For Designers
by Marguerita McManus, Author, Designer, YouTube Director
Do you want to be just a quilt pattern designer? Or more? Start a small business designing quilts, selling patterns, writing a book or two, teaching, lecturing, having a website to sell your creations from, a blog to keep in touch with the people who love your products? It’s a challenge!
Here is a start for your designing career. If you are wondering if you should go patterns versus books, the rule of thumb in designing is that patterns take a lot of steady work but bring a higher return than writing a book. Authorship brings a level of fame and can lead to better opportunities to teach and lecture but doesn’t usually bring the same payoff that patterns do.
Join the Quilt Pattern Designers Collective group on Yahoo!.com and read, and search the archives for answers to any questions that you have and if you don’t find the answer, post the question to the group.
Is your work original? Understand copyright issues by visiting the US website on copyrights and reading their publications. Do not rely on “opinions” about copyright from family and friends or “what the guild says” about copyright. You have a lot to gain and a lot to lose, it is in your best interest to be sure you understand the law.
Decisions, decisions. You’ll need to make a lot of them: printed patterns or downloadable; quilt photography; printing and packaging; pricing; web, blog or both; marketing; sell retail, wholesale or both…and the list goes on.
Do you have a business plan?
Really Good Advice. Read it twice.
Have you created a website? Yes, you can do it yourself easily! Try HP Online classes for free tutorials on how to get started and what to keep in mind while you are creating your site. Be sure to install some form of analytics so that you can understand your web traffic and make changes to increase hits.
Use and understand Google Analytics
Did you know that you can double the hits to your website by writing and maintaining a blog? Create your free blog at blogspot.com or wordpress.com or build a blog into your website.
Watch a video that explains what a blog is and how it works. If you are already blogging, consider joining rings to increase your exposure and increase the hits to your site. The Quilt Designers Blog Ring
More about web design and blogging
So you have a product to sell:
Hi Marguerita– Just a note to tell you that I am moving my blog from glennasgabfest.blogspot.com to hollyhockquiltsblog.blogspot.com. Would it be possible to change the link on the Designers Blog Ring that I am a part of? Thanks so much— Glenna