00:00

good morning today I'm gonna do my first

00:02

ever haul from the Miami zine fair which

00:05

I went to last weekend yesterday so

00:08

first thing I want to show that I got is

00:11

this awesome poster and what it contains

00:16

I'm and why I kind of kept it aside from

00:20

the cool design here because it has all

00:23

of the names of all the people who

00:25

participated and so I did not get a

00:28

chance to talk to everyone there because

00:31

I was too busy running my table or I

00:33

didn't have enough help and so I'm gonna

00:35

go when I'm gonna look up all these

00:37

people on Instagram and I'm gonna see

00:38

what they're doing and what they're

00:39

making and you know it's a giant

00:42

resource all in one place of everyone

00:45

who was there which is great they're all

00:47

local artists or you know at least

00:49

willing to come to Miami the next thing

00:53

which I got was these two hats here I

01:03

saw them for the very bizarre and I was

01:06

like whoa my girlfriend's gonna love

01:08

this I got to get it for and then I got

01:11

myself one

01:13

they were pretty expensive I got I think

01:17

they were $40 for both of them

01:18

twenty-five for one so I'm gonna come

01:23

back to that a little bit the next thing

01:27

that I got are all scenes all which I

01:32

kind of caught for free which is really

01:34

great I got this really great zine on

01:39

noses show you here in exchange for the

01:44

fact that I will be doing a review on it

01:45

in a little bit and so you'll see that

01:49

coming just people talking about noses

01:51

and writing about noses and I just

01:56

thought there's such a huge sense of

01:58

humor in it and that was by one of those

02:02

local students here in Miami and then

02:04

this is Professor she wrote

02:10

a little zine that is really great look

02:15

you can't even see it so I'll be doing a

02:20

review of that as well I not this other

02:27

zine here which is pretty great and I'll

02:35

be doing probably a deeper review of

02:38

this as well and then I traded one of my

02:47

books for the zine by the organizer of

02:50

the event

02:52

Amanda Keely I haven't really had a

02:55

chance to look through it but it seems

02:57

really dope it's about like dancing and

03:01

bookmaking like the motion combined

03:04

again I got to give it a deeper look and

03:08

then I got I had a really amazing talk

03:12

for a while with someone who makes these

03:16

little pockets that you stick inside of

03:24

that you stick inside like notebooks and

03:29

I have been a journal or every day for

03:34

about over 10 years now and so we had

03:37

like a really good some talk about

03:38

journaling and I went and showed it my

03:40

journal and we talked all about it and

03:42

again I got it as a gift for my

03:45

girlfriend because she just started

03:48

journaling like this month and she's

03:51

heard generally because she wants to use

03:53

stickers because she loves stickers and

03:55

so I wanted to give her a little pocket

03:58

to put her stickers in and I picked the

04:01

one with the donuts on it I'm not sure

04:03

if I'm gonna get that one to her to me

04:04

because we have this inside thing where

04:07

we love donuts because last year when I

04:09

went to La Book Fair we really really

04:11

really wanted donuts and then like we

04:13

went to like trekking across all of LA

04:17

with our luggage right before the plane

04:19

ride trying to get donuts and then we

04:21

like didn't get the donuts and then I

04:23

was so angry

04:24

I wrote a poem about it and it was

04:25

immortalized and it's like the first

04:27

page my book cheeseballs a new chic

04:29

where I just like completely lambaste

04:33

King Donuts for not being open when they

04:36

advertised and so I want to talk a

04:42

little bit about the zinging experience

04:44

and what it's like to be a vendor at a

04:47

book fair or a zine fair especially

04:50

because I have another one leaving for

04:52

LA in two days three days and so why am

04:56

i doing these things like what is the

04:57

benefit what are the drawbacks what can

05:00

you learn about from my experiences and

05:03

I think it's important to say that I did

05:07

not buy any books there which is kind of

05:13

like a taboo thing usually it's one of

05:15

the only vines when I haven't really

05:16

bought books at a fair and it has

05:21

nothing to say about the quality of the

05:23

work that equality was great the people

05:25

were great I just personally didn't

05:28

connect with a lot of the work which is

05:31

fine it has nothing to do with the

05:35

quality of what I'm doing it just the

05:38

mood that I was in and the taste that I

05:40

was feeling

05:40

I just wasn't I wasn't feeling it and

05:44

personally I haven't been reading a lot

05:46

outside of my practice you know I read

05:48

like 400 books last year for my business

05:51

alone and then I have my own writing and

05:54

my own reading and I just haven't been

05:55

reading as much as I wanted to and I

05:58

thought that seemed to be like a good

05:59

