This time I had an increase of 19% compared to August and a 25% decrease compared to September 2012

Best four: Shutterstock, Zazzle, DepositPhotos, 123RF

More Info: http://microstockinfos.blogspot.com/2013/10/stock-photography-sales-statistic.html






(This statistic include referral earning at the different agencies)

My September was dead even with a very disappointing August.  Not seeing a sales jump in September has never happened before in my 8 years of doing microstock. 

Continuing my trend of year on year losses, I am down 18% from September 2012.

Pretty much as expected not seeing much growth in the amount I've earned from actual new files (most of my income is from files > 6 months old) but overall my stock photo income is growing on SS, DT and iS. However erratic it may be month to month, the overall trend is upwards. Though I only had card sales on FAA this month, it's been earning me $50-190 per print sale most months, and with occasional sales due to people finding images on my website, I'm cautiously optimistic about selling stock photos.

I've done some cold-calling to a few places that buy stock images with hopeful results so I'm thinking that may be where I put the bulk of my energies for the next few months, submitting RM files and lists of what I have available to various travel agencies, magazines, and calendar companies, together with putting all the RF files I have on Alamy onto the micros since my RPI on Alamy doesn't justify my leaving them there exclusively. My average sale on Alamy is now less than $50 with less than $25 coming to me, and most RM sales there net me $15-18, a fee I can easily earn from a "single & other download" file on SS, and about the same or less than I can earn from an extended license there or elsewhere.

I'm reluctant to add more files to iStock but my RPI is good there despite the fact that (a) all my photo+ files which were my best sellers are now stuck in the Main collection and (b) most of my income there is from the PP, so I may add a few new files there. RPI doesn't lie.

I just did a detailed analysis of my RPI for the entire year and it has increased more than I'd expected on SS, DT and even on iS, while it has decreased significantly on Alamy. I forget where I read a discussion about this, but RPI is really the most important thing to look at because it gives you a decent comparison of how each site is doing for you, whether your portfolio there is large or small. If my RPI is rising on the micros, that tells me my photo portfolios are improving and it gives me an idea of how much more I can expect to earn for every photo I add.

I think the keys are marketing my work directly to buyers who need the kinds of images I shoot, letting me earn 100% of the profit, and uploading to the sites that have a proven track record so they can market those other images for me.

I'm up 2% compared to last year's September, but that's mainly because Sept.2012 was not a very good month  (I'm down 5% compared to Sept.2011).

SS went up 15% because of 10 lovely EL's, while downloads and SOD's went down with 5%.
The good guys were Dreamstime and 123rf, both good for 12% and 18% growth, and this was all "eaten" buy the losses at Istock (-16%) and Fotolia (-17%).
Canstock had a bad month (-33%), GLO had almost no downloads but 1 very nice EL.

Rodeo was down almost 40%.  Juha said this was due to "growing competition by international sites", but it MIGHT also be because the site is really passive this year :  I have a backlog of almost 600 files waiting to be approved since May !!.

On 30th Sept. Alamy saved the month with a super sale of 140$ (net).

October 2012 was a BME, so as a true pessimist, I expect Oct. 2013 to be down at least 20% 

And today was my Best Day of the Month!  Things are looking up.

OK, I was thinking October had begun badly; but of course yesterday was my BDM. 

pancaketom , just love your avatar 

Mimadeo, there is no way to tell if you are doing well or not.  Too many variables at play - timing, type of images, luck, keywording, competition, more luck etc.