Welcome to this scorching August 2023 Brutally Honest Report, where as usual I’ll discuss my happenings, industry insights and of course earnings for the month. Let’s get started!
Before we proceed to the earnings, I’ll discuss some monthly highlights.
August 2023 Highlights
Last but not least, a usefully detailed post over at Xpiks:
Submitting to a photography competition at reFocus!
It’s been many years since I’ve submitted any of my images to photography competitions. In fact, it was 2017 when I was shortlisted as Travel Photographer of the Year with this entry.
I was approached directly by reFocus Awards who encouraged me to submit a black & white image to their contest. I don’t really do much monochrome being in sunny Portugal and all but after digging through my archives I shortlisted this top-down shot of stormy seas (which is also at AC).
Back to freelance writing
I’m keen to get back to more regular paid-gig freelance writing – see blog post “Combining Travel Photography with Travel Writing“.
I’ve reached out to a few photography publications with pitches for ideas and wanting to hear back. If you’re an editor at a publication and looking for some interesting photo/video stories, please get in touch! In the meantime, thanks Chat GPT for the suggestions of who to pitch!
Without further ado, onto my detailed earnings for the month. Let’s keep in mind that August is usually a quiet lazy month so went into it not expecting any huge results.
Detailed Earnings Breakdown
Image Earnings (US$)
| Agency | Number of Images in port (images added Aug) | Net Revenue for Aug | Avg Return Per Download |
| Alamy | 15,508 (103) | 231 | 7 |
| Arcangel (RM-exclusive) | 3,026 (222) | 0** | 0 |
| Adobe Stock | 4,371 (13) | 80 | 0.81 |
| DepositPhotos | 8,708 (120) | 18 | 0.25 |
| Dreamstime | 8,671 (77) | 10 | 0.23 |
| Freekpik | 925 (0) | 6 | 0.07 |
| Fine Art America | 373 (0) | 0 | 0 |
| iStock (July 2023) | 8,561 (56) | 95 | 0.55 |
| Robert Harding (Q2 2023 monthly average) – exclusive | 465 (1) | Disgusting* | Disgusting* |
| Shutterstock Editorial | 947 (16) | 0 | 0 |
| Shutterstock | 11,853 (70) | 82 | 0.32 |
| Photo4Me | 389 (0) | 0 | 0 |
| SignElements | 1,400 (2) | 2 | N/A |
| Vecteezy | 575 (106) | 1 | N/A |
| Wirestock | 1,960 (0) | 8 | N/A |
| Total | 533 |
Clip Earnings
| Agency | Number of clips in port (added Aug) | Net Revenue for Aug | Avg Return Per Download |
| Adobe Stock | 954 (19) | 6 | 6 |
| Pond5 | 2,351 (40) | 44 | 17 |
| iStock (July 2023) | 748 (35) | 19 | 5 |
| Shutterstock | 1,752 (35) | 30 | 6 |
| Total | 99 |
Net Total: $632
For August this is pretty good. Let’s now break down for the individual agencies.
*Robert Harding
So I’ve just received the Q2 2023 earnings report from Robert Harding and I was shocked, not in a positive way.
If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know that for the past 10 months or so I’ve sending RH some of my best aerial works, mainly panoramas. These are premium since the angles are obviously unique. I’ve gone down this avenue since RH have connections to printing businesses and this type of work makes sense to go on there instead of micros. Here are my latest on there…
I was looking forward to the quarterly report – here it is….
So, yea it’s $5 a month for premium content, even the turdiest microstock minnow produces better results . They consider themselves a “premium agency” and reject most submissions, so to get this in return for all the effort is insulting. Perhaps 10 months isn’t long enough as they keep the images exclusive in the first 6 months, dunno.
Nostalgic for the good old days
You may call me crazy for insisting with them but once upon a time they really delivered large sales, mainly via Getty.
What do do? I honest know…I’ll stop uploading for them I see anything resembling a “decent return”. Next quarterly report will be out in November…
Shutterstock
Super slow month at a combined $111 – one of my worst months since January (which is also a terrible month). Nevertheless, I’m happy that one of my drone clips sold of an orbit shot of a stand-up paddle yoga class in July.
Rampant thievery at Shutterstock
It’s been over three years since I led a “wackamole” campaign to get rid of copyright thieves at Shutterstock and I’m sad to report that the problem is being almost completely neglected by the SS administrators. Take for instance the image below of an elephant in a forest. How the hell do SS not do anything about it when it’s in 33 different accounts (see for yourself as I’ve inserted a link)! Going into each of those accounts just leads you down a rabbit hole or more thieves…
UPDATE: SS has taken action and shut down these accounts above!
