Over the last decade we’ve seen a dramatic rise in the acceptance of self-publishing. Once looked down upon as something you did when you couldn’t find a “real” publisher to buy your book, today self-publishing is an artisanal act of creative control. Creative people are no longer reliant on the traditional gatekeepers to determine whether their ideas warrant an investment. Especially with print-on-demand services, they can now create their own patterns and books to sell to their audience directly with very little upfront investment, while retaining complete creative control.
The trend towards self-publishing is being felt in all sectors. In 2017 more than a million books were self-published and the number of self-published print books grew 38 percent, experiencing the fifth consecutive year of print growth.
Creating a high-quality, self-published book is not without complexity, of course. In essence publishing is a series of processes, and each one requires a high level of skill that not every potential author possesses. Writing, editing, design, production, marketing, and distribution are each areas that need focused attention, often requiring a team of professionals to assemble for each project.
That’s where Maker Books comes in. Founded last month by Kerry Bogert, a veteran in the craft publishing industry, Maker Books strives to fill that void, guiding designers and artists through the self-publishing process from start to finish. The company offers a full suite of services to help create a self-publishing experience that is as smooth and empowering as possible.
“I feel like I just speak the language of craft,” says Bogert, who spent six years at F+W, first as acquisitions editor for Interweave Craft, then as editorial director of Interweave and Fons & Porter, later rebranded as The Quilting Company. She resigned in March, before the F+W bankruptcy filing, with plans to strike out on her own. “It’s the way my brain works.”
Bogert remembers loving the geometry questions on the SAT that involved envisioning three dimensional shapes. “When I read projects and patterns, I’m making them in my mind. It just goes together and comes to life. And when I run into places where things don’t make sense, I can help someone communicate that better.” She couldn’t be more excited to be bringing all of her skills and experience to the world of self-publishing, where makers can truly bring their visions to life.
Maker Books Founder, Kerry Bogert.
Photo courtesy of Kerry Bogert
When we spoke last week she had just finished helping a jewelry designer turn her class handout into a professionally produced ebook she could sell on Etsy. “She teaches different jewelry techniques like soldering and she wanted a styled PDF that went with her branding. I created a template for her that she can use with all of her projects going forward,” Bogert says. “And she knows she wants to do a book someday. This is like a stepping stone towards that.” In this case the template Bogert made is in InDesign and she provided the client with training so that she could input the content herself now and in the future. In other situations, though, Bogert can be a full-service shop inputting the content and laying out the entire project for Maker Books clients.
“For me it’s really meeting people where they are on their path in their creative business and their self-publishing process,” Bogert says. She’s ready to work with first time publishers who need hand holding and experienced authors who found the mainstream publishing process to be frustrating and are ready to go it alone. Other clients include brands in need of print assets such as lookbooks. “I have experience working with yarn companies to manage designers and put together a really beautiful collection that features their product in a gorgeous way,” Bogert says. “So pretty much if it’s media that tells somebody how to do something I can help in some way.”
Speckle Bangle Bracelet and Sway Necklace by Kerry Bogert.
Photo courtesy of Kerry Bogert
In college Bogert was pursuing a major in visual communications and graphic design before she left to have a baby. “But I was always one of those people who could dig into something and figure it out,” she says. When she started at F+W she’d never worked in InDesign. “I just turned on that maker side of my brain and said this is another tool. It can produce really cool things. Let’s figure out how to use it.” Working through a book, chapter by chapter, over the course of a summer she developed her skills until she had thorough expertise.
Bogert is solidly multi-craftual. She’s studied glass art, jewelry, and metalsmithing, but she also knits, crochets, and spins. She quilts and sews her own clothing. And she enjoys mixed media art. “I’ve just been knee deep in making for as long as I can remember and I kind of get obsessed when I see something and I have to figure out how it’s done.” Recently, that obsession led her to buy a loom and learn to weave tapestries.
Her years of experience working in the industry have helped her to connect with a team of other freelancers that support the needs of self-publishers, including photographers and photo stylists, technical illustrators, and tech editors. She even knows printers and distributors. Put together, she’s able to help designers form their own publishing house, one in which they have complete control.
