US$3900 A Year

PDN published on May 31st, 2007, the preliminary results of a survey on the microstock industry. Details can be found here.

In a nutshell, 1882 photographers participated in the survey, 865 of them are microstock photographers, 229 of them distribute their works themselves (self-distribution).

On average, microstock photographers earned US$3900 in 2006, but 58% of them earned less than US$1000.

Mmmh, it doesn't sound too good erh, does it? If you are thinking of quitting your job and doing microstock full-time, think again. But then again, you must look at this finding in context. Many of the microstock photographers maybe are only hobbyists, amateurs, who do it for some pocket money, or just some financial return from their work to finance their expensive hobby, photographic equipment purchases. They are not taking it seriously as 'a business'.

Anyway, it is an interesting survey. It is also an evidence the microstock industry is getting more clouds.