December Sales Updates:

Lech Walesa - sold on FAA

Given the slow days of Christmas and New Year holidays it was a pleasant surprise to have a strong month in December. It was also good to see an unusual front runner this month.

FineArtAmerica took first place with a good value print sale of former Polish president Lech Walesa. A tote bag sale also helped them to top place. I never seem to get as many sales on FAA as I would like but it is certainly worth paying the modest $30 fee each year (which gives you unlimited upload numbers).

Second place went to Shutterstock including three On Demand and four Single downloads. What helped this month was an additional sum from the new Contributor Fund (basically a pool of money in return for AI programmes using SS images to train on. I'm hoping this could prove a useful extra revenue stream going forward).

Alamy made third place with 5 downloads. Four archive images and my recent WW2 food ration book again. It's good to see sales from the latter which my parents kept safe in drawer for all those years.

Fourth place went to my other POD site Redbubble with 6 product sales including mugs, stickers and greeting cards. Bit of a last minute Christmas flurry there I assume.

Istock made fifth place with 28 downloads. My Tentertainment music festival images continuing to

New upload - Ithaca bound ferry

come out on top as always. One curious detail was a sale of the abandoned village of Mikro Chorio on the Greek island of Tilos. For some reason it has been renamed Mikro Chorio, Forbidden island. I checked my Istock portfolio and it has that new title as well. Tilos isn't a forbidden island nor have I ever said that it was! No idea at all how that came about but there is no way of editing accepted images on Istock so that's how it will be staying. 

Sixth place went to Dreamstime with 5 downloads including one of those rare $2 subscription sales. Maybe 2023 is the year we will see a turn around for DT.

Seventh place was taken by Adobe with 5 downloads including two editorial store front images of Monsoon and Woolworths - both taken here in Tenterden (and both now gone as well).

London Daily News launch issue 1987

Finally in eighth place was Bigstock with just a single download. It's now been many months since I had any new images added there since the ending of the Bridge to Bigstock connector. As I have said before, the sales volume at Bigstock doesn't warrant uploading direct (at this time).

Recent uploading included starting to look at my Ithaca island images from my 2022 trip including one of Levante Ferries ferry boat Andreas Kalvos loading in Sami harbour on Kefalonia prior to departing for Ithaca. I have also continued with my collection of old newspapers including the launch issue of the London Daily News from February 1987. Sadly, though it was an excellent newspaper, it only survived for a few months before closing down.

Though it is early days yet my thoughts are turning to trip destinations in 2023. I can safely say there will be a Greek island in the mix and who knows where else. Barcelona has to be high on my list not having been there since 2018.

January has started off very slowly but we'll see where it ends up in due course. Regards, David. 

December Sales Updates:

Hawker Hunter - Chinese sale on Alamy

A slightly delayed update for a fairly low key month in December. Hardly surprising when large chunks of the picture buying world shut down for the lengthy Christmas and New Year holidays. 

Leading the way in first place were Alamy with 7 downloads. Six of these were from my archive political shots with the exception being a distributor sale to China of a 1950s vintage Hawker Hunter. Notwithstanding the later horror of the Shoreham airshow crash when another Hunter caused eleven fatalities after crashing onto a road, this is actually one of my favourite aircraft. For anyone aware of the infamous Chinese sales incident when hundreds (thousands?) of sales were suddenly reported on December 30/31 for a sub microstock price of 15cents each ( paying contributors a whopping 4cents after commission deductions) this wasn't one of those and sold for $9 or so. In fact, I didn't get a single one of the 4cent sales I'm pleased to say. I suspect that this is because the bulk of my Alamy portfolio is Editorial. Alamy have responded to questions about these mass low payments and confirmed they are looking into the whole thing. I rather get the impression that they were as surprised as anyone when these sales came in. Further updates on their forum have been promised.

Second place went to Shutterstock (with only 3 On Demand sales and no Single sales pulling the total

Sa Calobra - sold on Redbubble

down).

