Archive for the ‘coloring books’ Category
December 25th, 2009
First off – a Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate the holiday.
For me, it’s just another day on the calendar. My husband has to work and will be tired because they will be really busy. Shrug. So I’m working.
I have been doing some background things for the last few days, so while there are no new coloring pages there are some changes in the works.
At my article Line Art on the Internet I talk about how I got started drawing line art and sharing it on the Internet, and how the website Color-Your-Own.com has grown and changed over the years. I can hardly believe I’ve been doing this for five years!
Although I did not set out to make money on the line arts – they were just one of the many things I shared on my websites – they actually turned out to be one of my more consistent money makers. I know you’ve seen the Google Adsense ads at the top and bottom of the page. The funny thing is that Google will tell you that those ads on pages that are image oriented just don’t make money – put them on articles. As you may know, I’m a writer – so from the beginning of my efforts to make money on the Internet I’ve written articles and blogs to carry Google Adsense ads. And what happened? By and large, the coloring pages and clip art made more money than the articles – LOL.
The last year or so I’ve also carried Project Wonderful ads. They tout themselves mainly as ads for blogs – again, I make a bit on them.
But it seems that no matter what I do, how hard I try, how frequently I update and add new coloring pages, or how many coloring pages I actually have available my income has absolutely topped out at about $40 to $60 a month. This doesn’t even pay for my ISP, let alone hosting, domain, and my drawing supplies. If it weren’t for the support of my beloved husband, I would have had to give this up a long time ago.
This year I really put a lot of effort into all sorts of promotions for Color-Your-Own.com. I’ve been pleased to death to see traffic increase to 2000 visits a day, and people actually even search FOR the term Color-Your-Own. How cool is that?
And yet – I am working just about full time at this and making $2 a day still. At best. :/
I wondered how it was that the click through rate on the Adsense ads were so dismal. So I committed an Adsense sin, I clicked through on a few coloring pages links and ads to see what was going on.
OMFG. I got everything on earth BUT coloring pages. I got bombarded with pop-ups and deluged with page after page of MORE Adsense ads disguised as links or directories, always promising coloring pages but very rarely delivering any. It boggles the mind. And NO WONDER my visitors quickly learn to grab the coloring page you want and head out without clicking on anything. Sheesh. I also noticed that the text ads by and large were not very relevant. It’s one thing to have ads to sell Tennessee Walking horses on a coloring page of a Tennessee Walker along with coloring page ads but to have ads for all kinds of completely unrelated things is just a waste of space and time – for you and for me.
Recently I signed up for what I promised myself was my last effort with affiliate marketing. I am actually favorably impressed at the moment – except they assume I’ve got a few thousand to drop into advertising with Adwords and the other big advertising guys like Yahoo and Ask.com. I don’t. But I DO HAVE this website getting 2000 hits a day… and if anyone is going to bombard you with irrelevant ads it may as well be ME – LOL. No seriously, because if you do decide to purchase something or sign up for something, I will get $1 to in some cases $25 rather than a few pennies. And YOU will get a real offer to look at, not just an endless stream of promises to give you more coloring pages. I will also be sharing my Squidoo lenses, many of which really are about coloring pages and coloring books. Since I’ve become a Giant Squid my Squidoo earnings have jumped up and I can’t help but think that they will do even better with some exposure on Color-Your-Own.com and since we already have a relationship, you and I, I bet you’ll be interested in a lot of the same stuff I am interested in.
Meanwhile, a wonderful kind lovely person has offered to create downloadable coloring books in PDF form from my drawings. While this sounds awesome, I am having some doubts. First – I know that many of the older coloring pages will have to be redrawn before they are really ready to be printed out in 8.5 x 11 form and look good. Second – you do realize there are over 300 coloring pages, right? I’m a bit whelmed just at the thought of it. But I’m going to gather my courage, attempt to overcome my perfectionism and get to work on making that available. This person has kindly said it would be just fine if I wish to sell the coloring books thus I believe I probably will.
So expect to see some changes around the website. The most obvious will be the changes in the ads, although it might not be all that obvious after all. Just that I will be getting the affilliate payment or Squidoo traffic instead of pennies from Adsense. I will be going through and repairing and updating some pages and redrawing some of the drawings in preparation for the coloring books.
And most of all, thank you – every one of you wonderful people who use my coloring pages for line art, for crafts, for entertainment. Thank you for being part of my life and giving me this opportunity and most of all for letting me know that someone uses and enjoys my artwork.
A great big group hug to you all.
Summer Fey Foovay
August 29th, 2009
I ran onto a deal on eBay a few weeks ago – downloadable e-coloring books on CD. After having a look at them, I’ve decided to offer them free to you at Color-Your-Own.com just as a little way to generate some interest and traffic. Many of them are suitable for younger children, too. Most of my work is more generated with older children or adults in mind.
Anyway, click here and go check out the 40 free e-coloring books and download any that you’d like to have, share, etc. enjoy!
