Brilliant guide for crafters and makers wanting to earn money by making.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read a digital arc in exchange for my feedback.

This is an excellent reference for anyone who is thinking of setting up a creative business. Taking the next step - from hobby to making money from your craft - is a big decision. This book helps you to determine why you want to set up a business, what is the best approach, who are your target customers, and more - covering the legal and accounting sides of running a small business too.

I liked this book as it is up to date (unlike some of the other "how to set up a business" books out there!), takes on board the role of e-commerce, is targetted at setting up a creative business, and uses real-life craftspeople to illustrate how and why they are in business - helping you to decide the best path for you, based on your motivations, skills and aims.

There's also an online set of tools that go with the book - I haven't explored them as I think you have to sign up, but they sounded useful.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

Starting a creative business has never been easier.

If not now, when?

I know that I'm not alone in having wondered whether or not I could turn my hobby into a business. There's a lot of motivation to do so: I make more items than we can sensibly use and there are a lot of people who have been delighted to accept what I make as gifts. Selling would offset the costs, which can be quite considerable and it could be fun to do, couldn't it? But where to start? What do I need to think about? Well, the first thing anyone who is considering turning a crafting hobby into a business should do is to read Making a Living.

This is real, hands-on advice, backed by stories from people who have made the leap from crafter to entrepreneur. They're from a good range of skills, too: jewellery makers, artists, printmakers, basket weavers, terrarium makers and ceramicists, to name a few and this is all backed by Sophie Rochester's wide-ranging knowledge. She's the founder of Yodomo, the online learning platform for arts and crafts. (If you're wondering if this book is essentially just an advert for Yodomo - don't worry, it isn't.)

There are now more ways than ever before to reach customers and sell - whether you're selling hand-made products which you've created or running courses and workshops to teach other people your skills. The snag is, of course, that if you want to do this properly (and can there be any other way?) then you have to become a digital content specialist, online marketer, e-commerce expert, accountant and manager - and find the time to produce the goods to sell. Rochester takes you through it all and for a relatively short book, there's a great deal of detail that you can use. You might find that you'll need to delve further into some areas, but at least you'll be aware of the need to have public liability insurance or of the intricacies of intellectual property law as well as many other things. I was particularly impressed by the advice on pricing, which is an area that has always rather frightened me - I have a tendency to undervalue what I produce.

Perhaps the most important section of the book is the part where Rochester helps you to decide exactly why you want to turn your hobby into a business and this convinced me that I will never turn my hobby into a business. I've already done that once: reviewing has spoiled reading for me. Turning any hobby into a business risks diminution of pleasure because you have a need to prioritise making money. My need is for validation and this is why I donate what I make to Oxfam: it gives me great pleasure to see the substantial amount of money they earn from what I make. Making a Living clarified in my own mind that I was doing the right thing.

I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy of the book available to the Bookbag.

This book is a must for anyone considering setting up their own creative business. It is written in a really accessible way and details point by point the things you need to consider and how you would go about setting your business up, naming it, creating an online presence, marketing, plus all the finance details that are usually so confusing.
I really liked the exercises at the end of each chapter that prompts you to think about how to apply what you have just read to your own creative endeavour, and the real-life interviews with creative professionals was also really insightful.
I'll definitely be recommending this book to my creative friends!