I didn’t attend QuiltCon in February, but I eagerly watched it unfold on Instagram. Over and over again in my feed I saw an incredibly moving quilt. All white with stark black lettering, it read, “I am a woman whose child is dead.” This quilt stirred up intense emotions of sadness among the show’s attendees,…
Looking Out For Ourselves
A few days ago I got an email from a member of the marketing team at F+W Media, a major publisher of craft books, asking if I’d consider reviewing Kim Kruzich’s new book, Retro Mama Scrap Happy Sewing. I love Kim’s work. She’s a meticulous sewist and a great designer with a focus on softies…
How to Get Your Print Patterns Into Stores (the Easy Way): Cut Loose Press
Walking into your favorite local quilt shop and seeing your pattern hanging on the display wall would certainly be a thrill. For many sewing pattern designers, the idea of selling print patterns is very appealing. It means your designs will be sold all over the country and bought by customers who might not ever read…
Insider Tips: How to Get Your Work Published in a Magazine
For crafters looking establish themselves as professional designers, getting published in a magazine can be a good first step toward building a professional portfolio. Designers who've been in the business for many years continue to submit work to magazines because it's a great way to get national distribution and exposure to a new audience, plus…
Forging a New Path in Craft Book Publishing: Introducing Lucky Spool
Signing the contract to publish a book is one of the most thrilling, and overwhelming, moments in any designer’s professional life. You know it’ll be a lot of work, but you can already imagine the day when you walk into the bookstore and there’s your beautiful book sitting on the shelf. You’ll glow with pride…
Why You Should Create Projects for Magazines
I have a pattern in the newest issue of Sew-It Today magazine. This pattern is three little easy-to-sew felt animals: a bear, a bunny, and a kitty. This issue hits newsstands next week and I’m super excited that my project is on the cover! I like Sew-It Today because it gets down to business…
Do You Need an Agent to Publish a Craft Book?: A Chat with Kate McKean
Do you have a book in you? If you think you might like to write a craft book, all sorts of questions begin to pop up in your mind. What’s the first step? How do you write a proposal? What kinds of ideas are appealing to publishers? Will you need an agent? I know…
Is Secrecy Necessary to Sell Craft Books?
On Monday evening I spoke on a panel at a bookstore in Boston with two other craft book authors and an editor from a craft publisher. We talked about how to write a book proposal, we discussed what editors are looking for, and we shared our experiences writing and marketing craft books. It was…
Forecasting the Future of Craft Publishing
In early 2005 I became a craft publisher by starting a craft blog. Between then and now I’ve watched the industry change in radical ways. Favorite magazines folded (remember Adorn? Domino? Now Stitch Craft Create is no more). Big companies bought out smaller, craft-exclusive publishing houses (most recently F+W bought my former publisher, Interweave). More…
A Timeline of Producing a Craft Book
It arrived Friday night and I'm overnighting it back tomorrow. It's been a marathon few days of editing, but it looks amazing. Just a little recap of the process of writing a craft book. I pitched this book to publishers in February of 2011 and it was acquired by Lark in March. It took a…