Scale [skeyl] verb;  
1. To progress in a graduated series. 2. To adjust in amount according to a fixed scale or proportion (often fol. by down or up): to scale down wages.
This word gets thrown around a lot by marketing and business people as in, “Does it scale?“
You may have heard it. You may have asked yourself what the hell [...]

It’s Friday, so I’m gonna go all jazzy and chromatically-scaled on you. No huge life lessons or clever freelance tips today. Cool?
Just a couple things.
People
Since we’re on the web and all, I get to easily share those online places and people that shape my days. These people make me think (in a good way) and [...]

Guest Post by Lisa Braithwaite
Creative businesses are fun! But, like any other business, creative businesses still require a lot of hard work. Most of us start a business because we’ve found something we are good at and passionate about, and we want to make a living doing what we love – for example, turning a [...]

Mmm. I love a good croissant.
When we took our kids to Paris a couple years ago, they marveled over the idea that people eat dessert for breakfast, like croissants and chocolate. What’s not to love? Rich, airy pockets of flaky goodness.
As much as I love flakiness in my pastry, I abhor flakiness in the art business.
You [...]

First, a heartfelt thanks to all my new visitors and regular readers. You all rock.
Over the past year I’ve moved into the tighter, cozier space that is my niche market: children’s educational publishing. It’s nice and uncluttered in here. I can breathe a little better. My posts here have followed suit, focusing on children’s book [...]

Seth Godin shared an interesting thought today on his blog about pricing and rates.
Prix fixe, indeed. Hmmm. Retainer anyone? What would happen if an illustrator changed the typical billing model for services (which I assume to be XX dollars for XX time or XX result)? Is it still possible to flip the artist billing model on its [...]

Should authors and illustrators be fearful at news of the reorganization of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group?

With apologies to my friends of other faiths and cultures who may not have heard this song or celebrate the Hallmark-sponsored winter holiday of Xmas, I wanted to share an epiphany I had today about a song that’s been rattling around my brain for 38 years. 
I never knew the untold marketing lessons lying beneath the [...]

Small Business Trends posted an article on The Trend of the Artist as Entrepreneur (Anita Campbell, November 29). It reminded me that I really need to explain something about the title of my blog, “Art is Work.”
What I don’t mean is that creating the art itself is work. That’s pretty obvious.
What I mean is, the [...]

It’s Thanksgiving Day in America and I’m sitting here with my kids watching the Macy’s parade. Drinking coffee, eating breakfast muffins, lighting a fire. It’s an American cliche, it’s so… nuclear.
That’s okay, I’ll take the label. You know why?
Al Roker.
My buddy Al is the man on the street, talking to celebrities and people in the [...]