Istock took third place with 39 downloads. As is usual, music festival and travel images made up the bulk of these.

In fourth place were Redbubble with 2 product sales (last minute Christmas gifts I imagine). A mug of the famous hairpin road down to Sa Calobra in Majorca (beloved by hardened cyclists) and a pack of postcards featuring the (old) Hastings lifeboat taking part in the annual Old Town Carnival.

Dreamstime scraped fifth place with just 2 downloads. Maybe 2022 will be the year sales will pick up again here?

Finally in sixth place were Bigstock with just a single download. 

Missing from the ranking is Adobe as I didn't get a single sale after the end of November (and still haven't at the time of writing). This was especially disappointing as it looked like sales were increasing there despite my tiny 400 odd portfolio.

Paxos - archives to Pond 5

Shooting and travelling didn't happen in December although I did receive an early Christmas present when my new passport arrived by courier on Christmas Eve. At least I am set to go as and when travel restrictions start to ease and which is already starting to happen.

Uploading in December saw me concentrating on getting more of my back portfolio onto Pond 5 including my images of the Greek island of Paxos. Whether or not I ever see much in the way of sales here remains to be seen but I am determined that it won't be because they are not available. Further any agency that lets you determine your own selling price and pays 50% commission deserves to be supported. That said, some contributors there are quite delusional - setting a price of  hundreds of dollars for routine travel shots. They probably wonder why they don't get any sales.

More next month. Regards, David.

December Sales Updates:

Ferry boat Prevelis at Halki island, Greece

An uninspiring month in December as you might expect in a year of pandemic and lockdowns combined with the usual lengthy Christmas and New Year holidays. However, it is what it is and my own plan is just to carry on until we get to better times - hopefully later in 2021.

In top place were Alamy with 2 downloads both from my archives. John Major, former Prime Minister and the late Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop retail chain. Both decent $$ sales.

Redbubble were just behind in second place with 7 product sales. The usual mix of products and images here from prints through to T shirts.

Third place was the best Shutterstock could manage with a low number of downloads overall, no Single

Quality but short lived Sunday Correspondent

sales at all and a limited number of On Demand sales. On a more positive note my short lived Level 4 status brought me a sub sale paying $1.16 - the highest I have seen yet. Obviously we all crash back to level 1 from the start of January. Happy New Year SS!

Fourth place went to Istock with 19 downloads and a poor RPD. What I am really noticing here (as everywhere) is the lack of sales of my music and food festival images which previously sold on a daily basis. The cancellation of almost all events in 2020 meant little demand to illustrate forthcoming outdoor events. This may not improve much in 2021 as Summer events (on this side of the World) are needing to be planned and booked right now and it is a brave person who lays out money without any certainty.

Historic old White Lion, Tenterden

Fifth place went to Dreamstime with 6 downloads. On the plus side, reviews at DT are lightning fast -often just a few minutes after submission.

Finally in sixth place was a welcome back to Bigstock with 5 downloads. No idea why sales just stopped there for months and then suddenly restarted again. 

Nothing from Adobe at all in December which was disappointing after my first three illustrative editorial sales in November. I had hoped to see that continue.

Uploading recently saw me going back to my 2016 Halki island trip for a set of ferry boat Prevelis as well as a more recent images of my local Oasis fashion store (now closed down for good) and the historic old White Lion Hotel. My main emphasis was, as before, getting my back catalogue up to Pond 5 and filling in gaps in my Picfair and print on demand sites at the same time. These included images of the short lived Sunday Correspondent which was an excellent quality UK Sunday newspaper. Launched in 1989 it closed down in 1990. I still have the first issue.

January has started off slowly for myself and others on the forums are reporting the same but, as the month goes on I'm detecting a small glimmer of an upturn. More next month. Regards, David.  

December Sales Updates:

Tony Blair - Christmas mug sales on Redbubble

A mixed month to end the year with strong performances from a couple of agents and some pretty poor ones from others.

