How Much Will You Earn with Stock Photography?

“How to Make a Million Dollars in Microstock” was the title of stock analytics site Lookstat’s blog issue last month. They crunched some numbers over at Lookstat, and it turns out that if you make $4 per image, and you add 400 new images to your portfolio per month, you’ll be a millionaire in less than three years. I’m not THAT ambitious, but I crunched some numbers on my own, and even with a pretty modest upload rate, things are looking good for our $20 per week goal. Very good. Let’s say you start now with zero images in your portfolio. If you upload 20 photos per week to four different agencies, that’s 320 new images for sale per month. Assuming you’ll earn around $1 per image per month, by this time next year you’ll have made over $23,000. Keep uploading 20 new photos to four agencies per week, and your monthly income will continue to grow… In your second year, you’ll make $69,120. In your third year, you’ll make $115,200. It keeps going up from there. Of course, this is assuming you can upload 20 new photos per week, that they’re all accepted, and that you can maintain an average income of $1 per image per month — which won’t be possible for some. To do that, you’ll need to consistently take good photos that sell. And the sooner you get to that point, the sooner you’ll be able to reach your income goals doing something you love. It’s easy to learn — and fun, too — but it DOES take practice. So, in the next couple of weeks, I’m going to tell you about some big plans I have for Breakfast Stock Club… plans to accelerate our sales and stock success. It’s a new program designed to keep you learning and uploading more every month. In the meantime, here’s a little challenge for you… Industry sources say that November is the busiest month in stock. Designers and other photo buyers are looking for all kinds of seasonal images — Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s… So let’s get our first sales off the ground by uploading seasonal images now. Ideally, we’d be doing this in September, but it’s not too late. Get out the Christmas decorations this week and start taking seasonal photos. Don’t have studio lights? Try using natural light and photographing wrapped presents, tree baubles, tinsel, candles, lights, candy canes, and other Christmas goodies. You’ll find a good tip on shooting in natural light here and some pro insights from the last Challenge we created together on shooting breakfast items, here. 20 new photos a week — we can do it!! — Bonnie Bonnie Caton Great Escape Publishing Breakfast Stock Club P.S. If you’re getting excited about stock and you want to pursue it in a real way that sees results, keep your eyes peeled for next week’s Breakfast Stock Club issue. I have big plans for you. Your Weekly Breakfast Dish The latest from your Breakfast StockClub Facebook Page The recent successes coming in on the Breakfast StockClub Facebook Page are overwhelming… congratulations, guys!! From Joy Ciaccio: Well, heartening news… I sold a photo on Shutterpoint, at the extra large size. A rose macro. I’m up to a whole $10!! (on a combination of everywhere I’ve sold something…) halfway to breakfast! From Andrea Rexrode Gonzales: Got this in my email tonight: “Congratulations! The iStockphoto administrators have determined that your files are commercially and technically ready for iStockphoto.com. Please begin uploading at your convenience.” Don’t give up – I was rejected several times before tonight. Can’t wait to start selling some photos! From Lynn Allen-Michels: Uploaded 6 new photos to Bigstock and Fotolia. So far Bigstock accepted all 6! Still waiting on Fotolia… From Caroline Maryan: I am sooo excited. I took time off to write travel articles. Then, I just checked my stock sites. I’ve sold photos!! In fact, 4 just this week — and one was an extended RF license. Of my 4 sites, the only one with no sales is Bigstock. I need to get shooting! 🙂 From Kim Wilson: Just sold my first image on Fotolia. It has Louis and little Florence from the Quebec workshop. He is Santa and she is lying down next to him. It was a large size -XXL. I’m thinking it’s the largest image I’ve sold yet. Images, albeit it smaller sizes, are starting to sell somewhat regularly on iStockphoto, too. [Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.  Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]