Posts in Creative business
THE COST OF SELF PUBLISHING VERSUS TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.
THE COST OF SELF PUBLISHING VERSUS TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Hey everyone, I’m back with an update on my book writing saga and with lots of information about the financial implications of self publishing. As many of you know, not least from this blog post, these podcast episodes (1) (2) (3) and my writing diary highlights on instagram, I’m writing a book on food styling and food photography. For a variety of reasons I’m self publishing and sharing the lessons I’ve learned on the way with YOU in the hope they will help you on your book journey!

Today, I wanted to break down the financial implications of self publishing compared to tradition book publishing and also outline the various routes available to you. I’m still learning as I go along, but here’s what I’ve discovered so far.

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goal setting, food photography, food styling, food blogging, self publishing, Creative businessK J Espinel
LONDON CAKE STYLING WORKSHOP BEHIND THE SCENES - A SUMMER'S BOUNTY
LONDON CAKE STYLING WORKSHOP BEHIND THE SCENES - A SUMMER'S BOUNTY

There’s the romance of being a creative/photographer/stylist and then there’s the very grounding reality - how do we stay inspired, how do we keep pushing ourselves to do better and how do we avoid repeating the same tried and tested formula, making way for new forms of creative expression instead?

Though attending food styling workshops like the one Silvia and I taught late last month isn’t the answer to every creative stumbling block a budding food blogger or food photographer might come across, it IS indescribably nourishing and creatively stimulating to see the world of food through someone else’s lens.

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food photography, food photography workshop, food styling, creativity, Creative business, food bloggingK J Espinel
ARE INSTAGRAM ADS WORTH IT FOR BLOGGERS AND INFLUENCERS?
ARE INSTAGRAM ADS WORTH IT FOR BLOGGERS AND INFLUENCERS?

NOTE: This blog post is part 23 of my INSTAGRAM SERIES - content all about helping YOU manage your way around instagram. In the INSTAGRAM SERIES I've touched on subjects such as how much money should bloggers and influencers earn, how the algorithms really work and is your instagram account worth following. Just click here to find all the other parts in the series. Now on with today's post...

INSTAGRAM ALGORITHMS ARE AWESOME! Said no one ever! Or did they? Well, you may be surprised to learn that when I was researching the instagram algorithms for one of my INSTAGRAM SERIES posts last year I came across this guy on twitter who was raving about how awesome the algorithms are and how his blog traffic and business had exploded since they were introduced. WHAT!? I thought - as did a number of perplexed tweeters. HOW? He explained that he used instagram ads and promoted posts and noted that IG algorithms’ ability to target the right audience for his blog was incredible!

That different take on the algorithm stuck with me, so much so that when I heard THE social media expert Gary Vee REPEATEDLY say that entrepreneurs/business owners/probloggers who don’t use ads, are making a MASSIVE mistake, I took serious note. Was I playing it small by not going down the paid instagram route?

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instagram tricks, Creative businessK J Espinel
LONDON FOOD STYLING AND INSTAGRAM WORKSHOP / BEHIND THE SCENES
LONDON FOOD STYLING AND INSTAGRAM WORKSHOP / BEHIND THE SCENES

In the lead up to every food photography and food styling workshop I host right here in London, I’m always frantically running around till the 11th hour, sourcing the most photogenic food, getting the right food photography props and scouting the perfect lunch locations, whilst wondering if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. But then, when students come from near and far, I realise it is all worth it and that I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

As I had such a wonderful time this March teaching the 3-day London workshop, I thought perhaps you'd like to see what happened over the course of those days, what the final shots taken during the workshop looked like and basically, what exactly went down. Ready to take a look behind the scenes? Awesome, then please scroll down and read on … 

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branding, food photography, food blogging, Creative business, creativity, food photography workshopK J Espinel
MANIFESTING MY GOALS, WISHES AND INTENTION FOR 2019...
MANIFESTING MY GOALS, WISHES AND INTENTION FOR 2019...

