I guess I would never be taught such specific things of an illustrator's life without reading this book. Even though this book is mainly covered the US and the UK's markets but it is still essential for any emerging as well as aspiring illustrator to have a sense of the career's prospect inside out. The author - Darrel Rees - is an illustrator, a collage artist and a founder of Heart agency so there is no doubt that he has a multitude of experiences to talk about in this book. Each chapter includes one page interview of many renowned illustrators, which gives us more insight and inspiration to move forward in this path. My favorite piece of advice to new illustrators is Victor Ngai's: "The ones who eventually make it are not necessarily the most talented ones but the most persistent ones.". Last but not least, I posted here the content of the book so you can have an overview of what this book is all about (the funny thing is that it has the page numbers in the content page but no page is marked with numbers....):

Introduction: The broad and social church of illustration

Chapter 1: Getting started

Chapter 2: Preparing you portfolio

Chapter 3: Job-hunting and interviews

Chapter 4: Producing the first job

Chapter 5: Billing it - financial tips

Chapter 6: Promoting yourself

Chapter 7: Studios

Chapter 8: Agents

full review