Thread by @wipinsanity

:deep, fortifying breath:

(Because this thread is nervous-making for me to write.)

I want to talk cold, hard numbers about what #designers make, because it looks like there are some huge misconceptions floating around out there in the #knitting world.

There is currently a kerfuffle on IG, which has spilled over into Twitter, about the financial accessibility of yarn, because a knitter went to purchase the recommended yarn for the pattern she wanted to make and it was a ghastly high total.

Said knitter called for indie designers (in addition to all the other stuff the market currently expects them to load into their products) to recommend multiple yarns per pattern, customized to different price points, with photos of the finished project in each recommended yarn.

Unsurprisingly, the reaction to this from many designers was that knitters should simply know how to substitute yarn. (Reason being that basic knitting know-how is not covered in most patterns - how to knit, how to choose good needles, how to substitute yarn, etc.: not covered.)

And apparently, designers who say stuff like that are getting this sort of reaction:

https://twitter.com/kariebookish/status/1284473240648376320?s=20

What I'm focusing on here is the "raking in the money" thing. I've seen this complaint before; some (or maybe a lot) of the knitting population is under the impression that designers make a ton of money.

And this brings us back to: I want to talk cold, hard numbers about what designers make. I'm going to be talking a lot about my own numbers, which is embarrassing and scary, but I feel like we need to stop keeping this kind of thing to ourselves.

Firstly, I would like to point everyone to this site. It hasn't been updated much since it was first launched, but it still contains a fair amount of data about the amounts that designers receive from yarn companies and magazines for their pattern designs. whopaysknitters.com/designers/

Some examples:
- Slippers pattern for Interweave Quick and Easy Knits: $150, no royalties
- Sweater pattern for Pom Pom Quarterly: $287, no royalties
- Sweater pattern for Twist Collective: $0 flat fee, $17.50 in royalties (yes, the decimal is in the right place there)

More examples:
- Sweater pattern for Interweave: $500, no royalties
- Miscellaneous pattern for I Like Knitting: $200, no royalties
- Shawl pattern for Willow Yarns: $300, no royalties
- Mittens pattern for Simply Knitting: $58, no royalties

I don't design full-time, but if I did, I'm guessing I could MAYBE get magazines to publish 24 of my patterns a year? If I worked incredibly long and hard, did nothing else with my design business, and was very lucky with acceptances?

So...$420 to $12K a year.

Not...a lot.

And now, let's go to my own numbers.

:gulp:

I'm going to talk specifically about my Tracery Vest pattern, which is easily the most popular of my for-profit patterns. And by "easily", I mean its sales numbers are 5x my per-pattern average. wipinsanity.blogspot.com/p/pattern-trac…

This pattern was first published in July 2013, in The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits magazine, from Interweave Press. My fee was $275. (All values given are in USD.)

The initial contract I signed gave them the right to sell the pattern individually on their website if they so chose, with me receiving 40% of sales due to exclusivity (i.e. it could only ever be sold either on their site or my site, no third parties).

They did not so choose; they never posted it for individual sale on their site and thus I never received 40% of anything. They did, however, republish it in their Knitting Wizardry book and sold it to Fantastic Knits magazine. No money came to me as a result of these two things.

But the pattern was very popular; after awhile I got tired of not seeing more benefit from my work, and exercised my right to change the option in my contract. I could now sell the pattern on a 3rd-party site (e.g. Ravelry), and my hypothetical royalties from IW went down to 20%.

That was in January 2015. Since then, the pattern has sold the following number of times:
- 320 on Ravelry
- 10 on Etsy
- 7 on Patternfish
- 5 on Lovecrafts
- zero on any other sales channels

The pattern sells for $6.50US.

So, assuming full price was always paid (spoiler: it wasn't, there have been a lot of coupons used), it has GROSSED (i.e. not including fees) ~$2200.

Over a period of five and a half years.

Average annual gross: $400. On my MOST popular pattern.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I don't have the marketing reach of big-name designers in the knitting world. But I have been around for a while and I've had some pretty notable "wins", and so I flatter myself that I'm not some no-name indie working in total obscurity.

And THAT'S the kind of money I make with my biggest success.

I cannot imagine I am unique among indie designers in this level of sales.

So.

Whichever side you come down on in the debate about financial accessibility of yarn and patterns, please do not EVER think that designers are sitting in ivory towers raking in scads of money from their copious pattern sales. They're also struggling with financial accessibility.

I've been in this gig awhile and I can tell you that it is EXTREMELY difficult to make even a LIVING wage with this stuff. Most people I'm aware of in the industry who do make a living are not doing so JUST off pattern sales - they do other stuff, like teach, tech edit, etc.

I hope this thread may kick-start some helpful conversations and learning.

Fin.

(P.S. - I am very unfamiliar with the crochet world, but I imagine things are similar there.)

Correction: Fabulous Knits magazine. Mea culpa.