Maker Pro: Essays on Making a Living as a Maker

by John Baichtal, Andrew Huang, Sophi Kravitz

"Maker Pro" is a book of essays by more than a dozen prominent and up-and-coming professional makers (Maker Pros). Each essay includes advice and stories on topics such as starting a kit-making business, taking a hardware project open-source, and plenty of encouragement to "quit your day job." This book is a reference for anyone who dreams of turning a hobby into a small business, and features stories from well-known professional makers; it will turn aspiration into inspiration.

162 pages, ebook

First published November 25, 2014

About the author

John Baichtal has written or edited over a dozen books, including the award-winning Cult of Lego (2011 No Starch Press), LEGO hacker bible Make: LEGO and Arduino Projects (2012 Maker Media) with Adam Wolf and Matthew Beckler, Robot Builder (Que 2014) and Basic Robot Building with LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (Que 2012), as well as Maker Pro (Maker Media 2014), a collection of essays and interviews describing life as a professional maker. John lives in Minneapolis with his wife and three children.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good read.

It is good to read the essays by those or about those who have taken what they have a passion for and turned it into something that they can make a bit of a living off of.

The ups and downs of starting out and the perils of success.

I did not agree with the viewpoint of some of the people but that is also what makes a book better, something to challenge your thought process.

The Kindle version was not laid out particularly well however. Rather than linking to images they were inline with the text. Every chapter heading was an awkward mess. But the writing portion was professionally done.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful introduction and insight into the varied philosophies, passions, and skills that draw and enable makers to pursue a professional maker life. Though the essays and interviews range widely in writing (and speaking) talent, Maker Pro can still boast the same level of readability claimed by the books and journals published in most other professions.

[Chantelle Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book with good tips. The essay-and-interview format book strikes me as very time-sensitive though. If you're interested, read it now. It's short and worthwhile.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Expected better

[JMRL]

Find it at JMRL: http://aries.jmrl.org/record=b1328983~S9