Being A Starving Artist Sucks

Note: This is NOT a paid review.

Being a starving artist sucks. It seems like it can take weeks, months, or even years to establish oneself as a respectable and well-regarded graphic artist. But as artists, we don’t always have years to learn how to be successful – after all, we still have to eat!

Luckily, I am here to introduce you to something that could help take your graphic arts career to the next level. I am talking about a relatively new eBook titled appropriately Being A Starving Graphic Artist Sucks.

Being A Starving Graphic Artist Sucks is a 500 page eBook that I have the pleasure to review for my online friend Jeremy Tuber. It is a book dedicated to providing freelance designers the inside scoop on how to take advantage of what they already have to maximize their earnings and help grow their business.

This book starts by defining what it is that most freelance designers struggle with: Pricing, marketing, contracts, client management, and time management. Throughout the 500 pages, Jeremy goes in-depth with each and every one of these topics and shows designers how they can improve upon their work to create a more relaxed, enjoyable, and better paid freelance career.

If you are a graphic artist looking for a competitive edge: if
you’re looking to make your business and your life easier, more
productive, and more enjoyable, I’ve got good news – this book
was created for you.

Being A Starving Graphic Artist Sucks is an extremely well-written, easy to read, and concise method of getting the information you need to perform better as a freelancer and designer.

When Jeremy introduced me to his book, asking me if I would like to read it and review it for my readers, I was admittedly hesitant. It was the first time I had read an eBook, and naturally I was worried about reviewing a product that might not benefit my readers. I asked Jeremy to get a preview of some of the chapters before I agreed on the review, and he gladly sent me over what I needed.

Essentially, the book is broken down into six parts:

1. Mastering Client Interactions
2. Running An Effective Design Business
3. Marketing And Promoting Your Design Business
4. Negotiating, Pricing, And Protecting Your Work
5. Real Stories, Real Clients, And Some Really Hard Lessons
6. Workbook Excercises For The Success-Driven Designer

Within each of these parts are several chapters committed to different aspects of running a successful design business. These chapters make it easy to pick and choose the content that you are most interested in learning more about – from how to say no to a client, to understanding how a potential client is looking at you – this book covers many ideas which could help you.

Some designers will argue that they’ve never had a project or
client go sour on them and therefore they don’t need a signed
proposal. It’ll happen; if they freelance for any great length of
time, it’ll happen to them (just as it did me). When it does, they’ll
wish with every fiber of their being that they had just gotten the
proposal signed.

Being A Starving Graphic Artist Sucks is written in a very conversational tone, with lots of illustrations, real-world examples, quotes from designers like you, and a workbook section to test your knowledge and skills.

This review of Being A Starving Graphic Artist Sucks has not been paid for. I am sponsoring this book because I truly feel that the information contained within its pages will help anyone who chooses to read it become a better artist, businessman/woman, and freelance designer.

This book is available in several versions – web, print, and an iPhone/iPod Touch compatible version. If you are interested in getting this book in print or on the web, just check out the product page for the book. If you would like this book to be available right on your iPhone or iPod, you can purchase it via iTunes. Simply go to the iTunes store and search for “Being A Starving Artist Sucks.”

I’d love to know what you think of the book!