Shutterstock took a decisive lead despite only producing one On Demand sale all month. A substantial Single Download of former Prime Minister John Major turned it around here financially.

Second place went to Redbubble with 12 product sales in the run up to Christmas. The December General Election here obviously influenced some choices with no less than three mugs featuring another former Prime Minister -Tony Blair and other products with Margaret Thatcher.

Istock took third place with 28 downloads but a really low RPD dragged down the earnings substantially. I cannot remember the last time I earned so little at Istock.

A surprise at fourth place as Mostphotos delivered a worthwhile single sale of the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell. Sales on Most are rare for me but as I am opted out of subscription sales those I do get pay at a better rate.

Fifth place went to Dreamstime with 9 downloads.

Sa Calobra road, Majorca - mug sale on FineArtAmerica

FineArtAmerica came in sixth place with 2 mug sales of actor Alan Alda and the Sa Calobra hairpin
bend road on Majorca. The latter is a famous destination challenge for cyclists so I would guess that is one cyclists Christmas present sorted.

Seventh place saw Alamy back from zero last month to just a small personal use download with single figure commission to me after they deducted their 60% commission. Still, good to at least see some action there again.

Adobe made eighth place with just 1 download. Still waiting for Illustrative Editorial to be opened up to all with, hopefully, regular editorial to follow. Who knows what 2020 will bring there?

John Major - large single sale on Shutterstock

Finally in ninth place we had Bigstock with just a single subscription sale. Again, I cannot remember such a low result from them before.


Uploading in December went on hold as I prepared to move home from my seaside Hastings where I have been for eleven happy years to the charming Kent country town of Tenterden. Finally getting everything ready and moved just a few days before Christmas. It's gradually all coming together and I'm getting everything up and running in my new home.

Wishing everyone a very happy and successful 2020! Regards, David.

December sales Updates:

Dunsfold aerodrome Boeing 747

A mixed month in December with one great result from one site and a deeply disappointing one from another.

First up in lead place were Redbubble with a hefty 11 product sales and my Best Month Ever there. All manner of goods were purchased and, no doubt, the majority intended as personalised gifts for Christmas. I didn't get anything like this last year so it is good to see some progress made. Sadly, this festive spurt didn't carry over to Fine Art America where I received no further sales after my two in November reported last month.

Pushed to second place were Shutterstock with a fairly slow month overall. Obviously, unlike Redbubble, the holiday season took its toll here with many people on holiday during the final couple of weeks.

Third place was taken by Alamy with just a single sale but at well above microstock rates. This was another of my archive B/W images -this time of Professor Stephen Hawking.

Istock were in fourth place with 34 downloads. A reduced rate per download from last month dragged my income down here this month and I just missed crossing the payout threshold.

Fifth place went to Bigstock with 6 downloads. To be honest, if my images didn't go there automatically courtesy of the (now closed) Bridge to Bigstock I probably wouldn't bother with them. That said, it does gradually build up and I like to leave my earnings way beyond the $30 payout level to make it a decent amount when I do (eventually) cash out.

Sixth place went to Fotolia/Adobe with 5 downloads. I noticed that sales emails now come from Adobe with actual £ amounts shown (rather than the credits shown by Fotolia). A reminder that from

Douglas C-41 touching down at Dunsfold

February all uploading will have to be done at the Adobe portal. That's a new one for me to learn then!

Canstock reminded me of their existence with a single sale to make seventh place. I haven't uploaded there for nearly a year so have no great expectations. I will probably just keep my small portfolio there in case it does one day reach a payout. It's become a site that I now just check into now and again to see if there's been any action.

Finally on the subject of action (or lack of it) we have eighth place taken by Dreamstime with just a single $0.35 subscription sale. Probaly my worst month ever there (even my first month there with only a few files on sale produced more). Now, approaching 2.5k images, I get just one sale? It almost feels like I am being punished for my exceptionally good months a while back. I've said it before, I really like Dreamstime and the people there so I hope they can improve things in 2019. To make matters worse that one sale was on December 4 and not a single sale since :(

Having fun on the beach in Barcelona

Recent uploading saw me mopping up some outstanding images from the Dunsfold airshow back in 2014 including a WW2 Douglas C-41 coming into land and a Boeing 747. This is a retired British Airways airliner which is now used for film and television work. Viewers of the BBC motoring show Top Gear will recognise this aircraft as it quite often appears in the background during filming. More timely, were some beach images from my 2018 trip to Barcelona.

