Sat - June 21, 2008

Reaching the First Fotolia Payment with the Idylwidle Dam Picture



It took me more than six months to reach my first $50 payment from Fotolia. My Fotolia porfolio was doing pretty well till the end of April with a growing number of sales. Then, it went into a complete crash with just a few of downloads in May and June. I do not expect the next payment any time soon.

Some numbers about my Fotolia portfolio after 6+ months and 250 downloads:

  • 392 pictures submitted, 223 accepted
  • acceptance ratio 57%, most of rejections due to the type of photograph
  • 62 downloads including one EL in March
  • 38 pictures downloaded, "sell-through-rate": 31%
  • best selling picture: tablespoon of sesame seeds followed by tablespoon of olive oil

Idylwilde Dam on Big Thompson River

The $50 earnings line was crossed by the picture of Idylwilde Dam Spillway shot in a deep and dark canyon of the Big Thompson River above Loveland, Colorado.

I am shooting a lot of water related pictures including dams, spillways, irrigation ditches, sewage pipes, etc. They are usually promptly rejected by Fotolia. This is perhaps the only one from that series accepted for some unknown reason. The picture was rejected by iStock due to artifacts, it was not colorful enough for Dreamstime, but it is selling very well on Shutterstock.

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