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I tell clients all the time that my job is to manage expectations. Part of working with a freelance editor is expecting to be pushed outside of your manuscript comfort zone a little bit. Most writers come to me with the thought, “I am excited by my idea but I know there are several things that aren’t working. I want to learn and grow and make it better.” Maybe that writer has gotten some early feedback from critique partners about things that need tweaking. Or they’ve already done an unsuccessful submission round with agents or editors and they didn’t get the response they expected. Or maybe their manuscript isn’t meeting their own internal expectations and they just don’t know what to do about it. Enter a second pair of eyes: an editor.
A small percentage of writers, however, and I’ve only had this experience twice in my editorial career, are so convinced of the merits of the manuscript that they’re not looking for an editor. They are looking, I’d imagine, to get on the radar of someone even tangentially connected to the industry, and get a booster to the top. Maybe they think I will recommend them personally to agents. Maybe they think I’ll start agenting again myself for the sake of scooping up a hot project. Or maybe they just want the gold star from someone who has made a career of saying, basically, “yes” or “no” to thousands of other writers.
I try very hard to generate constructive, actionable feedback. I’ve never sent a set of notes that says, “This sucks, it’s dead in the water, and you should probably stick with your day job.” One time, at a conference, I met with a writer who told me something shocking. “This,” she said, “is the first manuscript I’ve written in twenty-five years. I had a writing teacher in college tell me I was no good, and it hurt so much that I stopped writing altogether.”
This woman lost twenty-five years of her writing life. She clearly loved doing it, but because one voice (in a presumed position of authority) told her she wasn’t good enough, she gave up on her dream for a quarter of a decade (and almost all of her adult life up until that point). People perceive me as an authority, too. And so I have made it my goal to never wield that power in a way that hurts a writer.
Do I rave about every manuscript unequivocally, then? Absolutely not. Even excellent writers have some blind spots. So whether I’m helping a beginning writer cut fancy “said” synonyms out of their dialogue, or I’m helping an MFA-graduate with beautiful prose work on plot and overall sales hook, I try my best to do it with the dignity and respect that each writer and each manuscript deserves, for where they are in their individual journey.
All that said, I still run into writers who have expectations that perhaps outpace their current manuscripts. Whether those expectations are of the one-in-a-million runaway success, or their shot at being a multimedia mogul, perhaps even in the query letter, I see this happen with writers. They’ve created websites, maybe, or products, or they’ve already self-published. They have a lot to say about various awards they’ve won or endorsements they’ve gotten. There’s little talk about the manuscript, though, as if that was just an afterthought.
This sends a message to me that the writer isn’t as interested in rolling up their sleeves and working on the product itself. To me, everything but the manuscript is just noise. You can send me a t-shirt with your characters on it, or a list of testimonials from school appearances, and all that is fine and good. I’m a driven, type-A personality, too, and I have way more ideas than I have time to make them all a reality. I respect proactive people. But my only concern is the manuscript.
It’s what an agent or editor will respond to. It’s what will stand out among the noise if it’s, indeed, worthwhile. I saw excitement bubbling over for a perfectly lovely client last week, and I wrote to them: “The only way to get someone excited about your work is by presenting good work, and letting it speak for itself.” It’s easy to say but very hard to do. It’s also at the very core of what I do as an editor. Every writer has a different personality, and some are more eager than others. That’s okay. My job, however, is to help put the crucial piece of that manuscript into place, and help writers create good work so that they can then present it. It’s as simple and as difficult as that, but, man, do I love my job.
The post below is written by my editorial client Scott Plumbe, who came to me for the first time last year with a highly illustrated MG story about a fox named Theo who has some family secrets and a fascinating adventure across India and the Himalayas. It’s been really great working with Scott, and when he decided to independently release his book with a subscription model, I approached him to write a few articles about his experience.
I’m sure that a lot of my readers are curious about independent publishing and Kickstarter. As a freelance editor, I’m seeing more and more clients self-publishing or pursuing alternate paths to seeing their work in print or digital release. If a guy can make tens of thousands of dollars off of a potato salad, why can’t books get funded?
Here’s Scott’s first article about his process. I’ve contributed to his Kickstarter. If you’re curious, you can find the link here.
***
The past few weeks have brought about a massive change of direction for me. I am officially starting a Kickstarter campaign. This post is the first of three in which I’ll share my crowdfunding experiences before, during and after my campaign.
