Podcasts about patternfish

This Week’s Episode I’m wrapping up the Crochet & Knitting Design & Self-Publishing Mini Series by talking about promoting your pattern after release.   Updates from Last Week’s Episode Since last week’s episode, I’ve been informed that CraftFoxes now offers a digital download option. I can’t find anything about it on their Seller Help page, but a quick scan of the Patterns section in the Shop confirms that several sellers are offering digital downloads. Additionally, there has been some concerns raised about selling on Craftsy. In the episode, I share two tips for your PayPal settings that can protect you from both issues. Promoting Your Patterns I talk about two different aspects of promotion in this episode: strategy and systems. Promotional strategy Promoting your pattern is part of your business’s overall marketing strategy. Think about your target audience and where they congregate (online, or off). How does your target audience prefer to get information? Are they interested in detailed backstories about how the pattern came to be, or do they just want a pretty picture? If your target audience is very defined (a “niche”), you might find that you should only promote patterns in certain areas where they are likely to congregate. If your target audience is more general, you may want to consider something more like a “mass marketing” approach, where you share information about your new patterns widely. It helps if your promotion of each pattern – your methods of communication, your “voice,” and your pictures – is consistent with your overall brand as well. Of course, you may need some time to try different concepts out before you settle on your strategy. Promotion systems I recently created a checklist to formalize my process for promoting my Underground Crafter patterns online. I’ve found that having this system makes things easier because I don’t have to “think” about what to do with each pattern, and I can also track traffic (and potentially conversions, depending on the site) more easily. You can customize this system, or process, to meet your own needs. Ravelry Create a project, including all of your pattern photos. Link to the yarn used. Add the pattern to the Ravelry pattern database, whether or not the pattern is available as a Ravelry download. Link the project to the pattern. Share the project (and yarn, if you received yarn support) with relevant groups. Add the pattern to the appropriate bundle(s) on your Ravelry designer page. Blog/Website Write a blog post. If the pattern isn’t available on Ravelry, remind readers to add the pattern to their queue or favorites on Ravelry and include a link. Back to Ravelry Link the blog post to the project and yarn. Now your pattern will show up (as a project) in your groups as a “recent blog post.” Announce the pattern in appropriate threads. I announce the new pattern in my own group on Ravelry, as well as in the Designers group’s monthly new designs threads. If appropriate, add it to a relevant group’s new designs thread, and to one of the “Big 6” boards (both Needlework News & Events and Patterns have promotional threads). Be cautious about violating Ravelry’s Guidelines: “Posting the same message to more than 2 boards without permission from the group owner/moderators is not permitted. Unreasonable crossposting is considered spam!” Some groups explicitly allow people to cross post, and of course, you always have permission to cross post in your own group. Email If you received yarn support, email your contact at the yarn company. Thank them for their support and provide a link to the new pattern. You may also want to include a photo they can share on social media. If you bought yarn at a local yarn shop, email the shop and let them know about the pattern, too. You may even want to ask if they want to display the sample in their shop. Schedule future posts Most of us promote once and then forget all about our pattern. If you use a social media scheduling tool, schedule some future posts about your pattern. I currently use Hootsuite. Or, add a reminder to your calendar in 30/60/90/180 days to remind you to talk about it again! Twitter Tweet a link to your pattern with relevant hashtags and mentioning the yarn company and/or yarn shop. Share pictures to promote more engagement. Pinterest Pin your pattern to your own board for your designs, as well as any other relevant boards you have created. Pin your pattern to group boards. Group boards have been very helpful in driving traffic to my patterns. Be sure to follow the rules of each group board you belong to about what types of content can be pinned (e.g., crochet, knitting, free, for sale) as well as the frequency (e.g., no more