Welcome!

You’ve reached the companion page to The Calligrapher’s Business Handbook, a guide to best business practices and pricing strategies for calligraphers and lettering artists. Here you will find links to all the online resources referenced in the book.

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• The Contract Shop – Calligraphy Contracts – Contract templates specifically drafted for creatives, such as calligraphers and stationery designers.

• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office – Legal – Check on and register trademarks (U.S. only)

• U.S. Small Business Association – Legal – The U.S. government agency providing resources for registering a company and creating a business plans

• Freelancers Union – Biz help – Free to join; offers great support about contracts, taxes, health coverage, and more. They also offer some great, member-exclusive discounts to third-party services here.

• Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts – Legal – An affordable legal aid and education organization dedicated to New York artists and its arts and cultural organizations.

➺ Browse more freelance and small business resources here.

• Creative Market Themes – Templates – Site templates created by designers, available for various platforms

• Google Domains – Domains – Affordable domain names, custom email addresses, and website design tools

• Google Fonts – Fonts – Fonts to use on your website and/or download to your computer for free

• Squarespace – Host – Website host with elegant templates, great for online portfolios and e-shops

• Squarespace Tutorials – Tutorials – Nice and simple lessons from Elle & Co.

• Weebly – Host – Simple web design templates, great for online portfolio design and e-shops

• WiseStamp – Email – Email signature plug-in to create custom, graphic signatures for Gmail, iPhone, Mail, and Outlook

➺ Browse more web design resources here.

• Adobe Color – Color – Free service for creating cohesive color palettes; integrates with Adobe programs

• Coolers – Color – Free color palette generator with features like pulling colors schemes from photos

• Czar Press – Printer – Top-notch letterpress printer; located in California, U.S. but ships internationally

• Google Fonts – Fonts – Fonts to use on your website and/or download to your computer for free

• Moo – Printer – Great for business card printing and promotional materials

• Printed.com – Printer – A versatile online printing company; based in the U.K. but ships internationally

• Printswell Fulfillment – Printer – Mass producer of custom stationery, perfect for creating your own stationery line! Only ships within the U.S.

• StationeryHQ – Printer – Printing for stationery and a range of products including wrapping paper and notepads; ships only within the U.S.

➺ Browse more printers here.

• Facebook & Instagram Ads – Ads – Flexible advertising for both Facebook and Instagram to promote a page, website, product, event, or special offer; set your own budget and target audience and pay per click

• Google Adwords – Ads – Highly flexible advertising for advertising on Google; set your own budget and target audience and pay per click

• Pinterest Ads – Ads – Flexible advertising for promoting pins to drive traffic to your website; set your own budget and target audience

• Benchmark – E-newsletters – Beautiful templates and easy to use; free up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month.

• MailChimp – E-newsletters – One of the most popular tools for designing and sending e-newsletters, with simple plug-ins for capturing new subscribers through your website or blog.

• Hootsuite – Social media – The most robust social media manager, allowing post scheduling and analytics for all social networks; free and paid plans available

• Later – Social media – Formerly known as Latergramme, this is a very popular (and entirely free) Instagram scheduling tool

➺ Browse more advertising and social media resources here.

• The Contract Shop – Calligraphy Contracts – Contract templates specifically drafted for creatives, such as calligraphers and stationery designers.

• Freelancers Union – Biz help – Free to join; offers great support about contracts, taxes, health coverage, and more. They also offer some great, member-exclusive discounts to third-party services here.

• Pricing Guidelines for Professional Calligraphers – Pricing – Download the full text of Carla Hagan's 2016 survey of professional and hobbyist calligraphers in the United States.

• Freelancer's Union Customizable Contracts — Contracts – Build a standardized client agreement with this step-by-step contract creator.

• Hello Sign – Contracts – Legally-binding e-signature service. Among the nice features, it seamlessly Integrates with gmail. Paid monthly or annually.

• Shake – Contracts – Legally-binding e-signature service. Offers templates of all sorts

• HelloFax – Fax – E-fax service with free and paid plans

• Google Forms – Forms/surveys – Free service for creating surveys and simple contracts with free, customizable templates

• Typeform – Forms/surveys – Create visually appealing, easy-to-use, web-based forms and surveys

• Dropbox – File sharing – Cloud-based file sharing and storage service; free and paid plans available

• Google Drive – File sharing – Cloud-based file sharing and storage service that integrates with all Google accounts; free and paid plans available

• WeTransfer – File sharing – Free file sharing up to 2GB, or up to 20GB with a paid account, which includes analytics and a customizable home screen

➺ Browse more freelance and small business resources here.

• 17Hats – Bookkeeping – Client and project management platform for creating quotes, contracts, invoices and more.

• Bench – Bookkeeping – Affordable small business accounting services provided by a team of live experts. Payable monthly.

• The Contract Shop – Calligraphy Contracts – Contract templates specifically drafted for creatives, such as calligraphers and stationery designers.

• Square Register – E-payments – Point-of-sale service making it easy to accept payments on the go

• Stripe – E-payments – Extremely user-friendly payment infrastructure for selling online

• CreativeMarket – Design – Brushes, fonts, and other downloadable design tools

• IAMPETH – Calligraphy – The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers, and Teachers of Handwriting, offering written and video tutorials

• Lynda.com – Design – Video tutorials in design software, photography, business, and more

• Skillshare – Design & Calligraphy – In addition to the offerings about calligraphy, find video classes here about design software, photography, crafts, business, and more. (Psst — get a free month of Skillshare Premium with this link!)

➺ Browse more online learning resources here.

• Join a calligraphy guild or association! – Networking

• Online learning for lettering artists – Education

• Get 2 free months of Skillshare Premium! — Education

• Shop supplies! – Lettering supplies

• Modern Calligraphy & Mastering Modern Calligraphy – Books – My other two books; instructional calligraphy guides

• The Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines – Book – An indispensable compendium of rates charged by American graphic designers for just about every design service imaginable, including hand lettering

• “The Dark Art of Pricing” by Jessica Hische – Essay – A wonderful essay about setting pricing, quoted in The Calligrapher's Business Handbook

➺ Browse more books here.