Knitting information, ideas and success stories from women who create real cash flow from their knitting and crochet.
Archive for May, 2009
How To Publish Your Knitting Book
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
After our discussions about copyright, I thought it was a good time for a post from the other side of the fence – if you are a knitting designer and want to publish your knitting patterns, or a teacher and want to publish a knitting book. How do you go about this, how much does it cost and what sort of copyright should you place over your work?
Becoming a published author is actually easier (and cheaper) these days than you might think. There are a huge range of publishers to choose from, many specialising in the crafting categories, and there are also online do-it-yourself services which are free to join and have a "print to order" service. This means that you don’t have to invest large amounts of money into printing hundreds or thousands of copies of your book before you know how well it well sell.
And coming from a knitting business point of view, your first step when considering publishing your work should be finding out whether there is a market for it! You need to think about who your target market is, whether the content of your book is popular at the moment and will appeal to a broad range of people, or whether it is very targeted and appealing to a smaller niche market.
General, broad appeal knitting books tend to be about learning to knit, how to overcome problems, and general knitting or crochet patterns. Even these tend to have some kind of spin on them to make them unique and interesting. As you already know, I’m a fan of niche markets, especially for this kind of project where your niche product has the potential to come “into vogue” and become a bestseller purely because it unique and different.
A good place to start this kind of research is on Amazon.com, where you can see what the most popular books are in each category. If you look in “knitting books” at the moment, the bestselling pattern books include two for sock patterns, two for knitted or crocheted embellishments and decorations, one for warm weather knitting and one that provides solutions for knitting questions. If you look up knitting books, you’ll find a long list of these books which will give you a idea of what is available and where there may be a gap in the market that you can fill.
Once you have chosen your topic and created your content, you’ll need to decide how you are going to publish, advertise and sell your work. You have three main choices for publication:
Option #1 – Use a publisher to copyright, edit, print and distribute your book. There are obviously a huge number of publishers around the world, some very large with wide distribution networks, others smaller and perhaps more suitable for niche publications. Here are some that have a range of craft titles:
• Martingale (martingale-pub.com)
• Lark Books (larkbooks.com)
• Trafalgar Square Publishing (now part of the Independent Publishers Group – ipgbook.com)
• Sterling publishing (sterlingpublishing.com)
The main advantage of using a publisher is that your knitting book will be more widely distributed, a lot faster than you could ever do yourself. It will be sold into stores and advertised in catalogs, most publishers have reps that will promote and sell your book. You’ll also have experienced editors giving you feedback and ideas. However, you will be giving away a lot of your control over the book, as well as the profits.
Option #2 – Self-publish your knitting or crochet book using a service such as lulu.com or createspace.com (who sell through amazon.com). This way you have much more control over how your knitting book comes together, how and where it is sold and promoted and the copyrights over the book.
If you want to use less restrictive copyrights, and allow people to knit your patterns and sell them, or use your patterns or teaching techniques in their knitting classes and basically get your name more well known by sharing your work as much as possible, then self-publishing may be a better option.
You will get more of the profits, and most of these services allow you to print on demand which means there aren’t high costs involved in start-up. But you won’t get the same level of distribution as with an offline publisher. You can order copies for yourself and sell them offline, and your book will be listed on Amazon and various other online sellers, but you won’t have anyone actively promoting it unless you organise it yourself.
Option #3 – Publish online as a knitting E-Book – if you already have a website, or you know of sites where your book would sell well, you could publish your knitting book as an e-book and purely sell online. This is a great way to start because it costs very little to do, and will give you some feedback and an idea of the size of your market and how well your book may sell when you do decide to publish offline.
There are also online pattern sellers that will list your patterns individually, which means you can control the copyright and distribution of each of your designs individually. Or you could list them on your own website.
There are several copyright options available to you. If you do not want your patterns to be used for anything other than personal use, then you can add the phrase “all rights reserved” to your copyright notice. You can also add exceptions such as “not to be used for commercial gain”.
