Art in the Professions
Part One: First Contact! – or, How to Submit to a Publication
I became a professional craft designer almost accidentally. I had been a crafter all my life (an inherited gene that ran through my maternal line) but had not really given much thought to where all those great patterns came from. One of my favorite cross stitch magazines ran a contest every month for readers to try their hand at designing; just for fun I entered a few times and won first place on two occasions and runner-up on two more. Then came the perfect storm: It started with a hostile takeover at my day job that took place while I was on maternity leave, so when I came back to work I discovered I was out of a job. I needed a new job quickly, but was hoping for one that would allow me to spend more time with my new son. Coincidentally, a new cross stitch magazine was starting up just across town and was advertising for stitchers. This sounded ideal, so I called for an interview and in addition to bringing samples of my stitching, I also brought my winning contest entry tearsheets and some original, unpublished designs. The stitching captain looked through them, then took them and disappeared. Ten minutes later I was talking to the design director. One of their designers had recently been hospitalized and they needed someone to replace him. In one day I was suddenly a craft industry professional.
That was in 1995, the last gasp of the craft industry boom, and overnight successes like that don't happen anymore. Interest in crafting overall is down, and there are fewer outlets for designers to market their work commercially within the publishing industry. But success is still possible if you're willing to follow some common sense rules and proper business etiquette. With twenty-five years of experience on both sides of the editorial desk, I'm here to offer some guidance on the path to becoming a published crafter.
First, familiarize yourself with the publications available to you.
Some publishers are open to freelancers, others have their own stable of crafters who handle all their design work in-house. Same goes for the crafters who create the finished pieces you see on the covers and interior photos; some require the designer to craft and finish the final piece for photography, others have a collection of stitchers, knitters, crocheters and crafters to whom they will send the supplies and patterns to create the final piece from the designer's directions. If you are a quick and accurate crafter with impeccable technique, it can sometimes be more lucrative to craft the models than it can be to design them, so keep that possibility in mind as well. I have known many designers who have gotten a foot in the door by crafting the models and getting to know the staff before submitting their own projects.
Look carefully through several issues of each magazine to get an idea of the types of projects they prefer. Some like dramatic, complex designs, others lean toward easy or quick-to-make projects. Some accept more than one type of craft. Many prefer to use readily available materials and premade product, so also familiarize yourself with products that can be purchased in the average chain craft store, and adjust your designs to fit the product's size or an affordable type and amount of yarn or fabric. If you are designing a framed piece, try to keep it to a standard frame size, such as 5x7 or 8x10, as this allows the home crafter to purchase a ready-made frame and frame the piece themselves more cheaply than having it custom-framed.
When you have found a publication that favors designs in your preferred style, check the listing of staff; this is called the masthead and it is usually on or near the contents pages.
- Look for the name of the design director, assistant editor, or editor, and see if there is an email address listed for any of them. (Editors usually have a lot on their plate, so often it's best to start with an assistant or design director.) If all else fails, try emailing through the general customer service portal.
- Introduce yourself and ask politely if they are accepting submissions from new designers.
- Also ask in what format they prefer their submissions, whether they have a standard submission form that must accompany any patterns or sketches, and whether they have any particular themes or products they are featuring in upcoming issues. (Keep in mind that craft publications are usually working about 18 months ahead of publication date; for example in July of this year I was working on Christmas designs for next year's holiday issues.)
- If you have any credentials (such as my contest wins, or if you've been selling your own patterns online) be sure to mention this, and include a link to your shop, website or social media outlets, so they can get an idea of your style and whether it is right for them.
- Thank them politely and wait for a response. Note that this can take several weeks or up to three months, depending on how many times your email gets forwarded until it reaches the right person, and how long it takes that person to come up for air long enough to respond.
- If they say they are not accepting new designs at this time, thank them politely for their time and consideration and move on to the next publisher. Sometimes this can just mean they have all the layouts set for the next several issues, sometime it can mean they'd like you to have a little more experience under your belt; in any case, try them again in another year or so and see whether anything has changed.
- If they are open to new submissions, either the editor will ask to see what designs you have currently available, or they will send an email for their next open call for designs. In either case, they will usually let you know what the theme of the next publication is, and the color range they are emphasizing, if any. Stick to these guidelines, and any size or product specifications, when putting together your sample designs.
- Do not send charts or patterns at this time; what they want to see is a color sketch, thumbnail photo exported from your design program, or photos of your finished piece. This allows the editors to confer and decide which designs best suit the theme, and how many designs they can fit into the issue. Typically they will provide a time frame of between two weeks to a month to submit your designs, and will let you know if your submission has been accepted about two weeks after the submission deadline.
Above all else, any designs you submit MUST be your own original work and subject matter. You may have created a pattern for a perfectly adorable Pokemon amigurumi, or designed a stunning cross stitch portrait of your favorite anime character, or a beautiful afghan featuring the face of the latest movie heartthrob; but copyrighted images are illegal to reproduce without a licensing agreement, and licensing for popular media can be prohibitively expensive. Most commercial publishers won't even look at media images that require licensing, unless they already have an agreement in place with the parent company; and if they do, the design rights will have already been assigned to one of their in-house adaptors. Most publications will not even allow adaptations of your friends' art or photographs unless you have written permission from the originator of the image. Stick with photographs you have taken yourself, generic creatures, nonspecific portraits, and your own individual design style.
To Be Continued....see part 2 (which will be posted soon)!
