Making It On Your Own

If, as the perceived wisdom goes, a downturn in the economy bodes well for hobbies and crafts, then the economy is definitely on the wane. The "bad news" is that the hobbies and crafts category is booming. Last year the industry grew by 11% to $25.7 billion, according to the Nationwide Craft & Hobby Consumer Usage and Purchase Study sponsored by the Hobby Industry Association.

Knitting in particular benefited from a return to traditional crafts—and a push from such celebrities as Julia Roberts and Hilary Swank. A study conducted in 2000 by the Craft Yarn Council of America found that more than 38 million women knit and crochet, up from 34.7 million in 1994.

From candlemaking to scrapbooking, general craft sales are heating up, as evidenced by increased membership in both Bookspan craft-related book clubs. "Crafter's Choice has seen tremendous growth over the last five years," according to spokesperson Gretchen Zimmerman. "Crafter's Choice and Country Homes & Gardens each have more than a quarter million members, and both clubs are in a growth phase now." Similarly, Michael's, the largest craft store chain in North America, has seen growth in both its sales and stores—760 in the U.S. and Canada by year's end. "Our book sales are really strong," says senior buyer Eric Frame. "Michael's [overall] sales will probably top $3 billion this year." To maintain the momentum, Michael's plans to open another 60 stores in 2003.

What this means for booksellers, of course, is a lot of crafty customers. To find out what today's hobby enthusiasts really want, PW talked with a variety of hobby and craft book publishers.

Although many crafters tend not to shop for craft books during the summer, "we still see a lot of traditional bookstores featuring crafts around the holidays," observes Richard Hunt, v-p of sales & marketing at F&W Publications. "It's big for Halloween, Christmas and Mother's Day." Barnes & Noble buyer Salvatore Cordaro agrees: "The sales for crafts and hobbies are strongest in the fall. We promote several seasonally themed books for Halloween and Christmas, and these do very well." Of course, holiday-specific books aren't the only craft titles that sell at Christmas. B&N promotes a variety of general titles, including its own Complete Book of Woodworking, which will be featured on this year's gift tables.

Though holiday titles can only be sold during a small part of the year, many publishers have at least a couple on their lists. Although F&W's Silk Florals for the Holidays (North Light, Sept.) by Cele Kahle covers holidays year-round, books that focus on a single holiday—Barron's Real Halloween: Ritual and Magic for the New Millennium (Aug.) by Sheena Morgan or Southwater's Trick or Treat: Bewitching Halloween Eats, Costumes and Decorations (Aug.)—are more typical. And despite her recent troubles, Martha Stewart continues to hold her own as craft doyenne for the holidays. Clarkson Potter just reissued her Halloween: The Best of Martha Stewart Living, which was one of her bestselling titles at B&N, and last month launched the new Classic Crafts and Recipes Inspired by the Songs of Christmas with a 75,000-copy first printing.

It's not just the projects that draw customers to big holiday books. "Crafters are very visual people and sometimes they just want a beautiful book," says Carol Dahlstrom, executive editor of craft books at Meredith. "Part of decorating is putting out the Christmas book." This holiday season, Meredith offers several coffee-table-quality project books: Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Comfort and Joy and Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Ornaments to Make.

While not a holiday title, Shell Chic (Storey, Sept.) by Marlene Hurley Marshall certainly fills the niche that Dahlstrom describes. In addition to projects and design ideas, it includes profiles of contemporary shell artists, such as House Beautiful editor Marian McEvoy, whose apartment is decorated with 15,000 shells.

"If anything's a trend these days, it's the comfortable home," says Jean Lowe, editorial director of Andrews McMeel Publishing. She singles out Here Comes Santa Claus (Sept.), the second book in the Christmas with Mary Engelbreit series, and Nell Hill's Christmas at Home (Sept.) by Mary Carol Garrity, owner of the Nell Hill's and G. Diebolts home furnishing stores in Atchison, Kan., as books with lots of tips for creating an appealing abode.

