Selling Patterns
Getting Started in Craft Publishing
I have been toying with plastic canvas designs and was trying to find a publisher. If you can be of assistance it would greatly be appreciated.
Thank You,
Lisa
If this is really a career goal rather than a dream or fantasy, the most important thing to do is quit "toying" and get to work!
Before any publisher will take you seriously, you need to have a reputation in your niche field.
Build a Reputation in Your Field
You can achieve this by starting locally, for example teaching classes using your original designs.
Get articles about your classes and designs in the local papers. Write articles yourself and submit them.
Make and sell your projects - either directly or through a gallery/boutique.
Submit tutorials to magazines which publish plastic canvas projects.
You can start globally (as I did) by using the Internet.
I started The Artful Crafter website, then The Artful Crafter blog to increase my reach.
I've submitted my projects/articles and had them published on Scrap Girls, Scor-it. Wikipedia and various general crafting websites. I have tons of free projects and patterns on The Artful Crafter and I offer the more complex and unique ones for sale.
Blogger.com (my blog hosting service) is free and I retain the rights to my content.
Some blog publishers, like B5Media (recently acquired by Blisstree), contract with you to write content for them while they provide the necessary technical support.
Your content provides pages on which they can run ads - sort of like a magazine.
Be sure to check whether you can retain copyrights to your original patterns.
You may not care, as long as your patterns are reaching the public and you are being paid for writing the blog.
On the other hand, you may want to go elsewhere at some point or compile your patterns into a book. ;-)
Working with a Publishing House
It's quite easy to self publish but not easy to get published. I speak from experience having done the first for almost five years and having attempted the second.
About a year ago, an editor from a major publishing house found me through a Google search.
She was looking for someone to author an authoritative guide on decoupage. Several of my decoupage articles came up in her search and she liked what she saw.
I agreed to give it a try. She asked for a detailed outline, including suggested photos, tables, charts and the projects I would create for step-by-step directions which readers could follow.
I submitted the 20-page outline and it was accepted!
I wish I could say, "... and the rest is history." I wrote the guide, made and photographed the projects, did the charts and tables and shipped everything (projects included!) to "my editor" in New York.
Before the guide went to press, my editor's subsidiary was reorganized by the parent and all projects in the division were halted.
I don't expect my decoupage guide will ever see the light of day. It was disappointing to say the last.
If you have a reputation in the field, it will be easier to find a publisher or for a publisher to find you.
But even then, there are no guarantees as you can see. Finally, you may want to look into Retaining a Literary Agent.
Learn and Find Opportunities from the Competition
Have you done any research into how the market for plastic canvas designs works? Here are a few plastic canvas websites that I think are especially well done.I noticed a few things.
Most sites offer free downloadable designs, sometimes as gifts with purchase. These sites may be hungry for new designs.
All I can say is contact them and ask.
You may be able to affiliate yourself with a site like ePatternsCentral.
They sell patterns of several plastic canvas artists and put up a designer profile for each. Why not contact them and ask how they choose designers or how one can sign up?
This is hard work, believe me I know; but if you love what you are doing, it can be a passion and a labor of love.
Good luck!
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