Passive Income and Microstock Earnings for August
By Cory • Sep 1st, 2009 • Category: Business of IllustrationAnother month and another earnings record set. That statement never gets old. Dreamstime continued its fall from glory in August and lost its number three spot to Fotolia. I never thought that would happen. Get it together Dreamstime!
I sold a few extended licences this month, so I decided to add a column on the chart for it. Here’s the breakdown:
| Company |
Portfolio Size
|
% Income
|
EL
|
Earnings
|
| Shutterstock |
3202
|
35%
|
2
|
$576.02
|
| iStockphoto |
1361
|
32%
|
0
|
$543.80
|
| Fotolia |
1329
|
10%
|
1
|
$169.66
|
| Dreamstime |
1487
|
9%
|
0
|
$154.45
|
| StockXpert |
1115
|
6%
|
0
|
$105.70
|
| Big Stock Photo |
785
|
2%
|
0
|
$34.00
|
| Affiliates |
-
|
2%
|
-
|
$32.14
|
| Zazzle |
240
|
2%
|
0
|
$27.06
|
| 123RF |
585
|
1.5%
|
0
|
$19.63
|
| VectorStock |
95
|
0.5%
|
0
|
$8.50
|
| Crestock |
104
|
0%
|
0
|
$3.25
|
| ClipArtOf |
97
|
0%
|
0
|
$0.00
|
| Can Stock Photo |
10
|
0%
|
0
|
$0.00
|
| Veer Marketplace |
10
|
0%
|
0
|
$0.00
|
|
Total: $1674.21
|
I made a big effort this month to get more of my back catalog on many of my smaller earners. So far, I think it is paying off, but it is a lot of work. That’s it for this month. September and October are typically pretty good months for me, so I’m excited to see what the numbers look like for those.
This post was written on IllustrationInfo.com. Content copyright 2009 Cory Thoman.
Hello Cory, i’m impressed by your stats!
I got a question, how do you manage in the illustration niche to upload more than 200 images in shutterstock (and others main site) in a single month??!!!
How do you manage to be that consistant in quantity ?
I can barely do 20+ images a month. (Well, i’m a hobbyist, that may be why…)
Impressive numbers, congratulation on your new best! I will not call it passive income since you work a lot on it
Cheers
L
Here are my august stats here: http://microstockexperiment.blogspot.com/
OK, this might be a long answer, so I apologize in advance.
First, the portfolio size at Shutterstock may be a little deceptive. You can upload a raster version and a vector version for each file, so that is why my portfolio is quite a bit larger there.
Second, I freelance full time, but I get downtime between projects. I usually try to work on stock in my downtime. I’m not sure if I’d get as much done with a 9 to 5 job sucking all the life out of me.
Last is my secret weapon. I try to make every file into two. No, not with magic or alchemy. It could just be the same image with or without a background or it could be a series that reuses elements. Don’t get me wrong though. I still want each file to be useful and not just a copy.
Hopefully, that answered your question. Let me know if it didn’t. Other than that, I might just work fast? I don’t know.
That truly answered my question, I get the two last point but not the first… Indeed you can upload a raster and a vector version, but how that make it 2 separate files, aren’t the raster linked to the vector for display purpose ?
For your freelance, you are right. I got a day job that takes me a lot of time… But I sometime manage to find time to sketch when I get a free time and then come back at home to scan all my sketches. But still, with a full time job and family life that also takes a lot of time (wife, kid…)… well I’m struggling, but I prefer not to stress myself. I know I need to be patient, my numbers are already good at shutterstock specifically for the quite few images i’ve got (http://tinyurl.com/m8otck)
Concerning your secret weapon, I figured it out already when looking at your portfolio. Most of the time you upload images with 1 illustration in it (correct me if wrong).
I try also to do that, but as I mostly have files with several images in it, mostly 6, sometimes less.
Thanks a lot for your answer.
And yes, you also work fast…
It’s actually a separate high resolution raster image (not the vector thumbnail). That way people that don’t have Illustrator can buy the file as well. They don’t sell as well as the vectors, but they sell. Here’s a link in the Shutterstock forums about it:
http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68577
Oh yeah the whole family thing. Maybe being single is really my secret weapon?:) Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t stress yourself. I try not to think of it as a job, create image that I like to create and enjoy what I’m doing. I have good days and bad ones. On the bad ones, I usually end up laying on the couch watching TV till my brain is numb.
So, basically… now that i have uploaded 100 images at Shutterstock as vector I can reupload them but with the raster versions only ??
I feel you for the “bad days” thing, but i’d rather really avoid those bad days, I don’t want them to happen when FINALLY i have some free time to work on my illustrations!!
Thanks for your answers.
Laurent,
I think you’re right. It doesn’t always feel so passive. Although, I stopped uploading for a few months last year and the drop in sales wasn’t that much.
Maluson,
Yep, you can reupload them again as just raster versions. It’s a strange system, but that is how Shutterstock does it.
Hello Cory,
You were definitively right about Shutterstock, it helps with the sales to have raster images along with vectors, is it also the cases for some other microstock i didn’t think of ? CanStockPhoto for example ?
I’m glad it worked out. As far as I know, Shutterstock is the only one that does that, but I could be wrong. I’m not sure about CanStock though.
Hi Cory:
I found your blog through our istockphoto network connection and just wanted to thank you for all the information you provide here. Seeing your numbers and learning what you have been doing has really been inspiring. I found one of your techniques (outline stroke to get the second shape) really interesting as I had been using another way to do the a similar thing (I usually work with a stroke and expand that so I can customize the line) and now I have 2 go to techniques.
Thanks for sharing!
Leslie
Leslie,
No problem. I’m glad you found some useful info here.
-Cory
Hey Cory,
You’ve inspired me to start trying to sell some of my vectors; the first site I went to is Shutterstock but I see no mention of vector uploading like iStock does. I have to upload 10 “photos” to get out of ‘review’ mode - should I just save the vectors at 4MP in size jpgs and upload them as “photos”?
The reason I ask is that I don’t do photography as much so I won’t likely have enough actual photos to upload; I just want to do vector…
Thanks!
Here’s a thread in the Shutterstock forums that describes the vector upload details:
http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=67595
Hey Cory
Amazing figures you show.
I was doubtful on one issue - is it possible to upload the same set of illustrations on all different microstock sites?
Also, if this is done, is it wise enough to do the same? also bearing in mind, it’s not necessary for a buyer to check all microstock sites for image purchase - to know which is selling cheaper.
hoping some light on this from you.
thanks !!
Yes, you can upload the same images to multiple sites. Many of the sites offer exclusivity though, so some contributors do that instead. As far as undercutting your own images on other sites, it probably happens. Although, I think most buyers shop at one site and don’t comparative shop. Probably because many sites sell credit bundles and subscriptions, so buyers would rather use the credits they have already paid for rather than buying more credits on another site.