Submit to magazine or sell privately??????

[ksknits]

I'm in the process now of designing some crochet patterns. I'm debating whether to submit them to a magazine to try to get published, or sell them privately using ETSY, etc. I have no idea what magazines pay for a pattern, so I'm wondering what would be the best for me financially. If I understand the process correctly, if you're published through a magazine they own the copyright to the pattern, right? I'd love to hear your opinions on this and what you prefer to do.

 

Kathy S

[sherryzzz]

I haven't sold any crochet patterns to a magazine yet, so I don't know the "usual" re the usage rights a magazine will want from you. However, the only thing you should be selling to a magazine is the exclusive right to print the pattern in a specific issue of the magazine for a limited amount of time (say, 6 months). If the magazine wants to publish on a website or offer as a printed pattern, those are different rights. You should be retaining the original copyright to the pattern - and should only be selling limited usage rights. After the magazine's exclusive time period runs, you should then be able to offer the pattern as a free pattern on your website, or for sale (though after a magazine publishes it, I would think your sales potential would be very diluted). But, as I said, I'm not sure what the "ususal" is for crochet and craft magazines. Most of the magazines have submission guidelines on their websites that give a lot of information.

[Carol]

Check the editorial guidelines of the magazine you want to submit to. They're all different. Some magazines want to own everything, so they buy all rights (which means you no longer own your pattern, they do). Others may buy only one-time usage rights. There are a lot of scenarios. Check the submissions guidelines online for each magazine.