than 3 pins a day). I now use Tailwind for Pinterest scheduling and really enjoy it. You can hear more about it in Episode 30: Going Beyond the Basics on Pinterest with Cynthia Sanchez. The Interval Scheduling feature allows me to spread out the Pins over a period of days, weeks, or months across the different boards. Facebook Write a post about your pattern on your own page with mentions to the yarn company and/or local yarn shop. Add a picture to an album of your own designs with mentions to the yarn company and/or local yarn shop. Share the pattern in relevant Facebook groups. Tag your own page when sharing to groups and in the picture so people can easily find you if the post gets shared. LinkedIn If your full time career is yarn related, or your side business as a designer won’t negatively impact your other career, you can also share the news of your new pattern release on LinkedIn. You can share this information as an update, duplicate your blog post as a post, or in appropriate groups. Instagram Since I don’t have a smartphone, I don’t use Instagram. However, I’ve heard from many designers who find that sharing pictures of new patterns via Instagram is very helpful. Kollabora Share your project on Kollabora, whether or not it is being sold there, especially if it is fashion-oriented and/or has great photography. Link to the pattern on Kollabora or another site where it is available. Add the pattern to other sites In addition to Ravelry, Free patterns can be listed on CraftFoxes, Craftsy, and Kollabora. For sale patterns can be listed on CraftFoxes, Craftsy, Etsy, Kollabora, and Patternfish. Free pattern directories If your pattern is available for free, submit it to one or more free pattern directories. Email newsletter Let your email list know about your new pattern release. I send out my Underground Crafter newsletter weekly, so I add the new pattern to my list of things to share that week. In the past, I used it more like an announcements list, and I would send the email earlier in the promotion process. If you’re new to mailing lists, you may want to listen to Episode 27: Connecting with Your Mailing List and More with Vashti Braha. If you’ll also be hosting a crochet- or knit-a-long Share the information with CraftGossip or CraftGawker. List your CAL/KAL in Ravelry’s KAL Fanatics group in the appropriate threads. So what link should you share? If you share the link to your website and you use Google Analytics or a similar tool, it’s easy to track where people are finding your link. This may help you to narrow down or focus in on particular promotional methods. You can also provide links to multiple marketplaces, if you use them, and allow the buyer to choose a preferred site. On the other hand, if your pattern is for sale, a direct link to the shop may increase “impulse” buys. What about advertising? I’ve found that Ravelry ads are quite affordable. You can find more information in this brochure. Many craft bloggers also offer affordable options for advertising on a sidebar, in a newsletter, and/or on social media.  Should you discount? Many designers release their patterns for a discounted rate as a “scarcity tactic” to encourage people to buy it before the price goes up. Others never (or rarely) discount their patterns. Don’t forget face-to-face promotion! Wear or use your sample as much as possible. You’ll be surprised about how many sales you can make this way! Getting others to promote you If you feel shy about promoting your patterns, consider working with others to get the word out. Some crochet and knitting bloggers do pattern reviews. You can reach out to such a blogger and gift her/him a pattern for review. If you have a collection, consider organizing a blog tour. You will need to gift patterns for review, write guest posts, be interviewed, and/or offer giveaway prizes for the blogs on the tour. Consider offering the pattern as a giveaway prize in a large or multi-designer event to extend your reach. Make this checklist your own! Create your own checklist so you can routinize some of your promotions to save time and increase consistency. If you enjoyed this episode The Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show is no longer broadcasting. Episodes are available as a service to the yarn community. This episode originally aired in July, 2015. Be aware that content may be outdated. If you'd like to chat with other yarn-related business owners, join the Creative Yarn Entrepreneurs Facebook group. Support Marie's work by buying one of her books, Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students (Amazon | Gumroad) or Design It, Promote It, Sell It: Online Marketing for Your Crochet and Knit Patterns (Amazon | Gumroad).