Kerry Bogert in the glass studio.
Photo courtesy of Kerry Bogert
Maker Books will also help authors design a marketing strategy for their self-published media. Bogert says she “really loves marketing funnels” and has lots of ideas for how to keep patterns and books at the front of people’s minds.
In the years to come Bogert hopes to grow Maker Books so that she employs a team and can serve a larger client base. She’s working on developing an online course on self-publishing and she’s also creating off-the-shelf InDesign templates customers can buy as an even more affordable alternative for pattern layouts.
“We’re helping people produce the kind of finished content that they want, that represents them and their business,” she says. “I think as a community we’ve really moved past the idea that you need to work with a traditional publisher to say ‘I’ve published a book.’ Let’s just give people the skills they need to do it themselves.”
Wow! I’m in awe of her many talents. I’m looking forward to the off-the-shelf InDesign templates. They sound like something I could use right now.
Thanks for the great article Abby!
You’re very welcome!
Thanks so much!
Kerry Bogert is such a talented woman with wide experience. I hope she does very well with Maker Books! This is just the sort of publishing business that we makers need.
Using Adobe’s InDesign for templates or publishing is a great idea, but it’s based on monthly subscriptions starting at around $20/month. My understanding is that if you ever quit subscribing to InDesign, you no longer have access to your creations.
I wonder if Maker Books uses other platforms as well.
Hey Christy,
Thanks so much for the lovely compliments. I totally understand that InDesign isn’t for everyone and I’m open to learning other programs for my clients or making do with simpler programs. For example, I had a client recently who asked if we could use Microsoft Word for her first pattern release. I said, of course!
I also did some research just now on your concern about losing access to your creations when canceling a subscription. From what I’ve read, that’s not the case. You will still have all your files, it’s just the Adobe applications that you’d lose access to. The PDF of a pattern you created won’t disappear. However, if you need to go back and edit a file you created in InDesign, you’d need to renew that subscription to work in the original file.
Thank you so much for replying to me and clarifying the way the Adobe products affect a maker’s creations. I really appreciate the time you spent researching this.
I’m glad to know that you work with other programs as well as the Adobe suite. That flexibility will make your new venture very appealing to those of us who want a familiar program for updates and tweaks.
Best of luck in the new business(though with your experience, I’m sure you’ll be making your own luck!). I have you on my list of important contacts as I decide if publishing my patterns is a good idea.
Christy – Have you looked into the Affinity programs? I have Designer and it costs a flat $50 – no monthly fees or anything! They just released a Publisher program as well and I know they have plans for more programs. They are head-on Adobe competitors and will open adobe format files 😉 I actually recently decided to take the plunge and do Adobe Creative Suite anyway because there’s just SO MUCH support out there for Adobe (so many free tutorials, templates, etc.) and the programs “talk” to one another, so it’s just worth it to me, BUT I like knowing that I can open my Illustrator/InDesign files in Affinity software if I need to!
Deena, I do have Affinity Designer — but it’s too complicated to be of much help to me. I have never had to use any of the Adobe products because my daughter is a graphic designer (she uses Adobe, of course). I Like Abby Glassenberg, I have been hand-drawing my patterns. Abby’s ebook, “The Insider’s Guide to Starting an Online Sewing Pattern Business” was a big help with that.
I am going to purchase Publisher, definitely. And since Adobe files can be opened in the Affinity programs, that’s a big plus! I will be able to open what my daughter has done for me in those programs. I do hope that’s true — I thought Adobe had a tight grip on anything created on their products.
I also anticipate needing Maker Books at some point. I’m happy that Kerry Bogert has opened her business! I’m hoping the Affinity products will be part of her offerings, too.
Thanks!
COST FOR YOUR SERVICES
I predict she will quickly be overwhelmed with clients. Bravo to her for thinking of this as a business.
Thank you! I welcome being overwhelmed by books. Books are my favorite!