way for me to digest things and like

06:01

because it's so small you can read a lot

06:03

of them but I did read a couple of them

06:06

there but I didn't always feel like I

06:08

should keep them and then a couple of

06:11

ones that I saw like there's a lot of

06:12

things with you know like anarchist

06:16

scenes and you know down with

06:18

consumerism which I totally jive with

06:21

but also like I'm a career business

06:26

artist and I don't really want someone

06:29

telling me that like I shouldn't be

06:31

trying to make a living for my art which

06:33

is not what they're saying but like

06:36

oh man I just don't need to take

06:38

business advice from someone who can't

06:41

afford to buy books thrown that out

06:44

there like that I also I get it like I

06:49

mean my business evolved out of that

06:51

radical left position as well so but

06:57

what I did spend money on because I

07:00

spent money on non book things I spent

07:02

money on these which are $2.00 each

07:04

which are great and I feel like I'm

07:06

gonna use it if I don't my girlfriend

07:07

definitely will which I also primarily

07:12

got as gift my girlfriend so I think

07:14

that's important to think about if

07:16

you're a table in one book fair the

07:19

people that sell house like clear house

07:21

and make money are not necessarily the

07:24

people that sell books and book fairs

07:26

and there's a reason why every time you

07:27

go to a book fair the people that do

07:30

like there's more than just books there

07:32

and part of this because you have to

07:34

compete with books and like if you go to

07:37

a book fair and you're selling a book

07:38

there's a thousand books of that book

07:40

fair and you have to sell you have to

07:42

compete with all the thousand other

07:43

books but also part of it as books are

07:45

really really hard to sell because you

07:48

literally only have the cover and maybe

07:50

someone to flip through like a moment

07:52

flip through well I'm kind of like

07:54

awkwardly standing there the other side

07:56

of the table trying to like ignore you

07:58

but answer your questions but try and

07:59

desperately try to give you make this

08:00

sale it's not that it's not the best

08:03

scenario where as like a t-shirt or a

08:05

hat it's immediate it's instant it's you

08:08

know it's totally flat and so it allows

08:11

the people who want to read your book to

08:14

you know or a person who wants to buy

08:16

that to instantly know that they like it

08:18

and so those are the people that always

08:21

do really well at book fairs and I think

08:24

that if you are someone who you know

08:27

wants to go to a book fair having

08:28

options like that having tote bags or

08:31

shirts or pockets or anything like that

08:34

people buy them up non-stop now I did

08:41

not I think that I made money I haven't

08:43

I haven't even like calculated the

08:45

amount of money that I rent but if

08:46

whatever I did make you know I have to

08:49

pay my

08:50

those two and then I spent like 50 bucks

08:53

on these hats and those things and then

08:56

of course you know this gas driving down

08:58

there and even if I made some money you

09:00

know I spent two whole days there and

09:02

I'm sure that my time comes out to like

09:05

a dollar an hour so I would say that you

09:11

know I've been talking to people and

09:13

I've been to book fairs all around the

09:15

world I've been double fares you know

09:17

and Philadelphia in Los Angeles and

09:19

Dubai and I've talked to people who have

09:21

gone everywhere around the world and

09:23

nobody makes money at book fairs and I

09:28

think that that's not a conversation

09:29

that happens enough why and yet people

09:35

continue to go to book fairs like I you

09:38

know I know that I'm going to lose

09:40

probably at least $1000 at those la Book

09:43

Fair that I'm going to but I want to go

09:47

anyway and so what are the benefits that

09:50

I'm gaining from them and what are the

09:55

things that you know I can really do

09:57

better and the art community as a whole

09:59

can do better well the first thing first

10:04

is I've never heard of anyone traveling

10:07

to a book fair and making money I'm sure

10:09

it happens but I've never encountered

10:11

like if you're going out of state and

10:14

you got a book a hotel or you got a book

10:15

of flight I don't think you're gonna

10:18

make money the only people that I've

10:22

ever heard of ever making money from a

10:24

book fair talking to hundreds of vendors

10:26

are people who do it within their own

10:29

state so like I live right outside of

10:31

Miami I went to the Miami zine Fair it

10:34

made sense I just had a drive there like

10:35

I could I had breakfast in my own home

10:37

you know I do I drove there and I

10:41

returned home when I was done so going

10:45

to local ones will make you a lot more

10:48

profitable than say you know I really

10:50

want to go to the China Book Fair I

10:52

really really want to go but I know

10:54

that'll is so much money doing it

10:57

[Music]