I’m an illustrator who has always had a desire to tell my stories through words and pictures. Comics and graphic novels may seem the obvious choice, but the complexity of my story, The Unlucky Fox, isn’t suitable for either. Instead, I’m creating an illustrated novel of 60,000 words and over 100 pages of full-colour illustrations.
After much consideration, I’ve chosen to launch the story through the crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter. I’m offering potential backers a monthly subscription to the story. Every four weeks, backers receive a fresh chapter replete with newly completed illustrations.
Why crowdfunding instead of other emerging or traditional avenues? Being a freelance artist who has never sought representation, I have a strong streak of DIY in me. And without that characteristic, I don’t think anyone could undertake a crowdfunding campaign.
Why Kickstarter?
There are numerous crowdfunding options out there, including Indiegogo. I like the inherent risk aspect of KS — it’s all or nothing! If a campaign fails to meet its target, no money is collected from your backers. This prospect weeds out a lot of potential creators who are not as confident. It places those campaigns that do launch with KS amongst a community of like-minded creators and entrepreneurs. I believe the core KS users are creative types. That means artists, designers, innovators and makers — people accustomed to calculated risks. And let’s face it. As a debut writer, I’m a risk! By choosing KS and sharing the process of bringing my project to life, I hope to reduce the unknown and gain some support along the way.
What kind of preparation is involved?
I took a full year to decide on my current path. During that time, I followed KS projects and undertook a major revision of my manuscript. I also sketched out a list of ideas for possible rewards and sourced suppliers. I’ve spent the last six weeks putting that plan into action. That means finalizing the rewards, writing my pitch, making the video and a website to support it all. I also poked around and made a list of blogs and local news outlets to send press releases to.
Why an incremental subscription release model?
From a traditional publishing perspective, as a first-time author I have many challenges. Not only is it a hurdle to promote the work of a debut author, but add on top of that my desire for accompanying colour artwork! It has taken nearly four years to bring the manuscript this close to completion, but I still have heaps of artwork to finish. I decided to take my cue from the world of comics and TV serials and break up the delivery of the story. Interestingly, some anecdotal evidence from friends in the gaming industry suggests that many game studios are moving away from the traditional Hollywood ‘tentpole’ model, pushing projects forward with incremental expansion instead. They deliver their content in small doses, rather than one big launch. Studios are taking less risk and getting instant audience feedback as they progress. In their case, the result is a product that essentially has no end and can lead to a more empowered fan base.
What are your risks and challenges?
I have many! Most are obvious, while others are specific to my story. In particular, the chance of not connecting with an audience is notable. The KS community is primarily adult, not the young teens my novel is written for. But encouragingly, there have been several successful campaigns for young readers. Most notably, Augie and the Green Knight that earned nearly $400,000 in pledges. Of course, this is the exception and not the rule!
Well, I guess it’s time to hit LAUNCH!
I’ll check back in when my campaign is underway.
Social media and other technologies have changed how we communicate. Consider how we coordinate events and contact our friends and family members today, versus how we did it 20 or 30 years ago. Today, we often text, email, or communicate through social media more frequently than we phone or get together in person.
Now contrast that with psychotherapy, which is still about two people getting together in a room and talking. Certainly, technology has changed psychotherapy. There are now apps for mental health issues. There are virtual reality treatments. Psychotherapy can now be provided through videoconferencing (a.k.a. telehealth). But still, it’s usually simply two people talking in a room.
Our psychotherapy clients communicate with everyone else they know through multiple technological platforms. Should we let them “friend” us on social media? Should we link to them on professional networking sites? Is it ok to text with them? What about email? When are these ok and not ok?
Social Media Explained (with Donuts). Uploaded by Chris Lott. CC-BY-2.0 via Flickr.
Some consensus is emerging about these issues. Experts agree that psychotherapists should not connect with current or former clients on social media. This is to help preserve the clients’ confidentiality. Emailing and texting are fine for communicating brief messages about the parameters of the session, such as confirming the appointment time, or informing the psychotherapist that the client is running late. Research has shown that emotional tone is frequently miscommunicated in texting and email, so emotion-laden topics are best discussed during the session.
How do we learn about new people we’ve met? In the past, we’d talk directly to them, and maybe also talk to people we knew in common. Now everyone seems to search online for everyone else. This happens frequently with first dates, college applicants, and job applicants.
