CraftyPod #98: Two Ways to Publish a Craft Book, with June Gilbank

Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this show:

- Some straight talk about crafty publishing: what’s it really like to have a craft book published the traditional way? And what’s it like to publish a crafty ebook?

- Plus, a short interview with June Gilbank, who sells self-published crochet patterns, and has a print book in progress, and has just released a crafty ebook.

- If you dream of writing a craft book, this show aims to bring you solid information and perspective.

June Gilbank’s Links:

- You may be familiar with June’s wonderful crochet patterns . Have you also seen Folding Trees, the blog she co-authors on paper craft?

- June’s ebook, The Punchneedle Handbook, provides high-quality instruction. And she’s designed a lot of cute punchneedle patterns, too.

Self-Publishing Links:

- Sound advice for authors, from Seth Godin, via Publetariat.

- (And by the way, Publetariat is itself an excellent resource.)

- Self-publishers will also find tons of great blog posts, links, and podcasts on the subject at The Creative Penn.

- An interesting Wall Street Journal article for the curious: How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write.

Some Crafty Ebooks:

- Needlepointer Janet Perry offers a series of ebooks on the craft.

- Leigh Ann Tennant has released an ebook of sewing projects for new mothers, called sewExpecting

- Lee Meredith has an ebook of 10-yard knitted cuffs.

- Carina has a lovely ebook of embroidery stitches and patterns.

- Did I mention that I have a couple of them as well?

Tagged as: craft book, ebooks

iHanna

Inspiration, inspiration, inspiration! Thank you, great links too.

SisterDiane

I was thinking about you and your blog book a lot when I wrote this show. You are a total pioneer of crafty self-publishing!

(For anyone who hasn't heard it, Hanna and I talked about her publishing project in this show:
http://www.craftypod.com/2007/11/15/craftypod64... )

Tammy

I've thought a few times about self-publishing, but I don't think I am ready for all the extra work. I also have to confess a little bias against the idea. To a certain extent, publishers do help screen out some work that isn't worth publishing IMHO.

SisterDiane

They do screen some work that's not ready for publishing... along with
a lot of good work that could find its own niche audience, given a
chance.

Tammy

Oh, I totally agree. Been on that end myself a few times. What I love is when you pitch a book idea, are told no, and then a year or so later, the publisher comes out with the very same topic in a book!

SisterDiane

Heh - Niiiiiiiiiiiiice! :-)

futuregirl

Great podcast! OMG, I love June's accent! Great information about publishing. I need to find that previous podcast with your publisher and Chronicle Books.

SisterDiane

Dang, you know - I should be kicked for not including that link in the
show notes! Here 'tis:

http://www.craftypod.com/2008/09/26/craftypod-7...

futuregirl

Yay! Thanks, Diane.

abbyglassenberg

This was a great podcast on such an interesting topic.

I have a book due out with Interweave in the winter of 2010 so I am in the midst of the writing and creating process right now (my manuscript is due in December). I wanted to clarify that the advance that an author receives is an advance against future royalties. In my experience, the author can determine how much to take as an advance. If you choose a smaller amount (in my case, getting half upon signing the contract and half upon submitting the manuscript), you can expect to see royalties from you book, even within the first year. This can be an encouraging feeling for authors. I wanted to share that because it is different from what Diane shared as her experience with advances and royalties.

SisterDiane

Good point, Abby - as I mentioned in the show, my experiences are general guidelines, and every book deal is indeed different.

I do feel compelled to point out, though, that royalty payments are still dependent on a book selling enough copies to reimburse the publisher for the costs of production. So, if the book doesn't sell enough copies, those royalties won't happen. In this down economy, and with media in general undergoing massive transformation, book sales are sharply down.

An author needs to put a lot more (unpaid) time and effort into helping to generate book sales than ever before, and that time counts against profitablilty, too.

So, I believe those royalties are pretty hard to come by. But I sincerely hope your book proves me very wrong. :-)

abbyglassenberg

Totally. The amount of time put in to creating and writing and then
promoting a craft book most certainly puts it in the labor of love
category. I do feel fortunate to be able to take on this project
because I do really love working on it, but certainly none of us are
making any kind of big profits from authoring craft books. Thank you
again for delving into this topic. It really is food for thought.

-Abby

SisterDiane

Good point, Abby - as I mentioned in the show, my experiences are
general guidelines, and every book deal is indeed different.

I do feel compelled to point out, though, that royalty payments are
still dependent on a book selling enough copies to reimburse the
publisher for the costs of production. So, if the book doesn't sell
enough copies, those royalties won't happen. In this down economy, and
with media in general undergoing massive transformation, book sales
are sharply down.

So, I believe those royalties are pretty hard to come by. But I
sincerely hope your book proves me very wrong. :-)

craftigkristen

Excellent listen! I've dabbled with the idea of publishing an e-book, and though this podcast makes it very obvious how much work is involved, it still sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for all of the info!

Fanie

I just listened to your Podcast while going to work, this morning, and it was so interesting. (as usual!) I've been very interested in self-publishing and it was nice to hear it from someone who has experience with both (self-publish and publishing with an editor.)

It's a wonder that there are that many craft and arts book out there, knowing that the authors makes hardly enough money to get even. I really wish the authors would get paid more. :-/ I guess this is where self-publishing comes to the rescue, but you need to be a multitasker or know people to help you out with the parts you can't do. And still...

I guess this is where the passion part comes in handy. :-)

sarahewhite

Thanks for this, Diane!

I have a traditionally published book, and though the timeline on mine was a lot shorter than you're talking about, I can attest to the truth of everything you said about print publishing (it is really, really wonderful despite all the hard work and trials you're sure to face along the way).

I've been somewhat toying with the idea of trying an ebook but am still in that stage of trying to come up with a different concept that you can't already find for free (and knitting is very saturated with free stuff!).

Glad to hear it's been working so well for you and others!

BethH

wow, thanks for all of this info! i haven't had a chance to delve into it all yet, but i just read that Wall Street Journal article & it's very, very interesting!

thingsbright

This is fabulous and didn't scare me off at all! In fact, it was quite reassuring. As someone who'd love to publish either kind of craft book, and who keeps working on my patterns, it was actually encouraging to know that I'm not alone in thinking how much work it ends up being! I love the idea of ebooks and this cements my thoughts on trying out a pattern or two and an ebook to get my feet wet. Thank you so much for all your carefully researched and informative episodes!

CraftyPod #98: Two Ways to Publish a Craft Book, with June Gilbank

Search CraftyPod

Categories

Recent Posts

I also write for:

Stuff I Publish:

A Few Fave Blogs:

Crafty Podcasts

Pages

More Stuff I Publish:

Archives

Podcast Feeds