Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Visit us at www.thebeadman.com

Welcome to the Bead Man. We are an Oregon based small business that specializes in products for the jewelry artist. Our intention is to develop a method to share some of the knowledge we have acquired from being in the business. We also are a manufacturer of jump rings. We make a great product and are willing to support our customers in any way we possible.

Currently we have instructions on the website http://www.thebeadman.com to show you how to make the byzantine chain and the floret chain. We plan on offering more projects and we encourage you to visit the web page and sign up for new project alerts. You will find this on the top right corner of every page.

I am also the author of Geckos & Other Bead Animals. (Book 1 & 2) You will find it on Amazon.com in the used section, or new on thebeadman.com the website. The titles is still strong after many years, I was both surprised and pleased at the success of the books. I googled the title a few years back and saw that the books had made their way into several countries with great feedback. I have considered writing more titles, but the distribution side became so daunting. When the book first published I was asked by WalMart to enter its "made in the US" distribution program. At first I was excited, but reviewing the contract, I found pitfalls that could easily put me out of business. There are penalties for missing target shipments. If the contract says deliver on the 15th and the truck arrives on the 14th or 16th they take 10%. The sellor pays for shipment. They can refuse shipment or send books back at their pleasure. And they don't just ship them back, they rip off the book cover and send you it. Success does not always mean profitability. I am going to leave publishing to the big boys. There are many ways to share knowledge.