Are you a freelance graphic designer who feels under-valued, beat up and disrespectfully treated? Well, take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. Design writer Cathy Fishel is currently assembling stories and experiences from freelance designers all over the world for her upcoming book “Freelance Design in Practice” to be published in Spring 2009. “Everyone has the same problems,” she says, “Things don’t always go smoothly, you’re not getting paid, there’s no work coming in – it’s scary sometimes.”

However, Fishel’s book aims to help freelancers combat these obstacles. “The stance we take is: OK, so we know things are difficult, now what can you do to make it better?” she says. What makes the book unique is that it is told from the perspective of working designers. All topics and advice – which range from how to establish your personal vision to finding the right client to managing work flow- will be culled from real-life experiences of freelancers that Fishel has interviewed (she will also show examples of their work) . “The book is not about telling people things like ‘You have to have business plan’”, she says, “It’s kind of like sitting down with a bunch of friends and share stories and figure out what the possibilities are. We’re showing what other people have done. The book is full of ideas, advice and options.” But there’s still room for more, Fishel is currently looking for freelance designers in Europe and Asia who want to share their experiences. (If that’s you, please contact her at cathy@fishel.com)

“Freelance Design in Practice” is a companion book to “The In-House Design Handbook” which is just about to be published by RotoVision (stay tuned for our upcoming review). The In-House book is also based on real-life design experiences and tackles all the issues of working in the creative department of a corporate business. “The corporate design field is an underserved market,” says Fishel “It’s very hard to find interesting books about it.” Well, now there’s at least one. And for those who can’t wait until it’s available from Amazon, there’s always the eloquent musings of our own contributor Chris Costello

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