How is your August so far?

[rose22]

As a beginner photographer I would like to survey how much you making in a month? How big is your file and how much u usually you make a month? I know that revenue here dropped down big time. Is it still worth it making so much effort here? So far i have no sale yet as my file is very low.

Edited August 6, 2022 by rose22

[sooth]

there are too many variables involved, it's not just about portfolio size.  

[John Mitchell]

So far my August isn't very good -- one resale of an image that was invoiced twice in July, then refunded twice in August and then sold again yesterday for the same price. 🤔

 

The prevailing wisdom is that you can expect to average one sale per month per 1000 images that you have on sale. I've been averaging 14 sales per month with 9K images, so I'm doing somewhat better than that. My average revenue per month so far this year is about $500 US gross (net income is another story). Monthly payouts are of course lower than this, but I can usually count on getting around $200 (sometimes quite a bit more), which helps pay a couple of bills. Is it worth your effort to continue uploading? I guess that depends on how much you enjoy photography and how much patience you have. It's extremely difficult nowadays.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by John Mitchell

[sb photos]

3 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

The prevailing wisdom is that you can expect to average one sale per month per 1000 images that you have on sale. I've been averaging 14 sales per month with 9K images, so I'm doing somewhat better than that.

 

For many contributors it appears that bulk low value sales in high numbers now well exceeds the previous estimate of one sale per month per 1000 images that you have on sale. Times have changed.

[John Mitchell]

2 hours ago, sb photos said:

 

For many contributors it appears that bulk low value sales in high numbers now well exceeds the previous estimate of one sale per month per 1000 images that you have on sale. Times have changed.

 

You're probably right about that. For some reason, I don't seem to get as many of those bulk sales as some contributors. Doubt if my current situation will be sustainable for much longer. I expect more volatility going forward. Motivation flags...

 

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by John Mitchell

[Avpics]

So far 17 images for $209 gross. That includes one licence for three figures, so you can see that the bulk are being sold for pennies and are generally news website editorial subjects. That reflects the fact that my portfolio does have a high percentage of former news and topical subjects.

[gvallee]

Why do we have a 'How was your August' thread on the 5th of August? It's certainly going to mess things up.

[Joseph Clemson]

The OP is obviously not familiar with the conventions of the Alamy forum and the naming of our regular threads. Perhaps she might change the title of hers to 'How are your sales going' or something similar, just to avoid possible confusion?

[M.Chapman]

9 hours ago, rose22 said:

As a beginner photographer I would like to survey how much you making in a month? How big is your file and how much u usually you make a month? I know that revenue here dropped down big time. Is it still worth it making so much effort here? So far i have no sale yet as my file is very low.

Take a look at the "How was your July thread?" The number of images each photographer has is shown under their Avatar next to their posts.

Mark

[antonsrkn]

16 hours ago, rose22 said:

 I know that revenue here dropped down big time. Is it still worth it making so much effort here? 

No, with today's returns and as a beginner photographer it's difficult to imagine a scenario where it's worth it. I have about 7000 images and usually get a monthly payout of around $100-130 USD although can go lower or higher. To even get to the locations represented in my portfolio would cost far more than I've ever made on alamy - and of course my sales are bolstered by having some rare subjects/hard to reach places.  If you're trying to earn through photography I'd recommend focusing elsewhere (not stock) - especially with the poor commission rate here now. Once you build up a solid portfolio of 1000s of images, then yeah maybe worth revisiting. Although even then it's honestly getting harder to justify even the time spent keywording. 

[Michael Ventura]

If I were starting out now, I doubt I would bother with stock.  With close to 9000 photos, mostly from the last 17 years of shooting, the income from Alamy is enough to pay a bill or two, such as my gas and electric bills.  Back in the 1990's, my stock income was easily half of my income and paid for at least my mortgage and then some.  And this was from less than a thousand film images.    

 

 

[John Mitchell]

20 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

If I were starting out now, I doubt I would bother with stock.  With close to 9000 photos, mostly from the last 17 years of shooting, the income from Alamy is enough to pay a bill or two, such as my gas and electric bills.  Back in the 1990's, my stock income was easily half of my income and paid for at least my mortgage and then some.  And this was from less than a thousand film images.    

 

 

 I probably wouldn't bother either. It's too discouraging now. My average monthly payouts are less than half of what they were at one time due to much lower prices. Still, every little bit helps, and Alamy is really the only decent option left IMO.

[Michael Ventura]

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

Alamy is really the only decent option left IMO

 

Agree

[Bryan]

On 04/08/2022 at 23:51, rose22 said:

. Is it still worth it making so much effort here? 

 

As others have implied, financially, no, not now. You would do better stacking shelves, or delivering stuff etc.

 

However I have got into the habit of shooting, processing, uploading and keywording.  It fills the time, and I quite enjoy the process - but then I'm retired with time to kill. 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Bryan

[Rebecca Ore]

It depends.  Do you enjoy the process and what's the ratio  between enjoying the process and needing to make money.   I quit and came back.   If you're going to take the best pictures you can anyway, then why not put them up for licenses?   If you really need money for immediate bills, then  nope.   And only you know what would work for your situation.  I'm another one of those retired people.   I wanted to make $100 to $200 a month net, but that didn't happen the first go round.   With any of these things, you need to figure out what works for you, and that's hard for others to know.  You may be stocking shelves and the only thing that gives you joy is taking pictures on the weekends and putting them up with stock agencies.

 

For me, it's the opposite side of my brain from the hemisphere that's pure verbal, so it's a break from that.

[gvallee]

Rose, as has been suggested, could you please change the title of this thread? This is used at the end of the month to report sales. It would be appreciated. Thank you.

[sooth]

On 04/08/2022 at 18:51, rose22 said:

As a beginner photographer I would like to survey how much you making in a month? How big is your file and how much u usually you make a month? I know that revenue here dropped down big time. Is it still worth it making so much effort here? So far i have no sale yet as my file is very low.

if you put some effort into it, you can get something out of it. prices may be down, and you probably will not make a career out of it, but it's a nice way to earn some money, and to improve your photography skills at the same time again if you put some effort. it works for me in some degree. only thing I disagree with are the downhill slide in prices, having no access to the live news stream, and image buyers still not using alamy in a big way.

[Ed Rooney]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1RzmrzDQ1M

 

[Allan Bell]

I think it is more like 1 sale per month for every 2000 images on site per port.

 

Allan

 

[Michael Ventura]

I am averaging 2 sales per thousand images, per month.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Michael Ventura

[Bryan]

It's the net cash per sale, rather than the number of sales, that is the important parameter, and that has dropped dramatically over the last several years. Once I could pay for a foreign holiday or buy new photo kit with the annual proceeds, but those days have gone.

 

Out of (academic) interest my recent figures are similar to Michael's above at around 2 per 1000.  Sales are doing OK  but income is not.

[aphperspective]

Reached last years volume (all but three). But revenue 73% of last years. Live news holding up the poor revenue or would be dismal.

[Rebecca Ore]

Rose, you still haven't changed the title of this.  Do you need help?

[rose22]

On 05/08/2022 at 00:07, gvallee said:

Why do we have a 'How was your August' thread on the 5th of August? It's certainly going to mess things up.

sorry wrong grammar

[rose22]

On 05/08/2022 at 00:14, Joseph Clemson said:

The OP is obviously not familiar with the conventions of the Alamy forum and the naming of our regular threads. Perhaps she might change the title of hers to 'How are your sales going' or something similar, just to avoid possible confusion?

I don't know how to edit title sorry, How to edit?