This Week’s Episode I’m continuing my Crochet & Knitting Design & Self-Publishing Mini Series by talking about publishing your pattern. I’ll be exploring six different online marketplaces in depth (Craftfoxes, Craftsy, Etsy, Kollabora, Patternfish, and Ravelry), and will be briefly talking about other self-publishing options (such as your blog/website, ebook vendors, and printing patterns). This episode is longer than usual, so I’m including some time stamps if you need to pause in the middle of the show. You can scroll down past the time stamps for detailed show notes. 0:00 – 17:25 Introduction and announcements. Feedback on pricing after Episode 40. Factors to consider when exploring different options for self-publishing. Marie’s thoughts on selling directly from your own site. The Alexa rankings of each of the six marketplaces we focus on today. 17:26 – 33:50 Interview with Lisa Fulmer, Senior Editor at CraftFoxes, and overview of CraftFoxes. 33:51 – 52:43 Interview with Stefanie Japel, Senior Acquisitions Editor at Craftsy, and overview of Craftsy. Changes to Craftsy’s affiliate program since the interview. If you sign up to be an affiliate, please let them know I referred you! A “work-around” for non-EU designers selling on sites that don’t collect VAT MOSS. 2019 Update: Craftsy is now Bluprint and is not currently inviting new patterns for its marketplace.  52:44 – 1:08:46 Interview with Lindsey Ibarra, who manages Editoral, Social, and Trends at Kollabora, and overview of Kollabora. 1:08:47 – 1:26:09 Interview with Julia Grunau, Prime Minister at Patternfish, and overview of Patternfish. 2019 Update: Patternfish is now closed. 1:26:10 – 1:32:42 An overview of selling on Etsy. Marie’s thoughts on patterns as passive income. 1:32:43 – 1:35:24 An overview of selling on Ravelry. 1:35:25 – 1:45:28 The pros and cons of selling on these six marketplaces. 1:45:29 – 1:48:22 Self-publishing through mainstream ebook sites. 1:48:23 – 1:50:51 Self-publishing printed patterns. 1:50:52- 1:56:57 So where should YOU self-publish? and conclusion Pricing (again) There has been some interesting conversation in the Creative Yarn Entrepreneurs group on Facebook about pricing since the last episode in this series. Many designers noted that their more expensive patterns sell better than their less expensive patterns. Food for thought: Does that mean you may be underpricing your patterns? Or does it mean that you have correctly gauged the demand for more popular patterns and increased their prices? Let me know what you think in the comments! Publishing Your Patterns We’re going to focus on six different marketplaces in this episode. I find these four questions helpful to think about when you consider whether a marketplace is the right place (or “a right place”) to sell your patterns. Who is your target audience and how much does it overlap with the site’s target audience? What is the cost of selling on that site? Consider your own time for setting up shop and adding patterns as well as listing fees and merchant charges when sales are made. What kind of exposure can you get from this site? Consider both the traffic the site receives and how likely it is that your work will be seen through search or be featured by the site. How easy is the site to use? The ease-of-use may be higher on sites that you are already using, or sites that have a better user interface. I also shared the current (as of mid-July, 2015) Alexa rankings for each of these sites. Alexa is a site that ranks websites based on their traffic. Please use caution when interpreting these rankings. With the exception of Patternfish, all of these sites do more than sell crochet and knitting patterns, and therefore, the overall traffic is not necessarily indicative of the popularity of pattern sales! The sites, ranked in order, are: Etsy: 43 (US)/157 (Worldwide) Ravelry: 647 (US)/2,156 (Worldwide) Craftsy: 828 (US)/2,801 (Worldwide) Kollabora: 31,166 (US)/132,671 (Worldwide) Patternfish: 67,971 (US)/315,301 (Worldwide) Craftfoxes: 70,543 (US)/186,421 (Worldwide) I also talked about the challenges of selling patterns directly from your own website. CraftFoxes I interviewed Lisa Fulmer, the Senior Editor of CraftFoxes, a multi-craft social network with a marketplace. You can find information about becoming a CraftFoxes seller here. Some of the key features to consider about CraftFoxes are… Their marketplace is oriented towards physical/tangible item sales. They do not support digital/instant downloads at this time. Pattern sellers will need to email the pattern to the buyer, or bundle patterns with a