Istockphoto Update

Selling stock photos is going gangbusters for me. Let me just give you an update on how things are working out.

1. April : 4 Downloads 4 uploads
2. May : 7 Downloads 25 uploads
3. June : 30 downloads 14 uploads
4. as of July 11 : 17 downloads 24 uploads

I averaged one download per day in June, and I'm beating that by 70% so far this month. The best thing is that the stock photos I've uploaded this month are better than the ones I had last month and they've only been approved for a few of the first 11 days this month. I'm averaging 39.7 cents per download since the start. The web designers and their low res downloads are killing my average. I need print designers to get cracking to bring the average price up a bit more.

I was reading the istockphoto forums and someone, some sort of wine snob, was complaining that 99.9% of the photos with people drinking wine show them holding the glass by the bowl, not the stem. There were a few useful comments, and I'm sure that over the next few days a hundred or more wine shots will show up with the people holding the stem, but it quickly turned in to a jokefest about the photographers drinking straight from the bottle or box. The point I'm trying to make is that with a little research before the photos are taken, the photos become much more valuable. What winery wants to show hillbillies not holding the glass propperly? It is the same with everything else too.

Tracie has helped me a lot in this manner. My best sellers are her dressed in her nursing scrubs. The first batch were fine, but they were just a woman wearing scrubs. The next batch are even better though because Tracie helped me with the poses and props, because she actually knows what nurses do, while I don't really know. I'm sure the new ones will far out pace the old ones over the next few weeks.

If you are a designer that needs cheap stock photos, check out istockphoto.com. There might even be a link in my ads on the left hand side from time to time.

-Gary