I have published a couple of free sock patterns on Ravelry already. It is hard to tell how many people have actually made them as not everybody makes a project page but of those that do I have hit double figures. The patterns have been downloaded an order of magnitude times more.
And one group actually picked my Xmas Trees pattern for their KAL at the end of last year.
But if I want to do this more seriously I need to do things properly. I joined the Designers, Budding Designers and the Ravelry Shopkeepers groups and started reading a lot of invaluable advice.
1. Write up the pattern
2. Take photographs
3. Put in a testing request to the Free Pattern Testers group
4. Monitor and respond to the testing thread
5. Make any required corrections/clarifications to the pattern
6. Take better photographs!
Photographing your own feet is not easy. I now drafted in Paul to get some much better photographs outside in natural light. Out of about two dozen I got four I liked!
7. Got it tech edited.
Paul performed this task admirably. He knows nothing about knitting, but give him a document and he is in his element ensuring consistency in layout and style!
And now all the prep has been done it is time to actually take the step over the precipice...
8. Add the pattern to the Ravelry database
9. Link the pattern to your store
10. Activate!
And very importantly, send your pattern as a gift to your testers so they can add it to their library and link their projects.
Advertising and promotion are another matter that I may need to get into at a later date. Maybe when I have a decent portfolio of patterns.
Things I will do differently going forward:
Get good photographs at the outset! The better it looks the more likely you will attract testers.
Create a template from this pattern for follow on patterns so that they all have the same look and feel.
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