TeePublic is having a sale, and they encouraged me to spread the word. I did on various social media platforms, and Ill post those here. I’d appreciate a share if you have the time or are so inclined, and it would be cool if you’re inspired to pick something up for yourself or as a gift!
There’s also always my RedBubble shop and Maze Book, too. (I’m still slowly working on a 2nd book.)
Apologies for the shameless pug, but I have to get the word out somehow. I don’t pay for advertising, as the artist profit for print-on-demand services is pretty small. If I can simply fund my creative outlets, it’s a nice lil’ personal win.
So, TeePublic is having a sale, which means you can get my art on all kinds of stuff for cheaper than usual. It's mostly mazes, but I may occasionally do other silly stuff.tee.pub/lic/AiXeLsyD13Check out some unique stuff for yourself or for your holiday gift list! Maybe share too, please?
I have been slowly working on mazes for a second book, and contemplating how to compile my stack of older ones for a third. (Some of which have definitely ended up here over the years.)
I didn’t include solutions in my first book, as they are very small and relatively easy to navigate… and I was in a rush to kind of test the process and see how the KDP model of print-on-demand publishing worked.
I reached out recently on Reddit & Facebook to solicit advice on solving mazes, and got some great insight. (Check out r/mazes on reddit if you’re so inclined, there is a bunch of cool stuff!)
I learned that I draw perhaps a little more chaotic than some of my forward-thinking fellow maze artists. I generally keep a bunch of open paths from each end, then connect them. Sometimes, what I thought was an open path… is apparently not. I even just recently learned that at least one of my mazes in my first book is impassable – oops! 🤣
I plan to do better with this next book, to make sure all the mazes are passable, and to include the solutions. If you have any advice for a guy that doesn’t absolutely love solving mazes to solve his own mazes, please drop it here in the comments!
In my solicitation for advice, I realized that I have been seeing a lot of fantastic work by other people over the last few decades, and not sharing any of it. Here I will rectify that. Please, check out the following!
MerioKodo – Mazes with secret codes, to unlock several levels of puzzle solving.
Mazetoons by Joe Wos – Inimitable cartoon themed mazes by an award-winning & record-breaking artist.
That’s a super random & not complete list. Please, let me know in the comments who we should all be checking out, especially if it’s you & your projects!
If you’re taking advantage of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Cyber Monday sales… take the time to consider some of my Christmas themed maze T-shirts from Tee Public or Red Bubble!
You can customize the color of the shirt, choose from many styles, and get the same designs on all kinds of merchandise like coffee mugs, stickers, and pillows.
I was going to share some mazes for Thanksgiving, and I realized I have a bunch of them. I did some quick dirty coloring of some old ones. I am sharing new ones that will be in my second book, some from the first book, and I have some that are loosely related to fall or Thanksgiving dinner.
Please, use them to have some fun this holiday season! They could be placemats, an activity for those that aren’t cooking while they’re waiting for dinner or for company to arrive, or used as a game to see who finishes first. You could use them to make place cards too if you wanna get creative!
If you complete the mazes by printing them out & solving, or on your phone/tablet/PC with a drawing app, share it on you preferred social media platform & tag me! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on pretty much all of ’em. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, TikTok, Tumblr, YouTube, etc.) I’d love to see a video of a race to complete the smaller easier ones… and I love to see solutions! I like to draw mazes, not so much solving them.
Mmm, Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffing is my favorite. I need to figure out how to do a stuffing maze.
You can solve these while listening to one of my Thanksgiving playlists on Amazon or Spotify, or while talking about what you’re thankful for! I love the reflection this time of year.
This year’s turkey maze:
2023 Turkey Maze
Thanksgiving-ish themed mazes from the upcoming book:
Turkey Giblets Maze & Corn Maze …Maze – from my upcoming second book.
