In my blog post about inventory tracking from February 23, 2016, I mentioned that I would be writing a future post about resources. Today's blog post will list several book resources that I have found to be helpful over the past year; web resources will have to wait until a later day!
I have devoured as many books as has been possible, and I will now share with you my list of the ones I believe to be the most useful. Here are the categorizations I will use, in case you need to get to targeted information quickly:
a. Marketing and online presence;
b. Inventory nuts and bolts;
c. Taxes;
d. Working with galleries/ getting your art out there;
e. Pricing your work;
f. Motivation for women in business;
g. Artistic confidence/ goals/ believing in yourself as an artist;
h. Entrepreneurship/ business information.
And here is the list of books (I checked almost all of these out from my local library), with the corresponding letter categorizations to the right of the title and author:
1. Art, Inc.: The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist, by Lisa Congdon: a, c, d, e, and g.
2. Starting Your Career as an Artist: A Guide for Painters, Sculptors, Photographers, and Other Visual Artists, by Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller: a, b, c, d, e, g, and h.
3. How to Get Started Selling Your Art, by Carole Katchen: a, d, e, and g.
4. Birthing the Elephant: The Woman's Go-For-It! Guide to Overcoming the Big Challenges of Launching a Business, by Karin Abarbanel and Bruce Freeman: f and h.
5. Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, by Pamela Slim: h.
6. "Starving" to Successful: The Fine Artist's Guide to Getting Into Galleries and Selling More Art, by Jason Horejs: a, b, d, e, and g.
7. Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Essays by 40 Working Artists, edited by Sharon Louden: d, f, g, and h.
8. Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, by David Bayles and Ted Orland: g.
9. How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul, by Caroll Michels: a, d, e, g, and h.
10. New Markets for Artists: How to Sell, Fund Projects, and Exhibit Using Social Media, DIY Pop-Ups, eBay, Kickstarter, and Much More, by Brainard Carey: a, d, e, g, and h.
11. The Crafts Business Answer Book: Starting, Managing, and Marketing a Homebased Arts, Crafts, or Design Business, by Barbara Brabec: a, b, c, e, and h.
I hope you find some or all of these books to be helpful. In most cases, each book deals with more topics than what I have delineated above; however, I wanted to point you in the right direction if you need a quick resource for a given hot topic that is creating stress in your life. Also, please note that I am still in the process of implementing much of the advice I have read... it was a lot to absorb, and many things simply do not happen overnight!
Stay tuned for a future post on useful websites! There are some really good ones out there.
Photo credit goes to my sister Jessalyn for snapping this picture of me in 2012 at a café in Cusco, Perú.
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