Jun 20, 2015
I’m continuing my Crochet & Knitting Design & Self-Publishing Mini Series by talking about pricing your pattern. I’ll be exploring the advantages and challenges of offering all of your self-published patterns for free, all for sale, or some combination of free and paid.
Let’s start by examining 3 strategic approaches to pricing your self-published patterns. (By the way, your pricing strategy for your self-published patterns might be the same as the pricing strategy you use with third-party publishing, or it might be different.)
You may choose to only self-publish patterns for free. Here are some reasons why you might take this approach.
Some of the benefits of self-publishing your patterns for free are because free patterns…
On the other hand, you may choose to only self-publish patterns for sale. Here are some reasons why you might take this approach.
Hopefully, by combining approaches you will get “the best of both worlds.”
In the self-publishing book industries, this approach is common for ebook series. The first title may be “permafree,” allowing customers to try it out and then pay for the rest of the series if the would like to continue.
You may prefer to offer your patterns for sale, but want yarn support from a company that only works with self-publishing designers for free pattern releases.
This option also allows you to test out both methods and make adjustments that increase your income. The primary disadvantage is that you will need to spend more time considering which patterns should be available for free and which should be for sale (as well as what price is appropriate for your paid patterns).
If you decide to offer some or all of your patterns for free, how will you price them?
In the audio recording, I discuss some reasons why these different approaches might (or might not) work for your business.
The Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show is no longer broadcasting. Episodes are available as a service to the yarn community. This episode originally aired in June, 2015. Be aware that content may be outdated.
If you'd like to chat with other yarn-related business owners, join the Creative Yarn Entrepreneurs Facebook group. Support Marie's work by buying one of her books, Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students (Amazon | Gumroad) or Design It, Promote It, Sell It: Online Marketing for Your Crochet and Knit Patterns (Amazon | Gumroad).