Personally, I’m not a fan of restrictive copyrights like this. The world is moving towards a much more free approach to sharing information and ideas, and this means that ideas are passed around and reach a far wider audience than if you severely restrict their use. As a designer, your income comes from sales of patterns or books, and lots of sales are made from personal recommendations, so the more people who know about you the better!
You can use a Creative Commons Copyright, which means that you are happy for people to share, build on and perpetuate your work which is much more in the spirit of the knitting community! To find out more about Creative Commons Copyright, have a look at this site which has lots of great copyright information for knitters and crocheters – www.girlfromauntie.com/journal
Whichever method you choose, publishing your knitting book means more exposure for your designs, and helps get your name more widely known as a designer. Being a published knitting designer gives you more credibility, and may help land other opportunities to further your knitting design career.
The Knitting Song
Friday, May 15th, 2009
Just a little song that someone on Twitter recommended, which I have been enjoying with my afternoon tea!
If you would like to follow my updates on Twitter, I’m "knitterpreneur"
Machine Knitting Success Story – Diana from Wizardknits
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Diana learned to knit from her great grandmother, and although she didn't realise it at the time, the skills she developed put her on the path to becoming a true “knitterpreneur”.
Like so many knitting businesses, it started as a hobby and grew over time into a full-time occupation. Now Diana enjoys spending her days doing what she loves to do. Read on to find how she has created a fantastic niche knitting business that grows and grows, with an advertising budget of zero!
Diana's knitterpreneur journey started back in 1975 when her daughter was born. After learning from her great grandmother how to knit complete garments for her dolls, she started doing the same for her daughter. Neighbors noticed her creations and started asking her to knit for their children too.
Diana offered a very personalised service, with her customers able to choose colours and adjust styles and sizing, and very soon she could hardly keep up with demand. Even after moving interstate and starting her knitting business over, her customer base quickly grew as word spread about her unique and high quality creations including children's clothes and layettes. Even today she knits for the same customers, but now it's for their grandchildren!
The Switch To Machine Knitting
It was at this point in her business that she realised she just couldn't keep up with hand knitting alone, so Diana invested in a knitting machine and hasn't looked back. After figuring out how to use the machine herself, she also began teaching others. This included demonstrations in yarn-stores, craft shows, school events and adult education classes.
Throughout her knitting career, Diana has used every one of the five “Knitting For Profit” strategies. She has done contract knitting for designers to test patterns and correct mistakes, she taught others how to knit, she has re-created vintage knitwear for a Parisian couturier, she has designed knitting patterns of her own, and also created unique made-to-order garments for theatre, vintage and historical costuming. She never tires of knitting, because something new and interesting is always available!
How Diana's Son Changed Her Whole Business…
Diana's knitting business now includes a great niche market and whole new marketing strategy, all because her son wanted to go to a convention dressed as Harry Potter in a Hogwarts uniform. She knitted up a woollen scarf and school sweater for him, and suddenly there were requests from friends and other fans for the same. Her son posted the items on the internet, and they got more orders than they could fill – the scarves selling out in just 3 hours!
Diana's knitting service had always been so personalised she hadn't thought that she would be able to sell online, but after the success of the scarves and sweaters she created wizardknits.com and found that her high quality garments and personalised service were a winning formula online as well as off.
She has not spent a cent on advertising – all her traffic and orders come from word of mouth and referrals. People from around the world now know her name and will seek her out to get their knitted wizarding garments.
The secret she says, is authenticity. When you buy from wizardknits, you get a quality product of 100% wool that has the most authentic design and colours available. And the second most important factors are customisation and service. She tailors each sweater to suit her customers and always maintains communication with them. She will answer each and every email because “If you want to get a sale, you need to act like you are interested and respond to questions. Working on the internet is not the same as being live in front of someone, but you still need to communicate with people!”
The Problem Of Pricing?
Every knitterpreneur has to contend with the issue of pricing – valuing your time and skills can be hard – and Diana was no different. “I have spent sleepless nights trying to figure out what is a fair price for me, but also working out how much someone would be willing to spend, and I know I would pay almost any price to get something that fit me and looked great. In the end, you need to look at it that way, get the best materials and make it as something you would buy yourself”.
