Pattern Book???

[Messman]

I am looking at publishing a book of patterns and I would like to hear your input. What do you dislike about the books that are out there right now? What do you like about them? What do you think should be included in them, what would you like to see? What do you think the price point should be on a actual book and the price point of an e-book with say 60 plus patterns in them of various subjects? Let me know any other information you would like to give me as well.

[Barry5180]

Hi Chris,

 

Personally, I like many of the pattern books out there. The thing I like the least about them is the way they are bound. They do not lie flat, so if you want to photocopy one of the patterns, in many cases you have to cut the page out of the book.

 

As for what I would like to see, well, it could be almost anything. The one thing I do not cut a lot of is religious art as most of it is Christian based and I'm Jewish. Not much call for a cross on my wall at home. Subject matter could be tough. If it contains patterns of only one type of subject, say transportation, The only people interested in it will be people who like cutting that subject. Fill the book with various subjects it may interest a larger group, but, paying for a book of sixty patterns or so when I'm only interested in ten of them is not such a good deal.

 

As I see it though, the greatest challenge you will have is if the patterns in the book are patterns that you have already made available online. Most people will not pay for a collection of previously free patterns, especially if they can jump online and find them there. If enough scrollers know of your work, I could see them jumping on a book of previously unreleased stuff.

 

No matter what you end up doing, good luck with the endeavor.

 

Barry

[Messman]

Barry all great points. The flat book issue is why, if I do move forward with this project, I will be using a sprial binding, so that it can lay flat on tables, photo copiers and scanners.

[Travis]

I love pattern books. I mostly have stuff from Fox Chapel and really get a kick out of them. I'd much rather have a book focused around a theme rather than a random assortment of patterns. So a book on cars, or a book on celebrities, or a book on South West designs, etc. That way I know if I buy a book on floral designs, I know there's going to be at least a couple that I want to cut. Even if there's only 10-25 patterns per book, that's OK. Look at Fox Chapel, many of their books only have a handful of designs. Smaller the book, the cheaper the price, which makes it more accessable.

 

Pricepoint really depends on the content. Is it only designs, are you offering instruction, do you have a unique technique? Are you publishing it through LuLu or another print on demand site? If its just patterns, I'd think an eBook is maybe worth $10-12 perhaps. Hard copy really depends on the base price your POD company has and what you think your profit margin will be. I'm guessing you could get away with $17-19.95.

 

One thing to do is experiment with prices and find the sweet spot. If you've been watching Great American Scroll Saw, their initial price was $39, then they dropped down to $27ish, then down to $14ish, and now they're back to $27. Especially when you're selling ebooks, it doesn't cost you extra to experiment with price (other than potential profit).

[Messman]

Great perspective Travis. Something to ponder for sure.

[Christina]

I have to agree with Travis and Barry both. But from my perspective, as a new scroller still learning, instruction is important to me. I like books that show new techniques step by step with photos. So that might be something you can add if you have special techniques for any of your projects. Also, I like themes and variety too. Never know what will catch a person's eye and spark some ideas. I also like the lower priced books. I can't afford a big investment at one time so it's nice to be able to buy smaller, less expensive books. With the economy the way it is I would think people would buy smaller, less expensive books over the bigger more expensive ones.

Also, new and unique patterns grab my eye. Stuff out of the ordinary.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your endeavor.

Christina

[Messman]

First off let me say thanks for all the replies I have gotten so far. Now here is a binding question for you all. I have been leaning to a sprial binding so the book could lay flat, but there is a problem. That problem is cost. The spiral bindings cost more than other bindings. So my question then, would you pay more for the spiral binding just so the book can lay flat?

[Travis]

I could say it isn't worth it for me. I'm not a fan of spiral binding anyway, so you can take that for what it's worth. I understand the logistics, but to me the spirals get bent, broken, etc. I'd rather have a glued edge bind so it sits nicely on my bookshelf and can read the spine when looking for the book. That's my 2 cents anyway.

[Barry5180]

I do agree with Travis about being able to see the spine of the book when it's on the bookshelf. Hadn't given that any thought. As long as the book is thin enough or the margins around each pattern large enough for the book to sit flat enough on a copier to get a good copy of the pattern I would say a regular binding is fine. If the patterns can't lay flat on the copier though, you would need the spiral binding.

 

Barry

[Christina]

I too dislike spiral bindings for the same reasons. They just don't last as long either.

Christina

[joscrolls]

I wonder if ther is such a thing as perforated binding, so the book can be published as a book, but the buyer can easily remove pages to copy? Just a thought. The bindings of the dover clip art series lay pretty nicely on a copy machine....fairly thin and large and only printed on one side...so the opposite side doesn't copy through.

Good luch with your book by the way!!

Do we all get first pick of signed copies??