January is off to a slow start but, hopefully, will pick up as people are getting back to normality after the holidays. regards, David.

December Sales Updates:

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - archive sale at Alamy

A steady if unexciting month in December which, of course, saw the Christmas through to New Year holidays for many buyers.

As normal Shutterstock took lead place (despite a total of seven zero sales days). A reasonable single download pushed the income up a bit here.

Second place went to Redbubble with a pleasing six product sales (including, for the second month running, a print sale). I would assume that a good number of these items were destined to be Christmas presents. Sadly, I have yet to sell my first calendar there -despite having a number of different ones available.

The Arc de Triomf in Barcelona

Alamy took third place with 3 downloads -all from my political archives. An early image of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown (before they both went on to be Prime Minister) was amongst these. I have high hopes that the work I put into Alamy in 2017 will continue to pay off in the coming year.

Istock made fourth place with 36 downloads. A lack of high paying commissions brought the revenue down here this month.

Fifth place was taken by Bigstock with 6 downloads.

123rf were in sixth place with 6 downloads (a big change from November's surge). They also seem to have stopped reviewing my new uploads again with several batches still pending after some weeks.

Seventh place was another sad month for Dreamstime with (as November) just 3 subscription sales.

The famous La Rambla in Barcelona

Bringing up the rear were Fotolia with just a single sale. Maybe 2018 will be the year they throw open the doors to editorial submissions. I'm quite sure they'll be climbing my rankings if they do.

Recent uploads continued to focus on my Barcelona trip including a series of the Arc de Triomf (the Barcelona one!) and an image of the iconic La Rambla -the pedestrianised road that every tourist (and photographer) goes to. The regional elections which took place in Catalonia in December helped put the spotlight on Barcelona so I have hopes for these images in 2018.

Wishing all readers of this blog a happy and sales filled New Year. Regards, David.

December Sales Updates:

The Acropolis of Athens

Well that's it then for 2016. Not a spectacular year in terms of microstock sales for me due to a combination of lack of uploading time reducing my output and the continuing influx of new images to all the sites. Redbubble proved the rising star of the year with regular sales of a wide variety of images. A far cry from FineArtAmerica where I had no sales at all in 2016 -I will, however, be renewing my premium membership for 2017 to see if there is a turnaround. Yay was the casualty in 2016 when I finally ceased uploading new images. With over 2000 files uploaded they produced just one sale for 0.68euros.

So to December then there's no need to say that Shutterstock maintained their lead in first place -though I barely scraped past the minimum payout.

Second place went to Redbubble with 5 product sales ranging from clothing to phone covers.

Stefanos volcano crater on Nisyros island

Third place was taken by Dreamstime. Though they only managed 3 downloads one of those was another high paying credit sale of nearly $10.

Fourth place went to 123rf with an astonishing 25 downloads making it my BME in quantity but not income. A lot of Greek island images sold -presumably to the same buyer.

Steady Bigstock produced 10 downloads to make fifth place.

Exceptionally down in sixth place were Istock with 2 credit sales and 10 subs. This was because of their transition to new sales reporting which is due to happen around February. As a consequence reporting in December ended before the month was over and before any Partner sales had been added. From now on sales will be updated monthly in one go so my rankings will be a bit out of line for a while. Not being able to see sales accrue in real time is hardly motivating for anyone and I hope they reconsider this in the future.

Tentertainment music festival at Tenterden, Kent

Finally a single sale from Mostphotos earned them seventh place. I haven't forgotten Fotolia -they just didn't have a single sale for me in December!

