typepad questions

So as I’ve written in here previously I’ve been toying with the possibility of switching to a typepad account and hosting my blog on my own domain as www.ComfortableShoesStudio.com, which is a domain that I already own. So I’ve already put that into process. I’ve purchased the typepad account, and set things up at my domain host and currently your able to see a basic version of my blog at ComfortableShoesStudio.com It won’t be stable for 14 days or so while I evaluate how much I like typepad or dislike it. So far I like it just fine.

However I realized right after I went through all that trouble that I managed to miss that Blogger offers the same damn service, for free. So I’m debating the need for the typepad account. I have a 14 day trial period to determine if I like the service or not, after that I’m paying.

So the major discussion in my head is whether or not I like the service typepad offers. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, I’ve been pretty happy with blogger, so I’m not sure a switch is a good idea or not. So for now I’m posting posts to both accounts.

biz cards

Let’s talk about business cards or as I like to call them Biz Cards. I’ve had a few great debates on the merits of the biz card over the years- about whether artists should or should not have them. Are they worth the money you’ll spend and time in design? How can you design them?

I recommend them. I love my biz cards. I refer to them as little nuggets of marketing and networking GOLD. Business cards condense your contact info down to a small readable format that you can slip into a pocket and pass off at a moments notice. If someone is interested in your work and pursuing more about it at a later time- what’s the best way to give them your telephone number and contact info? A post it fished from the bottom of your bag? Nope hand them a biz card.

The useful attributes of a biz card are as follow: Everyone knows what they are; you don’t need to reinvent the contact wheel, just go with the flow. They are small, immensely portable and cheap. So you can take them with you anywhere- plane, train and automobile. Putting 10 cards into your go bag won’t weigh you down. Heading out to paint in public? TAKE SOME CARDS! Because they are cheap and portable you won’t mind passing them out. The best thing about them is that in this small portable format you have everything you need for contact information- phone number, address, website and name. (All those items aren’t needed for a good card but are good prospects.) When someone asks you for your info, there’s no awkward attempts to remember your phone number or email address, it’s all there. All in all they are super easy.

I take a small stack with me everywhere. I keep a few in my bag, and a few in my to go notebook. Just in case I talk about my book or art and someone wants to see more I give them a card. I hand them out like they are going out of style. In my 5 or so years of using them regularly I think I’ve made and handed out thousands.

Most office supply stores offer an inexpensive service to make a basic black and white card- about $10 for a thousand. Staples is running a special to make a certain number while you wait. A great thing is to look at the publishing software on your computer and see what sort of templates are on there- adapt them to suit your needs. This is great if you move around a lot. You can print off 10 or 500. Office supply stores also carry biz card blanks- perforated sheets of cardstock in biz card size. Print and tear. Easy. I happen to use cardstock from the craft store- I buy the color I like by the packages- 100 sheets, print up 20 or 30 sheets at a time and cut them by hand. This lets me change them however I like and I can print them when ever I like- it’s on demand.

As far as information on your cards- name, title, website, email and a phone number (if you want). I include a blurb about what I do- artist and bookbinder and my location- city and state as well as my eBay id. I give them out freely- friends, people I just met, and I put 2 in every eBay package I send out. If you are using card stock think about ways you can use the template on your computer to make your cards a little different. They simply need to be around the same size of a biz card 2 inches by 3.5 inches. (I suggest keeping the width about the same as standard- that way they fit into a rolodex.) There are loads of books in B&N and Borders probably in a small local chain about biz card design, some of the ideas are impractical and many are so cool your going to want to use that idea. Take a look at those books make some notes.

Then head back to your studio and think about what you want to impart about your art/website with your cards- rough, rugged, different, tough, durable and earthy were some adjectives I used to describe my work. So I wanted my cards to reflect that. I picked out a paper- kraft paper. Initially I picked a rough chocolate coffee brown cardstock with a neat texture, but it didn’t print well, and then I happened upon a package of kraft paper cardstock, and it was perfect. So that is what I use for everything now. I also found some kraft paper that was perfect for my stationary, and thus I created a complete package around those adjectives that I felt described my work.

Put some though into your design and information and you’ll quickly have a great card that you’ll stick with and want to hand out to everyone.

* a quick note about those prefab cards from staples, I saw a really cool card from an artist that was a inexpensive card from staples- black ink on white paper that the artist quickly stenciled a design onto. The print of the card itself was tactile and nice, and then the image overlaid that and added more interest to the card- still one of the coolest cards I’ve ever seen. So spending $10 on pre-fab cards is great too- you can use them as is or add to them and end up with a fabulous card.

Cross posted to Comfortable Art Marketing blog.

Pro Blogger

So I found a new blog that anyone interested in blogging; whether for art or not but as a way to promote their business should read and regularly check out: ProBlogger.net

It’s really great- good articles, informative articles that translate well to art- or anything really because the subject is blogging not just business. But I thought that their were some great suggestions and IDEAS for people interested in the subject. So head over to problogger.net for a good read and learn something.

