Cozy Bird-Dictator Palaces

Mussolini’s Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana

“Super Kingdom is an art installation with a difference: each of the pieces on show in King’s Wood, near Ashford in Kent, is a fully-functioning animal house. They just happen to be based on a selection of infamous dictators’ palaces…” read more at Creativereview.co.uk

Looks like the knitted art from a previous post! - Tree Cozy.

Budcozy Retail Location!

I'm trying a new venue for Budcozy... Ceiba Records and Fashion on Haight Street in San Francisco. Ceiba is an eclectic boutique of independent designers with styles that range from steam punk to wood nymph, and whatever falls in between. I have a hard time walking out empty handed.

Ceiba Records
1364 Haight St
(between Central Ave & Masonic Ave)

Yelp Reviews: Ceiba
Yelp Reviews: Budcozy

Green Gifts

Holidays are near. Starting my search for some unique green gifts.

Botanical Paperworks
Paper gifts that have seeds embeded, you can plant and grow.

Sigg Water bottles
SIGG bottles exceed FDA requirements and have been thoroughly tested to ensure 0.0% leaching – so they are 100% safe.

Cowgirl Creamery
Organic cheese in Point Reyes Station, CA.

Earbud Art

Very fun! Done by Saatchi & Saatchi for Walkman.

The 1000 True Fan Theory

Since my mom is my one True Fan and my dog doesn't have a credit card, I've only got 999 fans to go. Gotta figure out my plan. If any independent merchants are reading... what's your plan?

Kevin Kelly explains his ‘1000 True Fan’ theory:

The long tail is famously good news for two classes of people; a few lucky aggregators, such as Amazon and Netflix, and 6 billion consumers. Of those two, I think consumers earn the greater reward from the wealth hidden in infinite niches.

But the long tail is a decidedly mixed blessing for creators. Individual artists, producers, inventors and makers are overlooked in the equation. The long tail does not raise the sales of creators much, but it does add massive competition and endless downward pressure on prices. Unless artists become a large aggregator of other artist's works, the long tail offers no path out of the quiet doldrums of minuscule sales.

Other than aim for a blockbuster hit, what can an artist do to escape the long tail?

One solution is to find 1,000 True Fans. While some artists have discovered this path without calling it that, I think it is worth trying to formalize. The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply:

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living ...

Read the full article here.

Online Marketing & Selling Tips

I've been keeping my eye out for online resources about marketing that can help someone like myself (a small independent online merchant). I've been blogging here about my product and the things that interest me as a small business and artist/crafter. I've got a Budcozy Yelp page, Twitter, Facebook, Etsy and my Budcozy store. I will be launching my Cartfly store in the fall (disclaimer: I work for Cartfly). There is a ton of buzz going around about what is next for ecommerce... and as soon as I can, I'll be writing about what Cartfly has cooking under the lid.

Here's The Viral Garden's Top 5 Marketing & Social Media Blogs:

1 - Seth's Blog
2 - CopyBlogger
3 - Chris Brogan
4 - Search Engine Guide
5 - Logic + Emotion

Go to The Viral Garden for the whole list of 25...

I want to be in green gift guides!

Would love to get Budcozy in upcoming gift guides. Green gift guides would be especially great. Any advice, leads, contacts or suggestion would be appreciated!

I've had my eye on these and am eager for contacts:

Yahoo! Green Holiday Gift Guide

Treehugger: Buy Green

Etsy: Gift Guides: Environmentally Friendly

Splendora

Design*Sponge: gift guide: eco-friendly

iLounge: All things iPod, iPhone, iTunes

Mighty Goods: Shopping Blog

Branch: Sustainable Design Living