I've been thinking about writing this post in ages but I wasn't sure there was an appetite for reading it. There have been some posts I've read on social media in recent weeks that have made me feel otherwise Not everyone wants to talk about income. I remember going to a thirty-something dinner party with my husband a few years back when the conversation was about mortgages and babies as that was the life stage we were all at. Everyone was happy to talk about their interest rates, household costs and sleepiness nights with babies, then Damian mentioned income and the room fell silent, no one wanted to talk about what they earned, it was taboo.
I don't earn a lot and I am self employed so it varies annually depending on how successful the year has been financially. I live a modest life, one car, small house, not much in the way of holidays. The majority of my income comes from running music classes for children 0-5 years. Its a rewarding job- I love teaching, music and working with babies, toddlers and preschoolers. It is also a tiring job- imagine throwing a children's party multiple times each week and welcome to my world. A small percentage of my income comes from sewing and blog related activities: book contributions, magazine work, a little teaching, and
Sew-Ichigo PDF patterns. In addition I do sewing related work that is unpaid- general goodwill in return for goods that I like or just goodwill. I am just prepping my accounts for my self- assessment deadline in January 2015 so it is a good time to examine how I earn money through sewing, and how much I earn.
Writing a book
When Lynne and I wrote
500 Quilt Blocks it started as a publisher's commission and Lynne asked me to write with her. The title was part of a series of 500 books. We got to tweak the format a little but were bound by the book size and layout and worked within those limitations. We were paid a fixed fee split into three instalments rather than by royalties. We wrote it in a very short space of time- three months to write and sew everything in the book. Time limits like this can be the worst aspect of writing a book. The deadlines are decided in advance by the publisher: photographers are already booked, the first print run has been timetabled, shipping dates have been arranged so creativity has to work to these strict limits. After the writing, we had a tortuous three months of proofing when there is a constant back and forth of long PDF documents to work through and correct and strange questions and requests to deal with. We gave up a lot of family time- the twenty projects had to be made first and they were made in four weeks over Christmas whilst also getting started on the 500 blocks. The amount we earned was modest but overall it was worth it. I like collaborating and Lynne was great to work with. We kept our sanity during a stressful time because we had each other to turn to, get a reality check and let off steam. Ultimately, there is nothing quite like opening a package with your own book inside. Would I write another book? It would take a lot for me to do it alone but with someone else, possibly. You need to be prepared for some big sacrifices in terms of family time when you write and I am not sure that is something I want to give up at the moment. Being paid fixed fee meant that once the book was written our duties were complete: we didn't have to worry about publicity, blog hops and royalties and that was a relief.
Contributing to a Book
Its always an exciting and ego-boosting day when an email arrives telling you how great your work is and would you like to be in someone else book. Compared to writing your own book there are many pluses to being a contributor to someone else's. Usually, you contribute a single project so the time commitment is a lot less. However the payment value is low. For me it has always been paid by a fixed fee and at around £100 per project and that you have to pay for your own materials. I like to chose my own mix of fabrics but you could choose to approach a supportive shop and ask them supply the fabrics in return for a mention. If you are in the UK or Europe where quilting fabric is £12-£16 a metre, the cost of making a project, especially a quilt adds up. If you have a quilt professional quilted by a long armer, you could easily end up with a project that cost you more to make that you are being paid. I've worked with American publishers and had to pay my own mailing costs are £20 or more. The exchange rate can work against you and you usually end up been paid via Paypal and so more money is lost in changing currency and receiving money. The time scale for the whole process is long. The
last book I contributed to has not been published and I completed the work at the start of this year. There is usually the bonus of receiving a few copies of the finished book which you can give to friends and family or sell to others to boost your contributor income. I contribute to books when I feel I am a good fit for the book concept or I have an appropriate project idea very quickly that I would like to see through and make. There are times when I've turned down contributing to a book because I don't feel like its a good fit- I may not know the author, editor or publishing house, the style might be too basic and beginner focused for the sort of project I like to work on, it might be with a restricted range of fabrics or the timeline is tight or during school holidays.
Writing for Magazines
There's been a huge growth in UK sewing magazines in the last year or so, this has become a handy way to earn money and see your work in print. The turn around is relatively quick: I am currently working on something now that will come out in April. Payment comes once the magazine is published. Magazines will agree a price with you and in my opinion they pay fairly and can be negotiated with, although if you make a quilt, your costs are always going to be high when offset against the project fee. The downside is the magazine itself only lasts a month so your content has a limited life span. I have written for
Love Patchwork and Quilting and
Quilt Now and I have something in the pipeline for another magazine. I try not to do projects too frequently for any particular title- I don't want people to tire of my style or ideas and I don't have a huge amount of time to play and develop ideas. Magazines are hungry for content, every month they have 100 pages to fill. You need to be able to deliver: this means writing to deadlines and the specified format, finishing everything on time, taking quality photographs and designing an aspirational project that others will want to make.