Also in this vein of thought I’ve decided that I need to separate my art marketing interests from the art part of my blog, so from now on updates on my ‘zine on art marketing and blog strategies will be made here. Of course I’ll post links to let people know I’ve updated here but all real posts will be made to that blog.

oh ebay you fickle thing you

Well, after yesterday I had hoped that my listings were safe but fully expected them to come down. So this morning when I got up I wasn’t sure what to expect. So to check my email and find that 2 of the 3 remaining listings were gone didn’t surprise me, but the randomness of the removal is what gets me. The final listing also had the same string of keywords and was also listed at the same time. So I don’t get it.

I understand that I’m in violation of the rules, but I’ve literally been listing with those same titles for years, with not one peep of rules violation or warning or indication that they were in violation of the rules.

I also removed the word “like” from my listing, replacing it with “better than.” Both of those listings were removed. However, the words “better than” were not on the list.

I sent a note to eBay regarding the matter and apparently you can’t compare your items at all to another in the listing title. So I can’t even include the word moleskine or cahier at all. Even though cahier is French for notebook. So I’m screwed.

I hate ebay even more today than I did yesterday. But I’m between a rock and a hard place. Etsy is great and I’d love to do all my sales through it but I’ve always done the bulk of my sales through eBay. I’ve stuck with it through thick and thin but this may be where I draw the line. I’m carefully weighing my options, and I’ll come out with a plan soon. I wish this could have happened on a different week, I’m working crazy hours at my DayJob and I’m literally coming home to fall exhausted into bed, if I had more time I’d be able to deal with this in a more effective manner and get the listings back up on eBay the next day.

So those of you who are bidding, I’m sorry eBay stinks these days but expect that one last listing to come down tomorrow. I’ve contacted someone at eBay regarding my attempts to edit the title and being unable to do so, and I’m hoping that having made those attempts will get me some slack but I expect not.

(On a side note- I took a look at some of the other listings, and I’ve noticed that they do seem to be cracking down on this across the board. Knockoff bags, shoes etc are all getting taken down too, so I don’t feel so bad, but I’m expecting that for me to come into the radar that some one reported me.)

eBay sucks

Again eBay renews my love hate relationship for them. I listed 6 items using my templates. Everything looked good, bids were coming in, and then I got up this AM to find 3 of my 6 listings had been taken down, by eBay. I had a form email in my email telling me what I had done wrong- used LIKE in my title. I’ve been listing items for YEARS with LIKE in the title. Never once have I received an email telling me that I can’t do that.

When a listing is placed, if there are words in the title that uses a prohibited word their listing format should tell a seller when it may violate eBay’s rules, that way a seller can amend it then rather than have it taken down by eBay.

Here again eBay screws the little seller selling low cost items.

So if you are interested or are bidding on my current batch of items be aware that eBay may or may not take them down.

I’m not sure how I’m going to proceed from here.

Vacation Photos

This isn't at all book related but I'm back from my vacation. IF you are interested in seeing pictures from my vacation, you should be able to follow this link to my flickr account and see all kinds of pictures of Maine. I only loaded some of the best from the many I took. Enjoy!

Toner

I'm pretty excited abou this- my newer printer allows me to make toner transfers! This is awesome in so many ways. My old Oki wouldn't work with toner transfer techniques, the new Brother does.

So many possibilities.

Final Post of the night- Work Drama

I'm not going to go into too much other than to comment on how drama at work can affect creativity.

There was a major dramatic episode at work, that had me as part of the food chain involved. I had to work around issues that are known in the system and not known in the system, and figure out how to work it, all the whilest dealing with my coworkers.

The general air was somewhat stressful and overall irritating, but not unmanageable. Or so I thought.

I had made plans that tonight, during my precious alone time I would head to the studio and work on some of those books I have on the back burner. (Leather and nice paper, I'll say no more!) Arriving home I found myself exhausted, it was all I could do to drag myself to the kitchen to make a nutritious meal. So here it is just after 8 and I'm ready for bed.

It's pretty amazing to me how all I wanted to do when I came home was unwind, drink a nice cold beer, and go to bed. This after a full and restful sleep last night!

tragic

I want to write something here poignant and deep about the shootings but cannot. My thoughts go back to tragic deaths which occurred while I was young, people I knew whose lives were ended early; and all I can think about is that raw overwhelming sense of numbness as your mind starts to process the tragedy which you are now forced to face and live with.

So for all of you who have had to suffer during this tragedy- you are in my thoughts, and that is all I can muster.

pictures soon

Phew it’s been quite the week. I’ve been unbelievably ill but in a way that makes me feel like a wimp for saying that I’m sick. What does that mean? I’ve had a nasty stomach flu that has been going around, I’ll leave it at that- you don’t want details. That being the case I’ve not done much in the way of listing things to eBay, until this weekend. I’ll also be updating my etsy site as well.