I have written, designed and produced 4 self-published books. I have always used Adobe InDesign software (that I purchased 7 years ago) to design them. I’ve avoided going the Adobe membership route for the reason Christy mentioned, as well as objecting to the expense of what I consider Adobe’s ransom for using their software, because I purchased it for hundreds of dollars in 2012.
Besides using Indesign for my lecture/workshop brochure, books and promo materials, I use Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat Pro as well, and the monthly fee is just too much for my limited income. Now there’s the added problem with every time I upgrade my macbook pro my Adobe software has more and more glitches, like text disappearing when I try to edit, and other problems, which causes a lot of frustration!!!
I recently found a viable software alternative that looks like it does everything Adobe programs do for a flat rate!! No membership! https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/
I downloaded their BETA version of Affinity Publisher (free) a month ago to try as an alternative to InDesign, and it seems to do everything I need. The full version is expected to come out in a couple weeks, so I immediately pre-ordered it when the notice was given that the BETA version was expiring.
Since then I also purchased Affinity Photo as an alternative to photoshop and Affinity Designer as an alternative to Illustrator. I wish I was getting a commission, lol, because right now they are all on sale for $39 each, with some extra graphics stuff thrown in. Normal price is $49 each, which is still a bargain compared to Adobe.
I haven’t had a chance to do to much with the software yet, but I downloaded the ipad version of Affinity Designer last year because I was so impressed with what it can do, but I need to do a lot of those (free) online tutorials before I’ll feel real comfortable using it.
Thanks so much Judy! I’m going to look into this immediately!!!
Such great information! Thank you so much for sharing. I’ll be looking into Affinity!!
Judy, that’s wonderful information! I’ve had the same issues with an aging computer and not wanting to pay the monthly subscription to Adobe. I’m excited at the thought of getting what I want and what I need with what you’ve shared. Thank you!!!
Thank you, Judy. I remember looking into Affinity Publisher a few years ago, but I didn’t do anything about it at the time. I had forgotten all about it. Your reminder is great! I appreciate the information.
Now, I wonder if Maker Books also works with other programs like Affinity’s?
Hi Abby – I just have one comment in relation to something you said early in the article about people self-publishing only if they couldn’t find a real publisher. I’ve self-published more than 30 books/booklets for the quilting industry and have only done one with a publisher (Martingale). The main reason that I choose to self-publish is that you make more money per copy. The publishers do some of the work, but take much of the profit so I could never make a full time living as a quilt designer if I published all of my books through a publisher. However, I can make a living if I choose to publish the books myself. Plus, I love every part of the process of self-publishing – from writing the instructions, to doing all the photography and sending out the orders to our shops and distributors! So – just a thought for those out there who have wondered why some self-publish and some don’t.
This is for Heather Peterson: I have two books all ready to go but
I just can’t make Amazon work. Do you do any tutoring in how
to make Amazon work? Thank you. Bob DeCarli, quiltingbob@yahoo.com,
610.269.1113
I agree with Heather. Publishers who can afford to really promote a book are wonderful! Booths at Market, AQS, QuiltCon, etc are expensive so the publishers have to be very careful in choosing a book that will move fast.
That leaves the rest of us…with great book ideas that just won’t get selected.
Self publishing means devoting loads of time and money to marketing and getting into distributors. Emphasis on marketing especially being strategic on social media.
But it can be done!
That’s a great point, Heather, and the main advantage I’ve found in self-publishing patterns for sure.
I have tried to self publish on Amazon and I can’t make it work.
Will your stuff help me? I have 2 quilting books already edited
by two AQS editors and I just want to get them on Amazon.
I sent you an email. I have 2 self published books on Amazon.
To follow-up on other people’s comments- the Affinity software (Design and now Publisher which is 20% off for now as it was just released!) will open Adobe files! I now use Adobe’s suite just because I really appreciate having all the decades of experience out there (you can find a free tutorial for most anything and Adobe’s trainings themselves are FANTASTIC. I’m willing to pay extra for this.). BUT, I still have my Affinity software and will keep it as backup because their programs will open Adobe format files! So you can still use templates made in and for Adobe programs in the “matching” Affinity programs! 🙂
Thanks for the update that Affinity opens adobe files. That’s fabulous news.