8 reasons why I have not submitted to VectorStock com

VectorStock.com has been around for many years. It sells nothing, but vector. Many top vector artists have submitted to VectorStock simply because they do not have better options. They need to generate their income as much as possible.

However, I for once have not submitted anything to VectorStock because of the 8 reasons below.

1. VectorStock had denied my application as a contributor... twice. I have submitted the below two vectors in two different occasions, and their response is...

ARTIST UPLOAD NOT GRANTED.
Thank you for your sample submission.
We have reviewed your sample and do not feel your work is suitable for the VectorStock library at this time.
You may re-submit a new sample for reviewing if you feel you can illustrate a different style.
Visit the FAQ for more information.
Best Regards
VectorStock Team

Below are the two vectors I submitted to VectorStock on different occasions and both have been denied for not suitable.

2. I believe my sales will be poor and unworthy. Although, this page (most download) shows us that there are indeed sales, but the performance of their new files are utterly disappointing. Take a look at their latest vectors and browse the pagination up to as many as you can. You will see that 99% of the files have 0 download. I dont mind if older files will eventually sell, but try to browse up to page 1000, and you will still be seeing 0 download for 99% of the files.

3. They sell us cheap. For a start, you earns 25% of your sales. All your files are priced at only USD1. That means that if you sell a vector, you only make USD0.25. Mind you that this is not even a subscription rate download, but a totally on-demand download. You cannot compare this rate to site like Shutterstock because Shutterstock sells at least 1000 times more than a low earners like this.

4. VectorStock uploading process is lame. They want you to reduce your artwork size to 380 x 400. Ohh, please, you are actually troubling ten thousand artists out there just because your programmer does not know how to write a script to resize a JPEG for the website preview. I reckon they rejected my application earlier was because of this reason. Yes, I didnt create my artwork in 380 x 400, and if this was really the reason you rejected me, at least you should mention properly why am I rejected instead of saying "I feel this is not suitable".

5. Because they are selling our vector so cheaply, I feel that they are luring "thieves" into buying our vectors and then putting it up for free at file hosting site. The reason why these "thieves" put our vector for free in file sharing site is because of money. However, I will not discuss this matter today as it will take one whole blog entry to explain. "Thieves" will most likely target on cheapest stock agency and buy from them so that their earning margin is higher.

6. They dont have PR (personal relationship). When is the last time you heard about them saying anything at all on the Internet? They dont even have a news column and forum in their site for us to discuss their site related matter and doesnt even bother what everyone is saying about them outside. These are some forum threads about VectorStock and I dont see VectorStock sending a representative to comment.

http://www.microstockgroup.com/illustration-general/anyone-using-vectorstock-com/

http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/new-vector-only-stock-site/msg17099

When you dont send someone to comment and to clear things up, you are basically losing your creditability. Take a look at Graphicleftovers, they are good at PR. I have recently wrote a review about Graphicleftovers, and they really care enough to send someone to comment and to clarify things up. I love them.

7. No marketing effort. I cant see their advertisement anywhere in the Internet.

8. No site upgrade. You never ever see the site improve or degrade before. Do they even have a team of programmers? Have they given up?

As a conclusion, I have decided that I will not upload to them. If you have anything to say about Vectorstock, please comment on the comment box below.

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I Still Make Money Selling My Parenting and Family Reprints! Marketing is the Key

Nope, I didnt just WRITE the book on getting published in parenting and family magazines over and over again using the SAME article!

I am PROOF that it works because I do it and have been doing it for going on 10 years! I sent out my two Mothers Day offerings in March and have so far been accepted in 5 different magazines for a total of $170! Keep in mind here that these articles are FOUR YEARS OLD and they keep selling. I just have to market them!

How do you market an article?

You dont forget about it. You dont write it, sell it once and let it rot.

You say, "Hmmm, Im going to send out this Mothers Day piece I popped off in December to every magazine in Kerries ebook. And Im probably going to hear back from a few magazines. But then I have to put a reminder SOMEWHERE to also send it out AGAIN to all publications EXCEPT the ones who accepted it the first time (otherwise I am just rude and annoying) sometime around March for all those publications who DO NOT work 6 months in advance."