physical item (like a yarn or supply kit). There is a $0.10 listing fee (which lasts for 3 months), but the first 50 listings are free. CraftFoxes also deducts 4% from any items sold. Additionally, PayPal will deduct their standard fees. CraftFoxes is not involved with the collection of VAT MOSS, a tax for digital sales to buyers in European Union member countries. Knitting and crocheting are the most popular crafts on the site. In particular, amigurumi, wearables, and beginner-friendly projects and patterns are very popular. For designers without a blog (or who want to amplify their blog posts), you can also share free patterns or projects with links back to your patterns. You can learn more about CraftFoxes in this episode of one of my favorite crafty shows, the Etsy Conversations Podcast. Craftsy I interviewed Stefanie Japel, the Senior Acquisitions Editor at Craftsy, a multi-craft site that features online courses, a craft supply marketplace, a digital pattern marketplace for independent designers, and more.  2019 Update: Craftsy is now Bluprint and is not currently inviting new patterns for its marketplace.  Kollabora I interviewed Lindsey Ibarra, who manages Editoral, Social, and Trends at Kollabora, a social network and DIY/crafts community. You can find information about setting up a Kollabora pattern shop here. Some of the key features to consider about Kollabora are… The marketplace is curated. Apply to be a brand here. There are no listing fees, but Kollabora collects a 20% commission on each sale. Kollabora is not involved in the collection of VAT MOSS. Seller support is available at partners AT kollabora DOT com. Sewing is the most popular craft on Kollabora and it also has a vibrant knitting community. Crochet is the third most popular craft on the site. Kollabora’s users are younger and aesthetic-oriented. Most are multi-craftual so beginner level patterns do well. Tops and shawls are very popular. Kollabora users can share tutorials and videos and host make-a-longs on the site.Kollabora likes to feature their designers in their newsletters, so if you sign up to sell patterns on their site, be sure to keep them informed of your latest activities! You can also share pictures of your projects for patterns sold (or distributed for free) elsewhere. Kollabora projects can also include links to your blog or shop, and you don’t need to sign in to see projects. Patternfish I interviewed Julia Grunau, the Prime Minister at Patternfish, a site exclusively focused on selling crochet, knitting, and weaving patterns. 2019 Update: Patternfish is now closed.  Etsy Etsy declined to be interviewed, but you can learn more about opening an Etsy shop here. You may also want to listen to these previous episodes to learn more about Etsy: Episode 9: Selling on Etsy, an Interview with Ijeoma Eleazu from the Etsy Conversations Podcast Episode 28: Indie Craft Fairs, Negotiation, Freelancing, the Hazards of Etsy and More with Grace Dobush Episode 29: Selling on Etsy, Passive Income, and Using Trending Keywords with Alexandra Tavel from Two of Wands Let’s talk about Etsy’s fees. There is a $0.20 listing fee (which lasts for 4 months). Etsy also deducts 3.5% from any items sold. Additionally, PayPal will deduct their standard fees and Etsy will deduct additional fees if the customer uses Direct Checkout instead of PayPal. Etsy has taken an unusual position on VAT MOSS, which you can read more about here. Essentially, they are taking legal responsibility for it, so as a seller, you do not need to worry about it. While Etsy has a huge volume of traffic, it can be difficult for a buyer to navigate. For this reason, I’ve observed that shops with superior, staged photography and where the sellers do a lot of promotion tend to be more successful than those who assume that keyword optimization with drive all of their sales. I would also surmise that beginner-friendly patterns would do the best, as many visitors are casual crafters or DIY enthusiasts who aren’t necessarily master crocheters or knitters. Ravelry Ravelry also declined to be interviewed, but you can learn more about getting started as a Ravelry designer here. (You must be a member and logged in to view this page.) Let’s talk about Ravelry’s fees. There are no Ravelry fees for pattern sales under $30/month. For sales from $30 to $1,500/month, Ravelry collects 3.5% of your sales. There is a discount for designers who sell over $1,500/month. In addition, PayPal collects their standard fees. Ravelry is now responsible for the collection of VAT MOSS. They previously had a partnership with Love-Knitting for VAT MOSS collection, so you can choose to sell your patterns to EU customers on both sites. 