This book is not a step-by-step exact procedural methodology. It is merely a guide, a helping hand that will guide you through an art festival, before, during and after. There are a thousands variations of any one of the guidelines I offer and I will try to point those out as I go along. Take some of them to heart, discard what doesn't suit you and, most of all, learn by doing on your own-- and by observing. I am certainly not claiming this is the only, let alone the right way to do things. As I have learned through the years, there are many ways to approach the business of selling art in art festivals. And for goodness sakes, take it all in good humor, because you will need plenty of that to get through your first art festival and every festival after that.

"Simply, I wrote the book as a guide because a lot of artists have asked me a lot of questions, which leads me to believe that something like this is needed and will hopefully be useful to many artists. I will say this later but repeat it here: I am not an accountant, I am not a business manager, I am not a tax attorney. I am an artist, with good years of management experience and about twelve years in the business of being an artist as a sole means of support. I stand by my good eyes and ears, a fair dose of common sense and will stand proud behind every word in the book. As in hiking, I highly recommend experience as the best guide, although hiking is safer and much more fun when you have a sketchy map, a good compass, and the guiding words of someone who has been on the trail before. As a good guide should, I hope to either enlighten you a little on the virtues and perils of this particular trail or to scare the bejabbers out of you; either way I will have done my job."

Good luck and I will see you on the road!

- Maria