instead of your commission rate being set by your "cannister" level (based on all time sales) it will now be based only on sales from the previous year. For small and independent contributors (like myself) commission will drop from an already poor 20% to what I believe to be an industry low of 15%. Even many of the successful exclusive contributors are anticipating a drop in earnings. Not surprisingly this has led to an outcry on the forums (link here:http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=252322) with the main thread now running to over 3336 (mainly hostile) postings. Several statements by IS chief Kelly Thompson to justify the move seem, if anything, to have made matters worse with many posters cancelling their exclusive status and halting new uploads. Others are calling on image buyers to boycott IS. This is where it gets interesting because IS seems to have overlooked the fact that many contributors are also buyers in their "day job". An increasing number are now posting that they and their companies will not buy images from IS again.
Istock are part of Getty images who are owned by equity group Hellman and
Friedman. This whole move looks like an attempt to up profits (possibly before a sell off, as some have speculated) and seems to have been done with complete disregard for loyal contributors. The so called Istock Community is fast looking like a thing of the past with many now posting four letter word abuse in the forums.
I should say, that none of this has much impact on me financially. I only have a small portfolio there and not many sales. But I do feel really sorry for those who rely on IS for a big part (or all) of their earnings and especially those making a full time living from stock. It remains to be seen how this all pans out in the coming weeks. Regards, David.

Bagging a Banksy:

I've posted before about picture opportunities on your doorstep. Well there was a good one here this week in St.Leonards-on-Sea when a new mural by cult British street artist "Banksy" appeared overnight on the seafront. I didn't have much trouble finding the location due to the number of people congregating to take photographs of it and photographing their children next to it! It took a bit of patience to get a clear shot of it but the images are now uploaded and awaiting approval (as Editorial images, obviously).

British agency PictureNation got them online within a couple of hours (I emailed them to let them know they were in the approval queue). I have no idea what the sales potential is here, but I do know that, in the art world, Banksy is a big name and new works arouse a lot of interest, so we'll see.

Hastings council have said that despite their zero tolerance policy on graffiti they are regarding this as Art and allowing it to stay. Certainly the interest being shown by the public yesterday would suggest this is the right decision. Edit: Just for clarification -the black lettering at the top isn't part of the mural but everyday graffiti (which I'm sure will be removed by the council).

Regards (from the "centre of the art world" as the local newspaper coined it), David.

July Updates:

July saw Dreamstime powering up to an excellent 26 downloads ($18.29) making this my BME there. My portfolio there also hit the 800 milestone in July. Best of all, I am only $1.45 short of my first $100 payout so that should happen very soon.

Over at Shutterstock I had 57 downloads ($16.44) and I am on course to hit my third $75 payout in August.

British agency Picturenation did well with two high res sales (archive shots of Margaret Thatcher and Lord Peter Mandelson) netting £6.00 each in commission.

Bigstock produced 1 editorial sale ($2) and bringing up the rear Istock with one regular sale ($0.29) and 3 partner program sales ($0.75).

Nothing in July at Yay, Most, Veer or 123.

On a more positive note at Istock, I had 11 new images accepted (all from my recent Greek trip). That might not sound a lot, but for me very unusual. I've finally managed to produce some images they couldn't find any artifacts in, it seems! Also announced in July, their basic upload limit is raised from 15 a week to 18, giving a better chance of building a reasonable sized portfolio there.

Finally a bit of Summer success. My images of the crowd at the 2009 "Tentertainment" local music festival (in Tenterden, Kent) seem to have become my current best sellers. Almost daily downloads at Shutterstock and a rise to Level 2 on Dreamstime. One buyer at DT searched for "music, festival, grass" . I tried the same search at SS (under Editorial images) and there it was: Page 1, Image 1 in the results. That's why it keeps selling! I only spent a few minutes taking these images but with an excellent payback. I guess you just never know. Regard, David.

Useful source of information:

In stock photography, like all walks of life, knowledge and information are essential. One source that I frequently mention is the microstock forum site http://www.microstockgroup.com/ , where you can find a wealth of information, views, debate and sometimes just entertainment. If you are serious about stock photography this site is a must read!

A new service which I recently signed up to is http://www.microstock-news.com/ . Founded by stock veterans Roberto Marinello and Amos Struck, this service provides you with regular (usually daily) emails with a digest of all the latest microstock news. Everything from photo blogs to stock agency news/press releases etc. You just get a taster of each one and click on the link to read more. You can also choose only those areas that interest you (e.g. photo tools and software). This valuable and Free service has given me loads of good information over the past few months. The only downside is having to resist the temptation to read everything! Regards, David.