Uploading in December saw a big increase with many new files now available. I intend to keep this pace up throughout 2017 as much as possible. New images included my first Acropolis shot from my Athens trip last May as well as my set from the 2016 Tentertainment music festival. Backtracking to 2015, I also uploaded further images of the Stefanos volcano crater on the Greek island of Nisyros.

Wishing all readers a very happy 2017! Regards, David.

December Sales Updates:

Enhanced Download at SS: Bob Geldof with fans, 1978

Some interesting results for the final month of 2015 with several sites making an unexpected appearance.
Shutterstock was far from unexpected at first place in my monthly sales. A welcome Enhanced Download of my 1978 image of Bob Geldof (lead singer of Irish band The Boomtown Rats) started the month well on December 1.

Second place was taken by FineArtAmerica with two product sales. A T Shirt featuring my image of Kent band Coco and The Butterfields was followed up by a framed print sale of Phil Lynott (lead singer of Irish band Thin Lizzy). December was clearly the month for seventies Irish singers :)

Istock took third place with 3 credit sales and 28 subscription/partner program downloads.

Phil Lynott -framed print sale on FineArtAmerica

Some way behind in fourth place were 123rf with 8 downloads. These were mainly editorial -which seems to be doing well at 123 recently.

Fifth place went to Bigstock with 9 downloads. Pretty much all subscription sales as is the norm there for me.

Slumped down in sixth place were Dreamstime with just 5 downloads. This was my second WME
(worst month ever) since joining them in 2009. Only May 2015 produced lower earnings. To see what are normally smaller earners such as Bigstock and 123 overtake a major agency like Dreamstime is worrying indeed. I can only hope DT will turn around for me in the coming year.

Fotolia came in at seventh place with 3 downloads. Let's see what the Adobe effect an achieve here in 2016.

Eight place (I don't usually get this far!) was taken by Mostphotos with 2 downloads. I'm not sure if this site is ever going to gain any real traction for me -especially as sales seem mainly confined to the Scandinavian market. I continue uploading just in case.

Finally in Ninth place were Print On Demand site Redbubble who got me a greeting card sale of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. I thought I was pushing things with a 70% mark up for cards but the £0.59 I received for this suggested otherwise. I have since changed this to 200% on the grounds that if somebody really wants my image on a greeting card they will not bothered by price (within reason). I know that when I choose a Birthday card for someone my choice isn't based on how cheap it is but, rather, will they like it.

Coco and The Butterfields - T Shirt sale on FineArtAmerica

No sales in December from any of my other sites including Yaymicro which made a surprise announcement in the last few days. From today, the Yaymicro site itself will cease to sell images (remaining only as a conduit for contributors to upload and monitor their account). All future sales will be via their subscription site Yay Images which they started in 2013. My concern here is that none of my editorial images appear on that site. Circa 700 commercial images are there but my other 1700 editorial images are missing and not searchable. I have emailed Yay to try and find out what is happening to these going forward. Whilst I have chronicled here how my sales have declined at Yay I had always hoped something might turn around with them. If they are really junking 1700 images which took me time and money to upload I will be far from pleased. I will report back later on what they say.

As we start 2016, I wish all readers of this blog a happy and prosperous New Year. Regards, David.

December Sales Updates:

Professor Stephen Hawking -new biopic

Inevitably, December was never going to be a great month with so many slow days over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. However, taking that into account there were some good moments.

As ever, Shutterstock was the number one agency -by far. A great start on December1 with an Enhanced Download of Professor Stephen Hawking. Sales of this image have increased a lot recently presumably due to the new biopic film The Theory of Everything which has just been released. I also had a good number of On Demand sales and two nice paying Single Downloads through the month.

Dreamstime performed well to take second place with 20 downloads. Greek island images seem to be doing especially well on Dreamstime of late -possibly as a result of the on-site blog I wrote on the subject.