There are a lot of magazines who work 6 months out and have it all planned out. But if something INSANELY FABULOUS comes into their email box, they might bump something else or make more space.

There are also a lot of magazines who work LAST-MINUTE and you want to be their go-to writer, believe me. Its April 23 as I write this and most magazines are all put to bed, but just today I got another Mothers Day acceptance. I am happy to be the last-minute filler girl, and you should be also!

How can you do what I am doing? Just grab my print book (so you can mark it up and make changes, additions, deletions, highlights, etc.) and get going! Write me for the .csv file so you can more quickly get the emails in your system and get submitting! And dont forget you can send things previously published on your blog, on Huffington Post Parents, ANYWHERE that you did not sign a contract saying you wouldnt. If its your work, you can sell it again and again as long as you dont sign anything saying you cant shop it around for a year or something. I dont advise you do that! Heres the link!

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Query Quest What Do I Name It

I need your advice because I keep putting off querying to the national magazines, keep draggggggging my feet. My basic roadblock is something very simple: organization. I have to figure out a system in Excel so I can keep track of what I sent where and when, and when to follow up. For now, though, I have the problem of what to NAME the little boogers and how to store them.

Of course Ill have a folder under Writing called Queries. Then do I make subfolders by query or by publication?

Publications would include:

• Pregnancy & Newborn
• Parents
• Parenting
• Family Fun
• Todays Parent
• Etc.

Queries would include:

• Holiday Sanity
• Teen Dating
• Kids and Cell Phones
• Pregnancy Sleep Disruption Solutions
• Etc.

Lets say a query gets rejected. I want to be able to go back to the right file and put REJECTED in front of the file name so I know. Im thinking I file by PUBLICATION, then put the right QUERY under that.

How would you/do you organize your writing?

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Why I Offer My Ebooks on KindleUnlimited for FREE

I love logging in to my Amazon Kindle KDP Select account and seeing a surprise! 408 pages read in my ebooks on Kindle Unlimited in one day after days of zero pages read. Theres something about Sundays ... I always see my numbers spike then. I love offering that option for those who don’t want to buy it and who pay $10 a month like I do to download 10 at a time for free for rent! We can do all kinds of research for books and articles for only $10 a month! We can download all the fiction we want, all the DIY we want.

Read one, return it, get another. Always have 10 at a time!

Theres something like a $12 million fund and the more KU pages read of my books, the bigger my monthly bonus. It’s like icing and another way to make money and I love it. Someone might not want to buy my book or clutter their Kindle with it forever but they want to borrow it and so I make that available.

I also love supporting other writers, knowing they are getting a bonus for me downloading and flipping through or devouring their books. I always try to leave a review before I return the book, unless it was too horrific then I try to not leave one of those 1-star reviews. I might instead track the author down personally and offer some suggestions for improving the book, especially if its nonfiction, since thats the genre I write in.

If you want to check out my current book offerings on Amazon, just follow this link! Its my author page and the one book that only shows paperback is also, of course, available on KU or you can buy it right now for only $2.99 since Im working on the update!

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Fiverr Tutorials Where I Make Money From Home WAHM

I stumbled on Fiverr.com in April of 2013 when I was looking for a way to make money from home online to pay off some mounting dental bills and other things. I was not disappointed. I immediately had a full queue full of jobs and found that I could customize my gigs ... if I was not busy I could put my gig on a 2-day delivery time. If I was full up, I could change it to a 29-day delivery time to discourage new orders. Give it a shot. Its a versatile way to make money online.

HOW TO GET STARTED AS A PROOFREADER ON FIVERR

HOW TO GET STARTED AS A WRITER ON FIVERR

OTHER GIGS YOU CAN DO ON FIVERR

PAYMENT ON FIVERR AND COMPETITION

GIVING AND GETTING FEEDBACK ON FIVERR

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How Much Do I Make as a Freelance Writer Updated Weekly

2013 note: I put this in draft mode after my laptop fell in the drink, got fixed, then the hard drive went kaput. I kinda lost the will to write for a bit after that. Yes, its nice when you are married and your man has a job. Those of you who write for a LIVING, feel free to throw tomatoes at me now.