Again, contrast this with psychotherapy. Again, two people are sitting in a room, talking and learning about each other. When is it ok for a psychotherapist to search for information about a client online? What if the psychotherapist discovers important information that the client withheld? How do these discoveries impact the psychotherapy?
No clear consensus has emerged on these issues. Some experts assert that psychotherapists should almost never search online for clients. Other experts respond that it is unreasonable to expect that psychotherapists should not access publicly available information. Others suggest examining each situation on a case-by-case basis. One thing is clear: psychotherapists should communicate with their clients about their policies on internet searches. This should be done in the beginning of psychotherapy, as part of the informed consent process.
When we’ve voluntarily posted information online–and when information about us is readily available in news stories, court documents, or other public sources–we don’t expect this information to be private. For this reason, I find the assertion that psychotherapists can access publically available information to be more compelling. On my intake forms, I invite clients to send me a link to their LinkedIn profile instead of describing their work history, if they prefer. If a client mentions posting her artwork online, I’ll suggest that she send me a link to it or ask her how to find it. I find that clients are pleased that I take an interest.
What about the psychotherapist’s privacy? What if the client follows the psychotherapist’s Twitter account or blog? What if the client searches online for the psychotherapist? What if the client discovers personal information about the psychotherapist by searching? Here’s the short answer: psychotherapists need to avoid posting anything online that we don’t want everyone, including our clients, to see.
Ways to communicate online continue to proliferate. For example, an app that sends only the word “Yo” was recently capitalized to the tune of $2.5 million and was downloaded over 2 million times. Our professional ethics codes are revised infrequently (think years), while new apps and social media are emerging monthly, even daily. Expert consensus on how to manage these new communications technologies emerges slowly (again, think years). But psychotherapists have to respond to new communications technologies in the moment, every day. All we can do is keep the client’s well-being and confidentiality as our highest aspiration.
Jan Willer is a clinical psychologist in private practice. For many years, she trained psychology interns at the VA. She is the author of The Beginning Psychotherapist’s Companion, which offers practical suggestions and multicultural clinical examples to illustrate the foundations of ethical psychotherapy practice. She is interested in continuing to bridge the notorious research-practice gap in clinical psychology. Her seminars have been featured at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and DePaul University.
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Though I can’t show you the text I can show you were it is going to go. One of the tricks in illustrating a picture book is the leave space for the text without leaving a gaping whole in your illustration.
When I plan out an story illustration I always have a layer with the text on it in the size the publisher has said it will be. This way I don’t have to guess and hope it will fit in the end. This also goes for book covers. Where the text is going to appear you also want the colors to be low contrastThis means that the value of the colors in a particular area are relatively the same value so either dark with light text or vice versa.
Zooming in for Effect
When illustrating a picture book you don’t always have to have crazy angles for every shot. Take a queue from the film industry and go in for some close ups. If your working on a computer you don’t even have to re-sketch your scene just use a free-transform tool to expand your image. I wouldn’t advise doing this with a painted image in most cases because of pixelationPixelation is when you blow up or expand an image and the pixels, the bits of color information that make up your image, become jagged and much more visible..
Digital Tool Tip
When using the free-transform tool in Painter or Photoshop remember to hold down shift while moving the arrows on the box the tool creates. This will ensure your image scales proportionally.
This concludes the fourth segment of The Making of a Picture Book. Thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope you will join me again for further installments.
There was a period in my life when I was a consultant. There was an old joke about how if you ask a consultant the time he’ll borrow your watch so he can tell you.
That stings a bit. But the fact is that a consultant who doesn’t listen to their client in order to find out how his (or her) consultantly experience can best be applied isn’t much of a consultant.
To give a good answer about what time it is you need to understand what time the client thinks it is. This means listening to the client. Then when you figure out what to tell the client it’s kind of nice if they listen to you. But as long as they pay you they can listen to you or not, that’s their business.
Etymologically it wasn’t always this way. As we go back into the history of the word client we find that long ago your client had to listen to you. Listening was what made them clients.
As a consultant the word client is synonymous with the word customer. The sense of client as the person hiring a professional to help them out appeared around the time of Shakespeare 400 years ago. This meaning evolved because for almost 200 years before that the professionals being hired were invariably lawyers.
Although we can fire lawyers the fact someone has a lawyer usually means that they are actually in need of that lawyer and as such are pretty likely to listen to their advice.
It’s no surprise that a lawyerly word like client comes from Latin and the sense it had before the lawyers got hold of it was a kind of master/servant relationship with the client being the subordinate, which I’m sure suited the lawyers just fine.