2019 Update: LoveKnitting is now LoveCrafts. Sign up here as a LoveCrafts designer. You can list all of your patterns in Ravelry’s database, whether or not you choose to sell or make them available for free on the site. You can have both free and for sale patterns available for instant download in your pattern shop on Ravelry. Ravelry is the only site with the opportunity to easily wholesale your patterns local yarn shops. You can learn more about the In-Store Sales program here. I suspect that Ravelry is the only one of these six sites where more complex patterns could be popular. Mainstream ebook sites You may also want to consider selling your patterns on mass marketplace/ebook marketplaces for use on ereaders. You can learn more about becoming an ebook publisher on each of these sites by following the links below. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing here. iBooks Author here. Kobo Writing Life here. Nook Press here. Smashwords here. My assumption is most crafters are not seeking highly specialized patterns on these sites and that beginner-friendly projects would be more likely to succeed on these platforms. These sites require different file types, and formatting images for non-PDF can be challenging. Pricing standards are also quite different for ebooks when compared to individual pattern prices on the six marketplaces discussed earlier. I would recommend starting with the craft-focused sites using PDF patterns and later expanding into these other marketplaces after further research unless you have prior experience with formatting .mobi or .epub files. Self-publishing print patterns These days, it seems the demand for single, print patterns is waning. Many yarn shops are moving towards Ravelry’s In-Store Sales Program. However, if you do wish to self-publish print patterns, I know several designers use print-on-demand services like MagCloud. So, where should I sell my patterns? As I mention in the show, I think that most designers will have more success if they can list their patterns on multiple sites. While there is certainly overlap among the dedicated crocheters and knitters, there are many potential buyers who may use only one of the sites but not the others. However, when you are first starting out, you may want to choose one or two sites that you seem the most suited based on the four criteria (audience, cost, exposure, ease-of-use) mentioned earlier. Once you feel more confident, you can expand into other marketplaces. If you enjoyed this episode The Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show is no longer broadcasting. Episodes are available as a service to the yarn community. This episode originally aired in June, 2015. Be aware that content may be outdated. If you'd like to chat with other yarn-related business owners, join the Creative Yarn Entrepreneurs Facebook group. Support Marie's work by buying one of her books, Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students (Amazon | Gumroad) or Design It, Promote It, Sell It: Online Marketing for Your Crochet and Knit Patterns (Amazon | Gumroad).

This Week’s Mini Episode In this week’s mini episode, I announce a new series on designing and self-publishing your crochet and knitting patterns that will start next week. So far, I’m expecting the series to include episodes focused on: Planning and drafting your design, Polishing your pattern, Pricing, Publishing (including an exploration of different online marketplaces like Amazon, CraftFoxes, Craftsy, Crochetville, Etsy, Kollabora, Patternfish, and/or Ravelry), and Promoting. I shared some questions from Goddess Crochet, Junee B Designs, Patterns Tried and True, and Hooked by Angel, but I’d love to answer other questions you have about self-publishing in this series. Also, if you have a favorite online marketplace, let us know what it is (and why) so I can share that during the publishing episode. If you enjoyed this episode The Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show is no longer broadcasting. Episodes are available as a service to the yarn community. This episode originally aired in May, 2015. Be aware that content may be outdated. If you'd like to chat with other yarn-related business owners, join the Creative Yarn Entrepreneurs Facebook group. Support Marie's work by buying one of her books, Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students (Amazon | Gumroad) or Design It, Promote It, Sell It: Online Marketing for Your Crochet and Knit Patterns (Amazon | Gumroad).