10:58

another thing is where is the

11:03

location of the book fair you mean not

11:05

necessarily in relation to you but

11:07

relation in to its target and McGrath

11:09

and so this is something that I think is

11:13

like a super controversial thing to talk

11:17

about but I think that it's not talked

11:21

about enough

11:22

and I think that it's because you know

11:25

you have a lot of you have a lot of

11:28

voices all on multiple points of the

11:30

conversation so for example if you have

11:35

a book fair in a lower income area which

11:40

is a great thing because you get to

11:42

introduce books to people that don't

11:45

normally have that opportunity to go to

11:47

museums or to go to see those things

11:49

it's it's a great thing that needs to

11:51

happen but know that you're not gonna

11:55

make any money at that fair if you

11:57

participate because the people that go

12:00

there like the people in that

12:03

neighborhood don't have the money to buy

12:04

your book they don't have the money to

12:07

buy your art and if you're like you know

12:09

I'm selling books that are like twenty

12:11

dollars if you're selling a painting

12:12

you'll never sell the painting there I

12:14

mean art is one of the few things where

12:17

you will have people who will go all

12:20

around the world to go and look at good

12:22

art so you will have people from higher

12:24

income areas going there but in general

12:29

the majority of the people that role in

12:31

are not going to be people that are

12:33

going to afford or buy your book or buy

12:36

your art and that doesn't mean that it

12:40

shouldn't still happen like I think that

12:43

these events are really important and

12:44

they need to happen and I think that you

12:48

know opening up these spaces is really

12:55

vital to a community and I just think

13:00

you know like my I grew up kind of poor

13:03

and if I had ever seen an art book fair

13:05

I feel like it would have changed my

13:06

whole life like like I definitely became

13:08

an artist anyway but I would have felt

13:10

so empowered to see some artists

13:13

succeeding ever

13:15

when I was growing up and I think that

13:17

that's like that you know it has the

13:22

power of you life-changing but I also

13:23

think that you know if you were a

13:25

business owner if you were professional

13:26

artist you need to know going into it

13:29

that you're not going to make money and

13:31

I think that there needs to be more

13:34

transparency on that front talking about

13:39

you know what can the art community

13:43

do better as a whole to make it more

13:47

accessible to communities that need

13:50

access and more accessible to artists

13:54

and art institutions that want to

13:56

participate but might not find it

13:58

financially viable because then you know

14:01

like if it's not financially viable then

14:04

you're basically only getting the people

14:05

that are getting like grant funding or

14:08

like sponsorship funding in which case

14:11

it all goes back to it's not really

14:13

about the community at all it's just

14:15

about whatever really rich donors wants

14:19

and I know that's like that was super

14:23

super like controversial thing that I'll

14:28

probably ever talk about here and I'm

14:29

not leading a stance and I'm not really

14:32

saying that the Miami Museum Fair was

14:33

that or was not that but it's just

14:37

something that I haven't gone to lots of

14:39

fairs and lots of like rich and poor

14:42

areas you know it's different you know

14:45

like when I did the you know Art Fair

14:48

like they weren't walking Dubai the

14:51

average income of the person going to

14:54

that fair and what they were willing to

14:55

spend on the book was very different

14:57

than at a smaller books book one in

15:01

Pennsylvania that I you know like the

15:03

one that I hosted in there helped host

15:05

my girlfriend hosted in Harrisburg

15:08

Pennsylvania so I think that that's not

15:11

talked about and seriously seriously

15:14

needs to be so why do you go to book

15:18

fairs well the reason why is because a

15:23

lot of to meet people really for me it's

15:27

so empowered

15:28

and so amazing to go and meet people who

15:31

like pick up my book and love it and

15:34

like that's like every time that I feel

15:38

like down I just think about you know

15:40

last book where I went to before this

15:41

