Update on Quilt Possible! - My New Pattern Venture

Progress is slow, but steady.  I've been working on several ideas, some of which I can share here, but others of which will have to wait.

Overall, I've been feeling a burst of creativity, but I'm annoyed that I can't seem to focus on one thing at a time.  Everything needs doing all at once! The actual patterns themselves, the samples and their photos, the graphics, the website, the store, and all the little minute details around each of those things.

I have been able to make a little bit of progress though, mainly in these areas:

1. I hired a graphic artist.  This was a really important step for me, because now I can stop messing with the cover design and focus on making patterns.  Already, he's made some really great suggestions and changes, and he's FAST!  He also undervalues his work, so I actually had to talk him up from the price he quoted me.  You might think I'm nuts to have done that, because he's still in school & learning so he won't always be this cheap.  However, I can't stand artists & their work being undervalued, and for artists to be afraid to charge a fair price for the skills they bring to the table. I'm pretty confident though that if you knew the original price, and then looked at everything he's churning out, you would have done the same thing.
2. I found a solution to my bar code conundrum.  If you didn't know, getting "official" bar codes is extremely expensive.  Almost prohibitively so for someone just getting started, and especially after plunking down a ton of money for the trademark registration.  But I was able to catch Daniela over at Cozy Quilt Designs, and she was so gracious to let me ask her a question about it.  I noticed that her patterns do not carry a standard UPC or EAN. She told me that almost all distributors are willing to accommodate the "little guys" because we're independent.  So we can use 3 of 9 (or Code 39) type bar codes, which you can generate yourself for free, and that would be enough for now.  That little tidbit saved me thousands!
3. I now have 10 pattern testers.  Each of them has a different skill level and different quilting tools (for example, rotary vs. die cutting), so I will have a nice pool of people to choose from for testing patterns.  Not everyone will be invited to test every pattern (for example, if I develop an exclusive Studio pattern, I can't invite the GO testers) but I have enough variety to get at least 3 testers per pattern.  Awesome!
4. I clarified a copyright issue on all of my published content.  Copyright is an extremely important issue, especially for those of us who write and publish on the internet.  A while back, I signed a contract (which I thought I read pretty well) but upon re-reading it, it sounded like I had transferred full ownership of my copyright to someone else.  I contacted them to clarify, and it turns out I only signed away for a non-exclusive right to republish.  Which is fine.  What it means for me is that I'm free to reconfigure & repackage content that I've published, which means that quiltpossible.com doesn't have to start completely from scratch.
5. I came up with an AMAZING idea.  This idea will really distinguish my patterns from others on the market, and if I pull it off, I think I'll really be able to carve a niche for myself. I don't see anyone else doing what I am thinking of, so cross your fingers please.  I can't tell you about it yet; I need to get a couple of patterns out there to really test the idea! I showed it to one person and she thinks I'm on the right track too.
   

Ok, so I have to put the pattern business on the back burner for a few hours; I have a garage sale to prepare for.  Tell me why though why I agreed to it?  I hate garage sales, but the junk has piled up too much around here and I really need to declutter my space.


Happy quilting!