Newly (& quickly) colorized old Thanksgiving themed mazes:
Fresh takes on old Thanksgiving Mazes
Random older related mazes:
<shameless plug> The turkey from this year and the “giblets” maze are also available on some cool merchandise from my RedBubble and TeePublic shops too. Why not get a turkey maze T-shirt or an apron with the giblets maze? You can get both designs on hoodies, pet bandanas, stickers, magnets, coffee mugs, and even a damn shower curtain if so inclined. </shameless plug>
🦃 UPDATE! 🦃
After posting this, I found an OLD turkey maze of mine on Pinterest, so I downloaded & edited it a bit. So, here’s one more:
So, Amazon has October Prime days now on the 11th, & 12th, and the behemoth has cleared the path for other online retailers to trudge along on their wake.
I don’t think my book will be on sale, but if you haven’t bought it yet… let a few brothers hold $5.99 and add it to your cart with all your other stuff! Jeff Bezos and I need your financial support. He needs to build space ships, and I need to pay medical bills and buy LEGO sets.
In slightly cooler news, TeePublic and RedBubble are offering site-wide sales:
TeePublic touts “up to 35%” on October 12th-15th & October 26th-29th.
RedBubble touts 20% on October 9th-14th & 30% off on October 23rd-27th.
If you have thought about grabbing some stuff from either one of my shops, now would be a great time. The T-shirts, stickers, and magnets are cool. I hope to order mores tuff to check out the quality. You can get wall art to clocks, to tote bags, to mugs, to shower curtains!
If you have not thought about it, now would be a great time to think about it.
They’re good gifts for people that have everything.
I recently published my first maze book (via Amazon KDP), have sold a few copies, and thought some people here may want to support a local artist. I’m already working on book № 2!
The first book is packed with easy-to-solve mazes, and I think it would be enjoyable for kids as well as adults.
I had my youngest drop a copy in one of those free little library boxes nearby over last weekend. Hopefully someone out there locally picked it up & is enjoying it already!
I also put together some designs to be printed on merchandise, and I’m trying two different shops online right now. I’ll be uploading more themed designs as soon as I complete work on my 2nd maze book.
I have sold a few T-shirts, and bought some stickers and a magnet for myself. Between the two shops you can get everything from coffee mugs and pillows to shower curtains or clocks featuring my designs.
Check out my first #maze book! this was a test run, I plan to do more. can you spare $6 to help fund some art? If not, it’s cool… maybe just share the link? https://wp.me/pwqzc-3ba I am super excited to get this out there. How do you share a damn link on here?
So, recently, I have had some bouts of shenanigans in & out of the hospital with infections and complications stemming from Diverticulitis.
So, I drew up a maze inspired by recent events for the surgeon, scanned & colored it, got it printed at 12″x18″, signed it, and got a frame for it. I’ll give him some dry-erase markers, too.
One week out, I feel like I’m in good hands. He had a lot of neat funny stuff in his office. And apparently, Wednesdays are cool because he gets to use a robot to assist.
Thanks for taking the time to read! Check out my first maze book on Amazon, or get yourself some of my maze merch from TeePublic or RedBubble. I’m trying to see how far I can take this thing… and I gots to pay me some medical bills! I get about a dollar per book or shirt since this is all print-on-demand.
Yeah, I have had some down-time lately, so I finally hit the maze thing full force. You may have read about it here or here.
I got my books today! Getting reports from others that they have theirs too, thanks for posting & tagging me! Feel free to share the link anywhere & everywhere! Ha ha.
As of now, I have sold 25 copies, and it’s staying solid there. It’s not a huge number, but hey… it’s more than I have ever sold before! We did get a private photo of our friends’ daughter solving one of the mazes in the book, too. How cool is that? Early reports are that it is challenging and fun for a 10yo.
I need help getting the word out, as I have a $0 advertising budget.
If you can, leave a review on Amazon, or even at GoodReads! It would be awesome if you add it to your “to read” or wish list, or even marked as “read” at GoodReads, or follow me as an author there.
The consistently most visited post at my blog is In a maze mood, I guess. from January 2012. I have no idea what drives everyone there. Maybe Pinterest? I am tempted to update that page with a link to the book!
