While She Naps

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 a terrific discussion.

The panel got me thinking about what goes in to creating a great craft book and what makes craft books sell. It also made me think about the issue of secrecy and the idea of “the big reveal.” Specifically, keeping the content of a new book under wraps while it’s being created so that it’s content will be “fresh” once it hits bookstore shelves.

I woke up this morning to find a newsletter from Interweave in my inbox. Interweave is the publisher of my first book, The Artful Bird, and, after being bought by F+W, they began sending out a special enewsletter to their authors. This one included answers to "Frequently Asked Questions From You." 

Here are they are. From the Interweave Author Newsletter, May 24, 2013:

Frequently Asked Questions from You
 
Q: When can I talk about my book in my blog/website/workshops, etc.?

A: We know you are excited about your book, and want to shout it from the rooftops. Be aware though, that books have a long lead-time—as much as 2 years from the time you sign your contract. While people might be excited to hear about your book, interest can wane when they realize how long they have to wait. It’s best to talk about your book in a slow reveal.
 
Once you have your contract, it’s ok to mention that you are working on a book and mention Interweave. Don’t talk about the subject beyond the broadest strokes (“knitting” “quilting”). As the months go by, you may want to drop little tidbits without giving anything away. “I sent in my book projects last night!” “I’m getting ready to go to Colorado for my photo shoot.”
 
Q: Can I show things from my book?

A: It’s not okay to show projects or photos—you want to keep these under wraps, particularly if you are featuring a new technique or design idea. You should feel free to show the box of yarn or the pile of fabric that arrived for projects, but not the projects themselves. If you are doing a photo shoot, it’s great to talk about your trip, maybe showing travel photos you took along the way. This will help build a sense of excitement among your fans as they follow your progress.

That’s one approach. In fact, it’s more liberal than some. An author recently told me she can’t reveal the topic of her new book yet, much less the cover or title, even though the book is coming out this fall.

Why bring this up? Because I think these words of wisdom are based on assumptions and not real data. Many (all?) of you are craft book buyers and readers, and some of you are also craft book authors. How does this strike you? Is this what you would say to your authors if you were a craft publisher?

There's a sharp contrast here to a recent announcement by Stash Books. Stash will be doing a blog series in conjunction with a newly acquired author about the entire process of creating a new craft book from both the author’s and the publisher’s perspectives. Here's their announcement, taken from the Stash Books blog:

We are launching a new blog series about the process of writing a book with us – specifically, with Stash Books.

When newly acquired author, Casey York, approached us with the idea of her writing a blog series about her own experience of proposing, writing, editing, and actually making the projects – we thought – what about taking that one step further?

What if we wrote about the process of writing her book from our point of view?

What happened when we received her proposal? What do WE do with the items she submits – from beginning to end – we plan to share the process of Crafting a Book!

Stay tuned for the first post in this series towards the end of this month!

This idea seems really fresh and new to me, and more in keeping with the behind-the-scenes approach taken by craft and lifestyle bloggers now.

The author, Casey York, emailed me a few weeks ago to tell me about the project. Here's an excerpt of her blog post explaining what she's doing:

Based on the attendance at Quilt Con’s book publishing panel, there is a lot of interest in book writing in the on-line quilting community, so I’m also excited to be announcing the beginning of a new series here in conjunction with the Stash Books blog.

“Crafting a Book” will detail the publishing process from the author’s and editors’ points of view. I’ll describe the my experiences putting together a proposal, what happens early in the development of the book, writing the manuscript, and other steps as I work through them. I’ll also be happy to answer any questions you have to the best of my ability, although keep in mind that my perspective is only one of many that go into producing a book like this.

Over on the Stash Books Blog, my editors will weigh in on their end of the process. I hope this series helps all of you aspiring authors out there get a better sense of the steps a book goes through on its journey from concept to finished product, and perhaps prepares and encourages you to propose your own projects in the future!

I really applaud Casey for approaching Stash with this idea, and Stash for taking her up on it.

I understand that book projects should be fresh, and that book ideas get old if they're overly discussed. I get that books have a two-year lead time and that’s a long tine for consumers to wait for a new title to be released. But is secrecy necessary, and is it best? Will you be less likely to buy Casey's book after reading about it for so long?

On April 1, 2011 I announced that I was writing a book about soft toy design. The book came out May 7, 2013, two years and one month after the announcement. If you were around then, did your interest wane? (You can tell me. I’m okay with honesty.) And how many of you were even around then?

I asked Lark, the publisher of my new book, about the question of secrecy when I was signing my contract. Here's what they said, "Regarding sharing info about the deal/new project: go forth! And going forward, I really trust your instincts with regard to your readers!"

As you can see, my publishers disagree.

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Okay, so here's what I'd like to talk about with you:

The web moves fast and there’s a lot to see and read all day, all the time. Is it really necessary to not “talk about the subject [of your book] beyond the broadest strokes” as Interweave advises?

