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Megan Elizabeth Morris

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“I wrote this book for myself and for all the artists I know.

Jim Henson is an inspiration for anyone who aspires to a creative career.”

– Elizabeth Hyde Stevens, Boston University professor

MAKE ART MAKE MONEY: LESSONS FROM JIM HENSON

ON FUELING YOUR CREATIVE CAREER

By Elizabeth Hyde Stevens

November 5, 2013 – Boston – A Kindle Serial exploring Jim Henson’s entrepreneurship is #1 in the kindle category Business of Art. The book will be available as a $1.99 Kindle Serial until the full eBook is released on November 19.

What did Jim Henson know about money?

Jim Henson started his career with an old coat and a basement workshop. Using a very uncommon approach to money, he created a business that was worth $150 million at the time of his death. Even when he became successful beyond his wildest dreams, Jim Henson remained a devoted artist whose puppetry, design, and performances embody the philosophy of quality above profit. How did he do it?

It’s Not Easy Making Green

Boston University professor Elizabeth Hyde Stevens shows exactly how Jim Henson funded his magic—using multiple revenue streams to defy the business standard. As an artist in a capitalist world, Jim Henson had to use clever business methods like copyright licensing, international co-productions, and re-syndication. He made with the marketplace, but he also needed to protect his art from money’s corruption with the help of agents, angel funders, and fiercely loyal collaborators. Jim Henson’s struggle can teach us about succeeding in business as artists.

Puppeteer your Career

You don’t have to go to business school to understand Jim Henson’s secret. Using her background in literary storytelling, Stevens’s style is clever, personable, and incisive. A five-star Amazon review said “business becomes less intimidating and more creative… history becomes fun (and fuzzy).” One writer said, “Any working artist could benefit from this book —I know I have!”

Looking behind the scenes of Jim Henson’s timeless classics, MAKE ART MAKE MONEY is an invaluable resource for painters, set designers, actors, musicians, writers, editors, graphic designers, printmakers, innovators, and for anyone who uses creativity in their work.

This book has been #1 in the Kindle category “Business of Art” since the first installment was released on September 17, 2013. It has been featured by Internet curators:

→ Brain Pickings

→ The Boston Globe Ideas

→ The Onion AV Club

→ @Longreads

10 Lessons from Jim Henson’s creative career include:

► Find a Good Reason to Sell Out

► Hijack the Ad

► Pitch, Pitch, Pitch

► Own Everything You Do

Jim Henson’s work inspired us to be kind, light-hearted, accepting, and creative. Sesame Street tells us that it’s okay to stay innocent, and, as a result, Generation Henson values creativity and collaboration in some cases more than they value supporting themselves. This book is for the lovers, the dreamers, the artists, the innovators, and you.

Author on a Mission

Elizabeth Hyde Stevens spent three years searching for the answer to starving-artist syndrome—by looking to her childhood hero: Jim Henson. Along the way, she created a research course at Boston University called “Muppets, Mickey, and Money,” and published her research online at The Awl, The Millions, Electric Literature, and Rolling Stone. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Brooklyn College MFA program and lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. Everything she knows about business she learned from watching Sesame Street.

MAKE ART MAKE MONEY

Lessons from Jim Henson

On Fueling your Creative Career

By Elizabeth Hyde Stevens

Lake Union Publishing

ASIN: B00EVAAE6A | 475 kindle pages

Serial Price: $1.99 until November 19

For more information, please visit the Make Art Make Money Press Kit

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