Patternfish vs. Ravelry

There were a number of comments on my original post as well as even more behind the scene emails and conversations with other designers regarding this topic.

The general consensus is that I may be losing sales by not selling directly through Ravelry. Some felt that my designers page is not enough to get potential buyers over to Patternfish.

Interestingly the whole discussion of self publishers vs. traditional publishing came up numerous times. Some self publishers (but not all), think I should put my patterns there ASAP, yet at the same time they are cognizant of the fact that the quality issue is very real. Traditional publishers seem to hesitate to make any substantial commentary almost as though the whole subject is taboo or simply because they haven't had any experience in the self publishing world. Many in both camps expressed concerns about the lack of tech editing on Ravelry patterns and that there are no standards for quality. An employee at my LYS said she was having real issues with the number of free patterns on Ravelry that customers bring in for help and how poorly many of them are written. It is also thought that many Knitters assume that because something is on Ravelry that it has some sort of stamp of approval or credibility simply from having been posted there.

There are also concerns about the devaluation of designers work by free and under-priced patterns in a constantly evolving marketplace of existing and new pattern sources.

Patternfish does review the designers that submit to them before they go live on the site. I was told that I needed to have everything tech edited. I received very clear and constructive feedback on the first patterns that I submitted. Fortunately most of it was positive and some showed me exactly where to direct my first efforts into improvement.

I'm still mulling this one over for myself. Please feel free to continue this discussion in the comments.

Patternfish vs. Ravelry

I've had a few questions about why I haven't yet listed my patterns on Ravelry as well as on Patternfish.

I'm so new at being a professional Knitter that I'm just starting to find my personal path. I've had lots and lots of advice from many people which I truly appreciate. The problem with some of that advice has been that often it is completely the opposite from the last person I spoke to. As an example, some say I should only self publish and never give up my ownership of the copyright on items I design. Others say that if I don't get into Vogue and Interweave Knits I will never gain the attention of enough Knitters to make money. Some tell me I have to get a book deal. Others tell me they make so little from books that if it wasn't for alternate avenues of income they could not survive.

At this point every decision I make is just for right now and I may reverse it at any time in the future.

My reasons for publishing only with Patternfish as of today are:

1. I have a personal relationship with Julia  Grunau.
2. It's a Canadian company.
3. Publishing in more venues means more administration work for me.
4. There has been some discussion about the perception of designers who publish on Ravelry.

Number 4 became a hotly discussed issue at a recent KNIT monthly meeting. I think the problem was that I quoted what someone else said to me which was "that the Ravelry designers seem to be less professional". Now that I've mulled the topic over a little more I think the difference is actually one of self publishing vs. traditional publishing designers. I questioned the group for reasons as to why I should publish in both places since I have already created a designers page on Ravelry which showcases all of my available patterns and gives a link to Patternfish. The best reason suggested was that some Knitters might not want to create a Patternfish account so perhaps I'm losing out on some sales. If you feel that way could you please let me know in the comments section of this post?

I do by the way plan to publish a test pattern on Ravelry in the near future to see what I can learn from that experience.

I would also like to wholesale paper copies of patterns so if any yarn shop owners,  vendors at the retail yarn shows or hand dyers are interested please get in touch with me.