Is secrecy more important now than ever? Every one of us has to ability to show anything we want, any time we want, to an audience of many. Perhaps it’s more important in today's media landscape to remind authors to keep quiet?

As authors it’s in our best interest to drive sales. Is Casey shooting herself in the foot? Is Stash? Or is their bold move one that will bring you closer to both author and publisher, and bring your mouse closer to the "buy it now" button when the book is released?

Twitter and Your Creative Business

 

For a long time I didn't understand what Twitter was all about. What could you say in 140 characters that was worth my time? I just couldn't figure out what Twitter was for. Would I enjoy it or just find it to be a waste of time?

Although at first I found Twitter difficult to grasp, I now really love it and recommend it crafters and creative business owners.

To help me explain why Twitter is awesome I got in touch with Blaire Windsor. Blaire's blog, Dirtsy, is about turning a craft into a business. I first connected with Blaire on Twitter (oh the irony!) and have become an avid reader of her blog.

Blaire knows a lot about how designers and makers can build a presence on Twitter. Our aim in this conversation was to shed some light on how Twitter might benefit you as a crafter and creative businessperson. Okay, here we go!

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Hi Blaire! Thank you for joining me in this discussion about Twitter for creative businesses. Let me start by asking how you describe Twitter to people who say, "I just don't get it."?

That's a great question, Abby. I didn't get Twitter at first either: I signed up years ago, didn't really know what to tweet about, and let the account sit.

Looking back now, not embracing it was a huge mistake on my part.

To get the most out of any marketing tool, I believe you have to understand the best way to leverage it and use it properly. I use Twitter primarily as a networking tool, and I'd describe it as the perfect social network to stay updated, connect and learn.

For anyone starting out on Twitter, I recommend coming up with a strategy first. Define your goals, then map out how you're going to reach them.

Photo by Rosaura Ochoa on Flickr

So Abby, what's your Twitter strategy?

I primarily see Twitter as a place to connect with people in my industry. I’m a sole entrepreneur and I work from home. I use Twitter to keep abreast of what’s happening in the sewing and craft world.

I follow all of the major players including the craft publishing houses, trade shows, retailers, and major and indie designers so that I can see what they're concerned about, what news is happening, and who they are working with. Many of my most valued relationships began as Twitter interactions.

I use Twitter to follow my interests. I follow start-ups that serve small creative business because I enjoy writing posts here on my blog about new tools for people like me. I follow a slew of content marketers because I’m interested in learning more about the connection between blogging and selling.

The articles all of these sectors link to via Twitter are often eye-opening and give me clues about better ways to run my own business and blog.

Okay, Blaire, how would you suggest a crafter get started with Twitter?

I'd recommend writing an attention-grabbing bio to start with. Bios are the first thing anyone who checks your feed sees and they're what compels someone to follow you back. Unfortunately, it's also the very thing most Twitter users ignore. Twitter bios are often unclear, boring, or worse- blank.

Think of your bio as the social media version of an elevator pitch: you've got 160 characters to define your business and convert readers to followers.

The best bios evoke a desirable emotion (be it shock, amusement or curiosity), tells the reader about your product and inspires action (usually a follow or a click). Putting in relevant keywords will also improve your chances of showing up in searches.

Once the bio has been written, it's time to start following people.

Photo by Coletivo Mambembe on Flickr.

Abby, how do you go about looking for who to follow?

Twitter really gets fun when you’re following great people! Start by searching for your favorite bloggers and makers. Most bloggers have a Twitter icon right on their blog which makes it easy and you connect with your favorite Etsy sellers on Twitter right from their Etsy shops.

I also enjoy following some of my favorite comedians, chefs, writers and musicians on Twitter. Just check to be sure that they are actually tweeting more than once a year before you follow them!

When someone I’m following will retweet something interesting posted by another Twitter user. I check out that person’s bio and then often choose to follow them, too. Keep in mind that following and unfollowing someone on Twitter is less personal than on other social media platforms. If someone is tweeting too much for your taste, or tweeting material that is irrelevant to you, you can always change your mind and unfollow them.

 

Photo by John Benson on Flickr.

Any last words of Twitter wisdom to share, Blaire?

Yes- automation. It's a huge time saver! One of the keys to Twitter success is tweeting often. I tweet at least once every two hours and it's impossible for me to log on to Twitter so much.

What I do is automate a lot of my tweets, then check in once every few hours to reply to mentions and thank those who have re-tweeted me. I actually lost my internet for an entire day last week and because I'd scheduled my tweets a day ahead, my tweets didn't suddenly stop. I was still able to share interesting articles, cool handmade finds and business tips with my followers.

There are many tools that can help you schedule your tweets: FutureTweets, HootSuite and Buffer are the ones I've tried. My current favorite is Buffer. It's so easy to use and their support is stellar (responses within minutes!).

