Business Books

Crafting isn't all about making stuff. Of course thats the fun part!
However, there is the business side of things. And a successful craft business is my goal!

Since I did not major in business in school, and frankly my personal selling skills leave much to be desired, I do try to learn as much as I can.

I do this by reading books.

This week I had the opportunity to preview Finding Your Inner Etsy-preneur.

http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Your-Inner-Etsy-preneur-Encouragement-ebook/dp/B00GBQ4IWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383784335&sr=8-1&keywords=finding+your+inner+etsy-preneur

Its interesting. Through a series of personality test, it helps you to determine how you can best approach mastering your sales for your Etsy shop. I know right now there are a lot of discussions going on out there regarding Etsy and the nature of handmade, thats not the issue here or discussed in this book. This book is all about how to leverage your personality type and tendencies to maximize your Etsy experience.

I had fun with the personality type testing, and I think it was pretty spot on for me. I do  plan on actively applying some techniques from this.

The other book I finally finished this week was (ok forced to finish it as I had to return it to the library) completely unmemorable. Seriously, it was one of those cool looking books, with lots of nice crafty-art pictures. At first glance it had lots of useful forms, but unfortunately it was pretty much a repeat of many other books out there. How to pick an art fair (man the books make this sound so easy--its not), how to set up teaching, how to make yourself presentable with business cards and logos. The book was from a few years ago, so I know its not on the shelves any longer, and I couldn't even find it on Amazon to provide you with a link.

The one thing that stood out the most in the book for me was the section on how to shoot quality images of your art. The examples, booth good and bad, were printed in such a way that what ever quality they were trying to show off didn't show up. For example, two photos discussing how the shadows in the back ground were distracting and how to fix that, when BOTH images printed with solid black backgrounds.

All in all it was a pretty but useless book, so I guess its ok I forgot the title.

Making Etsy work for you

How to Make Money using Etsy by Timothy Adam

So apparently this is the guy that also started Handmadeology.com. Since I have only poked around at Handmadeology.com this will not be a compare and contrast.

This is a good overview book.
If you have never used Etsy before and are thinking about it, or you are just getting started and the process of setting Etsy up is intimidating this is a good book.

There are chapters that walk you through setting up your site, how to place items for sale, and explains the bill.

This book has some good overviews on how the SEO process works. And setting up key words, and how to make use of strong key words.

I have been on Etsy since it was in beta--yes I was a beta user. My sales are pitifully low and pretty much always have been.  Im specifically looking for those tips that will increase traffic to my Etsy site.

This book has those.
Yes I said it, this book has those. But only a few of them. It really walks you through the process of creating backlinks, and promoting yourself via social media.

This book also has a lot of interviews with successful Etsians. There is actually some useful info hidden in those interviews.

Key take aways from this book:
Leverage social media to drive traffic to your Etsy site and increase views
Use Paypal shipping

This book is available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Money-Using-Etsy/dp/0470944560/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343079231&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+make+money+using+etsy

I got my copy from the library.

Pricing, and learning this business

I am moving forward on learning the business aspects of my business. I am slowly--too slowly in my opinion--working my way through a stack of small business and art business books.
I had this one in my stack from the library for a while. Its due back soon so I figured its time to read it.

Originally published in 1997 some of the price structures may be a bit dated. One thing I did not like is it spent too many pages on this type of craft= this type of pricing structure. Especially since they all sort of equalled the same amount. I think a nice generic list and description would have worked nicely. I didn't like this because I had to read through a lot of redundancy before getting to those little gems of information. Like which crafts actually need to be priced differently, and why.

And this book has gems of information! The biggest and shiniest being establishing a studio rate versus just paying yourself an hourly wage. The second biggest gem is value vs. price.

There are lots of great and useful forms in the back of the book, there are at least two I will be making copies of to use.

Yes this book is worth reading.

I borrowed this one from my library--love the library!

Learning Business

Books!
Originally uploaded by Zoeowyn

My personal collection of art business books. 3 in this stack are library books that I keep checking out and one day will purchase. There are a few persinal meaning/law if attraction quantum books in there because these help me to find my focus. The rest are busimess sales and marketing. Time yo start reviewing them learning and applying.