Last fall when Garrity did a signing in her hometown for her first book, Nell Hill's Style at Home, more than 2,200 people attended. Despite such bright spots, Lowe characterized last year's trade sales as "flat." Fortunately, she adds, "where we lagged at retail, we picked up at direct mail and book club." She notes that both Bookspan and Oxmoor House's two-year-old "Tupperware-party" division, Southern Living at Home, picked up the slack.

Rather than decorating, some customers want more practical books for improving their homes—an interest that's been a boon for the Taunton Press. The Connecticut publisher has seen its revenues for woodworking books increase 50% this year, according to senior marketing manager Allison Hollett, who regards the number of women entering the woodworking field as one factor. Beginning-level women will find lots to do in Aime Fraser's Getting Started in Woodworking (Mar.). "It's not going to be girlie," explains Hollett. "It's projects for things you'd see in Pottery Barn." Woodworkers of both genders and various skill levels will relate to the third Not So Big book from Sarah Susanka, Not So Big Solutions for Your Home (Sept.), which has a $75,000 promotion budget. Susanka's first book, Not So Big House, has sold 500,000 copies since 1998 and is being reissued in a boxed set with Creating the Not So Big House (Oct.).

Many collectible trends are also home-related—again, because of the economic clime. "Everyone's feeling is that they'd rather put their money in art and real estate. They want to enjoy it," says Dorothy Harris, editorial director of antiques and collectible publications at Random House. To get the lowdown on what pieces are really worth, HGTV hosts Ralph and Terry Kovel present the 35th edition of Kovels' Antiques & Collectibles: Price List 2003 (Three Rivers, Oct.). Thanks to an assist from eBay, collectibles of a more recent vintage are also strong, such as model trains, 101 Projects for Your Model Railroad (June, Motorbooks International) by Robert Schleicher, and even—would you believe?—beach toys. Last month Running Press released Beach Pails: Classic Toys of the Surf and Sand by Carole and Richard Smythe.

Running Press director of publicity Samuel M. Caggiula is partial to yet another type of collectible, comic books—"With all the new movies based on comic books and graphic novels, such as X-men, Spider-man, Men in Black and Road to Perdition, anything associated with comic books has become very trendy." For died-in-the-wool do-it-yourselfers, Running Press offers Joe Kubert's Comic Book Studio: Everything You Need to Make Your Own Comic Book! (Nov.).

One of the largest hobby publishers is 50-year-old Krause Publications, with 45 periodicals, an extensive list of price guides and craft titles such as Kristin Peck's Art of the Handmade Tile (Aug.). F&W, which acquired Krause last month, has no specific changes planned. "Krause is doing so splendidly as a company on their own, it's going to be two equal partners coming together," says Hunt, adding that Krause will stay in Iola, Wis. "We have been increasing 9%–10% a year for the last few years in books and in dollars," says Krause senior acquisitions editor Don Gulbrandsen. "We think the mainstream collectibles are what's hot: glass, furniture, jewelry. They have staying power. Right now, people are saying antiques are a good investment. Even financial types realize the value of a good piece of oak furniture."

"Not every craft is hot," says Christopher Reggio, director of trade publishing at Reader's Digest. "I'm not seeing as strong sales for the glue-gun kind of crafts." Judging by the sales for Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing, that particular craft is overheated. "It's our number one backlist title," says publicity manager Leigh Curtin. "It's sold more than three million copies since it came out in 1976." To keep up with machine and style changes, Reader's Digest has given the book a complete makeover. The New Complete Guide to Sewing will launch in January with a 50,000-copy first printing.

But it's not just plain sewing that's attracting crafters—the quilting category is bursting at the seams. "A year ago quilt shops couldn't fill classes that involved a lot of handwork—hand quilting, appliqué and handpiecing. Now they have to add more classes," says Darra Williamson, editor-in-chief of C&T Publishing in Concord, Calif.

