Do you ever get the feeling that you can’t afford to be a professional scrapbook designer? It is starting to seem to me that trying to build a career in this industry requires making a rather large and risky financial investment, and that the only people who can afford to build a career are the people who don’t need the money to survive in the first place!
Scrapbooking as a hobby has become increasingly costly as the price of embellishments goes up and more techniques are incorporated, which often require the purchase of expensive tools. Scrapbooking as a business (or trying to) is even more expensive because you have to consider the shelf life of products when you use them, keep up with changing styles of design trends, and also use a particular company’s products if you are applying for a design team or entering manufacturer contests. (I know that there are designers who say that it is possible to get published using older products. While I do believe that is true to a certain extent, it is nearly impossible to follow a trend towards retro/graphic design when all the supplies you have on hand are shabby chic floral designs!) All of this product turnover for trends and purchases for specific projects results in needing more budget to work with, especially if you are in a situation like me and don’t have a local scrapbook store to be able to purchase just what you need as you work. Because I have to do my shopping online and at occasional events like conventions, I have to guess at my future needs and load up on supplies for the foreseeable future when I have the chance. This results in my later having to make additional special purchases if something is then announced that requires the use of specific products, and it results in waste if trends change before all of my purchases are used.
And that is just the actual cost of the scrapbooking itself. The price tag gets even higher when you add in the non-scrapbooking costs of trying to make it as a designer. While some of these things may be “optional” expenses, they can definitely help to market the designer and build their career. Such items as an online presence like a resume and blog, travel to trade shows and industry events, and materials such as business cards, portfolios and marketing handouts to use at those events, all are part of the price of doing serious business as a designer.
With all these start-up expenses, I believe only those with some money to invest can make a full-fledged effort to start a design career. Is it possible to make money, to earn a return on that investment financially? For a select few, I believe it is possible…but only for a select few. A designer can increase their income possibilities by diversifying into teaching or writing. If they become a “name” designer, land a lucrative manufacturer design position or become a product designer, the income can be lucrative. Beyond that though, profits are hard to earn.
After what I’ve seen and experienced in my time around this industry, my advice to other aspiring designers is this: Do it for the love of it, dream that you will someday get something for it, but don’t do it for the money. That’s a bad investment.
Your conclusion is very well stated. Even beyond the financial investment, the emotional investment of always creating for someone else is a drain as well. That’s why I have really started to preach the virtues of doing it for the sheer love of scrapbooking. If all the other follows, then that’s gravy.
Spot on girlfriend. You know how I feel about this. A person has to weigh the financial and emotional costs to the actual dollars being spent. In the end, rarely do those things balance.
Nancy, you have just summed up much of what I have been thinking about and feeling lately. It would be nice to see a little return on the investments though.
Wow my thoughts exactly as I looked at some of the rules for entering some of the manufacturer contests. It almost seems that it is a way to up their sales if alot of people particapate in the contest using only their product!
Amen sista!
Yep – you’re right! And it’s unreasonable to think we can all keep up! Don’t profess to know the answer since we keep on, but it is definitely our own slice of madness. Thanks for articulating and keep the faith!
I’m a novice (if that level even) in scrapbooking, but I really enjoy reading the blogs of those involved in it for more than hobby aspirations. Those not involved professionally, like myself, are inspired by the creativity out there, but I have always wondered how everyone keeps up! Thanks for the insight!
Hey there! You hit the nail on the head there. I make a decent income from teaching at conventions, retreats and locally but not nearly enough to support myself on! So far, my income has paid for my “toys” like the scanners, printers and Wishblade with some left over. I’ve gotten quite a few job offers but unless these increase financially, it becomes too much stress for too little profit.
Amen. I didn’t even know people did it with the hopes of making money some day. Craziness. Another good article as always.
Amen! I can’t imagine trying to eek out a living in this industry. Those who can do it, bravo! I often wonder about the staying power, is there any “job security” at all? Or do you have to constantly re-invent yourself ala Madonna to stick around for more than a few cycles?
I’m cautiously going out on a limb here…because I don’t think I agree. Is that OK? Remember seeing Heidi Swapp’s first published works a few years ago? There was nothing product heavy about her style. She sold her minimalist handwritten style and it worked. Cathy Z–all about style. Becky H–all about style. Rebecca Sower–style. Allison Beachem (my personal fave)–style. Granted…some have started using their own product lines now and perhaps their recent works have become product heavy as a way of selling their products but many have “made it” on their style.