I’m also very interested in the Kindle books… Is it useless on a Kindle? Can you mark it up on anything?
OK, the creative bug has bit. I’ve opened two shops for maze merchandise, or at least tried to. I went to RedBubble and TeePublic. The TeePublic one seems to be live, but the RedBubble one is not (yet). [They’re saying to wait 5 business days.]
I’ll have a merch page here at the blog, but here are the links for now:
I appreciate your support of my artistic endeavors. I know money is tight for a lot of people right now. It’s cool if you can’t buy, or simply don’t want to. I can dig it’s not everyone’s style. Please, share the link if you’re so inclined, even directly to someone who you think may be interested.
If you do end up buying a T-shirt, book, or whatever. Please, give a review on the site… and post it on Social Media & tag me! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on pretty much everything out there.
I can’t help it. I need to draw mazes. I should try to get them out there. There are so many print-on-demand services that handle all the manufacturing and logistics… it would be crazy to not try & generate some passive income from my mazes.
How do I choose though?
I certainly have a style. So, I drew a maze, emailed a bunch of services at once, and submitted webforms to others asking why I should choose them. It should prove entertaining whether any of it lands or not.
Here’s the email:
Hello friends,
I write to you today somewhat overwhelmed. The great and powerful all-knowing Google has given me a multitude of options. I have so many options I’m nearly paralyzed with indecision.
Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. I’m an artist of sorts. I’m a bit of a strange duck. I need a creative outlet so I turned to blogging, so I guess I write a bit too. I have been drawing mazes since I was about 12 or 13 years old, and now I’m 46. I have been repeatedly told I should publish them or something, but I just never did. I was more about squiggles than coherent themes or cartoons. I have branched out.
I would like to get some of my mazes on merchandise like T-shirts or mugs, and maybe into self-published books. I had a guy with a sublimation print business set up some maze mugs that came with a little dry-erase marker… but he closed up shop before any real orders were made. He also made some really cool one-off socks!
This is where you guys come in. Why would I use your service over the others out there? Is there a one-stop-shop where I can set up merchandise and publish books? Sell art prints? I have browsed the websites. I have read the low price and high quality sales pitches. How would you, a creative person, implore a fellow creative person with an odd penchant for writing weird emails and letters to use your service over all the others?
I’m a huge fan of the no-money-up-front model, where you have a shop and a site and I have a small home there. In that theme I would be using paint.NET or GIMP to tweak the hand-drawn mazes… although I just learned via Twitter that Scribus may be another invaluable free tool for putting together a book. Do any of you offer printed mugs with dry erase markers? Also… I have a legacy pile of mazes some of which are stupidly sized larger than my scanner. Do you think phone scans would be acceptable if they can provide good enough black & white image quality?
I certainly wouldn’t mind some somewhat passive income from a creative outlet, that can enable my stupid guitar habit or my rekindled LEGO habit. I know my last creative “money making” ventures in local bands actually ended up costing money, so hopefully this pans out somewhat more successful. Unless you also pay in “gas money” and free beer?
Would anyone want to wear a shirt with a maze on it? Does anyone buy print media maze books and do them? Good questions that I would like to answer. I could print a book of mazes that I have drawn around letters to companies like Pizza Hut or Pepperidge Farm. Should maze books include solution pages? I like to draw mazes, not solve them. Is that weird?
I’ll attach some samples of my work. I really would like to hear your thoughts on why I should use your site over others. Perhaps one of my mazes will inspire you!
I’m not happy at all with that paper, the pen, or the scan quality… but I did it really quick. I attached a few random past works to the emails & web submissions where applicable also.
I’m also looking into print-on-demand publishing. Would anybody out there reading actually but this stuff? Please, let me know in the comments.
What about a book of mazes sent to companies for various ridiculous reasons and their replies? Why read it here for free online when you could buy it? Yay! Send me money!
In all seriousness, any advice is appreciated… especially if you’re already successfully doing such things.
World (and Lunar) Domination 