If you're looking for something a bit more “all-in-one”, HooteSuite Pro lets you create multiple personalized streams. Since I tweet on behalf of clients and help with their publicity, I create streams with search terms that help me find bloggers to pitch to.

Of course there are pros and cons to everything, including automation. A huge event might occur and you'll seem obliviously tweeting to followers. For this reason, I recommend scheduling tweets for two days at a time.

Photo by wonderferret on Flickr.

Thank you so much for our talk Abby. It was fun to to discuss insights into Twitter. If you have any last thoughts on Twitter as well, I'd love to hear it. 

When I first set up my Twitter account I really didn’t understand how Twitter worked, no matter how much I read about it. I decided to just set up an account and give it a try for six months. If I still didn’t get it, or thought it was worthless, I’d end it. I came to see how valuable Twitter is for professional relationships and keeping up with my industry and now I wouldn’t run a business without it.

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Thank you, Blaire! You can find Blaire at dirtsy.com where she blogs about turning craft into business. When she's not blogging, she's preforming professional blog critiques and helping small business owners build a presence on Twitter. And I hope you'll come say hello to me on Twitter as well. 

 

So how do you use Twitter? Has anything here changed your perception? And if you dont' use it, why not?

9 Reasons Why You Should Have a Blog

Want to see something embarrassing? Here’s the first post I ever wrote on my blog:

Oh my goodness. Housewife? My head is now on my desk. But there’s something to celebrate here, too. The date. That was eight years and 1,065 posts ago. I’m still here regularly writing in this space.  Starting a blog was one of the best moves I’ve ever made and keeping it going was another.

But why? Why should you, or anyone, have a blog. And tied to this fundamental question is the equally important corollary: how do you hang in there.

First the why. 9 reasons to write a blog:

Make space for reflection and self-examination. The process of sitting down and formulating my thoughts helps me see myself more clearly. Countless times I’ve come to the computer without knowing what I would write about and somehow ideas bubble up that I wasn’t aware of. Once they’re on the surface I can act on them.

Keep a record of what you were thinking and what you’ve done. When I started blogging in the spring of 2005 I was going through a shift in my identity. I’d left the workforce and become a mother and was feeling rather useless (hence the “housewife”). Rereading is painfully embarrassing, but also such an incredible reminder of who I am and who I was. 

Get motivated to finish the projects you start. I often describe my blog as a hungry mouth that needs to be fed. It's hunger pains get me off the couch and into the studio to create something that will satiate it, at least for now.

Express yourself. My blog is my kingdom and I don’t need permission from anyone to say what I want, how I want, and when I want. There’s no editor here (although sometimes I wish there was). I go with my gut and explore what I find interesting.

Connect with people. I sew alone. I began sewing and blogging at the same time so for me the two have always been tied. This blog took something solitary and make it communal. There simply aren’t all that many people in Wellesley, Massachusetts who are really excited about designing sewing patterns for stuffed animals (ahem, I’m the only one). Hooray for the internet for making it easy to find likeminded people all over the world.

Create a living portfolio. When Charlie watches me as I come across a new blog he always laughs because I scroll through the first four or five pages of images saying, “What do you make? What do you make?” If I see something I like I’ll stick around. A blog is dynamic and ever changing. It’s what you’re producing today, last week, last month. In a glimpse I can see your creative life.

Show social proof.  Comments, likes, tweets, and shares are evidence that what we’ve said matters to people. That evidence feels good as personal validation, but it is also a demonstration to other, more powerful people and institutions that our voice and our creative output is being noticed. Use the numbers as leverage to get whatever it is you’re seeking: a freelance job, a book deal, a licensing opportunity. Use your blog to put your work in front of the people who matter.

Get better at writing and taking photos. Nothing beats practice. I’ve certainly written more words here than in college and graduate school combined and I’ve become a better writer for it. A craft blog is a type of hyper visual media that demands good photography. Take a great photo and make even a crappy project look amazing.  Take a poor one and you might as well have not made the project at all. My blog has made me into a photographer.

Be part of the larger conversation. I’m a keen observer of the craft industry as a whole and often find myself with something to say about what’s happening. On my blog I draw attention to what I think other people aren’t saying. I feel compelled to shine an honest and forthright light on what’s I see happening and I can do that here. 

And now to the other vital piece: how to hang in there.

Realize that your blog can change as your life changes. You don’t have to start over, just shift directions and keep going. If you go back through my archives to the early years (Oh no! You’re not doing that now are you?) you’ll see I was decorating cakes for about six months, and making a crapload of origami, and planning a flower garden that died. I was sewing tote bags and aprons and learning to be a mother. And then it became about softies.

Life isn’t a one-directional focused march and your blog doesn’t need to be either. Like with any healthy relationship, it’s okay to change.

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 independent crafters became bloggers and the number of craft blogs skyrocketed into the tens of thousands. Blogs are increasingly saavy, rivaling the pillar of craft and homemaking media, Martha Stewart, in the quality of photo styling and project originality.

