Reading for Profit prints now available


My Reading for Profit print as it appeared in Canadian House and Home January 2010

The Screen

Print drying on the rack
I was pleased with the variations I achieved in this edition - lots of scritchiness and imperfections!

The print complete with coffee and tea stains

My Reading for Profit prints are now available complete with hand painted coffee and tea stains. It measures 26" x 40". Please email me if you'd like to order one. Note: I have added the Service Edition label to the title in this edition because it highlights one of my favorite parts of Penguin's history. During World War II Penguin launched the special Services Edition of books which were sent over to soldiers fighting in the war. I have always thought that gesture so heart warming and quite great.

ps. For those new to the blog fyi there really is a book titled Reading for Profit. It was published in 1945.

If you run a small business you should read this book


Ever since I wrote about Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg + Google Creative Director Ji Lee in January I've been thinking a lot about the concept of FREE and how it is factoring into our new economy. (Both entrepreners had emphasized the fact that the more they gave away the more they got back.
Nora Young also touched on the subject recently in her Spark interview with TED producer June Cohen who explained that TED's goal is to make their conference videos available for free to as wide an audience as possible.

Consequently I was ripe for the reading of FREE: How Today's Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing by Wired magazine's Chris Anderson. Anderson begins the book by tracing the history of pricing and commerce and then unpacks the various types of free including the newly invented model of a 'Freemium'. (wherein a company offers a free basic version of their product along with a paid premium version) The book is full of thought-provoking material written in an optimistic and highly readable style. The most enjoyable book I've read this year so far and methinks essential reading for anyone running a small business.