She has found that her most expensive products actually sell just as well (if not better) than her lower priced ones, which shows that people are willing to pay more when they are getting a high quality niche product that they won't find anywhere else.
Stock Control And Minimising Costs
Diana has some great advice for keeping costs down. Once you find your niche and know what knitted products you are going to provide you'll be able to order your yarns in bulk and from yarn wholesalers rather than retail. Diana has found that by knitting to order (and having virtually no stock) she can order only the yarn she needs, so she doesn't have costly leftovers lying around and she doesn't need lots of space to store stock.
Diana's Advice For Starting Out?
“The first thing you need to do is decide whether you are ready to spend the time to make your knitting into a business. You can be knitting furiously all day but it doesn't make a knitting business, there are a lot of things that go with it. If you spend the hours to start the right way, and if you set it up correctly then it pretty much runs itself.”
And Her Advice For Starting Machine Knitting…
“There's a big learning curve with a knitting machine, in my opinion you need to spend the money and get a good quality machine. So you need to decide if your knitting business is ready for it – do you have enough orders and business to warrant it? A knitting machine is an investment, I take it off in my tax return, and my business did not warrant one in the beginning, but it came to a point where I just couldn't keep up with demand and it really helped.”
“There are many different kinds of knitting machine so you need one that suits your business and the kind of knitwear you produce. Stay away from plastic machines, and get one with accessories because once you have achieved the learning curve and are comfortable with it, you want your knitting machine to be able to grow with you as you are able to do more complex designs.”
“Remember its a learning experience, you shouldn't assume that you can buy a knitting machine and instantly have a sweater, even the knitting on a machine takes a long time to learn. It will speed things up in the end, and if you are knitting the same things over and over again then its perfect”
Her Favourite Part Of Knitting For Profit?
“I just enjoy the knitting, and knowing that the person on the other end just can't wait to get what I'm making for them. You would think I would get tired of knitting these, but they are all different – different sizes and colours. I knit hundreds of sweaters and scarves a year, so you can't do that without really loving it!
And it's the unsolicited testimonials and that they are always pleasantly surprised when they open their package from me, that's what I enjoy hearing”
Visit Diana's website at www.wizardknits.com and if you would like to know more or ask any questions you can contact her by clicking here.
An Update On Knitting Pattern Copyrights
Monday, May 11th, 2009
The comments after my post about quick knitting patterns were great because they highlighted an issue that most knitters who sell their work will face, whether you can use a someone else’s knitting patterns to make knitted products to sell (even if the knitting pattern is free). So I’ve done a bit of research on copyright and how it applies to knitting and crochet…
Copyright is a form of legal protection for creators of original works (whether literary, artistic, dramatic or musical) which ensures they are credited (and/or paid) for that work for a certain period of time. This includes original knitting and crochet patterns.
Copyright laws were created because there needed to be a balance between sharing ideas and information, and making sure that the original creators of those ideas are credited for them. Without copyright laws, people may be much less willing to share their ideas for fear that others could use their creation to make money, with no credit or reward to them for their inspiration. But sometimes copyright works against the author, with people unwilling to use an idea or inspiration for fear of infringing copyright, and so the work is never widely known.
When you find a knitting pattern, whether it is in a published book or free on the internet, it is automatically subject to copyright laws, which are in essence the same around the world. If it says "All rights reserved", that means you basically can’t do anything but knit it for yourself or perhaps as a gift. If it just says copyright or says nothing at all, then the best course of action is to contact the designer and ask.
Obviously, you can’t just change a couple of stitches and claim a design as your own, but you can use the ideas and techniques in a pattern to create your own designs. Exactly how much different it needs to be to not infringe copyright is like asking "how long is a piece of yarn?". A lot of it is down to common sense and courtesy really – if you’re not sure, just ask the designer. The knitting world is generally a friendly and sharing community, and every author can decide what you are allowed to do with their patterns. If you ask, most are quite happy to at least discuss it.