The first book I am reading through is a little magazine supplement the dos and don'ts of Etsy. So far nothing new: take good pictures, be as descriptive and detailed as possible. I purchased some craft magazine to get this, and its not been helpful to me. Its good for a complete newbie, but not someone who has been on Etsy for a bit and has already learned this.

Hinges

I've been playing with hinges based on the online class by Wanaree Tanner from CraftCast, and I cannot recommend it enough!

I've modified the concept a bit, but I'm not making anything dramatically uniquely me (these are still obviously based on Wanaree's book design model), I am learning and practicing a technique and seeing where I can go with it. Im rather loving hinges.

Im also rather loving this whole CraftCast thing. Its a lovely conglomerate of my love and my studies. You see, I've spent the past 2 years becoming an "expert" in online distance education. I am 2/3 of the way through a Masters in DE program (I've received two graduate certificate in DE, and currently am "done" with the school bit). And of course crafting. I love teaching craft classes, better students, after all they want to be there.

Alison Lee is brilliant having gotten into online hybrid delivery of course materials. Hybrid, thats the mix of synchronous, being there when the class is recorded, and then asynchronous, being able to download and access the course at any time. Makes me wish I had thought of it.

I haven't signed up for any more classes, but that is a function of having to finish finals and write papers, more than anything else.
I have my eyes on the classes by Michael DeMeng -I love his book Secrets of Rusty Things.
And improving my resin with the glowing effects presented by Patrik Kusek

Im excited I have chosen to stop pursuing one education (the MDE) for another (improved jewelry making skills and marketing).

Three art books Im starting this year with.

Three books I am starting 2008 with.
I have been perusing these books at Michael's and BAM off and on for months now. I was happy to find them in my library's system.

Book One:


Secrets of Rusty Things by Michael de Meng, published by North Light Books.
De Meng is a sculptural collage artist living somewhere off in Montana. His creations that are featured in this book look like ancient artifacts of personal shrines. He shares some techniques on how certain effects are created. Its not a step-by-step per say, but it is basically a "how-to," ok more of a "how'd you go about doing this." Stylistically the book is designed to look like an artistic sketch/notebook.
His over all style is appealing to me. I recently became interested in creating Milagros art, and taking my mini sculptures into the realm of shrines, and I already like the style of creating art as artifacts.

His website is www.michaeldemeng.com, and it has lots of his cool images

Book Two:

Pretty Little Things by Sally Jean Alexander, also published by North Light Books.
Ok I want to go learn how to solder now. The lady makes sparkly little glass based thinguses (a technical term) that are soldered together using shiny silver solder. This book is laid out more as a "step-by-step" and "how-to." Her work is very cool, but I don't need another hobby. I don’t need to add these skills to my repertoire just yet. (Repeat I don’t need to add soldering skills or supplies) Her work is inspiring, even though I don’t do anything even near what she does.

www.sallyjean.com. goodies and visuals abound, as well as shopping opportunities.


Book Three:


Altered Books Workshop by Bev Brazelton, also published by North Light Books.
This book has the same set-up, not quite a full "step-by-step" book, but definitely a directions based book. This book takes you through various collage techniques and how they apply to altered books. This book, of the three, actually covers information I already utilize in my art occasionally. Still it doesn’t mean I didn’t read the book thinking "why didn’t I think of this first?" And, realistically it does incorporate items I may actually get around to using. The author has a few samples that are very much book shrines. It really sparked the concept of taking my shrines into books.

www.bevbrazelton.com another well desinged website, not so content heavy as the other ones, but still has the information you might want.


All three boooks provide ample food for thought, and are fun to look at as well. MY problem with purchasing books like this is I look at them, think they are cool, put them away for a while and then wonder why did I purchase these? I'm glad I have to opportunity to check them out of the library. The real test for me is if I keep checking them out, then I will go purchase the book. (I have done that many times with polymer clay books.) In the mean time, I'm enjoying these books.

Book cover images borrowed from Amazon so you can see what they look like, Im gaining in no way by sharing these with you.