Independent publishers like me create content nearly every day, and it’s free to consume. A friend of mine recently asked me about blogs, specifically why use an RSS reader. My response? “Your RSS reader is like the best magazine you could ever imagine. You tailor it to your particular interests, it’s constantly refreshed with new content, and it’s free.”

I’ve created traditional print media for the craft industry, over the years contributing projects to books and magazines and writing two books of my own. Last spring I expanded my role as an independent craft publisher by selling my sewing patterns as digital downloads on Etsy and writing an ebook. A year into it I can tell you what many internet-based businesses already know: selling information is profitable. If you search Etsy right now for PDF patterns 95,552 items come up. Now that Etsy offers automatic digital file delivery that number will only increase.

What does that mean for print media? Craft projects are generally small. The pattern templates can easily be printed on a home printer. How many times have you bought a craft book for the single pattern that caught your eye? No more. Chances are that author now sells patterns individually directly, and instantly, to consumers.

Self-published posts and patterns aren’t edited necessarily and the authors aren’t vetted by industry experts. How do you know what you’re getting is good quality? The truth is patterns often weren't tested even when they were published by well-regarded print publications. Indie designers prove our expertise to the public ourselves by consistently publishing quality content on our blogs and building our personal brand reputations. We don’t need another media company to intermediate.

What’s next? The radical shift I see is the rise of video instruction. Nothing can replace the value of watching a master at work. Say you’d like to learn to insert an invisible zipper. Would you rather read instructions from a book, or watch a video? Zippers are tricky. If I know I’m watching an expert, and I know the video is shot so that I can really see what’s happening, I would much prefer to watch than read. 

Online teaching platforms like Craftsy and Creative Bug offer high definition videos of nationally known instructors demonstration their skills. The classes aren’t free, but they aren’t expensive either, and once you see the quality of instruction it’s hard to argue that print media is better.

“My favorite classes are the most advanced ones taught by the instructors who have many years, if not decades, of experience,” says Veronique from Verte Adelie, a self-described Craftsy junkie. “It's like being a little mouse in their studio and watching them work. It's just as if the internet suddenly allowed us to experience a very traditional master apprentice relationship in a way books never allowed.”

Jackie Ashton has taken several Creative Bug classes and explains the benefits of video instruction this way. “When I view a blog post or a book I'm usually doing a lot of guessing and back and forth, re-reading to try to figure it out. It's like having someone showing you how to tie your shoes, or trying to learn it from a book.”

It’s exciting to be a part of the new media landscape in craft, even as it’s sad to say goodbye to the familiar forms of media we grew up with. When it comes to craft instruction video is here to stay, first and foremost because it’s worth paying for. As for print publishing, it’s still challenging to print a dress pattern on your home printer and for that it will remain, although much emaciated. Digital self-publishing will pick up the slack.

I’d see some voids. Tech editors and graphic designers could market themselves to indie designers to help improve the quality of what’s being produced. Software products could make digitizing templates and creating page layouts as easy as PicMonkey has made editing photos.

Some holes have already been filled. There are great platforms for easily creating a professional online presensce and for getting self-published digital media to market (see my blog sponsors, Virb, Goodsie and Retailr, as examples). A blog makes it  easy to share high-quality free content with customers. Social media allows us to interact with the public directly.

That’s my forecast for the future of craft publishing. What do you see? I’m curious what you think the craft media landscape will look like in five years? And in ten?

Why Saying Yes Will Help You Grow Your Business

What should you do when you’re presented with an opportunity to pursue a project that’s not perfectly aligned with the mission of your business?

Most business advice would tell you to say no. Turn it down. Don’t stray. You’re time is your most valuable commodity so don’t go spending it on things that aren’t mission critical. I think that’s good advice but I don't think you should take it until you’re running an established business that’s making real profits and has to follow a very specific strategy for future growth. When you’re starting out (and starting out can take many years sometimes) I’d like to suggest that you say yes to requests for your time and your expertise.

Say yes to those opportunities that show up in your inbox. Yes, you’ll review that new iPad app for crafters. Yes you’ll assist with an introductory sewing class at the community center. Yes, you’ll create a custom teddy bear for your neighbor’s daughter. Say yes and take it on.

I'm all in favor of taking the active role in the direction f your business, but now is a time to agree to the unexpected opportunity.

 

Photo by Larry Page on Flickr

If something isn’t directly related to your product line why should you embrace it? Because when you’re enterprise is still small it’s valuable to follow new avenues. You don’t know where they’ll lead and at the very least you’ll learn not to follow that particular one again.  Accepting opportunities means you’ll make connections with new people, figure out how long things take to plan and make, find out what you’re good at and what drives you crazy, and push yourself to delve into something you wouldn’t have sought out on your own. Most importantly, you’ll better define your boundaries.

