this is my first month ever where shutterstock outperformed adobe.  and by a lot.  i also had a large flurry of downloads in istock which we'll know more about in 3 weeks (prob $.02 sales which would still be better than the $1.80 sales that all get refunded 2 months later).

I had a decent month for this time of year. Month on month Adobe nearly doubled at 97% and over all agencies combined I will probably reach 1100.

Adobe is the only agency I really supplied, so I have no complaints about the others, actually surprised and very grateful for any sales I get.

Still below my $1k net goal but had 3 Arcangel book covers that showed up in early Nov that I'll report in my next month's report.

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2024/11/01/october-2024-brutally-honest-earnings-report/

Just passed the $1k income for December 2024 which at this time of year with summer slump and all in Australia, is a really good outcome to finish the year on. December and January are my slowest months of the year. The other good result from this is that there were no unusually high $$$ sales, just better regular $$ sales. 

Even Shutterstock did a lot better in Dec 24 compared to Dec 23 with a 58% increase on earnings for the month (though the 2024 calendar year is still way down) and an RPD of $4.21 in 24 vs $2.11 in 23.

This marks 11 months of 2024 (Feb to Dec) where I made over $1k for the month.

Looking at my sales numbers, I have sales of around 1280$ monthly.

BUT the true money I receive is less: 30% tax withhold at StoryBlocks, 30% tax withhold on all US sales at SS, among those all the sales that are higher than 100$, 30% tax withhold on US sales at AS.
Also, there is a 3$ deduction on every payment at Payoneer (I have 5 payments each month).
After that, I have 6% fee to be able to withdraw the money from Payoneer.
So, from the 1280$ sales, I'll get 1000$ to 1050$ as a max  .

December 2024 was particularly bad for my SS sales, making it the worst month of the year, and confirming a downward trend, which will certainly continue this month.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my total 2024 sales were not that bad, being only 2.9% worse than 2023.

Anyway, my lifetime microstock earnings exceeded $430k, and that's amazing for a hobby.

Excellent! Especially considering the modest size of your portfolio!

What is striking, however, is the ratio of shutterstock to Adobe Stock, which was completely different in December than in your previous statistics. You are starting to see a convergence from shutterstock to istock. For me, istock has long since overtaken shutterstock. Clearly.
The question that arises: Why is this the case for you with shutterstock? For DaLiu, for example, shutterstock continues its positive trend. Upload activity seems to play a much greater role in shutterstock's algorithm than with other agencies.

Anyway, my lifetime microstock earnings exceeded $430k, and that's amazing for a hobby.

An income of $3,000 a month is not very much for a US resident. In the US, you can earn much more.

But you can increase your income without working, upload your videos to subscription stocks and your income will increase 3 times.

You can not thank for the advice. 

Quote from: Wilm on January 10, 2025, 11:07

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 10, 2025, 10:01

December 2024 was particularly bad for my SS sales, making it the worst month of the year, and confirming a downward trend, which will certainly continue this month.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my total 2024 sales were not that bad, being only 2.9% worse than 2023.

Anyway, my lifetime microstock earnings exceeded $430k, and that's amazing for a hobby.

Excellent! Especially considering the modest size of your portfolio!

What is striking, however, is the ratio of shutterstock to Adobe Stock, which was completely different in December than in your previous statistics. You are starting to see a convergence from shutterstock to istock. For me, istock has long since overtaken shutterstock. Clearly.
The question that arises: Why is this the case for you with shutterstock? For DaLiu, for example, shutterstock continues its positive trend. Upload activity seems to play a much greater role in shutterstock's algorithm than with other agencies.

In 2024, I uploaded 170 photos (reaching a total of 1888) and 26 videos (reaching a total of 427). That's more or less in-line with what I did in 2023.

Yes, that's what I was getting at. I have the feeling that you have to continuously increase the uploads in order to at least remain constant in terms of downloads.

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 10, 2025, 11:34

Quote from: Wilm on January 10, 2025, 11:07

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 10, 2025, 10:01

December 2024 was particularly bad for my SS sales, making it the worst month of the year, and confirming a downward trend, which will certainly continue this month.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my total 2024 sales were not that bad, being only 2.9% worse than 2023.

Anyway, my lifetime microstock earnings exceeded $430k, and that's amazing for a hobby.

Excellent! Especially considering the modest size of your portfolio!

What is striking, however, is the ratio of shutterstock to Adobe Stock, which was completely different in December than in your previous statistics. You are starting to see a convergence from shutterstock to istock. For me, istock has long since overtaken shutterstock. Clearly.
The question that arises: Why is this the case for you with shutterstock? For DaLiu, for example, shutterstock continues its positive trend. Upload activity seems to play a much greater role in shutterstock's algorithm than with other agencies.

In 2024, I uploaded 170 photos (reaching a total of 1888) and 26 videos (reaching a total of 427). That's more or less in-line with what I did in 2023.

Yes, that's what I was getting at. I have the feeling that you have to continuously increase the uploads in order to at least remain constant in terms of downloads.

Probably, but that's not sustainable. I can only process a few items during weekends. After all, this is only a hobby, and I'll enjoy the ride as long as it will last. Everything I earn is a nice bonus.

Quote from: stoker2014 on January 10, 2025, 11:15

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 10, 2025, 10:01

Anyway, my lifetime microstock earnings exceeded $430k, and that's amazing for a hobby.

An income of $3,000 a month is not very much for a US resident. In the US, you can earn much more.

At this point I wonder how you know that ZT has an income of USD 3,000.

The way I read it, ZT has written here exclusively about his microstock income... 

Ah, okay, meanwhile he answered by himself.

I finally got round to writing my end of December 2024 earnings report. It was a great month overall, but mainly because of almost as many print on demand sales as stock image licensing! December was really poor in terms of pure stock income with just $1900 coming from the stock agencies. As I mentioned in another post here, the sales of my prints rocketed to $1600 for the month in profit. I also looked at the annual income from stock and fine art over the year. This shows what most people are seeing - I peaked in 2021 (mainly because I created some really popular covid type images in 2020), but it has been a steady decline after that. Here is that graph


And the full report is here: https://backyardsilver.com/december-2024-stock-photo-earnings-report/

Steve

Quote from: stoker2014 on January 10, 2025, 12:12

Quote from: Wilm on January 10, 2025, 11:55

Quote from: stoker2014 on January 10, 2025, 11:15

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 10, 2025, 10:01

Anyway, my lifetime microstock earnings exceeded $430k, and that's amazing for a hobby.

An income of $3,000 a month is not very much for a US resident. In the US, you can earn much more.

At this point I wonder how you know that ZT has an income of USD 3,000.

The way I read it, ZT has written here exclusively about his microstock income... 

It's elementary, Watson. Look at his chart, there are columns in which he indicates his annual income. Divide this number by 12 months and you will get an approximate result. 
But personally, I don�t believe what he writes and draws.
More precisely, to trust his words I need to see his works. But for now these are just words.

I have to laugh about that. What good would it do if you could see the images and videos? You only believe what you want to believe anyway - as we've seen often enough in the past.

At least I know that ZT writes the truth.

Why do you think he writes the truth? Do you know him personally? Have you seen his work? 

If I see someone's work, I see the level of the author, the complexity of the work and the plot. When I don't see all of this, then any numbers published here are zero information.

Have you seen his work? 

Yes.

Share the link.   

Also, you don't make videos, so you can't judge his level as an author.