Latin words of course usually originated back in Roman antiquity and in that context a client was a plebeian under the patronage of a patrician. The patrician protected the client but the client was pretty much a slave who had to come at the beck and call of their patrician. This was so literally true that the etymological meaning of client is “one who listens to be called” since cluere meant “to listen.”
As I mentioned in a recent article, Is Your Client Clean or Dirty?, I believe that some clients who are perceived to be difficult do in fact have innocent intentions. Unfortunately, bad experiences sometimes make some Illustrators unnecessarily fearful or defensive when they encounter new clients who send up possible red flags.
One example of this is a client who has a ridiculously tight budget when compared to the grand expectations they may have.
Indeed, some of these types of clients are interested in taking advantage of inexperienced or desperate Illustrators. However, sometimes the client is simply unaware of how much time, work, and skill is required to execute their projects, and especially of how much it will cost.
It can be tempting to turn down a project at the first sign of an unrealistic budget, but in doing so, you may be walking away from an opportunity for new business or even a lasting relationship. There are ways to work within a client’s tight budget without compromising your value as an Illustrator.
Here are some simple steps to try and make the most of a client’s tight budget:
Educate
It can be helpful to educate your client about industry standards and about the amount of time and effort it will take to complete the work that they’re asking for. This won’t always persuade them to pay what you’re quoting for the artwork, but it has the potential to start a productive dialogue with the client about coming to an agreement that is fair to both parties.
Offer Alternative Solutions
An under-appreciated form of education is the art of offering alternative ways to meet their communication needs. Believe it or not, many clients have not considered other, less expensive ways to get their message across in a visual way. For example, try suggesting ideas such as a Black and White or 4 color version of their original full color concept. If you begin this conversation, you just might find an idea that works just as well as, or even better than, the more expensive approach they were proposing at the start.
Segment the Project
Sometimes the client is simply not confident enough in your skill or in the creative process to agree to the fair price that you’re quoting. This is understandable given the fact that they are paying for something that doesn’t yet exist, and they may have been burned by a less capable artist in the past.
One possible solution is to offer to complete smaller portions of the larger project for a smaller fee. For instance, you may offer to create comps or initial sketches for a fraction of the total cost. This allows the client to get a feel for what you might bring to the project without asking for free work, and it allows you to receive payment for the amount of work that you complete. The added bonus is that if you impress the client, they just might agree to work with you on a larger scale.
Discuss Usage Rights
Many people who are seeking out Illustrators for the first time assume that they will acquire
2 Comments on How To Work With A Client’s Tight Budget, last added: 1/10/2010
I know this has been making the rounds lately, but in case you haven't seen it, it is worth viewing:
It amazes me what business practices are accepted in some arenas when you would never consider them in others. I've lost count of the number of 'offers' I've had for the luxurious remuneration of 'exposure' or 'it'd be good for your portfolio'.... You know, steak/beef - it's all 'cow'...
8 Comments on The Vendor-Client Relationship in Real Life:, last added: 6/7/2009
My particular favorite - "Well, we don't have the budget now, but we just want to license your old work for royalties. It's no extra work for you, and we're sure to hit it big!"
If people were to think for more than five seconds and follow the Golden Rule, they wouldn't pull stunts like this.
Even with my very limited skills in crafting, I've come across hijinks like this. People wanting to barter, then saying, "Oh, well, my shipping costs are higher than yours, so I'll take $30 worth of your stuff and send you a single item I've priced at $8." Pass, thanks.
This happens all the time in tattooing, too. Everyone thinks if they give you a sob story about how poor they are somehow your price will miraculously drop. They all believe they are deserving of a "hook up", and will even explain how they could get "the same thing" for $20 by their friend in their basement. Seriously?!? It drives me nuts.
I’m a professional digital illustrator. I also train people how to create digital illustration.
You know, like in a computer. Pixels, vectors, Adobe products, Apple gear, WACOM tablet, LCD, external drives. Electromagnetic Hell.
So some students will find it odd that the first thing out of my mouth when I talk about method is, “Don’t create your art in the computer.”
This coming from the guy who makes his living with a computer. I didn’t always make awesome digital illustration. In fact, it kind of sucked.
A little backstory.