Later, when your business is established and is turning a profit you’ll be able to give a confident no to some requests, and with good reason. At that point saying no will leave room for you to focus on your mission. Now, though, far more success will come your way if you deliberately choose to say yes and see where it leads.

I love the story Tina Fey tells about finding a folder with notes she’d jotted from a class at Second City. Her teacher had given some rules for doing improv comedy and one of them was, “The fun is always on the other side of yes.”She says she's adopted this mantra for her life and career, clearly with great effect.

A few months ago Wendi emailed me with the idea for a six month subscription club for softie makers. Her idea involved seeking out six indie designers and having each one create an exclusive pattern for club members. She asked me if I wanted in. Hmmm... Did I want to be a part of this?

I said yes, even though the model was entirely new to me. I helped Wendi brainstorm a list of softie pattern designers to ask and we got four incredible women to join us. Six Months of Softies has become really popular and it's been great fun to collaborate with this group of designers. But you know what? Not everyone on our list said yes. I’m really glad I did.  

When you choose to embrace a new opportunity, to agree to a collaboration, to try a new role, there’s something waiting for you on the other side. It may not be always be “the fun” but it is certain to be instructive. Tina Fey describes life as improvisation and she strives to say yes even when she feels she may be in over her head. I would certainly descirbe running a creative business as improvisation, too, and I know there is fun and profit to be had on the other side of yes.

Why Nobody Commented on Your Blog Post

                  
Nobody is commenting on your blog.

Why should you care? Because comments add value to your post and are social proof of your blog’s worth. When insightful people write something in response to your post they make your post more valuable. And when you respond, you develop a relationship with them. Relationships build a business. Plus, comments are motivating. They’ll help you keep going down the sometimes lonely road of blogging.

Photo by scott1723 on Flickr

I’m not going to delve deeply into SEO here, but I will say one reason nobody has commented on your blog post is because they can’t find it. The internet is not a book. Creative headlines, or no headlines at all, leave your post in a lonely readerless cave. Give your post a descriptive title and make sure the permalink has those words in it. Pinterest has become a vital way for readers to find blog content that is of interest to them. Make it easy for people to pin your post. Use PicMonkey to add a little descriptive text to a photo, or create a graphic with Pinstamatic.

Make your comment system as easy as possible. This means one step (no login required and no captcha). People are busy. If it isn’t easy, you may as well close comments altogether.

Being the first guest at the party is awkward. The first comment is the hardest to get. Often people will respond immediately to a post when they see it on Twitter. There’s nothing wrong with Tweeting back and asking them if they would leave a comment on the post itself. That can be your first one!

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt on Flickr

Respond to comments. When I write a comment on a blog post it’s because I have something to say to the author (more on that in a moment). I want to hear the author’s response. What do they think of my idea? If the author never responds, I’m not likely to comment again. Tied to this is being approachable. There are blogs that I’m afraid to comment on. I feel like I’m not worthy. This person is such an expert, why should they pay attention to me? A welcoming, positive tone goes a long way toward creating community on your blog.

Say something of substance. Let’s say you went to a blogging conference recently and you’d like to write about it. You write a post about all the cool people you met and the fun workshops you attended. Think about this post from the perspective of a reader who would like to leave a comment. The only response to a post like this is, “Wow! That sounds like it was fun,” or some other praise. And that’s okay! Some readers love you and just want to say “yay!”. Not every post needs dozens of insightful comments.

But what if you followed up the next day with a post entitled, “How to Get the Most Out of a Blog Conference,” in which you detailed five steps people can take to ensure they have a good experience at a similar conference to the one you attended. One point might be, “Make notes on business cards with a Sharpie. Follow up with contacts via email the next day.”  You can tell a story in a few sentences about how you did this and what affect it had, illustrated with a photo of a scribble on business card. Now you’ve taken a personal experience and made it universal, and useful, for your readers. At the end of the post, ask for other suggestions on making the most of attending a conference.

Photo by C.P. Storm on Flickr

Don’t be afraid to take a stance. Not every post needs to incite controversy, and you certainly want to remain authentic, but I’ll bet you have opinions on particular topics. If you know a lot about something you inevitably develop strong opinions on that thing. Trust me when I tell you, it’s okay to express those opinions on your blog. You can be professional and critical at the same time. In fact, if what you’re saying is well thought out, having the courage to say it shows leadership. Give your readers something to chew on. They may not agree with you, but they’ll want to hear more.

Nothing beats the excitement of hitting “publish” on a new blog post. When only silence follows it can be hard to accept. Think about the last blog post you commented on. What made you respond?

Bookkeeping for Your Creative Business

 

On December 1 my business, Abby Glassenberg Design, became an S Corp. Now I get junk mail that refers to me as CEO and President! As such I've commited myself to all that being in charge of a legitimate business requires and this includes serious bookkeeping.