This year I finally have Internet at home so there is no stopping me from reaching those financial goals. Lets get there together! I love to hear from you!

Aint no hidin from the IRS for me!

Instead of putting this in the sidebar, its going to be a blog post updated weekly. Remember that some weeks I am not able to work much, what with homeschooling 5 kids and having a husband who is out of town (excuses, excuses). Sometimes I am able to work a lot. Some weeks will reflect that I didnt work much but got many checks in the mail. Thats why I average out the weeks every now and then, since once week looks like Im a rockstar and one week looks like Im a loser.

Lately I havent been working much at all but the checks come in from when I was working hard, so it looks like Im a gazillionaire, but I can assure you I am not. I need to start figuring in when I pay a sitter and deduct that from my earnings. Maybe next year! It isnt that often and hubby is supposed to stop traveling as of August 2012.

TOTAL INCOME FROM 2012 WAS ABOUT $7,000

2012
Week 41 (Starts Oct. 8)
INCOME: $80 RPM check; $125 BlogHer campaigns, $10.02 BlogHer ads, $50 RPM check

Week 40 (starts Oct. 1), 5.5 hours, $47.25/hour
INCOME: $240 Australian parenting magazine, $19.85 ebook
NOTE: Laptop fell in the lake so I was limited this week!

Week 39 (starts Sept. 24), 6 hours, $12.50/hour
INCOME: $75 blogging for regional parenting mag online

Week 38 (starts Sept. 17), 12 hours, $3.83/hour
INCOME: $1 ebook!, $45 reprint check

Week 37 (starts Sept. 10), 6.75 hours/$18.15/hour
INCOME: $23 reprint check, $50 reprint check, $20 reprint check, $29.53 BlogHer ads

Week 36, 7.25 hours/$9.66/hour
INCOME: $30 reprint check, $40 reprint check

Week 35, 8.25 hours, $19.98/hour

Week 34, 10.25 hours, $33.64/hour

Week 33, 6.75 hours, $0.00/hour. Yep, I got NO MONEY this week! All those small-hour weeks have caught up with me. This is going to affect my average for sure. Still, pays better than a lot of jobs, and I get to sit outside and write and watch my kids at the same time. Next week should be better :-)

Week 32, 5.75 hours, $13.04/hour (working on doing giveaways and reviews)

Week 31, 2.75 hours, $32.67/hour

Week 30, 3 hours, $34.95/hour

Week 29, 2.75 hours, $30.85/hour

YTD average of $34.67/hour

YTD 133.75 hours, $4636.45 income

Week 28, 6.50 hours, $23.21/hour (got a sitter!)

Week 27, 1.50 hours, $49.40/hour

Week 26, 1.75 hours, $128.57/hour

Week 25, .50 hours, $149.40/hour

Week 24, .50 hours, $89.70/hour

Week 23, .50 hours, $279.40/hour

Week 22, 1.75 hours, $22.86/hour

Week 21, 2.75 hours, $80.73/hour

Week 20, 4.2 hours, $37.65/hour

Week 19, 2.5 hours, $116/hour

Week 18, 1.5 hours, $-0/hour

(preparing to leave town)

Week 17, 2.5 hours, $44/hour

(husband out of town)

Week 16, 2.25 hours, $15.56/hour

(Contently slowing down, sadly)

Week 15, 2.5 hours, $60/hour

Week 14, 4 hours, $79.21/hour

Week 13, 3.25 hours, $60.59/hour

YTD average of $26.30/hour

Week 12, 3 hours, $18.28/hour

Week 11, 4.25 hours, $28.16/hour

Week 10, 4 hours, $53.46/hour

Week 9, 14.25 hours, $20.11/hour

Week 8, 5.5 hours, $27.27/hour

Week 7, 10.25 hours, $27.71/hour

Week 6, 9.25 hours, $35.14/hour

Week 5, 8 hours, $28.96/hour

Week 4, 6.75 hours, $7.41/hour

Week 3, 8.25 hours, $40.24/hour

Week 2, 8.75 hours, $14.84/hour

Week 1, 10.25 hours, $13.99/hour

2011
Week 52, 11 hours, $13.64/hour

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Keeping Track of Hours and Income How Much Am I Screwing Around

Lately Ive wondered if I have ADHD or something. Ill start proofreading a project or writing an article and my mind wanders within minutes and then Im checking my Bubblews bank balance, then my PayPal balance then dreaming of a vacation and then hopping onto Facebook JUST FOR A SECOND, then 20 minutes later I have gotten NOTHING DONE!