The first time I sat down at a computer was at my dad’s office at O’Hare airport (riiiight. try that nowadays, kids). It was a green-screen airline reservations system hooked up to a dot-matrix printer. I was seven years old. My first thought was “This is just like Star Wars.” My second thought was, “How can I make art with this thing?” My sister and I had all kinds of fun making rocket ship patterns with numbers and letters. Weee-hoo!
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Years later, when Windows 3.1 became the hottest thing since 10-lb. mobile phones, I started creating art in the computer again. It was terrible. Pixelated nightmares of birthday greetings and mutilated self-portraits.
When a friend loaned me a copy of CorelDraw, I created some equally bad art in the computer. The fact that I had a more sophisticated vector application did nothing to improve my digital work. Why?
It’s because I strayed from the wildly fun and inspirational process of drawing and doodling and focused on just making it all up onscreen.
My digital work has improved considerably since I “went backwards” and started sketching again. When I work on a project now, my first step is to move away from the computer. Even though the final art is all digital, it always (always, always) starts out with a #2 pencil and plain ol’ paper.
Copylicious was delicious
Here’s an awesome real-world example of my method. It’s not brain surgery, this method of mine. I didn’t file a patent on the process. It just works.
Kelly Parkinson is a copywriter extraordinaire. If you visit her copylicious web site, you’ll soon find yourself inventing excuses to work with her. She’s just awesome, and she’s also my ideal client. She’s independent, knows her business, and enjoys talking about it. That made it incredibly easier to get a handle on how I could help her with some illustrations.
Kelly has a pretty cool product called the Web Site Jet Pack. The design of her site is simple and fun. She just needed a simple bird illustration. A birdie wearing a jet pack. When I hear something like that you can’t pull me away. A bird wearing a jet pack. This is what gets me excited, what can I say?
Let’s make some birdies!
After Kelly and I talked about her site, I went to Step 1: I put my computer to sleep and started doodling little birdies. I just had fun with it, let loose. No high art here, no polished Leonardo DaVinci renderings, just some messin’ around.
Then I went away and had something to eat (that’s Step 2 if you’re keeping track). It’s good to go away for a bit because I find I overfocus and lose sight of the big picture.
When I came back I narrowed down my doodles and made some more finished drawings. Below you can see a few examples. I do this every time.
Digital Illustration Unplugged: pencil and paper.
You’ll also see the final drawing on the tracing paper (upper right, by the pencil point). That’s the thing I scan in and use as a reference in the computer.
I’ll get into that in more depth another time, I promise.
For now, the thing I want to stick in your mind is the idea that creating digital illustration does not always start in the computer. For me, it starts where all my better illustration starts, which is in the noggin and on paper.
Another interesting point is that I never sent Kelly my doodles and scraps. How much fun would that have been for her?
Ummm… what the hell is this? I thought this guy was good, I don’t want this sketchy crap on my web site. What is this, like, half a bird? Oh my god… is it too late to get my money back?
It would be the equivalent of Kelly sending one of her clients a torn-up notebook page of shorthand and saying, “It will be kind of like this.”
Disaster, right? So instead they just get awesome copy that works. Kelly gets a polished-up birdie in a jet pack. Everyone’s happy.
So again, the lesson for today, Kids? Turn off the computer. Give that pencil a workout. You’ll be very pleased with the results and you might just have a blast in the process. Isn’t that why you do this anyway?
0 Comments on Don’t create art in the computer. as of 1/1/1900
Did you know there are hidden rewards in a freelance art career? Rewards that take you farther than the ability to buy tonight’s keg, that is. If you’re new to freelancing as an artist, you need to hear this. I wish they taught this stuff in art schools. It’s about sustaining your career in the long term. It’s about building something more than a permanent “side” business. It’s about truly going out on your own and feeling awesome about it. Read on!
The Perspective
As a freelancer, I do my share of one-off projects. There’s that package design illustration for a kid’s snack container. There were the custom avatars, a few icons, a web site header. They’re nice, these one-offs. I enjoy them (because why else would I fire up my computer every day), but the projects I do my best work on are the ones that require lots of chatting, e-mails, and idea-tossing. Those are the ones that blossom into an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship.
The Womb to Bloom web site is an online community and resource for new moms and moms-to-be, “Maternity and Beyond.” Awesome concept, amazing potential for growth.
The Client
The Womb to Bloom founders (Greg and Heather Zellers) and I reached each other through a gig-type site about some animation work they needed done. It’s no secret that I love to talk with people about their projects. First, it’s just fun (I geek out on web and TV development). Second, it helps me frame my portion of their project with a reference that controls the budget. It’s also easier to offer new ideas without going off on crazy tangents.