I’ve been working on a stack of book blocks and various book projects. I sadly had to turn down an order because of the size of the paper, they wanted a hedgehog 400 pages long but filled with heavy larger paper that I just don’t have access to. It’s a long convoluted story that I find frustrating. IN this case even iof I had bought the paper cutter I so desperately desire I would not be able to cut the paper to their desired size- yes it was that large. Anyway.

I also have been avoiding having my taxes done. Doing my taxes fills me with an anxiety I can’t quite describe, ever since I had to pay taxes into the state of Maine I’ve hated doing my taxes. So last year I went to H&R block to have mine done and it was much better, this year I did the same and I’m happy to say that I’m getting a wonderful return. Next year I will remember that as long as I have everything all together it only takes a half hour for them to enter everything in and it will not be bad and that I do not have to avoid it.

I had to drive into Cambridge 2 days in a row for the DayJob, I’ll tell you that I will avoid that if at all possible in the future. Morning traffic into the city is terrible and wears me down.

That being all well and good I”ll do another update with more pictures and details of the books I’ve listed.

These are mostly called for

I had a request for Jotters in a variety of colors. Canson makes their mein-teintes paper in 8.5x11in size, perfect for making jotters. On my way home on Friday I stopped at Charette and bought up a variety of colors, yellows and blues. They have a lot of great colors and I looked online and in some catalogs they carry a mixed color pack that I may have to pick up some time.

I had gone to my local crafts store and bought a package of "card stock" paper for scrap booking. I'm not sure whats going on out there in the scrap booking world but this paper was not cardstock, it was slightly heavy than regular paper, it was probably a 65lb paper rather than a 90lb paper I usually associate with cardstock. It's more cover weight paper for reports. Well it's just this side of useless for my needs. So it will end up as end sheets for hedgehogs and perhaps the pages of some hedgies.

Anyway, rant over, the canson paper was perfect. A nice texture and weight for my covers. I stacked Southworth linen textured 25% cotton, 24lb paper in ivory color wiht the canson and stitched it with the ecru and white thread combination. I dare say the off white thread looks good with all colors of paper, kind of the way Khaki pants look good with most colors of shirts.





I forgot to add these are also small cahier sized- 3.5x5.5 inches, and no pocket in the back.

Work journaler

I am highly amused by this story:
Work Journaler

For many reasons, I think the main reason being that she went after unemployment and secondly that she was dumb enough to save it all on the work computer.

As someone who is a budding technology professional I can tell you that in terms of work computers someone is ALWAYS watching and everything you do on a work computer is always accessible to someone above you. It’s all very big brother but typically if your company owns the computer they can look at anything on it, nothing is private. And most company policies follow that rule.

Time of my life

This is a small watercolor sketcbook I worked on in 2002 and 2003. THe pages are thick HMP made in Nepal. the book was made here as well. I had purchased the book with the intent of rebinding it into something I liked a little more, as I ripped it apart it became apparent that was going to happen, the binders had used some harsh stiff and non flexible glue that was not reversible. It made the whole thing a pain in the bum and I abandoned the project as fast as I started it. Needless to say i simply kept the book the way it was but added a sleeve in the back that allowed the end sheet to slide and allow the book to open. The paper in this thing is thick and stiff, very nice for water color or gouache.

I have again done the horrific thing with this journal and torn out pages. When I worked on this journal I really looked at the journal as a means to an end and not a finished product. Tearing out pages meant nothing, or not much. As such pulling a page out and selling it didn't bother me at all. I sold many of the pages from this journal on eBay, they averaged about$50 for the 4x6inch pages. Not bad for me at the time as I was very poor and they funded my electric bill and my food bill.

Though I was dirt poor I loved that time I spent as an artist and making money off my art. It was seriously some of the best times of my life. I can only dream of devoting my life to art like I did those 2 summers.

Anyway onto the video, (see a larger version on YouTube.)

NEw Fees

I'm starting to hate eBay again. They have raised the low end insertion fee to$0.40 cents and the percentage that they take after that to 3.25%.

I know that this doesn't seem like a lot but when you add all the fees and paypal fees together it end up being a lot, currently eBay takes something like 10% off the top of EACH journal I sell through them. This is going to to raise their take to close to 11%.

Ebay's business model seems to be get people hooked and then jack up prices. Rather than to focus on marketing and gaining new customers. A road to new profits shouldn't be gouging your current stable customer base but to gain new customers- with eBay this could be buyers or sellers; either way they win.

I'm pretty peeved. Not so mu that I'm going to nevr sell on eBay, but enough that etsy is going to see mroe and more of my books and eBay will only see 1 a week now.