recent publicity!

Beth Bee Books was mentioned on thekitchn.com again - here in a nice little blog entry on recipe organizing.

1300 "sales" on etsy.com!

Today bethbee.etsy.com reached its "1300th sale"! In the past, etsy counted two or more of the same things together when ordered in multiples, so I probably passed 1300 already, but, still! Each 100th sale is a little milestone for my little shop.

Back in the 1990s I made zines and sent them for reviews and listings in bigger zines like Maximum Rock and Roll, HeartAttack, and even Punk Planet, and people (mostly my age) in other places would send me $1 or so in the mail to order a copy of my zine. Back then, it was an analog process, and on a smaller scale for me, but the excitement of sharing things I made with people in places outside my own circle of friends and connections was the same as I feel today. These kinds of connections are faster and simpler now with the help of the web.
I consistently marvel at the great tool that etsy.com is for independent artists to connect with others and share and sell their work. It has taken outreach and work and quality products to become successful on the site, but now, somewhat magically, almost every day I check my email and someone else from pretty much any state in the US, or Australia, Canada, the UK, or even Switzerland, Finland, Italy, et cetera has put through an order for one or more of my little books!

I've discovered a lot of great artists myself by browsing on etsy, and shared mutual appreciation for their work. I've found it helpful for connecting with local artists too, despite our busy schedules. I've figured out how to use the site to find great art and crafts through its various tools like favorites and treasuries. If you've never used the site before it can feel overwhelming to find the gems in the rough. The listings are not curated, so not every listing is of high quality or well photographed. I like to check the favorite items of artists whose work I respect, mark shops and items I like as favorites to find later when I run across them on the front page or in treasuries, and occasionally take some time to search for specific terms or items to find new artists I haven't discovered. I usually have to include in my search some subtractions such as "-angels, -anime, -fairy, -sports, -keep calm and carry on"...

A new place on facebook to find me being chatty

Carving a block print

You know, I just realized I forgot to mention here that I recently created a new facebook public page for Beth Bee Books, Rabbit Food Cookbook, and my paintings/artwork updates. I went back and forth on what to title the page, and I settled on Beth Bee Books because that's more interesting than just calling the page "Beth Barnett". Although my name is a perfectly fine name (I'm glad my parents didn't name me something misspelled, like Gweendolyyn or Mykaael), there are a number of other people out there in the world who also have my same name, but no other businesses called Beth Bee Books, so there you go.

If you're on facebook, you can "like" the page to connect with me there, or if you're just curious, go take a look at my posts and links. You don't have to have a facebook account to look at the public page. Cheers!

Fall feature

There's a new vegan-oriented quarterly online magazine called Chickpea that just came out with their fall 2011 edition. Nice recipes, and a fall shopping guide that includes (handmade 2007 edition) Rabbit Food Cookbook!

featured on thekitchn.com!

My Beth Bee Books blank recipe book was featured on the apartment therapy thekitchn.com online blog/site on 12/13. Super!  -- I love that site!

Beth Bee Books will be at Handmade Bazaar 12/12/09

I am rarely lured out of the house to table with my books at a live craft fair, but my good pal Meredith has organized a lovely holiday season Handmade Bazaar event, and so I had to join the fun! I'll be there selling my books. If you're in Portland, it would be lovely if you'd come by and say hello!

Handmade Bazaar @ Mississippi Studios

3939 N. Mississippi

Portland, Oregon

Saturday, December 12,
11am - 4pm

www.handmadebazaar.org

Keeping Busy!

December is going well! 50+ sales on Etsy.com already this month, and it's only the 11th! The shop is keeping me quite busy with holiday shoppers, plus I'm still working on the second mural painting and trying to get in my own holiday shopping (all around my day job during the week!).

My books are out there in a few retail locations for the holidays, but I haven't made time for any craft fairs. If you're lucky, they might make an appearance at my friend Meredith's table at the Handmade Bazaar at P:ear in Portland on Sunday - but I'm not promising!

New Retailers Update

A selection of Beth Bee Books are on sale at the Corvallis Art Center in downtown Corvallis for their Winterlight Art and Craft event. The sale takes over the whole gallery through Christmas Eve! I was excited to see a few things for sale from both Satsumalyn (a local etsy seller) and Appetite (from Portland Sat. Market and Etsy), two fellow artists/craftswomen whose work I really like.