I just report what I see and most of the thieves come from south Asia, notably India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. If you’re part of the Shutterstock Contributor Facebook Group you’ll depressingly everyday see thieves shamelessly posting their stolen images/ports on there!
Anyway, I’m just reporting what I see but I don’t really care since SS don’t care.
Alamy
Onto happier news, I love Alamy again this month as they produced a fantastic month at $232 net from a whopping 32 sales! The average net download price wasn’t too bad either at $7/each.
Almost half of the earnings came from 5 images of Belmonte (you can see below $20/net each), a small town in north-eastern Portugal with a strong Jewish influence. I published a popular guest-post at MystockPhoto on finding a niche and one of them is finding places with Jewish legacies. So far, this niche has earned me just over $500.
As usual, I chased the usage and turns out the Wall Street Journal purchased a license for an article on the subject. Unfortunately, it’s behind a paywall.
Thank you, Alamy…keep up the great work and don’t even become a microstock agency!
Adobe Stock
Average month at Adobe Stock with no major sales to report (including a tiny clip sale earning me $5.60), although volumes were pretty good at 97 downloads.
Pond5
Two clip sales at Pond5 of content from 4/5 years ago, which is encouraging for my current work to sell in 2028 lol
iStock
Decent month at iStock finally breaking a two-year sluggish spell.
Volumes were good and the highlight was a drone clip from Estoril that earned me $9.80.
Arcangel
Record 222 images accepted Images at Arcangel in August, crossing 3,000 images in my port
No sales to report in August.
Nevertheless, wow, a super strong month at AC and the acceptance trend is on the up and up. As you can see below, what I currently have accepted this month was more than the amount accepted in the whole of 2021 (209)
I’m pretty much submitting roughly the same number of images every month (at least for the past year), the main difference is that many more are getting through. Not keeping track but I would estimate that the acceptance rate is around 35-40%, while a year ago it was around 20-25% and two years ago more like 15% – ouch.
I’ve put together a short reel with 20 of my favourite covers of the month.
What I’ve changed in my workflow to improve my acceptance rate
In order for more to get through (with the obvious intention of later selling – more on this later) I’ve started using a simple yet effective strategy on my workflow, which I recommend for your own work regardless if it’s micros, midstock, macro or footage…or even working with clients.
For the past few weeks I’ve not submitted any of my content on the same day I’ve post-processed them…always the day(s) after. The main reason why is that it’s too easy to overlook silly mistakes when so concentrated on a batch, especially when fatigued.
Only with fresh eyes on the next day (at least) is it possible to look at the images more objectively and correct such mistakes. Writers do this all the time as it lets the “work breathe”. Perhaps I’ll soon be able to get my acceptance rate to about 50% and stay there, although may be tricky with my “street photography book cover style” which produce many hits and misses!
Sweet update
One of my sales is being launched on Sept 1st and there’s even a celebration cake! If there’s something that I never thought I’d see is one of my pics on a cake lol
Need sales, rant alert**
I don’t know what is happening this year with only one sale so far. This time last year I was on a roll with monthly sales from June to December…see the reports here.
At the end of the day I’m running a business here (or at least trying)…and even though it feels nice to receive praise, showcases, likes on social media, etc. if I’m only having sales once in a blue moon then there’s not much point…even if creating book covers has a therapeutic positive effect on my mood.
After all, I can’t pay my bills and travel (especially in this high-inflationary environment) with admiration only. I’m sure you all want me to succeed reporting consistent sales to inspire you should you wish to go down this lane.
Patience is key
As always, I’m speaking my mind and might be even be getting carried away as next month there’s a flurry of sales, but just something that is bothering me as I need to earn (to avoid going back to a boring corporate job). I love Arcangel and grateful for all they’ve done for me and I’m confident things will work out for me and I’ll be a top book cover artist with them (eventually)
I’m still optimistic, these things take time and the fact is that almost half of my currently 3,000 image portfolio is a year old only. Things take longer in the book cover world from acceptance to eventual sale.
On that note you, I must leave you. Hope you had a great month and please comment below.
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About Alex
I’m an eccentric guy, currently based in Lisbon, Portugal, on a quest to visit all corners of the world and capture stock images & footage. I’ve devoted eight years to making it as a travel photographer / videographer and freelance writer. I hope to inspire others by showing an unique insight into a fascinating business model.
Most recently I’ve gone all in on submitting book cover images to Arcangel Images. Oh and also recently purchased a DJI Mavic 2s drone and taking full advantage and perhaps a Mavic 3 soon.
I’m proud to have written a book about my adventures which includes tips on making it as a stock travel photographer – Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography
Alexandre Rotenberg's Brutally Honest Guide to Stock Photography & Footage 
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