Crochetville Publication

[EmEyeAaay]

How neat! I'm such a bookaholic that I'd definitely buy 'em, especially if they were books for different categories!

[crochetoholic Debb]

Ok I have emailed her and will await her email.

[Crochet Garden]

I would definitely submit design(s) and purchase!

[JoBug]

I am not a designer, but LOVE crocheting, and would definatly BUY a book or two, ya know, people needs gifts, well, if your looking for ideas, I would have to say add a PLUS sized section, it is soooooooooo hard to find clothes that fit a gal bigger than size 12..ya know...

[Amy]

then the publisher will insist the patterns come down, and to me that ruins the communal idea at the very core of crochetville. Many women on here are invovled in charity work, and get patterns here

 

Laura, please don't worry about patterns that are already available here having to come down. Publishers are most likely not going to be interested in patterns that have already been published and distributed widely. They want NEW patterns, never before seen, that will entice even more people to buy the book.

 

The publishing world does not always move quickly. It's going to take some time for Donna and me to finalize our book proposals, shop them out to one publisher, and hope we get an affirmative answer. If we're told no, then we start the waiting process over again with a second publisher, and a third, and so on. Hopefully, we won't have to look far before somebody will be interested in publishing these books.

 

I know everyone is excited and wants things to happen super-quickly, but it just won't happen that way. I think the best thing for now might be if people who would be interested in contributing a pattern to a book when we're ready to go through the submission process, starts working on a brand-new pattern they would be willing to give to the cause. (And we hope that whatever publisher is interested will compensate everyone for their submissions.) That way, by the time we're in place and ready to put out a call for submissions, you'll be ready with patterns that have been developed, tested, and are ready for submission.

 

I also need to let everyone know right now that we cannot offer any guarantee that a pattern you submit would be chosen to be included in any book. With all our members, we're likely to be flooded with way more than could be included in one book with any hope of it being less than thousands and thousands of pages. So, we might have to pick and choose what gets included. Those decisions would be made by Donna and me, with I'm sure, quite a lot of input from any publisher.

 

And this is all assuming that any publisher would even be interested in publishing something with the Crochetville name.

 

When the time comes that we're ready for submission, or a publisher might ask us for some other input from our members about what they'd like to see in a Crochetville book, then Donna and I will be sure to do whatever is needed to get the type of input that is required.

 

For now, the podcast is going to happen much sooner than a book will ever come to light! I've already set up a new Podcast Category on the forum main page, and posted a thread with instructions on how you can get your iTunes or other podcast subscriptions set up so you'll automatically get new episodes as soon as we make them available. The goal is to publish the first episode Tuesday or Wednesday of next week!

[crochetoholic Debb]

Amy, Yarnoholic,

I contacted Mary Ellen and she said the following:

Per Mary Ellen:

"I would be glad to give you the name and email of my publisher-Krause Publishing. They are the largest publisher of leisure crafts in the country! They did the Crochet Stitch Bible, Felted Crochet and several others.(knitting too) Also, I can give you contacts for other companies. I had contacted many other publishers before I decided who to send my book proposal to. I have all their email addresses and some phone #''s saved. I can't do it right now, but maybe later tonight? I have company right now, and I also have to finsh up a couple of designs to be overnighted by Friday morning to my publisher.

I think that is an excellent idea to do a book of designs from crocheters on crochetville! Who's idea was that? I have seen some wonderful designs there! (very talented people who should have their designs published) I am also wondering if DRG might be interested. I am in contact with Carol Alexander all the time. She's the editor of Crochet! magazine. They (DRG-Dynamic Resources Group) also publish Crochet World, Hooked on Crochet, American School of Needlecraft, Annie's Attic, and all the House of White Birches books."

 

She is busy with making her deadline by tomorrow for her book and then she has a photo shoot in 3 weeks and then another book on the way, but she said she will email this evening with all the info. If were still interested. She has some great contacts.

[Amy]

Debb, that's wonderful! Um, I just wanted to clarify, did Mary Ellen say it was okay to reproduce her email here? I'm sure she probably doesn't mind, but we really need to make sure it's okay with her for it to be posted publicly for all to see.

 

And tell her there's no super rush to get the info to us. I've got to get the first issue of the podcast done before I can really think about revising/updating the book proposals, and Donna's in the midst of a big project she'll finish right about the time I get the podcast done.

 

Please pass along our eternal thanks as well!

[Momcrochets]

 

The most useful thing for Donna and me at this point in time would be for our members to let us know what general types of patterns they would like to see in a Crochetville pattern book. Being able to give the publisher information direct from our private little "focus group" here of what you all are interested in having including in such a book, and that you would be willing to purchase such a book, would help the publisher decide if they really would be interested in accepting our proposal.

 

Or to contract with us for a series of books. Who knows?

 

 

A series!! Sign me up. I've seen soo many great patterns. My faves...clothing (adults and kids/babies) not just sweaters, toys/stuffed, household fun/doilies. Anybody want to set up a poll for Amy and Donna? I havne't figured that out yet, myself. :yarn

[Amy]

Anybody want to set up a poll for Amy and Donna?

 

I don't think we're quite to the point yet where we're ready to do a poll on any of this. That will come AFTER we've talked to the publishers and know what type of book it is they're willing to publish.

 

I don't want to get the cart too far ahead of the horse here and plan a bunch of stuff that will get tossed by the wayside because the publishers are envisioning something totally different than what we are.

 

Should any publishers be interested in working with us, whenever we have a better idea of what is needed, Donna and I will start any polls necessary at that point in time.

[Happy_Hooker]

Sure Amy, Whatever you gals say... I think a poll would be a good idea in the sense that you would have something to take to them in the negotiating process.

[darncat]

If the publisher doesn't work out have you thought about using a self publisher? A friend of a friend of mine self published her book and other than the inital cost she liked it. Just wondered.

[crochetoholic Debb]

Amy, I changed any personal details in the email and she does not mind. I am still awaiting her response. As soon as I hear I will let you know.

 

[Happy_Hooker]

Did we hear anything at all??? I am kind of anxious about it.

[Amy]

Happy Hooker, this is not something that's going to happen in the very near future. It's going to take quite some time for us to formalize a written proposal, write a chapter or two to go along with the proposal, talk to ONE publisher about it, see if we can come to an acceptable agreement with them. If not, then it's on to the next publisher. Submitting a book proposal is a complicated process.

 

Donna and I have some other things we've been working on that have had to take priority over this, and we hope to be able to tell everyone about those things next week.

 

We really appreciate everyone's enthusiasm for this type of project, and we will let everyone know something as soon as we have anything to share. But it would not be prudent for us to announce any plans until and if we come to a contractual arrangement with a publisher.