Phil Robinson

Too bad. Sorry to see you go - but I think I know where to find you. See you there.

...and I had one exactly the same. That's a relief.

Passed! Late in the evening too

I know they can sell, theoretically, as soon as they are uploaded - it was the reporting date that surprised me. Newspapers usually take months.

OK, you win (so far)

...especially if you happen to be in Aberystwyth at the moment!

This one wasn't live news - but at $24.24 it looks a bit newspaperschemy. Only in net revenue so far - I'll find out more details tomorrow.

I've just had a sale reported from an image I uploaded on the 12th December 2013. From the subject and the price I suspect it is a newspaper. Is this a record?

Many thanks for your replies. The website is down at the moment to frozen power stations or something, but I will certainly get onto them. Some of the infringers are bloggers but there are a few gold bullion dealers in there too - should be worth a try. The message when trying to access the website now says "security certificate expired". It's all looking good.

Interesting, Ed. Thanks. I too was expecting more from their amazing search engine. You'd think it would be at least as good as Google image search, or why bother with it? I have found dozens of my photos being used but, like you, have never had a report from them. I have read good things here about them from some people. I'll reserve judgement...... One thing I am wondering about is the $50 fee for each case. If they take 50% of what's left as well, I'm wondering if it's worth bothering. Anyone else?

Hello there I'd like to hear from anyone with experience of dealing with ImageRights for pursuing copyright infringements - I know you're out there. I have found multiple copies of my images on the web, from all over the world, from blogs to commercial sites. The so-called search engine they speak of has found nothing since I joined and I am planning to contact them with a long list of infringements I've found. Do I send them every example and let them sort them out? I know chasing blogs is a waste of time but sometimes there is a fine line between a blog and a commercial operation. And do they only deal with businesses in the US? I have found some from South Africa and Europe. I have the basic (free) package. Am I going to lose most of what they recover in commission? Any help would be very gratefully received. Thanks in advance Phil

Me too,...

I also think it was an odd decision to wind up your business, but presumably, if you sold it, you must have a fair amount of start-up capital. What you need in this business is time. Pictures you take now might start to provide actual income in 6 months to a year. Get some good enough equipment (it doesn't have to be top of the range, but it must be quality) and be prepared to spend a lot of time taking a lot of photos before you see any return. It'll be difficult to make any decisions about how well you are doing before the middle of next year. (and treat any advice from anyone with fewer than 18,000 pics with caution) Good luck.

If the business still relied on film, we'd still be earning the fees we got 10 years ago.

After a really poor few months, if not most of the year, December was actually the best month for quite a while. I hope it's a trend.

Mine have been there since the 21st - no reason to think I've failed. It's just Christmas. I hope.

I've added about 4,000 this year. I calculate the earnings per image using an average image count for the year (15,000) as obviously recently-added images haven't had the opportunity to sell yet. The fall is partly due to the increase in Alamy's cut, of course, but the rest of it seems to be a general decline in fees. I have had almost exactly the same number of sales this year as last (9 fewer) despite the large increase in portfolio. I have had quite a few sales from images added this year - largely to newspapers, and we all know what their prices are doing - so it means my existing stock of photos performed much worse than the last few years. The income per image had been almost identical for the previous three years. As I said, this year down 50%. I picked the wrong year to go full-time. (If anyone knows of a job vacancy for a multi-lingual, guitar-playing ex-librarian with teaching experience and juggling skills, please get in touch).

Earnings per image (net) = exactly half of 2012.

After a bleak summer and a bleak autumn, December has been my best month for some time. Some nice 3-figure sales and a Christmas Eve sale of the decorations in Barcelona from this time last year. Nothing since the big day but hoping for an end of year rush.

I'm sure you could Photoshop a smile onto that picture if you really wanted to.....

Merry Xmas to everyone. By the way, just checked searches for 'Xmas' rather than 'Christmas'. Pages of them! That's one to add to keywords (though maybe it can wait a day or two). PS: This sale just popped up - how appropriate

Oh well, this is encouraging. I had feared something had happened with the Japanese distributor, Brazil-style.

Interesting. I had 16 up to September, but nothing since then. They are nice amounts, which is why I miss them. It's good to hear some people (Ian) are still getting them and they haven't simply stopped for some reason. A couple of years ago I had four big Japanese sales on New Year's Eve. Fingers crossed.

Has anyone had any sales to Japan recently. They have made up a good percentage of my income over the last couple of years but I haven't had any for a worryingly long time. Have they dried up completely or is it just me?

"downturn in the housing market" "house prices slide" cowboy builders / DIY disaster It might be used as an advert for spirit levels