This Week’s Episode I’m excited to share an interview with a fellow podcaster this week. Ijeoma Eleazu is a calligrapher who is also the host of the Etsy Conversations Podcast. You can also find Ijeoma on Facebook, Twitter, and BlogLovin. I discovered Ijeoma when she spoke on a panel at the Podcast Movement conference in August, and I invited her on the show to talk about selling on Etsy. After the interview, I share my experience selling crochet and knitting patterns as instant downloads on Craftsy, Crochetville, Etsy, Kollabora, and Ravelry. Ijeoma’s Tips for Etsy Success Read the Etsy Seller Handbook Join Etsy Teams Set goals based on your motivations for selling on Etsy Brand your shop and optimize your listings Engage with the Etsy community Why Etsy? Etsy is an online marketplace focused on handmade and vintage goods, along with supplies for making handmade projects. Etsy currently has over 1 million active shops that collectively sold $1.35 billion in merchandise in 2013. An Etsy “weather report” from November, 2013 reported that over 7.4 million items sold during the month ($147.5 million of goods sold) and there were 2.15 billion page views. In addition to being a great marketplace for crochet/knitting/weaving makers, yarnies, and sellers of supplies and notions, when Etsy introduced instant downloads in spring, 2013, it became more interesting to authors and designers who want to sell PDFs. And, Etsy now curates a separate wholesale marketplace. About Ijeoma Eleazu Ijeoma Eleazu is the current (and third) host of the Etsy Conversations Podcast. I first heard about the show when I attended Ijeoma’s panel at the Podcast Movement conference. About eight years ago, Ijeoma learned calligraphy through a friend who is a wedding coordinator when she was tasked with helping out with wedding invitations. Ijeoma later took additional classes and now has a part-time calligraphy business (primarily focused on weddings) in addition to her full-time job. Ijeoma first became an Etsy seller to destash vintage sewing patterns she bought at an estate sale. Occasionally, she sells her calligraphy services through Etsy, too. In 2013, Ijeoma discovered podcasts through the Podcasts app on her iPhone. She soon became a heavy listener of both the Etsy by Etsy podcast and the Etsy Conversations Podcast. She listened to a whole year of episodes in the Etsy Conversations Podcast, but realized it had stopped airing new episodes. In the meantime, Ijeoma took the Podcasting A to Z online coaching course with Cliff Ravenscraft, host of the Podcast Answer Man. She contacted the Etsy Conversations Podcast show host, and then the show founder, and eventually became the host in September, 2013. (You can hear more details in Episode 21 of the Etsy Conversation Podcast, where Ijeoma interviews show founder, Angela J. Holden.) In my interview with Ijeoma, she shared several tips for Etsy sellers. 1. Read the Etsy Seller Handbook The Etsy Seller Handbook is a frequently updated category on the Etsy blog, and the posts walk you through every aspect of setting yourself up for success on Etsy. Ijeoma recommends reading the Handbook first so you can understand the way the platform works. In particular, she thinks their tips on branding, naming your shop, setting up listings, and optimizing keywords for their search engine are helpful for new shops. (You can find an indexed version of the Handbook archives from 2013 here and the wholesale guide for Etsy sellers here.) 2. Join Etsy Teams Etsy has literally hundreds of teams, organized by region, product type, and function (e.g., marketing). Ijeoma recommends listening to Episode 35 of the Etsy Conversations Podcast, where she interviews the owner of the Laughing Cabin Etsy shop, who is also the co-captain of the North Georgia Etsy Team, for more information about Etsy teams. An active team can help an Etsy seller in several ways, including Clarifying updates to Etsy policy, search, or site functionality, Providing shop critiques to members to help sellers optimize listings to increase views, Taking a critical look at product presentation and sharing feedback to help convert more visitors to buyers, and Engaging in collaborative marketing efforts.  3. Set goals based on your motivations for selling on Etsy Consider your goals in opening (or maintaining) an Etsy shop. Understanding your motivations can help you to gauge your success. Is your shop there to provide side income, cover the costs of a cherished hobby, replace a full time income, and/or to support a charity? If you understand why you are getting onto the platform and know your goals, you can work towards achieving them more easily. Additionally, knowing your goal for your shop helps you to clarify your time commitment which is important because finding success on Etsy usually requires a substantial investment in time. You need to make your handmade goods or instant downloads, take shop photography, understand the platform so you can optimize your listings and tags, and market your shop.  4. Brand your shop and optimize your listings Branding can help you get noticed in Etsy’s crowded marketplace. You want to ensure that when people browse a category, they recognize your brand through your listings for