Dear Self-Publishing Writer,

Please stop writing to me.

This letter has been a long time coming. I finally became fed up with your emails cluttering my inbox over the course of 5-6 years, requesting dirt-cheap illustrations for your self-published book that no one will ever see.

The latest email came from a retired editor of a national Canadian newspaper, a guy who really should know better. I quoted him $500 for a cover, and that’s the last time I ever take the time to write a quote for a self-publishing author. Why? Here is his reply:

“Hi Chantal,
It seems as though you are out of my price range. The $500 you quote is more than double the lowest figure, for which the artist offered a front, back and spine.  As it turns out, I’ll probably accept a higher, third quote.
I regret it won’t work for us, as I do like what I’ve seen of your work,
Cheers
-C”

Then he goes on to say:

“My ideal would be superb pen-and-ink cover art, plus four or five bw illustrations interspersed throughout the text. Now, for that I would pay $500.”

I love when they write back to you telling you that they could get twice the work for half the price. Do you expect me to bargain with you? You could probably get some desperate soul to do it for a case of beer. You get what you pay for.

Do you self-publishing writers actually expect your illustrators to work for beneath the poverty line?

What if your book was suddenly picked up by a legit publishing house and they said, man, this is great work. We’ll pay you $200 for the whole thing. Do you think that’s fair?

Of course it isn’t fair. And shame on you for thinking legitimate artists will work for free.

All this brings me to my final point. This has been a bad week for me in terms of getting emails from people who want a quality product for peanuts.

Art is not free. Some of us ACTUALLY TRY TO MAKE A CAREER OUT OF IT. We are not just sitting around doing it for fun and fall to our knees in gratitude when you offer us some money for it. We have bills to pay just like everybody else in the world. You wouldn’t expect anybody else to work for free, so why would you expect it of an artist?

Self-publishing writers: do not contact me. EVER. AGAIN.

Sincerely,

Chantal Bennett, on behalf of professional illustrators everywhere

I’ve really tried to step up my game in recent years when it comes to making clothing and accessories. It all began when I received my serger for my 21st birthday. Since them I also try to finish seams professionally and make store quality clothing. I’m by no means a pro, but I think I do a pretty decent job in fooling people into thinking what I make is store-bought 😉

This here is a purse I made as a Christmas present for my sister-in-law. She likes to shop at Urban Outfitters, so I grabbed a photo of one of their purses and made my own version.

My version of the purse cost me about $15 in hardware and the fabric is leftover from my stash. The grey wool houndstooth is fabric from a vintage skirt that I shortened.  I wish I could sew vinyl and leather but I just don’t have the equipment for it, so I settled on reinforced suiting fabric and wool. It took me about a day to make.

Urban Outfitters version - a little dull for my taste

My version

Includes adjustable strap, working front pockets and magnetic snap under main flap

Inner lining and pockets with matching heavy duty zipper.

I carry around a small 4×6 sketchbook from New York Central for when I need to write notes down or, more importantly, for when I’m bored. I whip out this little sketchbook in dentist waiting rooms, annoying lineups, on the subway, during conversations with uninteresting people or when I have genius ideas. Most of what ends up in there isn’t exactly meant for the ages, but occasionally some doodles turn out well enough to post and some genius ideas put into production*.

These are from Canada Day (I know it’s been a while). As you might be able tell from the non-ironic mustaches and First Nations people, we stayed in Sudbury for Canada Day this year. The fireworks display was surprisingly good.

*spending Canada Day in Sudbury was not part of the “genius idea” collection.

I have a hard time shopping at Anthropologie because everything is expensive (in my book) and I know I can make some of the things myself, so I try to limit my shopping to items that I KNOW I can’t make myself like sweaters, lacy things or items with LOTS detail or embroidery.

Which brings me to this skirt, something I saw and really liked and decided to try and copy. Of course, I wasn’t able to copy the bird embroidery (which is amazing) but I was able to add the appliqués.

Since I used fabric remnants, the total cost of this skirt was probably $3. Just saved $150! Still, if I had the money I would have bought the Anthro skirt.

Anthropologie version (so freaking awesome)

My version. Simpler and made with fabric remnants. The belt I bought in Costa Rica.