Well no, not really. But now that you're reading... :)

So after finally getting my act together about 18 months ago (after talking about it for the previous few years!) I entered the world of Microstock, including Dreamstime as one of my first agencies after the good reports I had read about them.

Prior to this my stock experience was entirely in editorial mid-stock I guess you'd call it. So what a learning curve microstock was!

After finally getting my initial submissions ready and finding the time to upload them, and get them approved, how exciting it was to watch the sales begin.

Some of the images that sold amazed me, while others that I expected to sell did not. It was quite difficult getting used to.










Now, after finally getting a decent sized portfolio online and starting to diversify it a little more, I have hit the nice milestone of 500 sales on Dreamstime! I have to say, over this time DT have been excellent to deal with and are one of my favourite sites, as well as being my 2nd or 3rd best earner most months. And it is beginning to improve significantly now that my folio is getting into a reasonable size (another goal of reaching 1000 images online to happen next month most likely!).

Recently, one of my images was an Editors Choice, and its views have gone through the roof! (If only sales matched the views, I could retire by now!)








Things I have learned and continue to work on? Well...

1. Check each file carefully - NO NOISE, blur etc.
2. Try to keep submitting a variety of content
3. Continually improve keywording (learning that sometimes less is best)
4. Dont spend TOO much time checking sales, but keep shooting!





So, thank you to all who have purchased my images, and thank you to all have have written helpful blogs/forum posts that I have read and benefited from.





And my 500th sale I hear you ask? A toilet would you believe... :)



(I hope that subject matter is no reflection on the state of my work!)