I first need to make clear that I am not a numbers person. Ever noticed that I don’t quilt? Or knit? Math kills the joy for me. I don’t cut in straight lines. I don’t sew in straight lines. I don’t calculate stuff. Except now I do. Financial record keeping is a vital component of having a business and it cannot be avoided. It was time to grow up and figure it out.

So, beginning on December 1 I started doing my bookkeeping every Friday. Charlie helped me set up a nifty Excel spreadsheet where I enter every Etsy sale, Craftsy sale, eJunkie sale, and check, along with every Etsy fee, PayPal fee, postage receipt, and other expense. It takes about a ½ hour on Friday mornings and you know what? It’s been awesome.

Looking the numbers in the eye once a week has made me:

• Cut back on how much fabric and supplies I buy. Now I evaluate every purchase before spending anything.

• Work harder at marketing. If I don’t sell any copies of my ebook one month can I really justify paying the $5 fee to eJunkie to host it? Better hustle!

• Feel great when I can see my sales growing.

• Start a sponsorship program for this blog.

• Feel confident that I can invest in things that will help me grow even if they might be a bit costly upfront.

Tracking numbers is necessary and makes tax time much simpler, but what’s really valuable for a business owner is analyzing those numbers. Where is your income coming from? What’s seen a good return on investment? Where do you need to improve?  

 

Is there an easier way?

 

Since December I’ve had my eye on an online bookkeeping service called Outright that seems to be designed just for people like me. It promises to help me reduce my ½ hour/week time investment by automatically linking to Etsy and PayPal, and it has the power to easily create graphs and charts to help me analyze my numbers visually even if I hate analyzing numbers.

I reached out to Jennifer Dunn who works for Outright to get some more information because I thought you might like to learn about this service along with me. I am not a financial expert by any means and I wanted to be sure I was getting things right so I owe Jennifer a big thank you for helping me with this post! Okay, here we go!

How does this work?

Outright is a free online bookkeeping service designed specifically for small businesses. With Outright’s free version, there is no monthly fee, no credit card required, no trial and no expiration date.

Outright allows you to import your PayPal, bank account, credit cards, and marketplace accounts like Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and Big Cartel to make your accounting easier and less prone to errors.  You link your accounts to Outright and Outright imports your sales and expense transactions. From then on, Outright downloads your new data every night.

When linking your bank account or credit card you are not providing your account number. You're simply authorizing Outright to download your transaction history. Outright doesn’t  deposit, withdraw or move any money. It’s just bookkeeping software.

 

Crunch Your Vital Numbers

 

With Outright you can easily see visually how your business is doing. Check out this super clear profit and loss chart:

The green bar is either up or it’s down. See, I got it!

And you can break your profit sources down into categories, too. As a solo entreprenuer you most likely have multiple income streams. Maybe you teach, sell at craft fairs and sell online. With Outright you can easily see on a chart or graph which of these streams is bringing in the most income.

Your reports automatically refresh as your data comes in, so they are never behind the times. And you’ll have reports on:

• Your spending

• Your profit and loss

• Your sources of income

• Your best customers

• Your biggest vendors

• Your sales by state

Very nice! Now let’s look at spending.

Jennifer tells me, “We’ve had many Outright users tell us that they didn’t realize they had such an addiction to office supplies or buying domain names until they took a look at their spending habits on their Reports Tab.” I do have a tendency to randomly purchase cute ribbon and buttons on Etsy from time to time, but seeing it as a slice of that pie would make me think twice!

Make Tax Time Less Taxing

Since tax time is just around the corner, let’s explore what Outright has to offer to help make filing taxes easier.

You might be wondering how Outright makes money if it’s offering it’s services for free. Well, it’s a fremium model.

If you’d like help with taxes, you can upgrade to a paid account called Outright Plus. Outright Plus is $9.95 per month and has more features than a free account, including Annual, Quarterly and Sales Tax tracking and reporting. And Outright Plus also automatically pulls in any sales tax you collect through the marketplaces you sell on, and lets you know just how much you need to remit to your state when sales tax is due. That might be handy. Right now I track sales tax on yet another spreadsheet.

Outright’s Plus version will fill out your Schedule C form for you (this is the one that’s due with your 1040 form on April 15th). Just print it out and hand it to your accountant or tax preparer.

 

If you have to pay quarterly estimated taxes – and any sole-proprietor who will owe more than $1,000 on April 15th generally does – then Outright Plus helps you calculate those amounts each quarter – and reminds you to pay.

 

Jennifer says, “We understand that everyone has a different level of experience with bookkeeping and taxes and that everybody’s tax situation is different. That’s why we have the Outright Community where you can ask tax professionals or your colleagues what they would do in a certain tax or business situation.” That’s sounds pretty helpful.

 

I’m not an Outright user yet, but I thinking of signing on. I feel like it’s the responsible thing to do and I’m actually looking forward to running reports and doing some analysis. I want my business to be a success and I think this is going to be a great step toward that goal.