Do you get a bit reflective towards the end of a calendar year?  I do, big time! In part because it’s always incredibly sobering to think that yet another year has passed, but also because it’s so helpful for me to analyse what worked, what didn’t work and what to focus on during the new year.

When I started blogging I had a practice where I shared my food blogger wish list for the year ahead. I did it for the year 2015 and 2016 and then fell out of this practice, settling instead for quietly writing the new year’s wish list in my journal. I call BS on that because sharing the list publicly makes me work harder, gives the wish list more power to manifest itself and provides me with a sense of accountability.

Hence here it is, my wish list for 2019. You ready?

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branding, food blogging, goal setting, Creative businessK J Espinel
INTRODUCING THE EAT, CAPTURE, SHARE PODCAST FOR FOOD BLOGGERS
INTRODUCING THE EAT, CAPTURE, SHARE PODCAST FOR FOOD BLOGGERS

I have been teasing you for weeks (and loving it), but I finally wanted to share what’s been going on behind the scenes: I’ve starting my own PODCAST! It’s something I have been thinking about for so, so long and - with the support of my creative community, who also kept this secret safe and sound - as well as YOUR continued support and interest in me and my little plant-based food photography blog I finally felt brave enough to go for it.

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branding, food photography, instagram tricks, creativity, Creative business, food blogging, food styling, goal settingK J Espinel
WHAT HAPPENS AT A FOOD STYLING AND FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP?
WHAT HAPPENS AT A FOOD STYLING AND FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP?

After months of talking about it and planning like crazy behind the scenes the 2-day food styling and food photography workshop I ran with Aimee from Twigg Studios PLUS the 1-day small business mastermind I facilitated with Sorrel Roberts came and went in a flash. It was the most international group of eager food photography students and small business owners yet - with attendees coming to my cosy London studio from Slovakia, Dubai, Morocco, Denmark, Canada and the USA as well as good old London ;). How cool is that?!? :) To be honest, I could not have asked for a better group of fellow creatives and food lovers to hang out with over those three days. Want to see what happened over the course of the workshop?

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branding, food photography, mastermind, Creative business, creativity, food blogging, food photography workshop, food stylingK J Espinel
HOW MUCH SHOULD AN INSTAGRAM CONTENT CREATOR EARN? + SAVEUR COUNT DOWN PART 3
HOW MUCH SHOULD AN INSTAGRAM CONTENT CREATOR EARN? + SAVEUR COUNT DOWN PART 3

NOTE: This blog post is part 22 of my INSTAGRAM SERIES - content all about helping YOU manage your way around instagram. In the INSTAGRAM SERIES I've touched on subjects such as how to get paid for posting content on instagram, how the algorithms really work and is your instagram account worth following. Just click here to find all the other parts in the series. Now on with today's controversial (?) post...

How much should an instagram influencer slash content creator earn? How much should we charge for our work as photographers, food writers, stylists? It's a question I get asked quite a lot and one that recently came up inside my creative community. I've written about the topic before, more broadly, but that blog post feels like ages ago and hence a few years older and wiser, I thought I'd tackle the question again on instagram and here on my blog AKA my home turf. 

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food photography, instagram tricks, Creative business, food blogging, food styling, goal settingK J Espinel
IS YOUR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT WORTH FOLLOWING?
IS YOUR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT WORTH FOLLOWING?

NOTE: This blog post is part 21 of my INSTAGRAM SERIES - content all about helping YOU manage your way around instagram. In the INSTAGRAM SERIES I've touched on subjects such as how the instagram algorithms really work, the three real reasons your instagram account is not growing and is organic growth on instagram still possible. Just click here to find all the other parts in the series. Now on with today's postand with that cheeky blog post title...

With soooo much choice of stunningly curated feeds and insanely gorgeous pictures, how on earth do we decide to take the leap and click the FOLLOW button on instagram? Is our decision to follow an instagram account much more complex than all these popular articles acknowledge? Or will a little hashtag make or break me on my favourite app after all?! 

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instagram tricks, Creative business, creativity, food blogging, food photography, food stylingK J Espinel