I just discovered The Weekend community today and saw a contest that aligns really well with what I post about on here. I post a lot about my hobby: digital illustration and writing children's books. My plans this weekend consist of catching up on chores that I was neglecting because of spending too much time on my hobby. Every time I finish and publish a new piggy book, my own house has become a pig sty. When I'm working on a book, I'm basically only focused on taking care of my toddler and working on the book. That's pretty much all I have time for. I end up putting off chores and other tasks that need to be done. Aside from cleaning this weekend, I may work a little bit on new GIFs for our recently published book, and might do a little writing for Little Piggies Invest in Digital Currency. It's hard to say if I'll have the time or energy, though. I've decided to do Option 3 from the contest, since I was able to turn my illustration hobby into a book series on Amazon.
Contest Option three:
Have you, or anyone you know, ever turned a hobby into a business or opportunity to make a few dollars on the side. Tell us what it was and how the process went from hobby to income; the challenges, work-arounds and successes. Blogging on hive and playing Splinterlands is excluded from the topic.
I learned how to use Adobe Illustrator about fifteen years ago in college. I stopped illustrating for a while, and then picked it back up in my late twenties. I was illustrating designs for stationary products to sell on Etsy. One of my biggest challenges of selling physical products on Etsy was figuring out the shipping costs. I would always either lose money in shipping, or over-charge the buyer for shipping. Also, I would purchase the items I designed ahead of time and ship them from home. If they didn't sell, they were stuck at my house. A little over a year ago, I found a way to use my illustration hobby to make passive income and avoid the pitfalls of Etsy selling. I started self-publishing my own book series on Amazon. Amazon takes care of all of the shipping. Also, they're printed as they're ordered, so there's no leftover product sitting in a box in my closet. All I have to do is upload the PDF files of the book onto Amazon, then Amazon takes care of the rest. I'd say the main challenge is that Amazon does take a huge chunk of the sale. I only make a small royalty fee for each book sold.
For most of my adult life, I had wanted to create a children's book. It was always one of those dreams in the back of my mind that I had no idea how to accomplish. I had no connections in the publishing industry and had no idea how to submit a proposal to a publisher. I love that Amazon gives people the opportunity to bring their book idea to fruition without needing ties to the publishing industry. My book series has become a passion and has opened up a new career path for me when I am browsing jobs. For many years, I lost direction on what I wanted to do for a career. I have started looking for marketing jobs in the publishing industry and now have a portfolio that I'm proud to share. I've also submitted numerous proposals to publishing houses and hope to have the books published by a trade publisher someday.
