Claude Huot

That's excellent. that puts you well above average with about 6 downloads / picture / year (average being 1). I guess you found what is selling and you're sticking to it. Congrats.

Of course this can happen. There are always exceptions. I was looking at your port and you have almost only nice food pictures but all in the same style and many are similar. I am curious to see what are your numbers. For me, I have an average of around 100 downloads / month with 1062 pictures which put me in the number of around 1 download / picture / year. This is the average with a very average portfolio.

Agree with Alexander. You also have around 400 pictures of similar windmills and solar panels. I would say that your port is probably equivalent to a 2000 pictures port with few similar. Like I said in another thread ( https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/94475-slow-sales-hard-work/ ) "According to SS earning reports, the total number of paid downloads per image is about 1 (one) per year on average". You have about 0.5 download / year / image. But to make an average it takes some better numbers like John Grummitt who found a niche and has about 3.3 downloads / year / image (very good) and some worse ones. Yes variations sell but, for example, if you have 10 similar pictures, they might sell 2 or 3 times each but if you had only 2 instead of 10, they might sell 10 to 15 times each which would make them higher in the popular search and easier to get discovered by buyers hence more sales.

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dry-stone-wall-newport-rhode-island-139673206

Since you asked, here are some of mines which sold but they are not top performers. Like Paula said, your example does't look very promising.

It's not too early. If you wait to have 1,000 pictures to ask and they are all bad, you lost valuable time. With only 18, you can follow advice given here and upload better pictures right away. Like mentioned before, descriptions and keywords are very important. Also some of your pictures are underexposed (too dark) and cropped too tight.

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-town-ravello-on-top-maori-700974727

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/port-side-large-modern-cruise-ship-131783534

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/port-side-large-modern-cruise-ship-131783534 https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-town-ravello-on-top-maori-700974727

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/humpback-whale-megaptera-novaeangliae-breaching-marino-78852880 https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/recycling-garbage-bins-found-on-waterfront-292880162

I think that the statistic I mentioned is useful. This gives an idea of what you can expect your sales will be. 50% of all portfolios will fall in the ballpark of the statistics I mentioned. 25% will do better and 25% will do worse (bell curve distribution). I look at my portfolio which is neither one of the best nor one of the worst and for the past 6 months, my number of downloads falls in the ballpark of this statistic. I'm sure there are some ports which have 3 (or even more) downloads / image / year and others with 0.3 (or even less) download / image / year. This gives a good idea to newcomers what they can expect. This is not the place to get rich quick. If somebody has better statistics to enlighten us, I'll be glad to check them. Good luck to all.

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/early-morning-adamstown-on-remote-pitcairn-285126029 https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pitcairn-island-volcanic-last-british-territories-80350441

According to SS earning reports, the total number of paid downloads per image is about 1 (one) per year on average. So with 81 images, the average download per week is about 1.56, so you're doing great. If you include ODDs (On Demand Download), SODs (Single and Other Download) and ELs (Enhance License), the average amount per download is about $0.75 (+- $0.25). So for every 1,000 images, you will earn $750.00 / year. These numbers are only approximate but quite realistic. Some people will make a lot more and some a lot less depending of the kind of portfolio they have. Good luck

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/damaraland-namibia-september-6-2015-camp-1106945483

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/damaraland-namibia-september-6-2015-camp-1106945483 https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/roan-antelope-hippotragus-equinus-rests-mahango-549959362