Though some view quilting as a cyclical category, Jane Hamada, publisher of Martingale & Company in Woodinville, Wash., tells PW, "Quilting has always been our major category. It hasn't been cyclical for us. We work a lot with independent fabric retailers, and books sell fabrics." Martingale's leading quilt titles this fall include company founder Nancy J. Martin's Make Room for Christmas Quilts (That Patchwork Place, Aug.) and Patriotic Little Quilts (That Patchwork Place, Sept.) by Alice Berg, Sylvia Johnson and Mary Ellen Von Holt, with photos and suggested projects from the more than 2,000 quilts donated to the victims of September 11.

C&T, too, has a quilt book commemorating that date, reproducing the quilts in the International Quilt Festival mounted immediately after the tragedy. America from the Heart: Quilters Remember September 11, 2001 (June), edited by Karey Bresenhyan, was produced in association with Quilts Inc., and all profits will be donated to the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund.

At Kodansha America, mixing traditions is one quilt trend. Yoshiko Jinzenji's Quilt Artistry: The World of Yoshiko Jinzenji (Feb.), for example, fuses Japanese and Amish simplicity into a style that publicity manager Megan Kalan calls "lushly minimalistic." At the Taunton Press, "franchise" authors like Sandra Betzina, host of HGTV's Sew Perfect, is her own trend. "We've done three books with her, and the first one, Fabric Savvy: The Essential Guide for Every Sewer, has sold 75,000 copies," says Hollett. She has high expectations for Betzina's first home decorating book, Sandra Betzina Sews for Your Home (Aug.), coauthored by interior designer Debbie Valentine.

If there were any doubt that knitting is soon going to be the most popular craft on the block, then Wendy Sleppin, project editor at Barron's is living proof. She got so caught up in working on Betty Barnden's Knitting Basics: All You Need to Know to Take Up Your Needles and Get Knitting (Oct.) that she used it to teach herself to knit. "From working on the proofs," says Sleppin, "I'm slowly, slowly learning."

That's not to say that knitting hasn't always had a following. Katharina Buss's Big Book of Knitting, first published in 1999, continues to be among Sterling's top five titles at both Borders and B&N, according to Sterling executive v-p Charles Nurnberg. And he expects sales to keep up despite last month's publication of the updated edition of Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book (Aug.), which takes a slightly different approach to the craft. Nancy Thomas, who coauthored the Vogue book, also coauthored a new step-by-step source book written with Ilana Rabinowitz, A Passion for Knitting (Nov., Fireside).

Knitters and other crafters are always looking for basic reference books, according to Reggio at Reader's Digest, who's counting on both beginning and advanced knitters to buy The Ultimate Source Book of Knitting and Crochet Stitches (Feb.). "If you're an experienced crafter, there are certain techniques you need to know how to improve. You still need that basic book to go to the next level," he says.

For Crafter's Choice editor-in-chief B.J. Berti, "Knitting has always been strong. When I started 10 years ago and the club was brand new, we offered everything on knitting we could." In those days she asked publishers for more. Now that so many houses have jumped into knitting, she says, "I'm actually turning down knitting books where before I didn't." Her counterpart at Country Homes & Garden, Denise McGann, says that she tries books where Berti has had some success, even though 60% of her club members are more interested in home decorating. "We've sold some knitting books and quilting books," says McGann. "Knitting is a big trend. I can't say we can do one every cycle, but we can do three or four a year."

In today's fast-paced world, one of knitting's main draws is that it's so relaxing. In fact, in the Craft Council's study mentioned above, 62% of respondents said that they knit because it helps relieve stress. In Zen and the Art of Knitting (Adams Media, Sept.), Bernadette Murphy explores the links among knitting, relaxation and spirituality. The 75 knitters whose knitting-related stories are included in KnitLit (Three Rivers, Sept.), edited by Linda Roghaar and Molly Wolf, might argue that knitting is just plain fun.

Both beginning and advanced knitters often prefer to ply their craft with the stars, or what Paul Feldstein, managing director of Trafalgar Square Publishing calls "the TV chefs" of knitting. "We try to stick to names; either authors or magazines make a difference," says Feldstein. This September Trafalgar has two Crafter's Choice picks by authors who really cook: Zoë Mellor's 50 Baby Bootees to Knit and Debbie Abrahams's 100 Afghan Squares to Knit.

