I just thought I'd share this little story.

Before I got into the whole microstock thing I uploaded images to Alamy and my last sale there this month was worth $74.00 for a single image. Now that sounds great except.....

After commission and crdit card charges I am left with $47.50. Still not too bad for a single image. However, because the image is licenced, it is now out of action until the licence expires in 3 years time.

Doesn't sound so good now, especially if I calculate that out on a monthly basis which works out that it earns around $1.32 per month. OK that's getting pretty close to what you'd expect to earn from microstock.. maybe.

But... it was up on the site for 2 and a hlaf years before it sold. So now it's 66 months taken to earn $47.50 which works out at $0.70 per month.

Now I know that not all of my images on microstock will earn even that but to put this into perspective. With the same number of images on microstock agencies and based on my own earnings, I estimate you can earn at least 10 times more with microstock royalty free sales. At least that's my experience.

Unless your image was exclusively licensed for all territories and all industries (HIGHLY unlikely if the license fee was $74), there is NOTHING preventing the same "licensed" image from being licensed 50 times per day for the next ten years.

I have images that are licensed and sell at Alamy several times each month and have done so for nearly four years now.

I'm not trying to promote Alamy or discredit your happiness with micro-RF licensing. However, the notion that your licensed image sale, which sounds as if it was a fee of $74 for a term of three years, prevents other sales of the same image during that term is completey false.

I think you'd find that there is not a single image on Alamy that would be available as a licensed image in an exclusive capacity for all industries for $74.....for any length of time, much less three years.