I am also really excited to have books selling up north in Moscow, Idaho at the Prichard Art Gallery store (part of the University of Idaho, Moscow) starting this month!

Blog Interview

So, I did this little interview with some nice N. Carolina folks with the Etsy NC Triangle Street Team. They're fellow etsy users/sellers. The interview is about Beth Bee Books stuff. It can be found on their collaborative blog, here:
http://nctriangle.blogspot.com/ ! Now you know!

Beth Bee Books featured on DIYAlert

There's a blog all about Portland area crafts and crafters called DIY Alert. Diane, who is its creator, asked me to do an interview for it, and voila - here it is: http://www.diyalert.com/node/4455!



Also, the other day - lets see, actually, it was a week ago - a fellow illustrator and Etsyan, Marjorie (aka Marmee Craft) featured my blank recipe book on her blog @ marmeecraft.typepad.com, which was quite nice of her to do.

Blank Recipes Book v. 2.0 is here!

Yes, at long last, I have finally gotten all the pieces together including my fabulous new die-cut tabs. No more sticker sticking (except with the Address Books, that is)! Anyway, it is nice to see this project coming together at long last. The new version of this blank recipe organizer has the fancy tabbed dividers, two-color screen printed covers, and pre-cut everything so I don't have to slave with the box cutter anymore to trim the board. I've grown very tired of doing trim work I know a machine could do in seconds. Yay machines! This is still assembled and the covers printed by yours truly, plus insides printed locally with Portland print shops.

Beth Bee Books @ Crafty Wonderland Sunday, February 10th

I'll be at the February 10th Crafty Wonderland Craft Bazaar at the Doug Fir Lounge (in Portland) selling Beth Bee Books books sharing a table with my pal Meredith of NeverTwice. She'll be selling some felty sorts of things, I believe. Come out to say hello and browse or buy!

More Etsy Gift Guides!

Oh! More Etsy.com Gift Guide exposure in the categories for Book Worms and Writers (Address Book), and Gourmets (Blank Recipe Book). This is splendid!! . . . though sales slowed down after Wednesday. Back to painting!

Etsy Gift Guides!

Aah, I just discovered that Rabbit Food Cookbook is also featured in the Etsy.com Housewarming, Hostess Gift, and Teenage Girls (12-17) gift guides!! They don't tell me about this I have to look around and discover it myself. I don't know how often the items are rotated, but still - Very cool!



I also updated my photos of the books on my shop, displaying them all on the beautiful green linen dish towel my sister Lynn knitted just for me earlier this year!

Featured on Etsy.com home page

Yes, for a brief while on Dec. 5 my blank recipe books were featured on the etsy.com home page, an unexpected surprise, and some nice extra exposure! Here's a snapshot pdf since the site's featured "pics" are rotated out several times a day.

RFC on Natural Health Magazine Website

Rabbit Food Cookbook has been included in the Natural Health Magazine holiday gift guide for 2007! Unfortunately it wasn't used in the feature appearing in magazine itself, but the free publicity/advertising is appreciated anyhow. It is listed on their website in the additional "25 gifts under $25" feature: www.naturalhealthmag.com/holiday07 (page 3).

More Retailers and other update

Check out the "where to buy in stores" link in my Beth Bee Books section for my growing list of retailers carrying Rabbit Food! Maybe one is near you!


Also, I'm finally preparing to soup up the Blank Recipe Book/Journal and get some sweet tabs made for it, like those in the new edition of RFC. Unfortunately this may not be off the ground by xmas, but who knows? The book has moderate sales on Etsy as it is, but if I made more at once, I could get more out there. Look for updates.

New Feature - Recipe Downloads

At long last I've added downloadable pages for the new recipes (here) added in the Rabbit Food Cookbook 5th Edition! If you've got a copy an earlier edition of the book, don't miss out on the new recipes & artwork. These are also available to anyone as a sample of what's in the book. Happy cooking!

Now at Powell's Books too

RFC at 1005 W. Burside location and online at www.powells.com.

New Stores

I'm currently in search of stores to carry Rabbit Food. Suggestions are definitely welcome! In the past month, RFC books are newly available at both Atomic Books in Baltimore and Quimby's in Chicago. I hope to be adding more to the list soon.