Martingale may be better known for its quilt titles, but that may soon change. "We intend to increase the number of knitting titles," says Hamada. "Knitting has really grown incredibly over the last couple years, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of price resistance. We're pricing our books at around the $24.95–$34.95 price point." This fall Martingale will release its third book by Linda Phelps and Beryl Hiatt, owners of Seattle's Tricoter yarn shop, Knitted Throws and More for the Simply Beautiful Home (Sept.).

Even publishers that are best known for candles, soap and mosaics are publishing for today's young knitters, who meet to "stitch and bitch." Chronicle is making its first foray into knitting with the colorful Knitting Pretty (Jan.) by Kris Percival, who knits for Barney's. Similarly, Storey is trying to reach today's knitters with creative packaging for its Simply Knit series of die-cut books small enough to tuck into a knitting bag. The first two, Knit Mittens! by Robin Hansen and Knit Hats! edited by Storey editor Gwen Steege, are due in October. "We've always wanted to do knitting books," says editorial director Deborah Balmuth. "But the audience wasn't there until a year ago."

Interweave Press in Loveland, Colo., didn't need the Yarn Council to tell them that knitting is where it's at. "Last fall," says sales and marketing director Linda Stark, "we were basically selling out of first print runs as soon as they came in. Almost every one of our books from last fall are in their third printing." Stark's biggest problem—and she's not complaining—is keeping up with reprints. Unlike many trade publishers seeking nonbook outlets, Stark attributes Interweave's growth to general bookstores. "For us, the yarn shops and consumers have always been our base," she explains. Interweave is even setting up its first author tour. Dogs in Knits author Judith L. Swartz will do an eight-city jaunt for Hip to Knit: 18 Contemporary Projects for Today's Knitter (Oct.).

If there's one mantra that crafters repeat, it's a variation of a pop song, "Bead It." According to Tricia Waddell, executive editor of North Light Books, an imprint at F&W, "beading is still pretty big, either in jewelry or in embellishments. The whole mixed-media/3D approach to crafting is big. Even in scrapbooking, people use beads or charms." F&W has a number of beading-related titles, including Jana Ewy's Home & Garden Metalcrafts (North Light, Jan.).

Beading is seldom beaten at Denver's Tattered Cover, says buyer Margaret Maupin: "it's second only to quilts." Interweave's Stark has observed similar enthusiasm, which is one reason she's excited about Beaded Embellishment: Techniques & Designs for Embroidering on Cloth (Oct.) by Robin Atkins and Amy C. Clarke.

Beading, she says, "is the one craft integrating itself into other crafts."

As soon as a trend starts, people line up to predict its demise. But in the case of scrapbooking, "it's still growing by leaps and bounds. Every month is a new record for Memory Makers," comments Hunt of F&W, which purchased the Denver-based publisher eighteen months ago. While scrapbooking is here to stay, Hunt has noticed that "people are shopping [for scrapbooking materials] at the same place where they buy their craft supplies." Maupin has observed a similar migration in sales: "Scrapbooking has peaked and gone for us. People who do scrapbooking go to the hobby stores."

"Scrapbooking's really become a mainstream craft," adds Meredith's Dahlstrom. "I've watched it now for 10 years. Everybody thought it would peak, but it's still growing. People are coming together in groups for 'cropping parties,' sort of like quilting bees." Her newest scrapbooking title, Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbooking (Mar.), is intended to help those who feel overwhelmed by all the choices in papers, stamps and inks. For Dahlstrom, the big question is, what's the next extension of scrapbooking?

At Michael's, where scrapbooking is so strong that sales are up in the double digits for comp stores, "the new direction is handmade cards," says Frame. So far this year cardcrafting has blossomed with triple-digit sales. He's even considering adding a new paper-oriented craft next year: altered books.

