Book Reviews

I'll give you a couple mini-reviews of books -- one for crafters, one for writers (or bloggers). The first, is The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success by Sandra McCall. If you are beyond the craft-making as a hobby, and you'd like to sell your wares, this book should be helpful. She discusses paperwork, photographing your art, and different venues where you might sell your art. Her husband is a photographer and artist, and the photo hints are especially good. I've always thought taking a good photo of your art is the hardest part of trying to sell it. When you're competing with thousands of others on the internet, you need to let your art stand out. You also need to be consistent with your branding. Your name, logo, and image must be the same on every piece of print material and transmitted text. I've found this book very helpful to look through in depth or just look up specific things. One strange thing: after enjoying the book, I googled the author and discovered that she's dropped out of the art business. How odd. The book has been a big success for her, so I don't know what happened.


If you're looking to jazz up your writing, perhaps for your blog or in the materials you use to describe your art, I highly recommend Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge's Poemcrazy. Susan teaches you to play with words, and try new combinations. She introduces the reader to word tickets, where you write interesting words, then rearrange the tickets to make pleasing combinations. She'll have you creating incredible descriptions of things that will keep your reader interested.