I actually know a couple friends that work in the design industry. I don’t mean the fashion design industry. I mean the computer and book design industry. They do some freelance work designing book covers, web sites, and even the insides of books. If books have a lot of graphics and pictures, they’ve practically authored the whole thing. One of their really great pieces of work was this

Lincoln Park Chicago neighborhood guide

. I heard it didn’t sell that well and that I understand since Lincoln Park isn’t exactly an urban jungle with many twists and turns to its streets. Still, it’s a really nice piece of work and I think that they got some of the blame for its not selling well. But what could they have done differently? They don’t handle the marketing aspects of their work. They’re not the ones getting it into bookstores so that people who would actually want it would see it and buy it. There’s only so much they can do. Still, my friends keep getting work and they do quite well for themselves. In fact, they do much better than most of the graphic artists and copywriters and commercial painters I know who work for agencies or companies. I’d love to be able to freelance myself, but I just don’t have the contacts.