Even longtime hobby staples are starting to change as a result of scrapbooking. "Origami seems to be a steady seller year after year," says Kodansha associate director of sales and marketing Sydney Webber. "We're still doing traditional origami, such as cranes and frogs, but we have a book on Polyhedron Origami for Beginners (Aug.) by Miyuki Kawamura that just came out. It tends to be more papercraft than traditional origami; it crosses into the papercraft trend."

Ceramics and mosaics, as they relate to the home, are also strong. Barron's step-by-step guide to Ceramics (Sept.) by Dolors Ros may be designed to help the beginning potter, but "it really is a home decoration book," says publicity manager Steve Matteo. "It's for creating ceramics for home decoration, like vases and tiles." As for price, "I hate to promote the concept that price doesn't matter," says Tracey Trudeau, section head for Home-Biz at Powell's Books in Portland, Ore. "If people find the project they want, they'll pay for it." Of course, since Powell's sells used books, there's often a lower-cost option.

Decorative painting and stenciling are two crafts that are here to stay, according to Lionel Koffler, owner and president of Canadian publisher and book distributor Firefly Books Ltd., who gears his books to sophisticated crafters. "The field has gotten very crowded," he explains. "Categories have been watered down by too many low-level books. They may look really pretty but not be written well, or the public is looking for more information than what kind of color goes well with your furniture." Four years ago, when Sandra Buckingham wrote Stencilling on a Grand Scale, Koffler recalls, "our customers told us it was far too sophisticated, that it was too expensive." Since then Firefly has sold 50,000 $35 hardcovers and another 65,000 $25 paperbacks. Koffler is confident that Buckingham's new book, The Complete Stenciling Handbook (Sept.), a Crafter's Choice selection, will also sell well.

Koffler's strategy is to look at a category from a different angle. In the case of Sheila McGraw's 1998 title, Painting and Decorating Furniture, which has sold 50,000 copies, he decided to use it to create a Decorating Furniture series (launching next month) by breaking the book up into paperbacks on antique paint projects, decoupage, stenciling and mosaics.

For Rockport Publishers in Gloucester, Mass., it's not just stenciling that's taking off. This fall the house expects strong sales for Doris Glovier's Stamped and Stenciled Home: Easy, Beautiful Designs for Walls, Floors, and Home Accessories (Oct.), Barbara Matthiessen's New Metal Foil Crafts: Simple and Inspiring Crafts to Make at Home (Sept.) and Giorgietta McRee and Livia McRee's Stained Glass: Exploring New Materials and New Techniques (Jan.).

"A lot of things were changed last fall [with September 11]," says Harriet Pierce, associate publisher at Watson-Guptill. "People have looked inward to see what's important." For those with an Eastern bent, Watson-Guptill offers Annette Carroll Compton's Drawing from the Mind, Painting from the Heart: 12 Essential Lessons to Becoming a Better Artist (Nov.).

Pierce has also observed a resurgence in oil painting because of new products designed to eliminate turpentine as well as the safer pastel products featured in Oil Pastel for the Serious Beginner: Basic Lessons in Becoming a Good Painter (Oct.) by John Elliot. "The category of photograph how-to has been totally revitalized by the growth of digital photography. It's not just the digital camera, it's the printing," says Pierce, who points to Tim Daly's Digital Printing Handbook: A Photographer's Guide to Creative Inkjet Printing Techniques (Amphoto Books, Sept.).

This march of technology has in fact affected a variety of hobbies and crafts, according to Crafter's Choice's Berti, who points to changes in sewing and beading in particular. "Some trends are driven by new products," says Berti. "In beading, different kinds of clay; in sewing, there's the development of different kinds of threads and the new computerized machines that can do so much." Of course, for the club, price is a different factor than in trade stores. "I see more things being published in paperback to keep the price down. We prefer hardcover if we can get it."

So where does this leave hobbyists? With lots of choices. As Meredith's Dahlstrom points out, "People have always had the need to create." And with today's proliferation of hobby and craft books and products, they have easier access to all the tools of the trade.