IPhoto 9.5.1 will not export edited versions of my photos.

Question

I cannot export edited versions of my photos (specifically cropped photos) in iPhoto 9.5.1 using Mavericks. This is driving me nuts. I've tried duplicating the photos, saving them in different formats . . . no dice. This is very annoying. Without photo editing, iPhoto is pretty useless.

Answer 1

You can use 3rd party editors from within iPhoto.  Here are some of those:
Some Image Editors That Support layers:
Photoshop Elements 11 for Mac - $79
Rainbow Painter - $30
Imagerie - $38
Acorn - $50
Pixelmator - $60 
Seashore - Free
GIMP for Mac - Free
Xee 2.1 - free
I would suggest you try one of the free ones and make sure that iiPhoto will export the edited version before you purchase an editor.  The following is for Photoshop Elements but would be applicable to most of the editors listed above, particularly the part about keeping the file extension as jpeg and not one created by the editor.
Using Photoshop Elements or Photoshop as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.
1 - select Photoshop or Photoshop Elememts as your editor of choice in iPhoto's General Preference Section's under the "Edit photo:" menu.
2 - double click on the thumbnail in iPhoto to open it in Photoshop.  When you're finished editing click on the Save button. If you immediately get the JPEG Options window make your selection (Baseline standard seems to be the most compatible jpeg format) and click on the OK button. Your done. 
3 - however, if you get the navigation window
that indicates that  PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file.  You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.
This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
NOTE: With Photoshop Elements  the Saving File preferences should be configured as shown:
I also suggest the Maximize PSD File Compatabilty be set to Always.  In PSE’s General preference pane set the Color Picker to Apple as shown:
Note 1: screenshots are from PSE 10
Note:  to switch between iPhoto and PS or PSE as the editor of choice Control (right)-click on the thumbnail and select either Edit in iPhoto or Edit in External Editor from the contextual menu. If you use iPhoto to edit more than PSE re-select iPhoto in the iPhoto General preference pane. Then iPhoto will be the default editor and you can use the contextual menu to select PSE for your editor when desired.