Wish me luck!
:o)

I knit and when I pick up a book that's 60 pages of everything under the sun – why am I going to plunk down even $20 when I really just want two patterns?

A lot of craft books I've picked up lately are very generalized and that drives me crazy. I, like you, would rather see a fewer projects with more details then more projects with more generalization. I think that's why I prefer video workshops these days. They get right down to business and you can follow along without second guessing or wondering what exactly the artist meant.

A lot of craft books I've picked up lately are very generalized and that drives me crazy. I, like you, would rather see a fewer projects with more details then more projects with more generalization. I think that's why I prefer video workshops these days. They get right down to business and you can follow along without second guessing or wondering what exactly the artist meant.

Now another option I can see working really well these days are craft ebooks. A lot of information can packed into one, if purchasing a lot of books they would be neatly organized on the computer instead of searching through a bookcase (which takes up a bunch of room if you have a ton of craft books), and they would be permanent like a book unlike a website that may disappear down the road when you try to refer back to it at a later time.

You're totally right that our online community is just one segment of
the book-buying public.

I still see craft book sales slumping across the board, and wonder
what publishers can do to stay relevant to all segments. I think our
community would buy more craft books if they had more to do with the
way we craft.

This of course points out the overall expense of producing craft
books, and how hard it is for publishers to get a return on these
investments when the buying public is getting more and more segmented.
Maybe shorter-form books are the answer, or maybe our community will
just have to be served by our own self-published books.

the one thing that is easy to forget sometimes–what you want is not necessarily what the market wants. the market is not made up solely of 20 and 30 something crafters who share crafts on the internet (if it was, perhaps Adorn would not have tanked)–but that is what's most visible to you and me because we have an actual record of these people (blogs, comments, etc). working retail at a yarn store where i get to interact with book buying customers every day has really been informative for me. a lot of people who buy books have been crafting for years, they learn things from their friends and from free pamphlets, they don't search the internet for patterns that give them a general idea– they know what they want to make (“sweater for my daughter”, “a hat for my nephew”) and they want a pattern or book that tells them exactly how to make it. they don't want to think about it, they just want to make it–and i can't blame them, knitting and crocheting can be much more relaxing if you know where the project is going.

the thing is– i love japanese craft books too– because maybe they aren't quite as project oriented. but i also know that part of that is because i can't read what they are telling me, so i am pretty much taking the book and the instructions however i want to–in that way, the book is whatever i want it to be! it would be hard for me to apply that approach to a US craft book, since i can actually read it.

i'm with you on all of the front of the book stuff, but again, working with the customer has swayed me. one of my customers (a middle aged woman who's got a high power job) bought my book and a few days later said “i was reading the front and i liked the part where you said….”– things that to you and me might seem like common knowledge, may not be to everyone. if you believe that what you have to say, or your way of doing things- has value, then it's important to include this front of book information. because while there are many ways to do things and no one way is “correct”–people might buy your book because they want to know how YOU do it. i've had plenty of people come in with a project from a book w/no front of book general instructions, and it's up to me to determine what the author may have meant when they referred to a cluster, or how exactly they wanted to carry the colors along the back, etc. (of course, i do think more specifics are necessary with crochet and knitting than other crafts, as generally people are trying to recreate that.same.thing). so i can see the publisher's side on this, and i like to think that that information will be useful when someone picks up the book in twenty years or if the internet ever explodes. (again, you'd be surprised how much of the craft making public is not on the internet, does not search youtube for videos, does not like equating computer with crafting). it's easy to forget, when the people you surround yourself with think like you. but working retail has really shown me that it truly does take all kinds. :)