Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Alina's Pencil: whimsical words and pictures *************

Store Name
******proseller***** *
Alina's Pencil: whimsical words and pictures
How has zazzle changed your life? *
I get to stay up all night and make designs, put them on products, and make some money doing what I love. Then I get to spend that money buying my own products to give as gifts...

Well, as long as I make more money than I spend, I guess I'm doing all right!

Actually, I love the challenge of creating designs to use for my students. Then I can sell those designs, and some end up being fairly popular.
Zazzle is a... *
  • Part Time Job
What advice would you share with a friend or family member if they wanted to join zazzle? *

You need to know that this is a long-term commitment, and if you hope to put up a few designs and make enough to quit your job and go on vacation, you are dreaming!

I taught a friend once--I spent a whole afternoon--how to put up products on Zazzle. I set up a storefront for her, even offered to make a custom banner. We even made one product for her to sell.

But she gave up as soon as she discovered you had to WORK at it. Like, there was actual effort involved! As in, what? This isn't magic, you sprinkle some magic dust and you make easy money? Hmph.

I recently made proseller at Zazzle, after a little more than a year of hard work and effort. I get a growing percentage of my annual income from my hard work.

To me, it's worth it. My friend is still bemoaning the current economic downturn and her lack of money. Enough said.

What other PODs do you use? *
  • Zazzle
What do you do when you are not zazzling? *

I cook and develop new vegetarian and vegan recipes. I had a delicious dinner party last week, and we made grilled pizza. One of my friends is now considering buying a grill, just so they can make that! You can read about the party and find recipes on my blog, Almost Vegan in Paradise.

I write and illustrate my books. I'm working on my upcoming vegan ice cream cookbook, The New Scoop: Recipes for Dairy Free, Vegan Ice Cream in Unusual Flavors (Plus Some Old Favorites.) That should be released in January 2012.

(So I'm also eating way too much ice cream. Right now my favorites are Mocha Almond Fudge and Bumpy Road (Peanut Butter Ice Cream with banana chunks, chopped peanuts, and a chocolate swirl.) Sigh)

Then I have a long list of children's books I am writing and illustrating, so there is no shortage of work ahead of me. Yeah, it's fun work, but work nevertheless.

In the summer I try to go snorkeling every week. I discovered a moray eel and blue fish that have hung out together for many years. In the beginning, the fish was tiny. This year it's enormous and could eat the eel if it wanted to, but it doesn't.

Yeah, I'm writing a children's picture book about that, too!

And I teach music to kids to earn most of my living right now. So I have to learn all these songs I've never heard of. My students write down the names for me, and I'm always like, "Train...is that the name of the song or the group?"

How many stores do you have on zazzle? *
1
Which do you prefer and why? 1 Mega Store or Several Niche Stores *

I have one store now, although I've thought many times about starting smaller niche stores.

The problem is that I have many designs that would fit into several categories. My Scared Pig Barbecue Invitations, for example, can fit into a summer category, food, animals, or invitations.

So I kind of cannot figure out what to do about that. Right now everything's at one store, and I hope my customers are able to find what they are looking for without too much trouble.

(Contact me if you need help--use the "send message" on the left sidebar in my store, about halfway down the page.)

I usually work... *
  • On my desktop at my desk
A List of your stores *

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