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In her new book, Crafty Superstar: Make Crafts on the Side, Earn Extra Cash, and Basically Have It All, veteran crafter and journalist Grace Dobush helps DIY entrepreneurs manage a successful side business selling their handmaid wares. The book covers everything from developing a personal brand to dealing with difficult customers, and includes charts and spreadsheets to help keep track of inventory, finances, and craft show opportunities. Grace took some time out of her hectic schedule to answer a few questions about the book's inception and the indie craft scene at large.
 What constitutes "craft" these days? Does the word have a different connotation today than it might for older generations who envision grandma's crocheted toilet paper dolls or kindergarten art projects?
Yeah, it absolutely has a different connotation for different generations and groups of people! When I think craft, I think of people making unique things by hand. Someone else's definition might be "something you make with a kit from the store." That's why I tend to identify with "indie craft" more; it implies that DIY mentality.
How did the idea for Crafty Superstar come about?
I was reading a craft business book that wasn't really speaking to me. It was for full-timers and focused a lot on wholesale and trade shows, and it hardly spoke at all about indie craft shows, which were my main entry point into craft commerce. I took the idea to my publisher, and after a few revisions of my outline, I had a book deal!
Who is this book for? What kind of audience did you have in mind when you were writing?
I wrote this book for the 2003 me: just starting to sell crafts online and at shows, utterly unsure of how to do it well. Crafty Superstar has a lot of advice that other small business owners can use, but my main audience is the part-time crafter who has a full-time, need-the-benefits job but pours a lot of energy and love into her craft business.
It sounds like you've been crafting for a while now and have been pretty successful. How did you first get into the indie craft scene?
If by successful, you mean annual profits in the double digits, absolutely! I've been selling books, cards, and other paper crafts as gracie sparkles books since about 2003. I started learning printmaking as a teenager, but it was really a course in bookbinding my freshman year of college that made me think maybe I could eke out a living making things. Or, you know, eke out some money to support my japanese paper habit. Around 2001, I started getting involved in online craft communities... at this point the term indie craft was kind of new, and the communities were small but really passionate. Some of the people I interviewed for my book I had originally met on those craft message boards back in the day.
From attending craft shows around the country or the interviews you conducted for the book, have you learned anything surprising or unexpected about the craft scene?
One thing that people might not expect is how friendly and helpful everyone is. I expected a little more competititveness among crafters who make similar things, but it's totally not that way. Because everyone's making unique, handmade items, no one is a true competitor of anyone else.
How have you seen the craft industry change in recent years, particularly given the economic situation?
The biggest development was Etsy, of course. Until that online craft marketplace was up and running, most folks were having to do their own e-commerce, setting up individual online stores. Etsy has made it a lot easier for crafters to focus on the craft part of their business and not have to worry about the web development and payment processing as much. And in the last few years, the indie craft aesthetic has become totally hot, which means Target and Walmart are selling things that look handmade for cheap. (And they might be handmade, but by child laborers in Asia.) I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but you can't imitate honest-to-goodness handmade.
You really seem to cover everything in the book, from small details about arranging a table display at craft shows, to big picture reminders about maintaining a personal life. How much of these tips come from personal experience and how much did you have to research?
It's hard to say. I wrote the outline based on my own experience and conversations with friends, and then beefed it up with interviews. I'm definitely a craft show veteran, so that part was a snap to write. But [for] the Biz Basics section, I had no idea what kind of bookkeeping methods to suggest or when a person should find a lawyer. Luckily, I found a small business owner and author, Lauren Bacon, who gave me the lowdown on all she's learned over the years.
 There's a funny quote in the book from Garth Johnson on indie craft trends: "After careful analysis, I think brass knuckles are the new octopi, which were the new owls, which were the new sparrows…." Like fashion and music, the craft industry can easily fall victim to fleeting fads. How can crafty entrepreneurs protect themselves from getting burned?
The most important thing is always to be true to your own ideas and aesthetics. If your thing is schnauzers, go schnauzer crazy! Don't switch to owls because it seems to be selling better. Some day the market is going to get oversaturated with nocturnal birds, and then where will you be?
What is the most important piece of advice you think readers should take from your book?
Aside from being true to your own style, dont' be afraid to talk about yourself. If you want to make a name for yourself in the craft world, you've got to be able to hustle and talk confidently about your business.
Let's talk about your day job as a journalist/magazine editor. How has that experience helped you with the book?
The magazines I work for are a different division of the company that published my book, so that job connection really helped. I could just go to the second floor and pitch my idea to someone I already knew rather than work through an agent and cold-call publishers.
How was the book writing and publishing experience different than you expected?
At times, it felt really short from concept to being published, and then other times it felt super long. All in all, it was almost exactly two years from when I first had the idea to now that it's on shelves, which seems incredible. But while I was actually writing it, it felt like I was gestating an elephant baby.
A theme of the book is holding down a day job and running a business on the side. You are obviously a poster girl for this, between managing your day job, running your own crafty side business, hosting and attending indie craft shows, and writing a book. What is your biggest challenge while trying to juggle all these things?
Making time for non-work things, for sure. Whether that's exercizing, cooking or hanging out with friends, you have to make a concerted effort to squeeze that into your day. I took a hiatus from craft shows while writing my book, which was a sad thing to do, but I wasn't crafting at all for those 11 months I was actually reporting and writing it. Now that it's done, I've been doing indie craft shows again and even organized my own craft show/ book release party, which was just this past weekend and drew 1,000 shoppers!
Author, journalist, entrepreneur, blogger… what's next? World domination?
It'll be a craftocracy!
(December 2009) |
