A few weeks ago I reviewed Mariska Vos-Bolman’s new book, Sew Cute to Cuddle. Through a comment on that post I met Ame Verso, the Content Director for F+W, Mariska’s publisher. Ame acquired Mariska’s book and helped to clarify F+W’s approach to selling individual patterns as PDFs on their own site and on Etsy in order to reach a larger customer base.
I really appreciated Ame’s willingness to share the story behind her publishing house’s decision and invited her to be a guest on my podcast in order to have a wider conversation about craft book publishing in today’s market.
In this episode of the show I ask Ame:
- What she saw in Mariska’s proposal that caught her eye, and what she likes generally in a craft book proposal.
- How much audience size matters and whether an author can publish a book today even if they bring a very small (or no) online audience with them.
- Who owns the copyright for material published in a craft book. Can readers sell what they make from patterns in craft books?
- What a typical author contract look like and how are royalties structured.
- Whether she thinks you need an agent to publish a craft book, or a lawyer, or both (or neither).
- How craft publishing changing and what that mean for the future of media companies.
Ame was very generous in the amount of knowledge she shares and I think anyone interested in craft books (as a consumer, author, or potential author) will find this conversation to be valuable. After you listen, send Ame a message on Twitter: @AmeVerso.
We reference:
- Lisa Lam’s books
- Mariska Vos-Bolman’s book and my blog post review
- Stitch Craft Create and the Stitch Craft Create Etsy shop
- I Love Cross Stitch
And Ame shared her recommendations with us! They are:
- Edward’s Menagerie
- Magisto
- using washi tape to mark the seam allowance line on your sewing machine bed
I hope you enjoy the show! You can stream it here by clicking the arrow below or download it from iTunes. Thank you!
I was so excited to listen to this podcast today! I am a publishing nerd (and a literary agent) and I love talking about books, craft, and craft books.
I agree with 99.9% of everything Abby and Ame say here. There is valuable information and wonderful insights here that can benefit a writer at any stage.
But I disagree with how they characterize literary agents. I’ll be the first to admit my bias, but I’m also the first to admit that:
A. You don’t always need an agent to sell a book, especially in craft.
B. Publishers are not evil empires twiddling their moustaches to grab all the rights they can from an author
C. A lawyer can help the contract negotiation process without question.
But also, agents are not twiddling OUR moustaches trying to milk writers of their precious advances and royalties, either. Our 15% is earned through negotiating offers and contracts, for sure, but also for career advice, editorial work, idea generation, networking, marketing and promotion help, and being a trusted ally in the author’s corner when inevitable problems arise. Agents who collect their commission and disappear are bad agents. Having no agent is better than having a bad agent.
But also, I disagree with what Ame said about agents getting in the way of the editor/author relationship. Certainly, I prefer to talk money and contracts with an editor *on behalf* of my client at the offer stage, mainly because I have more experience doing so than my clients. But then, it’s my job to get out of the way so that my client and her editor can have the best editorial relationship, and I can make sure the business side of things run smoothly. I like to say it’s my job to make sure the trains run on time. My clients do not have to talk through me to talk to their editors, thought I like to be CC’d and kept in the loop and MANY of my clients run things by me first to make sure their ideas are clear, that they’re not stepping on toes, or to generally ask for support when they’re unsure, unsteady, or need some courage to say hard things. That’s my job as an agent–not to be a road block to producing a book.
I also couldn’t agree more about asking for fair, not inflated, advances. Inflated advances don’t help anyone, and especially not my relationship with publishers, if I were to think of only my interests here. Yes, agents ask for more money from publishers. And sometimes there’s more money to be had. Publishers are a business. They don’t work for the author, though they aren’t out to take advantage of the author either. Every author has the right to negotiate and offer, with or with out an agent. I know we all agree here on this.
I’m sorry Ame hasn’t had very good experiences with agents. I’ve sold several books to her US counterparts. Yes, having an agent in the craft market is not the standard. But agents are not out to “take” 15% of an author’s earnings. We’re out to earn it.
Great episode! What a wonderful result of a comment exchange on a blog post.
Thank you so much for listening, Rachel!
Great podcast! Was especially interested in Ame’s comments about agents and the idea that people like to ‘snack’ on content.
Very informative, Thank you Abby.