Cheshire Puss,’ she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. ‘Come, it’s pleased so far,’ thought Alice, and she went on. ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’...

We all know that product photographs are really important for selling online. They are the only way your online customers can know how lovely your handmade thing is. The only way that they can see what they’re going to get. And they’re not only important online. Good photos get us accepted to the best art and craft fairs, they get us published in newspapers and magazines, they create great stand displays and, perhaps most importantly, they create brand recognition.

As part of The Maker’s Yearbook, I run a private Facebook community which helps artists work in more effective ways and get help and support from their peers. One of the questions which gets asked a lot in that group (and every other maker community I’m part of) is…“Does anybody know about [some marketplace] or sell with them? They have contacted me and I’m not sure whether to say yes.”

Money.
It’s the lifeblood of our businesses. In fact, if we’re not making money we don’t actually have a business, we have a hobby.
But why do so many artists and makers agonise over money?
Why do we struggle so much to charge enough to even meet our basic needs? Why do we consistently undervalue what we do? Why do we hate talking about money? And why do so many of

Everyone says it takes time to build a business. And actually that’s one of the more terrifying things about starting your handmade or art business. Because what does that really mean? Six weeks, Six months? Six years? How long until your marketing plan works? How...