Istock took third place with only 4 credit sales but a good 24 downloads through the PP and Subs schemes. Istock also had some big news that it was to be integrated further into parent company Getty Images. The main change for many is that commission payments will no longer be made "on request" but on a fixed monthly schedule (subject to reaching the $100 payout level). I don't get enough sales on Istock for this to be an issue but for high performers used to requesting weekly payouts this will not be a popular move.

Sopwith triplane at Dunsfold

Bigstock continued strongly to make fourth place with 15 downloads -pleasingly not just sub sales but a
number of credit sales in there as well. It's interesting to note that a good number of my sales on Bigstock seem to relate to my local area of Hastings and St.Leonards.

Coming in fifth were 123rf with a miserly 7 downloads. Sales there seem to be falling below what they were a year or two ago -despite increasing my portfolio size. Especially noticeable is the fall in editorial sales. Just to add to the fun, there currently seems to be a hiatus on editorial reviews with several of my batches still pending since January 1. Normally these get reviewed within hours.

FineArtAmerica came sixth with a sale of a greetings card. Some lucky person was due a Christmas or Birthday card featuring the Poll Tax Riots in London back in the early 1990s!

Rousoum beach, Alonissos island

Bringing up the rear I had a rare sale at Canstockphoto (my first in months) and just a single sub sale at Fotolia. To be fair, I only have small portfolios on those due to them not taking editorial images.

Uploading in December saw me revisiting my 2012 trip to Alonissos island with a set of images of Rousoum. I also carried on working my Dunsfold airshow images with a set of a 1916 Sopwith triplane (it's actually a 1997 replica but certainly looks the part).

Though I am writing this post well into January I'll use this opportunity to wish all readers of this blog a very happy and enjoyable 2015. Regards, David.

December sales updates:

Catching up with my monthly updates my December report is rather overdue.

As ever, Shutterstock outperformed all other sites with the highlight being a further three Single and Other Downloads (SOD) contributing $27.58 to the total. These are starting to prove rather interesting and for very worthwhile amounts.

Dreamstime followed up with 10 downloads ($8.06) and a further $0.04 in referral income as one of my referred photographers had their first sale.

Bigstock produced 11 downloads ($5.04) with most of these being subs.

Istock ticked over with 6 downloads ($4.52) and a further $1.96 from 7 PP sales. Sales certainly seem to have declined at Istock over recent months.

123rf managed 11 downloads ($4.73). Again, mainly $0.25 sub sales.

Fotolia saw 6 sub downloads ( 1.50 credits).

Yay pleasantly surprised with one editorial sale of Robert Maxwell giving a worthwhile 3.75 euros in commission.

Nothing from my other sites during December. Picfair has proved rather dissapointing after my first sale only days after joining. Several hundred images uploaded since haven't seen any action. Still it is early days and I think the site has lots of potential. Hard not to like setting your own prices and getting 100% of that. Over at Mostphotos I hit the nine month mark without a single sale. I'm guessing that my mainly editorial images just aren't what their buyers are looking for.

Recent uploading included images of the Tilos Sea Star ferry (top) moored on the Greek island of Symi. Greek islands also featured with a set of images of the Express Pegasus ferry visiting Skopelos island. Regards, David.

 

December sales updates:

