Etsy or Ebay ~ Setting Up And Choosing Which One Is Best For Me.
It wasn’t planned, but I seem to have integrated my entire past life in one children’s book. My Fine Art training, years as a designer, TV and film scriptwriter, herb and spice mogel, organic pioneer, cabaret jazz singer and international teacher have all come together in a silly kitty song, and combined with the personalised hand-drawn illustrations, I hope I’ve created an intimate connection with my characters that stays in the hearts of children and adults forever.
Detail of the inside colouring page of “Song For A Stray Kitty”.
How it happened is a very long, and colourful, story. In the 80's I specialised in film-making and photography at art school and wrote, directed and produced socially subversive comedy films. It was a constant battle to be honest, as the institutionally sinister sexists who were in charge of my intellectual and creative development proved more than a challenge.
It was obvious I had a talent for writing, but it was even more obvious as I attempted a career as a writer that it was a losing battle, so even though I had commissions from Northern Stage for scripts and a show in Edinburgh, I realised I was never going to break through the wall of prejudice, I also hated sitting all alone for 12 hours a day typing, so hatched a well formed plan to run away.
All bets are off, shore leave is on. Sailing into Hong Kong.
I figured I had two options - TEFL or Croupier. As I considered teachers the enemy, I started to train at a casino and planned to jump on board a ship and rake in the tips on a Russian cruise liner. Six months on a boat, six months on a beach.
It was a fabulous plan, an amazing idea, a life of high seas adventure, 'cept I couldn't add up the roulette chips, brain said no. Luckily, or unluckily, a friend called me and said "do you want to work on a new BBC talent show for seven weeks?" and I never went back to the casino.
Twenty five years later, I've sailed the seven seas, lost a few more battles, won some wars, been on the beach and as the result of a chance meeting with a little stray cat in a garden centre, I'm now going to write the books with my little cat muse beside me on our flamingo chairs in the bamboo lounge.
Begonia Coconut offering creative editorial advice.
Motivated by the success of my book launch at The Palm House in Sefton Park, Liverpool, I cracked on with the major task of completing the Etsy shop platform. It’s taken about six months to figure out Etsy and deciding whether to have one or separate shops on different platforms was one of my biggest dilemmas. I wondered if, as I do and make different things, it’s part of me, I should therefore put everything together, but after watching hours and hours of sellers on youtube, I have decided to put all my books and digital downloads onto Etsy and my vintage and redesigned products on Ebay.
I don’t know if it’s because I have listened to too many problems people are having with Etsy and not enough of the happy sellers, but it seems many people are leaving the site due to the new free shipping policy and other issues, and I am predicting a grand renaissance for Ebay on the horizon.
So, I have many more ideas, stories, pictures and books in the pipeline and will add them to my Etsy shop as soon as possible. We hope you like them. There is a link in the corner of my website which will take you straight there, or just click “Song For A Stray Kitty” if you’d like to check out the book which is ready to buy now.
UPDATE: “SONG FOR A STRAY KITTY” and the sequel “SONG FOR A FURRY FACE”, plus my vintage, redesigned, upcycled and customised finds are on my Ebay shop BAMBOOBETTY now. MANY THANKS!
Back cover of “Song For A Stray Kitty”.
