Ten Speed's Crafty Move

by Bridget Kinsella, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 6/21/2006

When Lisa Regul, publicity manager of Ten Speed Press, pitched booksellers its recently released The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts by Leah Kramer, it fell mostly on deaf ears. "It's not that we don't love bookstores, but they just don't readily accept craft books over the phone," said Regul.

So when the author, founder of craftster.org, suggested Ten Speed look into some alternative craft venues, Regul was happy to comply. The result is a multi-city, multi-venue tour that began earlier this month and which will make stops at hipster craft stores and festivals, ComicCon and a few traditional bookstores. "It's a new market to tap into," said Regul.

The book tour launched at Spark Craft Studios in Boston on June 11, and the author was at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn over the last weekend. In July, Kramer will be at the The Workshop in Austin, The Grove Craft Studio in San Diego and DIY Lounge in Portland, Ore. Vromans in Los Angeles and Diesel Books in Oakland, Cali. are the bookstores on the tour.

Julie Bennett, an acquiring editor at Ten Speed, said the press is in the process of expanding its list in the area of "quirky" or "alternative" crafts. "We're hoping it's where the cookbook world was 10 to 15 years ago," she said. As the design elements of the books are improved, consumers will buy crafts books as they do cookbooks, for inspiration, whether they make the crafts in them or not, Bennett predicted.

Craftster.org has over 60,000 members and attracts 400,000 unique readers each month, according to Kramer. And she is taking full advantage of using the word-of-mouth network of groups with names like "The Crafts Mafia" and "The Church of Craft" to get people to come out for her events when she visits their cities on her tour this summer.

"I was with Leah when she did an event in San Mateo and the people just came out to meet her," said Bennett. "These people are loyal. They want to hang out and knit together." She said a bookstore that provides a space for a signing and for making crafts faces an interesting opportunity to attract an audience of mostly young women.

Basically, if you let them build it in your store, they just might come.