Katemonster,

I just wanted to say thank you, not just for taking the time to perform the transcription work needed to upload my blog, but also for the warm words of praise and advice. Unfortunately, I don't have any way of accessing the Internet to sell my work on Etsy, nor do I have anyone with the time or means to do this on my behalf.

When I finally felt that my work was good enough to sell in the outside world, I started seeking someone or some place willing to sell my work for me, but time after time, things just haven't seemed to work out. The first guy used to be a former inmate. Although I never personally met him, he came recommended from a friend of a friend, so I started sending him pieces to sell for me. After working with him for several months, he started complaining that he needed more pieces to sell because of their popularity, so I sent him about a dozen, only to see him drop off the face of the Earth. No letter, no money, nothing. I took what happened with a grain of salt, knowing that not everyone is like that, and started to find other people or places that might be able to help.

One of the places I wrote was Etsy, but I never heard anything back from them. I don't fault them for this. After all, they're not set up to handle the physical aspect of photographing people's work, shipping and handling etc. Instead they're gears more towards providing an online venue for people to post, browse and/or sell. Everyone who visits their site must do their own work, and I respect that, I just wish that I had some way of accessing the internet so I could do this on my own. But I don't, and I could sit here and complain about what I don't have all day long, and in the end, it wouldn't change anything, so I started trying to find other ways of dealing with the problem.

One alternative which presented itself was the Prison Art website. While they wouldn't handle the physical aspect of the merchandise until after it had been sold, if I was somehow able to send them a picture and a description, they'd take care of creating a listing and selling it for me. With this information in hand, I asked my friend to take the pictures and scan my descriptions, e-mailing them to the guy running the site and he'd handle it from there. As a former convict himself, I thought that he'd understand the limitations I was under and act accordingly, but instead, he did nothing but complain, and quite rudely, about the way my friend took the pictures and scanned the descriptions. In fact, he was so rude, that my friend no longer wants to work with him, even though he still wishes to help me out, and after reading what was said, I can't say that I blame him.

So I'm back to the drawing board, looking for a way to sell my work. If you, or anyone else reading this, thinks they might be interested in helping me (for a share of the proceeds), or if you simply want to purchase a piece directly from me, by all means, please let me know. Because we decided not to work with the guy at the Prison Art site, the items you mentioned are still available. You can reach me by leaving a post here, sending me an e-mail (shawnlperrot@hotmail.com) which my friend will download, print and mail to me, or by sending me a letter to the address listed below or in my profile.

Thank you again, and I sincerely look forward to hearing from you, or anyone else who's interested.

Shawn L. Perrot CDCR# V-42461
CMC-East Cell# 6326
P.O. Box 8101
San Luis Obispo, CA 93409-8101