Sound familiar? If not, and you have it all under control, GET OUTTA HERE!

So this week I started a new little spreadsheet. I already have one to keep track of my Fiverr jobs and one for my daily earnings so I can hold myself accountable there (that spreadsheet is not what I go by when I share my monthly income with you here on the blog; earned versus I HATE IT IN MY HANDS = two very different things).

Down the left I have each day of a 7-day week.

Along the top I have different projects: Fiverr, Bubblews, Regional Mags, National Mags, Ebooks, Blogging Sites, Other.

Each day I keep track of time I spend on each project. Doing this ONE DAY woke me up to how much I was NOT working. I felt like I was working all day, but I was checking email, answering tweets and (see top of this post for the other things I do to screw around).

Dont get me wrong: social media and email and all that are things I need to keep up with. But I need to set aside a set time daily for that and log it in OTHER.

The plan is to add up the time Ive spent actually working, the money Ive earned and then figure out my dollar per hour rate. And then increase that rate over time.

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How Much Money I can Make from Shutterstock IStockPhoto Fotolia and Dreamstime

That is a question that everyone will ask. There is no straight answer on this, but I can give some ideas on how much you can make from the below vectors:

A Combination Padlock
Shutterstock = $1.50/month
IStockPhoto = $4.00/month
Fotolia = $0.10/month
Dreamstime = $0.10/month
GraphicRiver = $0.50/month

Green Environment Icons Set

Shutterstock = $8.00/month

IStockPhoto = $5.00/month

Fotolia = $0.50/month

Dreamstime = $0.20/month

GraphicRiver = $5.00/month

Looking at the two example above, you can see that a good vector can make about 10x times more than an average one.

Shutterstock, IStockPhoto, and GraphicRiver can make some worthy earnings, whereas Fotolia and Dreamstime are almost hopeless. However, this does not mean you should forget about Fotolia and Dreamstime because the above are only two small examples. Sometimes, Fotolia and Dreamstime can make even more profit from a single item, but the chances are low.

As for photos (not vector), I could not give you a good example as I do not upload photos. But earnings from photos are normally 10x times lower than a vector, unless you have a very good photo which can sometimes make $5/day.

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How Much Do I Make Per Hour as a Writer

Okay, so here was Octobers income and sources for little ole me.

Thats all well and good and I say I make that income "part-time" ... but what does that mean in my world? Do I make that working 35 hours per week? If I did work 35 hours per week, Id be making $12 per hour, which is still more than minimum wage. Its still more than a lot of people I know make to do very difficult jobs while their kids are in school or are being cared for by someone else.

So a friend was hoping I did okay hourly and it inspired this blog post! I cant guarantee Ill keep up with it, so if you miss it, just nudge me! Im very nudge-able and approachable!

And yes, you have writers out there who are making $50-100 per hour and they are laughing at my measly income. God bless em! Im not competing with them. Im sticking with things I know how to do that will bring income to my family. Also you will find 99% of these writers have grown children or kids at school or daycare and have a full 6 hours at least to have a thought and put it on paper in an intelligent manner!!!!!

Sept. 30-Oct. 6: 22.22 hours = $24.03 per hour

Oct. 7-Oct. 13: 16.08 hours = $13.71 per hour (my grandfather died this week, we were roofing, it was our anniversary [15 years] and we had weekend company and I likely dove into my ebook project which pays nothing immediately)

Oct. 14-Oct. 20: 21.08 hours = $19.83 per hour

Oct. 21-Oct. 27: 16 hours = $18.06 per hour (tons of Halloween and fall activities!)

Oct. 28-Nov. 3: 18 hours = $22.29

There you go! An average of about $20 per hour, which is about $42,000 per year if I worked full-time. Considering I can work in my jammies and dont have any expenses like gas or lunch out, I think thats doing okay for someone who gets to hang with her kids and husband the rest of the day.

