Microstock photo results for July

July was a best ever month for me thanks to great sales at shutterstock , istockphoto , StockXpert. The increase at shutterstock was expected as I have uploaded a number of new images there over the past two months and have really felt the benefit of the "new photo" effect. istockphoto was a supprise as it really took of this month for no apparent reason. This has happened before (in March) and wasn't sustained but hopefully it will be this time. All the other sites were a bit disappointing but the season pros were expecting the "normal July slow down" (caused by holidays in the US??) so maybe it was effected by this. August is quite a popular holiday time in Europe but hopefully there wont be an August slowdown as well as I have no Christmas shots to enjoy the Christmas rush which lots of people enjoy.

Sales are creaping back at Fotolia following the relaunch of its site. Sales dropped of considerably but in the second half of July, they were almost back to normal. They are still experiencing issues with there search engine so hopefully they will get this fixed shortly, or even better, the buyers find my photos at sites with a higher commission like StockXpert.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

34% shutterstock BEM
12% dreamtime
5% Fotolia
23% istockphoto BEM
3% bigstockphoto
4% 123RF
16% StockXpert BEM
1% Featurepics
2% LuckyOliver

I am off on holiday shortly for a few month so posts will be very intermittent if at all. Hopefully i will get some great shots.

Update on some sites - Fotolia, Snapvillage, Albumo

I thought I would give a mid month update on a few sites:

Fotolia:

Their site is still a mess after their V2 upgrade. The search function for buyers is having major issues and pulling up zero results in popular searchs. Many people, including myself have seen significantly less sales than pre v2. However, uploads seem to be working again. Whether it is worth it or whether the site is destined for the scrap heap is a different matter.

Recommendation: I am uploading again. Fotolia was one of my first sites so has a special pull. I am also going on a long holiday soon so want my photos on line before I go.

Fotolia link



Snapvillage:

Progress is very slow on their site and they are still very much a Beta (if not an Alpha). They still have no IPTC and no FTP which are crutial. They have advised in their blog that they are they will have IPTC (when they launch it (very helpful thank you)) soon.

Recommendation: Hold back until they offer both FTP and IPTC. Before that it is a waste of time as once they offer these, everyone will upload and all the time you spent will seem like a waste of time. Many people are taking this approach so you wont miss out.

Snapvillage link



Albumo:

Well I haven't heard much that is happening here. However, people are uploading and they are already at over 70,000 images. They have done this very quick and is no doubt due to them paying $25 for your first 250 photos uploading (and more if you upload more than 1000). They also have a "100 club" which means that when you get when you upload 1000 photos (called 100 because only 100 are going to be given this status) you earn 10c per upload and a higher commission (60% rather than 50%). A few big names including AndreR have joined this club so that is has some support. Still no reports of sales though.

Recommendation: Personally I would still hold off - but (to go against my own recommendation) I have started uploading. Why, I want the $25 for uploading and since I am going on holiday shortly, I might miss out on this offer by the time I get back. I assume they will offer this deal until the 100club is full and since they only have about 30-40 members at the moment, you still have a bit of time to uplaod and still get the deal. If you want to go for the 100Club though,I would start now.

Albumo link