2013 Year In Review -Microstock

Many readers may know that I have images at several microstock sites.  But I'm certainly not active.  I hadn't uploaded any images to them in ~6 years.  But I continue to have residual sales, and tend to earn $300 - $350 a year.  Not bad for no (additional) effort.

No uploads in 6 years, until today, that is.  I decided to try this image, from today's snowstorm:

It will be interesting to see if any of the sites accept it  (they tend to be BRUTAL  accepting photos, my success rate was around 1/3). And if so, if it gets any sales.



So, how about the 2013 in review??

Well, as I mentioned, microstock isn't anything that'll lead me to quit my real job...  Total sales in 2013, 424 images, $333.57.  Those of you thinking about microstock, note the pathetic $0.79 / image.  Microstock is a big-volume game.  I know some folks who have been pretty successful, but only by uploading lots and lots of photos...

So, $333 in "free money".  Which sites are the best for me?

Shutterstock - 62.5% of income
iStock - 33.4% of income
123RF -  3.1% of income
Fotolia -  1.0% of income

I'm pretty sure that's pretty typical of the past 7 years.