Books

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I took Friday afternoon off but I had a bit of time to kill between leaving work at noon and my 1:30 massage appointment so I wandered around Border's for a while, where I found Crafting for Dollars. (Books about selling on eBay almost deserve their own section, there are so many now!)

I've read a number of books on selling crafts. This one was written in 1996 but still offers lots of good advice. One of the reviews I read said it doesn't mention Internet selling but otherwise offers good solid advice that still holds up today. As a result, I deep cleaned my desk yesterday and organized things a bit better.

One of the things the book talks about is left brain vs right brain. It's a topic that comes up fairly regularly in stuff I read about artists running a business. I've come to the conclusion that I must use both sides somewhat equally. My professional life has always revolved around small business office organization and accounting in particular so I've got that stuff down pretty good. The big thing seems to be that I don't dread it. I find it pretty hard to find the time to keep up on the business side of things along with the creative side. I can only imagine how hard that must be if you don't like the business side.

That wasn't at all what I intended to do this weekend, given my next show is 2 weeks away but I feel great about what I accomplished and the inspiration I've gotten from this book.

For those interested, Barbara Brabec is a well-known author in the home-based crafts business. I've just read one of her books so far but I have subscribed to her monthly newsletter for a few years. I also recommend Wendy Rosen's Crafting as a Business.

Just seeing all the related links on Amazon and Googling these authors names, I see I have lots more reading to do! One more thing to make time for.

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