Do you keep any logs of time and money? Id love to hear about your experiences! By the way, heres my ebook thats only 99 cents that tells you the ways I make money and gives more details than I share on the blog. Then it links to another report where you can find a tons of ways to make money doing paid guest blogging and more (things I dont currently have time to pursue but I hope you do)! YOU DO NOT NEED A KINDLE TO BUY THIS BOOK! They have a Cloud reader that enables you to read ebooks on your PC or laptop!

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Do You Make 100 Per Day I Did This Week!

I found this piece in my email inbox to be very interesting. It talks about how you can make an EXTRA $100 per day over the $100 per day you are already making, doing blogging jobs, etc.

To some, that sounds like an impossible amount working from home part-time.

I realized I made $100 per day this week, BUT that included $60 for babysitting!

How could I make MORE without spending a ton of extra time? Well, Im going to check out the piece I sent you to and apply some places and see what happens. Im going to do that national query for a magazine finally.

Check out my June income and sources here (also has links to May and April), then come back soon to see Julys numbers, which are much higher than Junes somehow.

My trick is going to be keeping it up when homeschooling starts with a vengeance in September.

How much do you want to make per day, 5 days a week? What would get you out of debt, pay your grocery bill, help you live your dreams of travel, relaxation, retirement, anything?

You can find the 5th edition of my ebook Make Money to Write About Your Kids at Payloadz now! When that link runs dry, that means its over exclusively at Amazon on Kindle (but you can also get it on your computer via the Cloud Reader if you, like me, dont have a Kindle or just want to print it out!).

P.S. Im working on getting out this edition to all previous buyers for free; in the meantime, feel free to email me if you dont have it yet and want it! And I always love your feedback and reviews!

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What Do I Want to Do in 2014

Ah, goals. Gotta love em! I dont think its too early to start thinking about this. The holiday season is upon us and we are going to be getting very busy. So what about some goal setting now?

1. One of the top posts people come to this blog to see is about Babble.com submission guidelines. I want to have a piece published over there so I can talk about my own personal experience with it instead of just having the guidelines there.

2. Another top post is checking for Family Fun submission guidelines. What if I could get something that amazing publication? So theres another little goalie-poo that would also take care of ...

3. Get published in a national magazine in 2014 using the guidelines from my very own ebook!

4. Keep writing for the regionals, which I love.

5. Write 4 more ebooks for Amazon Kindle.

6. Keep proofreading/editing at Fiverr.com as writerkerrie.

7. Grow my new business, The Kindle Pixie, which helps promote self-published authors.

8. Keep writing for Bubblews because it pays and because it helps spark new ideas for articles and ebooks.

9. Pull down at least $2,000 per month. Heres October 2013s income in case you missed it.

10. Toss me out a goal. Challenge me to do something new!

PLEASE feel free to write your own goal post (isnt that a sports thing?!) and put the link here in the comments. Id love to come visit you and check out your goals and encourage you!

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Am I Too Late to Sell Vector Graphics now

Thats one hell of a question. But, every old birds in the microstock industry will tell you that it is never too late. However, 10 times tougher you must expect (with Yoda voice).

Contributors used to sell hundreds of downloads for a simple set of 16 vector icons during 2008 era. One such simple set of icons can generate you thousands of dollars over a short period of time. Today, a big set of 100 - 500 vector of icons can only generate you $10 dollar a month. Though, this is just my hypothesis, but I believe many can agree and more would agree soon.

Too many people contributing too many high quality works causes the meltdown. The supply is overshadowing the demands. Do you want to know who you are competing with? Take a look at this.

Searching for the keyword "icon set" at Shutterstock.
Searching for the keyword "silhouette" at Shutterstock.
Searching for the keyword "animal cartoon" at Shutterstock.
Searching for the keyword "labels" at Shutterstock.

Are you up to the challenge? Can you produce such quality and quantity? If you think you do, then it is not too late for you. And all is not lost. There are contributors who are still be able generate a comfortable side income from this with less quality works. You must be able to hit the right niche and continue to be committed to it.