Give me style and substance over “product pushing” any day.
~Sarah
I am slowly learning this lesson. I submit for the fun of possibly seeing one of my layouts in the mags. I have no expectations of becoming famous or even making a living out of this.
Sigh. Would you like some real advice from somebody who has some experience in this situation? I can tell you the numbero uno secret when it comes to getting published. Sure fire. Absolutely 100% guarenteed. You ready for it? Here it is….
Just takes a little bit of hard work. Good luck to you.
You sit down and scrap and improve your scrapping. Simple as that.
You filter out all the crap on the message boards (better yet, stay off them…waste of good scrapping time), ignore the trends (including new product), scrap what you want, and develop your own style. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that spiel. Creative vacuums work the best. Is it easy? Errrr…is cutting out chocolate a good way to lose weight? Sure…but it requires discipline. It’s much easier to sit and speculate and concoct conspiracy theories about what the magazines want versus how you measure up. Practices that really aren’t good for self esteems. Wasn’t for mine. Like everything in life, a little bit of hard work and elbow grease goes a long way. Sitting and thinking about it, unfortunately does not.
Why am I posting this? Honestly and truely not to be mean. It’s a bit of tough love. And it could have gone on any one of your blog posts, as it is universal. I’ve seen a lot of people spend a lot of time just spinning their wheels and getting frustrated and wonder why things aren’t working. Missing the forest for the trees, I think. Perhaps a change of focus and perspective would freshen things up a bit. And good news…such items are 100% free.
Have to say that I agree with Erin. I found it interesting that you didn’t once mention talent as a factor for becoming a ‘professional designer’. After reading your blog, one might come away with the impression that you need every latest and greatest new item that is pumped out onto the market. Not so. In fact, I think there is a book coming out soon that focuses on using up older supplies. A new trend, perhaps?
That’s it! I knew it! Erin is a genius!!
I also agree with Erin, myself.
I do think your blog is well written and I’m not trying to be mean, but sometimes the attitude of scrapbookers-in-general that throwing money at the hobby makes it better, turns me off of all of us. That it’s all about buying the latest and greatest and showing off product lines and techniques instead of just being creative and enjoying — and working to get better at it for the sheer joy and IMPORTANCE of developing yourself as a whole human being to be the best you can be, no matter whether others approve or not. People in SBing get so competitive and I have seen women who work so hard on a LO and then felt it’s –what? worthless? — bc some magazine didn’t pick it up.
)))
I don’t think the LOs I see in SS have all that many techniques or premade embellishments on them, and that’s what I love about that magazine. And with the explosion of digital scrapping, all you need is a copy of PhotoShop (yes, a big investment but a one time deal) and talent. And I have seen a lot of people riding the wave of shopping at the hardware store for super cheap items, like hinges and washers, which are then leveraged into SBing products and cost 10 times as much. I have read Donna Downey’s blog where she has written, in terms of getting ideas, sometimes she just puts some odd items on her desk and stares at them and thinks “How can I make this into a scrapbook??” Her one challenge she could not turn into a scrapbook was the center rolls form toilet paper. She is still stumped. But talk about flexing your creative muscles.
If you want to make money at this, I suggest you do what I did. Get a job as a page layout artist or art director in publishing. You get all the fun of making page layouts, your stuff is definitely “published”, it’s seen by thousands of people (my last print run was over 800,000) and you make plenty of money at it! And then you can scrapbook all you want and if the magazines don’t like what you do thaey can take flying leap bc your work is already far more publsihed than a monthly magazine will ever be.
I also want to tell you that I WISH pages like yours were in the magazines MORE. I am running the yahoo list for those in Becky Higgins’ track at CKU-A Chicago this year, and I sent a link to that list so everyone could see it. The beautiful use of colors, the spaciousness and cleanness of your layout design, the lack of CRAP flung everywhere, the focus on your beautiful pictures, all add up to fantastic pages that can be copied using any products and any pictures.
I also have a blog for scrapping but my focus is different than yours. I don’t spend any time wondering what the sb mags want and rueing that I cannot deliver it. I spend most of my time there belly-aching about those stupid magazines and talking about how whacked they are. I would no more hold up their idea of what scrapbooking is to myself than I would hold up a copy of Vogue to me and think “Yes this is what I am supposed to look like every day.”
No. Freakin’. Way.