Welcome to my blog. Most of the illustrations on this site are the stuff I do for fun on my own time and not for clients. To see my professional work please go to www.studioharpster.com
Thursday, April 26, 2012
My NEW book!
Here it is the 4th book of my recently started publishing company in only two years! That's right my very own publishing company! When the economy tanked in 2009 I had many hours, days, and weeks to reflect on my illustration business. It seems that I had put all my eggs in one basket, meaning, I had only a handful of clients that I was depending on for all of my work. Now I didn't blame them for not sending me jobs, it was a severe recession and no one knew what was going to happen next. Companies have to protect their interests and for a year they were not producing work. No, this was not their fault, it was my fault. I had come to rely on others for a paycheck and not on myself. Here I am, a so called self employed business person relying on others for my living. It bothered me greatly and I knew I had to correct this, and soon. I looked into self publishing, selling, and online stores. I watched a great video on the Schoolism site by Stephen Silver all about self publishing and read books about it as well. No amount of reading blogs or books on the topic will prepare you for all the ins and outs of publishing. Get a number from the Library of Congress is a pain with every book I publish as is getting the "look inside the book" feature on Amazon. Book keeping, and tracking sales has also been more daunting then I ever would have thought. Here is another pain in back that you won't read about, on more than one occasion I had to move over two hundred boxes of books each weighing 45 pounds. Once was in August, and another time was in a cold drizzling shower. There is a bigger picture and that is control. Being in control of your own product and your own future is very rewarding. Knowing that you have the power to make your company grow, to own your property and make your own mark in this world has been more empowering than I ever would have thought. It's all about opportunity versus guarantee.
Oh, by the way....you can order my book here on this blog or go to my shopify store at http://shop-harptoons.myshopify.com/
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3 comments:
Man I've been away from blogging for too long. I've missed out on a lot of your new posts and books. But hopefully now that things are in order I'll be dropping by often.
I have a lot of respect and admiration for you Steve. Doing the whole self publishing avenue. I've been kinda looking into doing something like that but like anything new and not knowing what is out there I'm pretty scared. I would like to be in control of my own property like you have done. I'm sure it's very rewarding after everything is said and done. Hopefully by stopping by your blog and you posting your thoughts in about the self publishing world I can gather the courage to take the plunge into a whole new world.
Hey Steve, Very funny and cute. Kids will love it!
@ Pablo- I've been away from this blog for a while. I just finished the Drawing Animals With Numbers app for iPad,iPod,iPhone and everything mobile. Self publishing isn't easy, but it is worth while. You have to figure out who you are going to sell your book to and learn that market. Bookstores aren't easy to sell to and you won't sell that many books at those events. I focus on selling directly to schools and events where kids are at and online. Feel free to contact me with any questions. I love to help people get started.
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