Many creative professionals focus too much on their artistic abilities and too little on their business interests. In When Talent Isn't Enough, copywriter and journalist Kristen Fischer offers powerful strategies and practical stories from some of today's most prominent creative leaders to help you thrive. The result: an easy-to-read guide that covers all aspects of launching and managing a successful business for any creative entrepreneur or solo practitioner. When Talent Isn't Enough offers savvy and easy-to-apply business advice for writers, designers, and artists who want to: Run a profitable, fulfilling business Market themselves alongside seasoned pros, in-house talent and established agencies Understand the legalities of doing business Spearhead hassle-free accounting and bookkeeping practices Overcome challenging situations with clients Embrace self-promotion as a solo professional Cultivate lasting client partnerships

Teens with a flair for art have not only a wonderful personal pursuit but also a way to make money. This title gives teens many creative ideas for using their artistic talents to generate a profit, such as running craft parties for kids, painting personalized murals, and selling their handiwork online. The author offers tips for launching and marketing a business and setting appropriate prices that will cover materials and other costs. Job search tips are provided for those who want to market their skills to employers such as art and community centers. Colorful photos, sidebars, and resources for more information make for an appealing and helpful read.

Blogging for Creatives teaches you everything you need to know about how to design and profit from a beautiful blog that people will want to return to again and again. Complete with hundreds of tips, tricks and motivational stories from artistic bloggers who have started from scratch, Blogging for Creatives covers how to publish and host a blog, as well as keeping it fresh, staying motivated and forging connections. Whether you're looking to create a platform for your creative trade, an inspirational journal, or a hub for people with similar tastes and interests, learn how to benefit from being part of the blogosphere in this accessible, non-techie guide.

Lessons from and for the creative professions of art, science, design, and engineering: how to live in and with the Plenitude, that dense, knotted ecology of human-made stuff that creates the need for more of itself. We live with a lot of stuff. The average kitchen, for example, is home to stuff galore, and every appliance, every utensil, every thing, is compound--composed of tens, hundreds, even thousands of other things. Although each piece of stuff satisfies some desire, it also creates the need for even more stuff: cereal demands a spoon; a television demands a remote. Rich Gold calls this dense, knotted ecology of human-made stuff the "Plenitude." And in this book--at once cartoon treatise, autobiographical reflection, and practical essay in moral philosophy--he tells us how to understand and live with it. Gold writes about the Plenitude from the seemingly contradictory (but in his view, complementary) perspectives of artist, scientist, designer, and engineer--all professions pursued by him, sometimes simultaneously, in the course of his career. "I have spent my life making more stuff for the Plenitude," he writes, acknowledging that the Plenitude grows not only because it creates a desire for more of itself but also because it is extraordinary and pleasurable to create. Gold illustrates these creative expressions with witty cartoons. He describes "seven patterns of innovation"--including "The Big Kahuna," "Colonization" (which is illustrated by a drawing of "The real history of baseball," beginning with "Play for free in the backyard" and ending with "Pay to play interactive baseball at home"), and "Stuff Desires to Be Better Stuff" (and its corollary, "Technology Desires to Be Product"). Finally, he meditates on the Plenitude itself and its moral contradictions. How can we in good conscience accept the pleasures of creating stuff that only creates the need for more stuff? He quotes a friend: "We should be careful to make the world we actually want to live in."

The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands his 2014 New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles that built Pixar’s singularly successful culture, and on all he learned during the past nine years that allowed Pixar to retain its creative culture while continuing to evolve. “Might be the most thoughtful management book ever.”—Fast Company For nearly thirty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner eighteen Academy Awards. The joyous storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable. As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the twenty-five movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as: • Give a good idea to a mediocre team and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team and they will either fix it or come up with something better. • It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them. • The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. • A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. Creativity, Inc. has been significantly expanded to illuminate the continuing development of the unique culture at Pixar. It features a new introduction, two entirely new chapters, four new chapter postscripts, and changes and updates throughout. Pursuing excellence isn’t a one-off assignment but an ongoing, day-in, day-out, full-time job. And Creativity, Inc. explores how it is done.

