Wrapping up the Crafty Tree Trimmings project

Welcome to the post-holiday world!

I just wrapped up the Crafty Tree Trimmings project, and thought I’d post a little recap here. I learned a lot through the process, and came to some conclusions I’d like to share with other aspiring self-publishers.

First, the numbers.

All in all, we sold 111 copies of the book. This generated a $175.00 donation for Project Linus (which includes a little rounding up by me, plus generous extra $10.00 one customer donated).

Do I wish those numbers were higher? Sure, I do. But the market still has some resistance to crafty ebooks, and especially in a down economy. (In case you missed it, there’s a lot of discussion of this over here.) All things considered, we did okay.

If you did buy a copy, my fellow contributors and I are deeply grateful. Thank you.

Next, the triumphs.

I’m super proud of the fact that everyone who contributed to this ebook was paid something for her work. We’re not talking huge money here, but when you stand it up against the number of times I was asked to design or write things for free in 2009, I was thrilled to be able to pay everyone something. Original content has value, and to my mind, deserves compensation.

I’m also thrilled that I was able to navigate all the complexities of a project like this: working with a team of people, establishing written agreements, managing payouts – this project represented a step up for me in self-publishing, and while it was a learning curve, I’m very happy with how it all came together.

I’m also eternally grateful to Patricia for her beautiful book design, and to Betz, Susan, Kayte, and Linda for their ornaments. It was a pleasure working with such talented people.

And finally, the conclusions.

I think projects like these prove that we crafters can publish our own work on a small scale, offering unique content to our community and making sure we’re fairly compensated. I hope to see more of us taking this road in 2010.

(If you’re considering a similar multi-contributor publishing project, feel free to email me. My brain is yours to pick.)

I also think this project is a great example of a “learning project” – something I encourage people to seek out. If you want to learn to do anything, you can always create a project that lets you do it on a small scale, in a fairly protected way. In the process, you’ll learn skills that will ready you for a bigger and better next time.

Just stay more attached to the learning than the outcome, and you’ll always find success.