There are also patterns available that are in the "public domain". This means that their copyright term has ended, and you are completely free to use them, reproduce them, modify them and resell them as you wish. Generally these are vintage knitting patterns published before 1963 (this is for the US, and providing their copyright has not been renewed).
These days there is a big swing towards "free licence", which means many people are putting their original ideas and works out into the world happy for people to use them as long as they credit them as the original creator. I really like this model because it encourages sharing and collaboration, which is something that sits very well with the knitting community spirit.
If you are a designer, it is also a great way to get your patterns known by lots of people, because they will be more willing to share and recommend them. You are also likely to make more sales worldwide with this model because it opens up whole new markets – especially people who want to make money from knitting and need unique patterns that they can sell from!
And when you think about it, the actual knitting pattern is really only part of the creative process of the finished knitted product. The knitter will choose the colours and yarns and fix mistakes or make small alterations to a pattern. So every finished piece will probably be a bit different from the original design!
If you have patterns that you are happy for people to sell the finished work from, feel free to post your web address and details in the comments section below and get some free traffic! Or if you have any comments or other information about copyright of knitting patterns, please post a reply and let us all know.
Quick and Easy Knitting Pattern Ideas
Monday, May 4th, 2009
There is some great knitting ideas in this quick post to show you some knitting pattern books that have small, fast or easy-to-knit projects.
Great for using up yarn, and music for the profitable knitters ears with many projects able to be completed in a day or less.
They may fit your niche already, or you could alter them slightly to make them suit using different yarns or colours, or adding decorative elements. All are great for knitting ideas and inspiration.
This is by no means a definitive list of fast-to-knit knitting pattern books but it hopefully gives you some knitting ideas and inspiration. I have contacted the authors and publishers to see if they are happy for the finished projects to be sold, but have not received responses yet, so please wait for an update here, or contact them yourself before going ahead and using these patterns for your knitting business!
I have used Amazon links for the pictures so you can get an idea of their price too.
Judith Durant has created a range of these great pattern books with knitting patterns that use only one skein of yarn.
This is very useful if you are Knitting For Profit because you don't have to worry about dye lots or running out of yarn, and they are relatively small projects so they are fast to complete.
"Speed Knitting" by Kris Percival has fast and easy to complete projects, easy for beginners and fast for experienced knitters. Part of the trick is using chunky yarns and big needles which makes the whole project come along a lot faster.
"Last Minute Knitted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson has a good range of easy projects all able to be completed in under 10 hours. She uses a wide range of colours and textures which will give you great ideas for making your products stand out. [UPDATE] – Joelle has let me know that you can't sell pieces you knit from patterns in this book, but it might still be a good one to have a look at for knitting ideas.
"Weekend Knitting" by Melanie Falick is a popular book that includes projects designed to be knitted in a weekend or less. There are lots of unique designs such as a flower-shaped washcloth and little egg-cozies, plus projects covering a range of knitting difficulties too. [UPDATE] – The publishers replied and said that you can't sell items you knit from Melanie's book, but you could contact the designer of each item individually and ask for permission.
"One Skein" by Leigh Radford is another book of fast-to-knit projects that use only one skein of yarn, mostly patterns for fashion accessories and decorative pieces for homes. There are also projects designed to use up all those leftover bits from other projects.
I will hunt around for some free fast-knit patterns too, and include them in a future post!
-
-
FREE 16 PAGE REPORT!
Enter your name and email below for "The #1 Secret To Making Money From Knitting" Report
You'll discover the #1 reason why successful knitters make money and real examples and strategies that you can use immediately!
Our privacy policy keeps your email 100% safe!
-
Get The Book
About Liz
Welcome! My name is Liz and I am a work at home mother of two. I am also the author of the new book “Knitting for Profit”. I have created this blog to give you more great information, ideas and resources for making money from your knitting passion! [more]
-
Bookmark and Share
Bookmark This:
Plugin by Hendrik Bahr. Recommended Reading
-
You are currently browsing the Knitting For Profit blog archives for May, 2009 .
Subscribe via RSS
Subscribe via RSS