So when they called, we talked a lot about what the animation could be. It also happened that they needed some simple illustrations and icons that would tie everything together. This is where I started drooling on my phone because I loved the site concept, they had a great logo already, and the web development was already flowing.
The Concepts
The initial concept was to have a central “mom” character to base everything on. Once we nailed down that character design, the icons and other illustrations would flow. I was already loving this project because it made sense before I even got out my pencils. It was also very easy for me to create a project plan that worked with their budget.
Although we had some great early chats about concepts, I have to admit that the initial brainstorm sketches I created were a little… off. The style of my first sketch was just somewhere between Family Guy and Rugrats. But this is the part that makes my job awesome, because we were able to use those sketches as a jumping-off point and keep the conversation going.
So we chatted in greater detail about Greg and Heather’s ideas. What they wanted was an attractive, hip, and fairly trendy woman who could transition easily from pre-pregnancy to new mom. The next sketches were right on target and ready for vector illustration and color. Below is a final concept image:
Incidentally, I created all the final art for this project in Adobe Illustrator CS3. In the very near future I’ll be providing step-by-step instruction on how to create this kind of work, so graphic designers, web designers, and traditional artists can reap the benefits of my experience. Yay!
A few things made it easier to create the final art for this project. They already had a logo, so I had specific colors to choose from. Greg and Heather really knew what they wanted to see. They couldn’t always sketch out an example or articulate a style, but once I gave them a sketch to go on we had a basis for conversation. They knew their demographic, which translated very well to visual goals.
The Work
I know, I know. You want to see sketches. I hear ya. Here’s a great, simple example of how an illustration concept developed. One of the sections on the web site is for contributors. We started out with the idea of a smart-looking woman (new character) in a cafe with a laptop. I sketched it out and hit the mark, woo-hoo! However, we did decide to go with the main character after all, and you can peek at the results:
As an even better demonstration of how a project can progress and a great relationship can generate even more fun ideas, take a look at what we finally used for that section of the site. I think it worked out nicely.
Another favorite illustration of mine from the project is the community section. The whole idea was to get moms together from all over the country and have them chat online, as if they were in someone’s living room. Pretty cool, right? I knew I had to thinkify something unique and fun, but also instantly communicate that idea. My first sketch:
The question became, how do I divide this cozy little scene into sections that show that cozy closeness and distance at the same time? It turned out not to be so difficult with a little sleep and some coffee. After seeing the final art, they added a new wrinkle; let’s see an image of the U.S. behind them to really hit home the idea. Not one to shy away from a challenge, I came up with a funtastic solution. You can see the progression. I still like both. Good thing I didn’t have to decide.
State of the Iconomy
The web site also needed some icons. About a hundred of them, in fact. I loved that I was able to work on this part of the project because I could take everything we had developed in the illustrations and use it to create the icon concepts. It worked out beautifully because we already had a flow going and could reference previous conversations. It turned out to be a lot of work, but also a ton of fun. You can see the icons all over the site, but here’s a sample page of a few I really like:
Wrap it Up
This is the best part. We haven’t wrapped it up. The working together part, that is. After getting to know the Zellers through working with them, we’ve shared information, links, and even referred business to each other. It’s the ideal b2b relationship, where we mutually benefit beyond the exchange of service and money.
The truth is, I did find this client through a bid-type freelance gig site. I don’t love these sites because typically you’re bidding on projects in a vacuum. My whole method of working revolves around many conversations and lots of information exchange, which the bid sites make very difficult.
The thing that I took away from this is that bid sites can yield some good projects, but you have to be prepared to build a relationship beyond the one-off. If I see a project posted and I don’t feel that’s possible, then I move on. It’s just not my cup of chai.
If you’re new to freelancing, I can’t stress enough that long term relationship-centered business is one of the major keys to your success. You can work on a hundred one-off projects through a crowdsourcing site and make a little cash. That’s great. You can throw your artwork up on a stock site and make a few dollars for every download. Awesome.
Those activities will not sustain you for very long because you only come away with cash. I say “Big deal, Dude.” Anyone can make some quick cash these days. Create a free blog and stick a PayPal Donate button on it.
Remember that rewards thing, kids. If you want to keep the art thing going and get Mom and Dad off your back, listen to your Uncle Sparky.
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