was the Philly Book Fair last year and I

15:44

had a woman pick up my book a month of

15:45

flowers read it on my table cry and grab

15:49

her friends and I sold five copies I

15:51

sold out in ten minutes and for me like

15:54

that's gonna stick with me forever

15:57

another thing besides like meeting the

16:01

people getting feedback seeing what

16:02

sells what doesn't sell that's not to

16:05

say that you should change what you make

16:06

like I make lots of books that aren't

16:07

profitable I make some books that are

16:09

profitable but you know I believe that

16:11

if they should all exist and I make art

16:13

just for art's sake but seeing what does

16:19

well like when people pick them up with

16:21

the feedback they give you on is really

16:23

important as well and the next one is

16:25

meeting the people there who also vend

16:29

and the people that go and give

16:32

opportunities you know I woke up this

16:34

morning to a direct message and

16:35

Instagram saying that they want to

16:36

interview me for a project on

16:39

entrepreneurship that's awesome and I

16:40

would love to participate you know and

16:43

that's all happens because I went to

16:44

that fair you know when I talked about

16:46

here the list of all the people that are

16:49

on here well these are all people that

16:52

care about what I'm doing and I care

16:56

about what they're doing and for a world

16:58

that is lonely as it is to be an artist

17:01

you know to meet people and have real

17:04

conversations about our and to have real

17:06

potential collaboration experiences is

17:09

so important you know just going out

17:13

there and talking with your local

17:14

community is so important you know the

17:16

first thing I did when I moved down here

17:17

Miami is I've looked at what's the like

17:19

the main

17:20

art bookstore in this area exile books

17:23

so I drove down there for an event and I

17:26

introduced myself and they said oh we

17:27

have this Fair coming up in April signed

17:29

up that day you know so and then I met

17:33

tons of people at this coming Fair and

17:36

you know people talk about what does it

17:38

mean to network as an artist and to get

17:40

opportunities and to advance yourself

17:42

and it really is to put yourself out

17:44

there and to do these things and to be

17:49

genuine you know like I think when

17:52

people think about networking I think

17:54

about being fake or something like that

17:57

but you know like you don't do

17:59

pretending you like someone's art if you

18:01

don't but like if you do Drive with it

18:03

tell them because artists need that

18:07

support artists are like so very often

18:10

emotionally weak and just having someone

18:12

say yeah I love this this is really cool

18:15

let me learn what you have to say about

18:18

noses really ties with someone and it

18:22

will make the whole day better and it

18:23

will make their life better and it will

18:25

make them keep making art and I said

18:31

like I you know I always lose money

18:34

every time I got a book affairs but I

18:36

always continue to go because I just

18:38

have such positive experiences I get to

18:40

see you know how the market is growing

18:43

how the market is changing and I get to

18:47

just talk with people who are struggling

18:50

with the same thing that I'm doing some

18:51

people are doing other things that are

18:53

working some people aren't there are

18:54

different stages of career you know I'm

18:56

at the point now where like I went to

18:58

the Miami zine Fair and I felt like one

19:00

of the more established people at the

19:01

fair which is crazy because you know two

19:04

years ago I was the least established

19:06

personal affair and I felt insecure

19:07

about it so I think that you know I get

19:12

to have conversations with people who

19:13

are just starting and tell them you know

19:15

these are some of the mistakes that I

19:16

had what I'm doing here by YouTube you

19:19

know and then I get to meet with people

19:20

who are further along and get advice

19:24

from them and I get to you know sell

19:31

sell and share my art and have a great

19:35

time and you know look at art like I

19:38

love art anyway thank you so much for

19:44

listening

19:45

be sure to like and subscribe and

19:47

comment I have a whole bunch of content

19:48

coming up you know I'm going to LA for

19:50

their fair let me know if you want any

19:54