Digital works
My former boss-lady (hi Kerrie!) passed over an interesting link to a case study done with their magazines + the provider that puts out their digital editions, which completely proves what I’ve been saying about being digital-friendly. You do not even want to know the number of ways in which I pestered her to get a non-print edition of Yarn Forward running, from the very first day I was editing it in 2008!
(I am sure she will back me up on that, in fact. Now all three of their mags are available digitally, so apparently I’m very good at pestering).
Maybe it’s just me, I do admit to being a bit of a technology geek, but I seriously cannot understand some of the resistance in this industry to positive steps forward when it comes to getting information out there in new formats. Here I am working on teaching lovely students who live all over the world using online classroom software, students who probably wouldn’t have been able to come to me and vice versa (although any time a certain student wants me to come to Hawaii, well…), yet there are still people who think PDFs are stupid. Or, in the case of one recent and confusingly-written editorial piece, that independent designers should watch out because companies are going to start restricting access to Ravelry and all our customers will disappear if they can’t look at it from work.
(And so we do what, exactly? Go back to distributing our patterns using cuneiform on stone tablets? I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around what the author was trying to say).
I think, therefore, it is time to announce a little project of mine…one that’s been in the making for some time. The tentative title is: The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design: How to keep your knits about you
You can thank my friend Ryan for the subtitle. He’s the one who wanted us to call Felt Frenzy “Felt Up.” Comparatively speaking, “How to keep your knits about you” is not bad at all…this is what a Harvard English degree gets you, friends.
(I kid, I kid. He’s a writer, too. He knows the terror of titling).
What’s in it? Let’s put it this way: I’m distilling several years’ worth of my brain, tradeshows, professional contacts, off-the-record conversations and MUCH more into a book for you. Manuscript’s nearing 100 single spaced pages and I’m not even done yet.
Happy dance, everyone. Happy dance!
Anytime you want to stop by, lady! By the way, did you know I adore the Midwest?
Being able to take the classes at a distance is a huge bonus, but so is being able to do the course on my own time. Looking forward to learning how to illustrate my work with more than just words!
And, on a more serious do-you-wanna-visit note, the Aloha Knitters PR Person is Dorothy Dean; she handled much of the on-the-ground planning for Amy Singer’s recent visit here, complete with 2 lectures and a Tuscany Shawl class. Felting has been doing well here, btw.
Pestering, yes. Very good at pestering. Love the subtitle!!
great idea for a book!
I am really excited to read what you have to say about Knitwear Design! I hope you will post with a link as soon as it becomes available so that we can pounce upon it!
Thanks for sharing the case-study link. I was really surprised to see that it is so successful for them already. Do they recruit subscribers from their paper magazine or is that all just from yudu? I had never even seen that website before but I like the idea of a digital magazine!