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Do you use Outright? Please tell us how you like it. And if you have a different system (or no system!), let's hear about that, too. Financial recordkeeping was something I skirted around for years. I've been there.

If you have particular questions or comments about Outright, or about my super cool spreadsheet system, please fire away in the comments. It might not be the sexiest topic, but it’s important, you know?

**I was not compensated in any way to write this post. I honestly think this is a great tool for creative businesses and wanted to learn more about it. Okey dokey.**

How To Increase Your Craft Blog Readership (Even If Your Blog is Small)

If you sell any sort of handmade product and you’ve ever written a tutorial for your blog, or shown how you organize your studio shelves, or explained how you choose cohesive colors for a quilt top, you’ve done something called “content marketing.”

Content marketing is creating and sharing content in order to acquire customers. Essentially you provide valuable information or entertainment in an effort to develop a relationship with potential customers, but you stop short of a sales pitch.

There are people who've developed careers around teaching best practices in content marketing. And just like the craft world, the content marketing world consists of thousands of sophisticated blogs with very dedicated authors trying to make a living selling what they know. There are podcasts devoted to content marketing and a flood of new books and online classes on the topic. There are content marketing celebrities and gurus and conferences to attend where you can meet them. Content marketing is hot because it works better than other, more traditional marketing methods when it comes to selling online.

 

Photo by Laineys Repertoire on Flickr

But I think craft bloggers were among the first content marketers, and are among the most authentic. All this talk of creating content to lure customers may seem pretty slimy to craft bloggers. Craft bloggers earnestly and honestly want people to learn new skills and to enjoy making things by hand.

I’m a craft blogger, but I also have an internet-based microbusiness. Being a successful entrepreneur in today’s online landscape means learning the fundamentals of content marketing. When it comes down to it, a business exists to make money. And content marketers have a lot to teach us about how to do that better, faster, and more consistently.

Fewer and fewer people subscribe to blogs and become regular readers now. Most people who visit your blog get there by following a link from Twitter, or Facebook, Pinterest, or some other reblogging site. Social media marketing best practices will help you to get those people to click over and read, and share.

Photo by davewrightphotography on Flickr

Some of the content marketing blogs are incredibly cheesy, promising more than anyone could deliver with a high slime factor to boot. But you certainly don’t have to implement something that makes you feel uncomfortable. I try to read broadly, shedding what doesn’t apply and picking up what does.

Photo by adactio on Flickr

One afternoon last summer I was sitting on the lawn at the house we’d rented on the Cape. The kids were dipping their feet in the water, searching for shells, and I was on the Adirondack chair with a beer, reading blog posts about how to write great blog posts. (Yeah, that’s the kind of thing I read while on vacation. Don’t judge.)

That afternoon I followed a link that led me to a most amazing content marketing document. I downloaded it right away and I’ve referred to it several times a week since. More than anything else I’ve read, this document has been exceptionally helpful to me in generating topics for blog posts and, equally important, it’s attracted more attention to those posts.

Like much of the social media marketing texts, when I first started reading this document, it really made me laugh. Was this thing for real? But the following week, back at home, I sat down at the computer and tried to actually apply what it said and was wowed. I found myself easily coming up with great new post topics and those posts became really popular. It works!

Once you get over the sort of ludicrous nature of it you'll see. It's valuable. And it’s free.

It’s called 52 Headline Hacks: A “Cheat Sheet” for Writing Blog Posts that Go Viral  and it’s by Jon Morrow, the Associate Editor at Copyblogger. Go get it, okay?

Writing headlines is not a topic I see craft bloggers focusing on, but we should be. An excellent headline brings in readers. And you can use a headline to generate ideas for posts, too. In this ebook you get 52 tried and true headlines to use as titles for your blog posts. Just fill in the blanks. As Morrow says,

“Of all the ways you can improve your blog, this one is by far the easiest…The more curious your headlines make people, the more they’ll read your posts. The more they read your posts, the better your chance of building a relationship with them. The more relationships you have, the more influential you become in your niche. It’s the same process, regardless of whether you have 100,000 subscribers or you just started your blog yesterday. And it all begins with the headline.”

Here are some of my posts with headlines written after reading 52 Headline Hacks. Do you remember any of them? Did the headline help?

• Top 5 Most Useful Thread Types for Sewing Softies

• 7 Valuable Post Topics for Your Craft Blog

• 2 Essential Tricks for Sewing Thick Fabrics

• How Patterns in Sewing Books Go Untested and Why That Should Change

• 5 Simple Tips for Writing Sewing Patterns Your Customers Will Love

If you have a great post from the past that you either didn’t title, or titled with a limp headline, you can go back and fix it. Then tweet it or put it up on Facebook and see what happens. If you’re looking for an idea of what to post about this week, scan through the 52 headlines and pick one that jumps out at you. Fill in the blanks and see what you can come up with.