future purchases. Decide who you are marketing your Etsy products to and speak their language to help them find your items. (Etsy shares 6 Tips for Defining Your Target Customer here.) Other important elements for optimizing your Etsy listings include photography, proper use of tagging, and descriptions. Tagging with keywords is critical on Etsy. Ijeoma recommends searching for similar items in another tab on your browser so you can use common and relevant keywords. There are many great articles about branding and optimizing your listings on the Etsy blog, and teams and the Etsy forum discussions are also a resource. Etsy sellers also have the option of opening multiple shops, which may be helpful if you have different target audiences. Ijeoma mentioned that it is always possible to correct your course on Etsy and to start over with your acquired wisdom. 5. Engage with the Etsy community Etsy has a supportive community environment that is different from other online marketplaces where Ijeoma has sold her crafts. Sellers often work together collaboratively rather than in competition. Many Etsy sellers are also Etsy buyers with an interest in “shopping handmade,” but for various reasons. Some may be supporting local businesses or cottage industries, others aim to move the handmade movement forward, while still others may be seeking eco-friendly products. Ijeoma interviews Etsy shop owners in every episode of the Etsy Conversations Podcast. Here are four that I found particularly relevant to yarn-related business owners: Episode 9 with Beate from Patterns Tried and True, Episode 25 with Gloria from the Creative Glo, Episode 28 with Robyn from She Makes Hats, and Episode 29 with Hailey from Ozetta. Ijeoma also invites Etsy shop owners to contact her if you are interested in being interviewed on her show.  Marie’s feedback on marketplaces selling instant pattern downloads In response to questions that Beth Graham, a (mostly) crochet designer and teacher, shared with me, I talk about my experience selling crochet and knitting patterns as instant downloads on Craftsy, Crochetville, Etsy, Kollabora, and Ravelry after the interview. I’ve found that easier patterns that would appeal to general crafters are more likely to sell on Craftsy or Etsy than on Ravelry. Patterns for women’s fashion accessories or garments with an easy difficulty rating seem better tailored for the Kollabora audience. And, obviously, Crochetville is specifically for crochet patterns, but I don’t think most of their users exclusively use the Crochetville marketplace for buying patterns. I find Ravelry to be the best marketplace for “die hard” crocheters and knitters, although I don’t have experience with Patternfish. Thanks for joining us for an interview, and for sharing what you’ve learned, Ijeoma! If you enjoyed this episode The Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show is no longer broadcasting. Episodes are available as a service to the yarn community. This episode originally aired in October, 2014. Be aware that content may be outdated. If you'd like to chat with other yarn-related business owners, join the Creative Yarn Entrepreneurs Facebook group. Support Marie's work by buying one of her books, Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students (Amazon | Gumroad) or Design It, Promote It, Sell It: Online Marketing for Your Crochet and Knit Patterns (Amazon | Gumroad).  

On the next edition of Fiber Hooligan (04/17/14) my guest will be Julia Grunau of Patternfish.com.Julia grew up amongst engineers (dad & brother, summer jobs). She got an English degree, then worked for some R&D tech companies before 1990 becoming (as far as she knows) the first woman to sell printed circuit boards in Canada (having become interested in knitting two years before). After seven years, she decided that she would rather sell yarn instead of torpedo and telecommunications parts, so she became an outside sales rep, selling yarn to yarn stores in the Toronto area. In 2005 Julia became frustrated by having to go to 40 different websites to find PDFs to buy. She wanted a kind of Barnes & Nobles for knit/crochet PDFs and there wasn't one. It occurred to her that she might be well placed to do it (techie background, techie friends, lots of knitting contacts by then). So Patternfish.com was incorporated in October 2006 and launched a year and a half later, in June 2008.Since then Patternfish.com has become the largest pay-only site on the internet for knit and crochet designs, with over 16,000 top-notch patterns from hundreds of fine publishers (both corporate and indie) including Sirdar, Knitting Pure and Simple, Mirasol, Prism, Classic Elite Yarns, Lucy Neatby, Anne Hanson's Knitspot, Rowan, both the Noro and Debbie Bliss Magazines, Cabin Fever, Bergere de France, the UK Hand Knitting Association, and many others. Over 6,000 of them are exclusive to Patternfish.com as digital downloads, so there’s a lot of unique things to see.Julia is really smart and a lot of fun. I hope you’ll join us so you can hear from this remarkable woman.

Patternfish.com is one stop shopping for fabulous crochet and knit patterns - join founder Julia and I as we wax poetic. Julia has a very loopy sensibility - you will love her!