Teaching
Although I started off as a primary teacher, I have limited experience of teaching regular sewing classes. There is a saturated market for teaching sewing classes locally and they tend to be taught by shop owners and their employees. I also don't want to work in the evening which is when most people want a sewing class. I have taught for
Fat Quarterly Retreat and been paid for it: ultimately this usually goes towards the costs of travelling to London and accommodation. They pay what they can afford and I always have a great time at retreat.
Selling PDF Patterns
Penny and I design and sell
Sew-Ichgio patterns together through
Craftsy, our
blog shop and
Etsy. We have both had other commitments over the last year or so with book writing and the pattern sets take a long time to complete but it is an ongoing endeavour and we are grateful for a steady stream of people buying our patterns through the different outlets. This is one of my most reliable income streams when I look at it spread over a financial year. New material is coming next year.
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| Available in Sew-Ichigo shop! |
Sponsorship
I limit my sponsors to three at the moment. I want to enjoy what I write and three sponsor posts a month is enough for me and I am guessing for you too. Each post takes around 2-3 hours to collate, write and edit and in addition to the post I need to keep an eye on my stats and ensure that my blog is an active, regularly visited place for the sponsors. I have a good relationship with each of my sponsors and huge respect for the work and investment that they put into their shops. I tend to be paid by goods. It means that I can sew more and I get to experience the shops as a consumer. I could opt for a money payment and have more sponsors but the income is limited and I don't consider it worthwhile: I do not want to become just a market place. I have an affiliate income from Craftsy. I have enjoyed all the Craftsy classes I have taken so I am happy to endorse what I have used. They pay in dollars so I have to pay £10 conversion on each payment that they send out. I don't tend to use other affiliates. I have yet to earn any money through Amazon affiliate links so I only do add them when I can be bothered!
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| 318 Patchwork Blocks Sewn for Quilt Now magazine issue 5 |
All other work is unpaid. Blog hops sometimes involve a freebie- a book, some fabric, and some don't. Why do I do them? I chose the ones I like and fit with my style. Sometimes it is supporting a friend like
Lori Holt and her books for
Sew Emma. Or it might be patterns for
Fat Quarterly because I consider Brioni, Tacha and Lynne as friends and I respect what they do. I've worked with
Fat Quarter shop and
Oakshott a few times- they ask nicely, have lovely products and are generous with what they send. I do get a lot of blog emails from companies that don't ask so nicely, want to send things I am not so keen on or think that blog traffic is sufficient benefit for me to give up hours of my free time to promote them. I always respond to requests but I don't always say yes. Blog traffic is good. If you have sponsors, you need to keep a consistent level of clicks and visits to your blog. However, the balance has to be right, especially if I am working for free. I confess, I need to think more carefully before committing to unpaid work. The fear of being left out of the loop is too bigger factor in my saying yes and for the sake of my own creativity I need to overcome this.
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| Tutorial designed for Oakshott Fabrics |
So what does all this add up to? I've still got to tot up my sewing income for this financial year as it has a few months left but it has been a typical income year so far where I've contributed to a book, sold Sew-Ichigo PDF patterns and was commissioned for four magazine projects. I would be surprised if it was much over £1000-£1200 net. Once the outgoings of fabric, patterns, notions and equipment come out of that, maybe there will be £750 left? Its a lot of time for little money. The previous financial year was higher because it included 500 Quilt Blocks, but that was the exception. I spend many of my weekends meeting deadlines for paid and unpaid work, with more unpaid than paid. Paid work often needs to be sought out. You need to develop ideas and present them to magazines, publishers etc Blogging is time consuming and is often quietly received. I could post a pretty picture on Instagram and get lots of likes, comments and instant gratification, or I can write a blog post and many might read it but only a handful will comment- such is the way of blog consumption, and the restrictions of tablets and smart phones. I am hugely grateful for those of you who jump through the hoops of your device and manage to leave a comment. Why do I do all of it? I do it because I love sewing, I enjoy engagement with others in the sewing world. A hard look at the figures has made me think I need to spend less time sewing for free/return for goods as this takes up most of my time at the moment. Instead I need to work on Sew-Ichigo more!
I don't have a magic solution. There are other ways to earn money like making and selling goods through craft fairs or Etsy. They take time and organisation and you need to consider your market carefully. You need to produce what people want to buy which is not always an easy thing to discern. I never planned an income in sewing. My blog was not a strategic book pitch and sewing is first and foremost my hobby and I love it. I have turned away some money opportunities because I don't want to become an entirely commercially focused blog- it just does not interest me and the rewards are not sufficient. If you do want to be published, it certainly helps to specialise. I am not a single issue sewer- I make lots of things, quilting and clothing which is not really what a publisher wants, I am not an instant package or an easy brand to instantly pitch. I am not criticising the path of others, just explaining my own choices. There is no easy or guaranteed way to earn money in sewing and craft. I don't know where the big money is or if there is big money for an individual to earn in the sewing industry. I know a lot of people working very hard, often on multiple enterprises, for a modest amount- that's the reality.
To read open debate on income and sewing as a business, I thoroughly recommend Abby Glassenberg's blog,
'While She Naps'.