If you really want to give it a try, then I recommend you to try the below 3 agencies first due higher volume of downloads and acceptance rate.

Shutterstock (must try first)
Fotolia
DepositPhotos

The golden era of microstock is definitely over, but that doesnt mean you cannot create your own golden era if you start now.

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How Can I Find Proofreading Jobs Here are 9 Places to Get You Started!

Im going to freak you out here.

If my kids were in school and I didnt care how my house looked or what anyone ate, I could easily make $5,000 per month proofreading (dont forget to take taxes out of that at the end of the year and its not as much as it seems like but still a lovely income from home).

I have had INSANE months where I was able to make close to $2,000 proofreading in a month but I wanted to die at the end, only because I have other things going on for income and managing everything gets difficult. I like to have other income streams because proofreading can be feast or famine, usually feast once you get going and get some good reviews and recs. Heres my income report for September, for example.

Heres what I have come up with so far so maybe you can do what Im doing! The first two I am not familiar with because I just havent had the time to dive into them. They are reputable sites that ask for a proofreading test or sample, but I hear competition can be fierce, and Im not about underbidding my services!

1. Elance

2. Upwork (formerly Odesk)

3. Scripted is a great way to find proofreading work but you have to BE ON TOP OF YOUR GAME, as in full-on GRAMMAR NAZI MODE. I did some writing for them and also some proofreading. I was shocked at the great money I was making and had the down payment on my yacht (just kidding!) when they canned me. They seriously culled their proofing pool and I did not make the cut. I was entirely bummed. If you are a better proofer than I am, GO FOR IT!

4. Hunt down people when you see things written wrong! Is your doctors website WHACK (not in a good way)??? Offer to proofread it for cheap. Did you get a piece of direct mail that had errors? Figure out who to contact and offer your services.

5. Tenrr is a place I gave a shot and got some work but it trickled in. I havent promoted my proofing there or anything. Knockoff of Fiverr, which I talk about later.

6. Gigbucks is akin to Tenrr. I am only signed up at all of these places because I like putting my chocolate proofreading eggs in lots of different baskets.

7. PeoplePerHour is another place I signed up at for free but nothing came of it. Some of these sites are flooded so you just have to sign up all over the place and wait and promote your services.

8. Outsource.com is a place I tried for a hot second but didnt have the patience to keep at it. I had to pay for credits so I could bid jobs. I did have plenty of credits in the end and the jobs to bid on were picking up, but the competition was fierce. I did get chosen for one job and it went well and I made back what I spent in credits. I was up for another job but they had a zillion and one requirements instead of just the simple proofing and editing I do and I cant focus on jumping through hoops. I like to fix documents and get out. I dont want to get wrangled into trying to write copy or critique what theyve done because those things get touchy and subjective. You might have a better experience. I broke my own rule of paying to get jobs so I could basically get the experience to share here!

9. Fiverr is my go-to place since I signed up in April 2013 and the jobs started flooding in. I have a separate post for it because I have so much to say on the topic!

As far as signing up and getting jobs right away, I dont know if I just got lucky or what but people gave a newbie a try and soon I had good reviews coming in and more jobs. I was so busy at one point in 2013 that I was outsourcing, which was a total shit show (Im going with two words for shit show instead of making it one ... haha!).

I shut down my outsourcing situation and tried to keep up with the work on my own but soon had no life and my kids were eating too much fast food all summer. I got a bad review because I was hurrying through my work and it all went to hell for a while. It picked back up and then I overused Vacation Mode. Just in the last few months have I gotten back on and made a decent income again.

Ive done many different gigs on Fiverr besides proofreading so poke around to see what else you can offer. I put my delivery on at least 3 days so that keeps my orders low enough to manage. The main guy who does 24-hour delivery basically works full-time all day long doing small jobs. The client is charged $5 and you receive $4. At first I thought that was robbery but now I realize THEY are finding the clients for me pretty much so I will happily take my $4 for proofreading 1,500 words. I got more orders when my gig was for 2,000 words but it was taking too long to proofread that for $4 with so many non-native English speakers sending projects my way. Those projects just take longer because they require more time and reworking.

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