Look at you and your content marketing crafty self go!

*On a side note, you can also use this ebook to come up with some pretty hysterical headlines for craft blog posts. Here’s two:

• The Shocking Truth about Pompoms

• 9 Lies Quilters Like to Tell

Hee hee!  Charlie and I have laughed really really hard many an evening coming up with terrible headlines.

Become a Sponsor

This is my middle daughter, Stella, napping in my studio with one of my bears in the spring of 2006. WhileSheNaps originally described the crafting I was doing while my first daughter napped. Fortunately, I had three daughters so the name still applies.

I'm super pleased to have finally launched an ad program for WhileSheNaps.

I've been blogging here for a long, long time, at least in internet years. It'll be eight years in May and, except for the episodes of severe morning sickness I experienced with each pregnancy, I've written posts 3-4 times per week throughout.

After The Artful Bird came out my blog readership soared in a way that I hadn't anticipated (whoa!). My new book is going to hit bookstores very soon (hooray!) and with it is coming another huge jump. My reaction to these new numbers has been to use this space to actively explore everything I am interested in. I have very deep interests. Maybe not so wide, but very very deep.

Having a large readership has meant that I feel totally justified spending hours and hours of time researching and writing and interviewing leaders in the fields where my interests lie. Having lots of pageviews has meant that people will talk to me when I request an interview. And it has allowed for the engaging discussions we get going in the comments here.

And having a significant, engaged readership is something I can share with you. If you have a blog or online shop that you'd like to promote, however large or small it may be, and if you'd like to support WhileSheNaps because it's meant something to you, I'd like to invite you to sponsor the blog. The rates are reasonable at $35 a month. I'm using a neat service, Passionfruit, to run the ad program so it's neat and tidy and hassle free.

Visit my new Sponsorship page to find out more.

And thank you for your ongoing support.

Why It Shouldn't Bother You When Someone Admires Your Work and Says They Can Make It Themselves

You spend countless hours developing a unique product, refining it, tweaking the pattern, sourcing the perfect materials, taking beautiful product shots, writing winning marketing copy for the listings, and cultivating a community around your work. And then, one afternoon you’re sifting through Pinterest and there’s your image of your beautiful handmade product, the basis of your business, repinned on someone’s “DIY” or “Must Make” board with the comment, “I totally going to make this for my son!”

What is your reaction? How does seeing this pin, reading the name of the board, and the comment make you feel?

Are you disappointed that they didn’t want to buy the original from your?

Are you angry that this person is explicitly stating that they intend to copy you?

Are you worried that they’ll turn around and start a business that will compete with yours, maybe with prices lower than yours?

I think it’s natural to be flooded with these feelings upon seeing something like this and it’s not exclusive to the environment of Pinterest. I’ve sat behind my table at a craft fair and had a mother pick up one of my pieces and turn to her daughter and say, “We should make something like this!” only to return the piece to the table and walk away.

These feelings of rage, of anxiety, of fear, doubt and disappointment can well up in you in those moments. But I’d like to put forth a new way of framing these experiences after the intensity of feeling dies down.

Create a relationship with this person who is making you feel threatened. Talk to them, reach out to them, comment on their pinboard, visit their blog, chat with them on Twitter.

Why?

Because you will become human to them. When you reach out you let that person in. You become known to each other. People are less likely to overtly copy someone that they feel they know. And, the other side of the coin is that they’ll know you’re out there, that you see them.

But more than just becoming human to them, become helpful. This person loves what you’re doing. They are inspired. They may never get around to making a copy and may not have the skills to.  Could you help them to develop their skills? Could you encourage them in their own creative work?

When I first began posting my work online there were two artists whom I admired so greatly it hurt. I followed their blogs religiously, examined every Flickr photo they posted, loved their work deeply, perhaps too deeply. I tried to emulate their styles in my own work, perhaps at times going too far and crossing the line into mimicry.

One of those artists sent me a very angry email, an email that made me embarrassed and ashamed and put me in tears. She was angry and I was angry. I’ve never bought her work. Everything she does leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, even eight years later.

The other artist offered to help me. I asked for some advice and she was so generous. She looked at my work and told me where she thought my strengths were. She gave me advice that led me down the path to writing my first book. Her own career has been incredibly successful and I’ve bought multiple works of hers. Every success she experiences gives me joy as if it were my own success.

So most crucially here, could you turn this threatening potential copycat into a loyal customer? I would say yes. Not a definite yes, but a pretty probable yes. Maybe not tomorrow, but eventually.

I’m not advocating allowing people to explicitly copy your work and offer it for sale. Certainly you should protect your intellectual property and enforce its value to those who might not understand it. But don’t allow the emotion of the moment to destroy a potentially positive, and possibly lucrative, relationship. Set fear and anger aside and forge a bond with your copycat. In all likelihood you’ll be able to resolve the situation positively and bring an admirer closer to you and that’s a very good thing.