Working with Lo Scarabeo

Have I mentioned how much I love writing for the team at Lo Scarabeo?

Riccardo, my primary contact there, and the other folks at Lo Scarabeo work very differently from their U.S. counterparts. More and more, deck publishers here in the States focus on decks tied to market trends. (To be fair, they have to take this approach. The American Tarot community is very small, and publishing funds are tight.) The Italians, on the other hand, will actually publish decks just because they "think this kind of deck ought to be out there."

in other words, if an idea for a deck strikes their fancy, they'll invest the time and money needed to develop it, even if the concept isn't something that's "hot" at the moment. I think that's pretty rare in the publishing industry as a whole, and it says a lot about the passion for Tarot that drives the company.

They're also remarkably laid back. Recently, when I started yammering on about deadlines and assigning milestones to specific parts of our biggest project, Riccardo came back with, "Mark ... dont' be so American about this. Relax! We'll get it done."

When's the last time I've heard a comment like that from an American publisher? (Like, never.)

It's not just deadlines, either -- the Lo Scarabeo team takes a completely different approach to work, too. Did you know Italians -- like many Europeans -- take the entire month of August off for vacation?

Think about that for a minute. Here in America, most folks can barely get stingy employers to part with one week of vacation time per year. (During your first year at SkyTel, a company I used to work for, you had to work a year before the company would allow vacation time; after your first year, you got five lousy days!)

By contrast, we're currently hustling to get several Lo Scarabeo projects done before August 1 ... because everyone at the company gets the entire month of August to travel, relax, and recharge his or her creative batteries.

It's almost enough to make you want to immigrate to Italy, yes? But since I'm bound to stick around here in America for a while longer, I'm doing the next best thing: enjoying my work with a company that combines:

- a passionate love for Tarot

with

- a healthy perspective on balancing life and work.

Here's hoping you'll find a way to bring a little of Lo Scarabeo's passion and balance to your own life and work.

PS -- Speaking of Lo Scarabeo: which of their decks do you enjoy most? Leave a note in the comments, or drop me a line. I'm just curious.

Comments

[Henrietta @ Oracle Passage]

My favorite deck is the Fey Tarot :-)