Time and space. Genetics and robotics. Education and fashion. Possibilities limited only by our imaginations. The future is yours to create. Could you be the Leonardo da Vinci of our times? Most ideas are incremental, quickly copied and suffocated by conventions. "Future back" thinking starts with stretching possibilities then makes them a reality "now forward". The best ideas emerge by seeing what everyone has seen, and thinking like nobody else. Newness occurs in the margins not the mainstream. Solutions emerge through powerful fusions of the best ideas into practical, useful concepts. Creative people rise up. Visionaries, border crossers and game changers. Engage your right brain, open your eyes, think more holistically... intuition rules. From Apple to Blackberry, GE to Google, innovative companies stand out from the crowd not so much for their exceptional products, despite what one might assume, but for the way they challenge conventions, redefine markets, and change consumer expectations. Apple didn't just create the iPod; it envisioned the future of music and then made a product to service that future. And the same holds true for every highly innovative company. In Creative Genius, Peter Fisk presents ten tracks for innovation and provides business blueprints for making that innovation happen. Creative Genius is inspired by the imagination and perspective of Leonardo da Vinci, in order to drive creativity, design and innovation in more radical and powerful ways. It includes practical tools ranging from scenario planning and context reframing to accelerated innovation and market entry, plus 50 tracks, 25 tools, and 50 inspiring case studies. Creative Genius is "the best and last" in the Genius series by bestselling author Peter Fisk. Others include Business Genius, Marketing Genius and Customer Genius.

Drawing on interviews with 40 winners of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship—the so-called "genius awards"—the insightful study throws fresh light on the creative process.

A look into what lies behind creativity from one of the advertising industry's leading players Creativity isn’t an occupation; it’s a preoccupation. It is challenge for everyone in the modern world—from business and advertising to education and beyond. Here, the world-famous advertising creative John Hegarty offers a pocket bible of creative thinking, aimed at provoking, challenging, and inspiring greater heights of innovation. From Renaissance art to rock ‘n’ roll, Hegarty takes a wide-angle view of creativity as he sets out to demystify the many ups-and-downs that can arise during the creative process. Paralyzed by the blank page? Daunted by cynics in the workplace? Money leading you astray? Hegarty combines personal experience and anecdotes along with clear, pragmatic, and good-humored insight into tackling all creative challenges head on. Over fifty entries, including “Good is the Enemy of Great,” “Respect Don’t Revere,” “Get Angry,” and “Bad Weather” relay useful and generous advice on how best to improve, sustain, and nurture creativity in any profession. Accompanied by copious irreverent line drawings from Hegarty’s own sketchpad, Hegarty on Creativity is concise, accessible, and richly rewarding.

As management professor and consultant Kathleen Reardon explains in her new book, It's All Politics, talent and hard work alone will not get you to the top. What separates the winners from the losers in corporate life is politics. As Reardon explains, the most talented and accomplished employees often take a backseat to their politically adept coworkers, losing ground in the race to get ahead—sometimes even losing their jobs. Why? Because they’ve failed to manage the important relationships with the people who can best reward their creativity and intelligence. To determine whether you need a crash course in Office Politics 101, ask yourself the following questions: • Do I get credit for my ideas? • Do I know how to deal with a difficult colleague? • Do I get the plum assignments? • Do I have a mentor? • Do I say no gracefully and pick my battles wisely? • Am I in the loop? Reardon has interviewed hundreds of employees, from successful veterans to aspiring hopefuls, examining why some people who work hard and effectively at their jobs fall behind, while those who are adept at “reading the office tea leaves” forge ahead. Being politically savvy doesn’t mean being unethical or devious. At heart, it’s about listening to and relating to others, and making choices that advance everyone’s goals. Like it or not, when it comes to work, it’s all politics. And politics is all about knowing what to say, when to say it, and who to say it to.

Take an in-depth look into the gig economy to see how tech professionals and entrepreneurs can earn a living as freelancers and contractors. Build your own business. The pros and cons of the lifestyle and what to expect from it are discussed. In this book, author Adam Sinicki explains the impact of the gig economy and the forces that led to it as it relates to technology and working online. You will understand how to make a living supplying tech skills on a "per gig" basis. Practical instructions, advice, and tips are provided on goal setting, lifestyle design, and selecting the types of work and contracts that further your goals and support the things you value as you transition from a 9-5 job. What You'll Learn Know the types of work that a tech freelancer can offer: coding, SEO, web development, 3D modeling, and more Find and manage clientsNegotiate pay and contractsStay productive without a managerDiscover useful tools, websites, and apps to build your business and ensure a steady income Who This Book Is For Entrepreneurs who are already a part of the gig economy and want to learn more about their options, tech professionals looking to transition to purely freelancing/contracting, companies interested in learning more about this change in the jobs market, technologists interested in exploring how the Internet is shaping the way people live and work, and professionals interested in lifestyle design or becoming "digital nomads"