The Handmade Marketplace: Book Review

I was thrilled when author Kari Chapin asked me to be a contributor in her book, The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and On-Line and now that it's sitting here before me on my desk I'm even more honored to have been asked! Thank you Kari! This informative book, which is the decor8 book of the week, is packed with advice from many contributors who have made a successful business from the ground floor up which makes the book so exciting because everyone included grew their business based on passion, determination, talent and in an organic way -- which is usually how the most successful businesses are developed -- over time.

Included in this book, in addition to my own contributions on pages 125-127 (I wrote about how a business can attract attention from their favorite blogs) , you can find words of wisdom from Ashley Goldberg, Elizabeth MacCrellish, Emily Martin (who also did most of the illustrations found throughout the book), Jenny Ryan, Jennifer Judd-McGee, Leah Kramer, Liz Smith, Mati Rose McDonough, Matt Stinchcomb (VP of Community at Etsy), Megan Reardon and Yvonne Eijkenduijn. Kari helps readers who are looking to launch their crafting business in many areas from how to determine cost of goods to market competition, the pros and cons of wholesale versus retail sales, tips on styling and propping crafts for photographs, technical explanations of how the most popular online marketplaces work, how to approach bloggers to get your work featured (the section where I stepped in with my own ideas), how to approach shopkeepers and build strong relationships, record keeping, showing your work at craft fairs and more - 218 pages of current concrete advice from Kari and her 30 contributors.

I highly suggest picking this book up if any of these topics interest you -- there is so much to learn inside of The Handmade Marketplace that you'll enjoy, it's one of my favorite new small business/crafty guides because it's the best $10 you'll ever spend on your business (and it's a tax write off!).

Kari did a beautiful job organizing a myriad of topics from so many voices and making it an easy to follow small business book that is not in the least bit boring (most business books can be a real snooze-a-thon) or overly techincal (yawn) - it's smart, fresh and easy to digest and most of all, gives small business owners the tips and tools that they need to either get started or to keep going strong and forward with their business. Yay, indie crafters!

Psst: I’m an Amazon affiliate so the links to Amazon are part of my affiliate program.

(images: holly becker for decor8)