Summer Fey Foovay
July 16th, 2009
I just had to share this with you – two free downloadable coloring books. One is for Pagan kids (but this Pagan adult is going to enjoy it!) and the other is a beautiful fairy alphabet to color. Needless to say I’ve added the link to all my Squidoo lenses about coloring and fairies, and I just had to share it here, too. They are here on Proud to be Pagan.
I hope to get a few more things done today on the Internet and I’ve finally gotten a decent amount of housework done. Although I’ll be working more hours at work after my transfer goes through, I will have a regular schedule. Which means I’ll be able to set aside a regular time to blog, write, draw new coloring pages…
March 2nd, 2009
I think I finally found a constructive way to use those long commercial breaks during the NASCAR races – I built a new lens! Coloring books for nature lovers has plenty of coloring books to offer nature lovers – seascapes, landscapes, national parks and of course, lots and lots of wildlife and wild birds. Most of them are for older children or adults, but there are also a few focused towards younger children. Heres a sample:
Now that was fun. Life has been a bit hectic lately and I haven’t had much time to add coloring pages at Color-Your-Own.com. Most of my time has been dedicated to promoting my novel, The River Way – you can download it for free as an ebook, or purchase it at Barnes and Noble. See, I just can’t stop! LOL.
Have a great week
Summer Fey Foovay
February 7th, 2009
Fairy art
I had so much fun today creating a new Squidoo lens devoted to fairy coloring books. I just had to share the fun I have been having since I bought the Dover publications, Rackhams Fairy Tale Coloring Book. I can’t believe it is still on sale for just $3.95 – what a steal. It isn’t all coloring pages – 17 tales from The Brothers Grimm fairy tales are included with their illustrations.
It was really a blast creating the lens and looking up all my favorite fairy DVDs and books and coloring books. I hope you’ll spare a minute to drop by and see it.
Summer Fey Foovay
January 17th, 2009
Well, I was once again rejected for Giant Squid status. I had already decided if I was rejected a third time I was going to quit bothering, so yeah, I’m done. The coloring book lenses do very well though, as well as any lenses about the line art at color-your-own.com so those will stay up and maybe even be added to. I was quite proud that my group for Coloring Books and Coloring Pages on the Internet was awarded an “Excellent Group Award”.
I have a number of projects I want to get going on next week – but I’ll sure try and get a few new coloring pages up, too.
December 12th, 2008
Partridge in a Pear Tree Coloring Page
I am making a bit of progress on redrawing the Christmas Coloring Pages. Today I uploaded and added the links for the PDF printable versions of The Partridge in a Pear Tree Coloring page and the Two Turtledoves coloring page. Both have been redrawn, and the new and improved drawing is on the regular page, too. I dare you to tell the difference! The circle has been redrawn with a lighter line, and some minor corrections have been made to both drawings. When all of them are done they should all look more uniform, and print out better in the standard 8.5 x 11 size.
Meanwhile, for my beloved horse-crazy fans, check out this lens about Gallop Home – a horse board game, and coloring book! While you are at Squidoo, check out my lens on Free Printable Christmas Coloring Pages.
I’ve got to go into town for a while today, but hopefully I’ll get some new coloring pages, and more of the Christmas coloring pages redo up later tonight or in the morning! And oh yes – you may have noticed a new format for the blog. It still needs a little tweaking – but I think I like it a lot better. You?
Enjoy!
Summer Fey Foovay
December 9th, 2008
Emperor Penguins Coloring Page
Egyptian Cat Statue (Bast)
I did a couple of drawings to use on the ATCs I’m creating for Swapbot – so I went ahead and sized them for coloring pages, too! So we have two new coloring pages:
And while I was at it, I added the free printable PDF version of The Woodland Christmas Tree Coloring Page.
My project for the day is getting the 12 Days of Christmas Coloring Pages touched up and converted to PDF files. Nothing like printing them out in a larger format to find all the little mistakes you missed the first time! Hopefully, I’ll get those finished up today and maybe even be able to make one PDF of all the Christmas pages so you can download your own Christmas Coloring book from Color-Your-Own.com.
If you like my art, drop by my Zazzle store to find Christmas cards, postage and gift items for sale featuring some of my work.
I just made a nice big order for myself from Dover – the source of many of the coloring books you see listed in the right hand column here. They are having a big sale with 300 of their best selling books 50% off! I hate to tell you how much I spent (blush) but I got a great selection of art books, and a couple of their new royalty free clipart with CD-rom books.
Meanwhile, enjoy the new coloring pages!
Summer Fey Foovay
December 4th, 2008
I have a Christmas Party to go to today! That and some ATCs to do for a swap at Swapbot just might take all my time and I may not get a new Christmas coloring page added for you today.
BUT – I just read this informative lens on Squidoo about the Christmas Tree and guess what? The author has a FREE printable Christmas coloring book in PDF form. You have to go read the lens to find out how to get it. Tell her foovay sent you 
That inspired me to do my own lens on the Christmas Coloring Pages at Color-Your-Own.com and – when I can find the time – convert at least all the Christmas coloring pages to the new printable PDF files and see if I can find a way to make it where you can just download all the Christmas pages at once. I’ll work on that soon as I can – meanwhile, enjoy the Christmas Tree lens!
Summer Fey Foovay
