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The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design Review

There a lot of knitters right now who are making the leap from knitter to designer. It's a natural progression of the craft...one starts out following patterns, figuring out how they're structured, and then adapting them and finally making up their own.

This book is written at the perfect time to help those people get themselves all set up and established in a professional way. But...it's not just for the newbies! The Knitgrrl Guide is for anyone who's trying to navigate through the craft publishing world, and is written by a woman who really knows her stuff.

Shannon has been a long-time friend and mentor to me. She has literally worked in every aspect of our field and knows her way around. She's worked with every major publisher, has been a magazine editor, brick and mortar shop owner, and really pays attention to what's going on.

When I'm in a situation with one of the above, and wondering, "Is this normal?" I call Shannon. If she doesn't know the person I'm dealing with, she knows OF them and always has a story about something happening to some anonymous friend...(which tells me that I can confide in her and it doesn't go anywhere!)

In reading The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design, I felt as though it was an extension of our conversations. In it, she's not only giving me advice, but advice WITH LINKS. I read this book with pen, Post-Its, and a highlighter in hand, and used them all. I found links to ways to pay less when I use Fed Ex, links to legal advice, copyright explanations, Ravelry groups that I hadn't explored.

I mean, I knew that if Shannon wrote a book, it'd be great. She's the kind of person that you speak to and know that they're already 100 miles ahead of you on the plan. Her mind works so quickly and in such an ordered way, it's hard to keep up with all of her ideas...but here in the book, I can read them at my own pace!

I'm not blowing smoke here, Shannon is one person that I believe is truly gifted. She's a brilliant conversationalist, she really understands people and their motivations, and she really GETS our industry.

If you're considering craft publishing in any format from downloadable PDFs to magazine patterns to writing (and publishing?) your own book...you really will find things here of value.

And I haven't even mentioned the interviews. In the back of the book are interviews with some of today's big (and upcoming) names. They describe how they got started, where they think the industry is headed, and really get candid with Shannon. I found that even people whose blogs I'd been reading shared more of their real thoughts with Shannon than they do on their blogs, which can become very customer-driven.

So, on that note...even if you think you have it all figured out in terms of your business model, publishing route, social media marketing, etc...you get a peek into the BUSINESS minds of your favorite designers, magazine editors, and other industry insiders.

The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design Overview

The Knitgrrl Guide To Professional Knitwear Design is the first-ever book targeted to designers of all experience levels who want to create, communicate and sell their work professionally to magazines, publishers, consumers and other markets. Written by an industry insider, the Guide takes a comprehensive, unflinching look behind the scenes that no knit or crochet designer can afford to be without. Includes 30+ interviews with top designers, editors and professionals who tell it like it is so you can hit the ground running, a guide to responsible social media use, information on distribution, printing, online publishing and much, much more.

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Customer Reviews

Not What I Expected - Janet Lee Wolfson - Woodstock, GA USA
I want to start off by saying that this book is great - it will be very useful for anyone who wants to turn pro with their knitting. However...there is very little info here about actually designing knitwear, in fact out of 247 pages, only 10 are about writing patterns, and most of that is about how to choose designing software. The breakdown of the book is:

1. Be professional
2. Social Media (how to use blogs, Twitter, FaceBook and Ravelry)
3. How to make money with your knitting (teaching, writing, test knitting, providing a service)
4. Legal stuff (copyright and contracts)
5. Writing Patterns
6. Making Sales (wholesale or PDF?)
7. Publishing a Book
8. Advertising
9. Further Education
10. Professional Associations
11. Standing Out From the Crowd
12. Interviews with Knitting Professionals

There is nothing here about how to turn an idea into an actual written pattern, or how to successfully submit to magazines, when/if to offer free patterns, etc. There is also no index, which is very frustrating. At the end of the book she has a list of resources, one of which is a list of 8 books on knitwear design. If learning how to design is what you really want, I would look at those books first, and then study Knitgrrl's book afterwards for the good info on advertising, networking and making a name for yourself in the knitting world.

So glad I found this book! - B. Castiel - Beverly Hills, CA United States
I'm so happy this book came out!
I am a new designer (4 designs sold) but I have been flying by the seat of my pants, with no idea if my sketches are "right", where to submit, how long it takes to get a reply, what to look for in a contract, what my work is worth... well you get the idea.
Shannon's book came along at just the right time for me, and it's so chock full of info, I could just write my to-do list from its pages.

One tiny quibble: it has a ton of web links, which is great, and I need to follow up with them, but I'd rather that the info from the web could be summarized in the book's pages. That way if that link goes away or changes in the future, at least we have that info captured. Also, if I'm reading the book and I'm away from my computer (like on a plane) I'm not left wondering what that link is all about.

That's all I can find to criticize.
Other than that, the book is a font of information, and nicely written in a breezy conversational style. It's like talking to your very knowledgeable best friend!

In short, if you're interested in knit design, YOU NEED THIS BOOK!

Excellent, as long as you know what to expect - Evelyn Uyemura - Torrance, CA USA
This is an excellent book that openly shares many of the "insider secrets" of how to market your own knitting patterns. What you need to know, however, is that the emphasis needs to be on "professional" and not on "knitwear design." That is to say, this book will not teach you how to actually design knitwear. It assumes you know how to do that. It teaches you everything else you need to know to function as a "professional" in the current environment--how to market, how to publish, and so on.

I'm not at all disappointed because this is the book I wanted. But it is completely different from Knitwear Design Workshop by Shirley Paden. Put the two books together, and you have a college education on how to earn money designing and selling knitting patterns.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 02, 2010 04:32:05

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Thursday, September 2, 2010