With a few honourable exceptions it turned out to be a fairly Dismal December overall.
Shutterstock (as ever) led the pack with 101 downloads ($49.38). Old favourites such as Margaret Thatcher, Professor Stephen Hawking and the Tentertainment music festival continued to get regular sales.
Picturenation (as previously posted) pulled in 2 downloads of my archive image of politician Sir Geoffrey Howe making a worthwhile £6.40 GBP in commission.
Istockphoto produced 6 downloads ($5.44) with a further $2.24 from 8 PP sales.
Bigstock perked up with 6 downloads ($5.90).
Dreamstime plunged to just 6 downloads (mainly subs) producing a miserable $3.77 in commission. My worst month there in a long time.
123rf  (what can I say?) managed just 3 downloads producing just $1.66 in commission. This was my worst month there since my first sales back in 2010. When they announced their 2013 commission cuts (now in effect) they talked of a big increase in sales there. I'm certainly not seeing any signs of that. Actually, to my surprise, I scraped into level 2 of the new rates (35% commission and $0.25 for subs). The problem is lack of sales and the low rates they charge customers. Superficially, at least, 35% doesn't sound so bad compared to some agencies but my 15% at Istock generally brings in $1-$2 in commission per sale. Even on 50% at 123rf actual income was lower. I'm just waiting to see how the new rates pan out in income over the month. Meanwhile, I have ceased uploading any new images to them.
New uploads for December included a further image from the Poll Tax Riots (showing the South African embassy on fire) and more images from my September trip to the Greek island of Alonissos (this one is of freight ship Ioanna Chrisoula docked at Patitiri harbour).
Hopefully, as The World gets back to work after the holidays sales will improve. Meanwhile, I'll wish everyone a happy and successful 2013. Regards, David.

December updates:

A steady end to 2011 with sales continuing up to the Christmas holidays and, in a first for me, three sales on Christmas Day itself.

Shutterstock, as ever, led the pack with 70 downloads ($30.69) and another payout reached.

123rf carried on in great form with 20 downloads ($21.18) pushed up by two XLTiff sales paying $4.50 and $4.70.

Dreamstime continued to improve with 8 downloads ($9.21) and my third payout from them.

Istock produced 7 downloads ($7.69) with a further 5 PP downloads ($2.32). My portfolio broke through the 400 barrier and now stands at 412 with both Editorial and Commercial images being accepted.

Bigstock had 2 downloads ($4.00) and, as previously posted, a big boost to my portfolio size.

Fotalia produced I download (0.20 credits) and a continuing bunch of rejections of new uploads! (Needless to say these were images accepted elsewhere -this is going to be a long haul to build much of a portfolio there).

New uploads in December included an image of the charming Elizabethan houses at Sinnock Square in the Old Town area of Hastings (pictured).

Well, that's another year over -now onto 2012. Regards, David.

December updates:

December saw a solid month at Shutterstock with 61 downloads ($20.70) with the total figure being helped by 4, higher paying, "On Demand" sales. Dreamstime was going well but stalled as we approached Christmas resulting in a total of 11 downloads ($12.37). However, December did bring a milestone there as I had my 200th sale.

Bigstock had a surprise flurry of 6 (all Editorial) downloads ($3.00).(EDIT: That should have been $4 but I had an adjustment of -$1. It appears my best Margaret Thatcher image was a victim of the fraudulent downloads that took place over Christmas at Istock and BS). While at 123RF the sales continue to grow with a further 6 downloads ($3.15). This brings my total sales there to 11 (8 Editorial) since having my first ever downloads on October 31. This is starting to look like an interesting agency.

Istock, once again, produced no regular sales but managed 6 partner programme sub sales ($1.50). The lack of sales there probaly a result of stopping uploading after their commission cuts announcement. Well, I made my point (not that they would ever have noticed) and have decided to re-start uploads this year. The deciding factor was the forthcoming launch of their Editorial image collection. My whole portfolio is mainly Editorial and I do not feel I can miss out on what could be a good opportunity. The downside is they are not taking Celebrity images which is dissapointing given my archives. I am hoping that might change in the future.

Finally no sales in December at Mostphotos, Veer, Picturenation and Yaymicro (not even the latters long overdue Third Party sales report, which they had hoped to have out by Christmas).

Uploads for December included further Greek island images (Halki) and some snowy uk street images. Dreamstime (and others) approved the latter (minus a few for "similarity") but Shutterstock and Bigstock both declared they were "Not Editorial.Not Newsworthy" (Britain is having the coldest Winter for 100 years by the way!). (EDIT: To be fair to BS I hadn't submitted all of them for review when posting. They have since accepted some of the set -so snow is newsworthy again!). Oh well, that's how Microstock goes......

Wishing all readers, agencies and fellow contributors (and, yes, even reviewers) a happy and prosperous New Year. Regards, David.