Book Costs

 

I'm watching with close interest as Nine Ten goes through the pre-publication process for Michelle Boyd's new book, and then saw a post on FB this morning about finances, debt and trying to juggle all the things.

The memories of producing Magic in the Water came roaring back.  Picture the late 1990s.  If you were alive then, were you old enough to remember the financial crises we had just been through?  The soaring interest rates in the 1980s?  The uncertainty, the bankruptcies?  For me to then decide to launch an especially expensive book was sheer madness.  Truly.

Before I spent a dime, I costed it out - how much money would I need to even contemplate producing such a book?  What would it look like?  What would it cover?  I was determined I had to (literally could not envision it without) having before and after samples.

I heard from some people who insisted it was not necessary, but I had been dealing with a high reluctance of a certain segment of the weaving community who insisted that wet finishing was a) just washing; b) not necessary.

Given the proof of the pudding is in the eating, what else would convince some (not all) of these nay-sayers that it was necessary?  Before and after samples.

I determined that 20 different fabrics would be needed so that people could see/feel the difference wet finishing made to *all* fibres.  (Yes, even acrylic, although I didn't include acrylic in Magic.)  (Already this month I've had someone ask in all seriousness if acrylic 'needed' to be wet finished - er, yes!)

The samples needed to be large enough for not just examination by eye, but big enough to feel the difference between the before and after.  So about 3"x3".

What yarns?  Well, that's always a bit of a crap shoot because different yarns go in and out of fashion and availability.  I tried to choose yarns that were commonly available in the 1990s, and which I hoped might continue to be available for a few years.

I made lists - yarns, weave structures, various combinations, various 'weights', trying to be selective in choosing fabrics that would show themselves to their best.

With the samples would come the drafts used and the technical details - epi, details of how the wet finishing was done.

Jane Stafford heard about what I was doing and phoned to talk to me about brushed mohair - and then offered to provide the brushed mohair sample.  (Jane is an incredibly supportive person.  And yes, I offered to cover the cost of the yarn.)

I spent about 6 months doing the planning before I spent a dime of my cash on the project but eventually I had to start ordering the yarn in.  I had ordered yarn while I was in Sweden in part because it was way cheaper to order that much linen from Sweden and have it shipped to Canada.  Plus I 'found' a woolen yarn that was finer than most woolen yarns available here and which fulled beautifully.  And then I broke out my record sheets to begin doing the final designs for the rest of the yarns.

Most of the projects were 'flat', but some were clothing.  I needed to hire a seamstress, and what would I do about photography?  I hired Handwoven's photographer, Joe Coca and asked him to hire models to showcase the garments.  At a time when the Canadian dollar was about 60% of the US.  Every US dollar cost me about $1.40 Canadian (depending on exchange rate.)

I chose a local printer who regularly printed books for local authors, but this book was not like anything they had ever done before.  I brought in an example (mock up) of what I wanted and spent time with the printer and his graphic artist son, making sure I was communicating with them what I wanted.  And then making sure they would accept my credit card.  The paper alone for the project was in the thousands.  The binders?  Ditto.  The staples alone were several hundreds of dollars.

I had begun writing as soon as I had committed to doing the project, and arranged additional financing to cover the costs, then spent two years juggling my cash flow, spending down the loan, and financing my credit card charges for the book.

At one point I realized the only realistic way to deal with the sample pages was to buy plastic tubs that were clear and stackable.  I figured I needed at least 40 just to keep track of the 20 samples - sample page, before sample and after sample.

Once the pages were printed, and enough samples were cut/taped and cut/wet finished, Doug began stapling the samples to the sample pages.  Everything was carefully tracked and stored.  

My brother agreed to let me use his rec room to do assembly, even though it meant he couldn't host his usual New Year Day party downstairs but only upstairs.  Pretty sure some of his friends were a bit miffed at not having the run of the pool table, but he told them the rec room was off limits.  Anyone who poked their nose in would have seen that the assembly was underway and there was no room for any kind of party.  Nor would he have been pleased if anyone abused his hospitality.  It was an enormous gift of his space.  I would have had to rent a space which I could not have afforded because I had not included that in my budget.  

This is just an overview of what all happened.  Needless to say it was a project requiring literally years.  It took until 2011 to sell all of the copies and if my brother hadn't died, I would have likely still been financing the project.  Instead I took some of his money in 2009 once his estate was probated and paid down my debt.  By the time he died it was costing me nearly $500 for a small ad in Handwoven, which meant I had to sell at least 3 books from every ad to cover the cost of the ad.  And I almost never sold that many.  Instead I would bring a copy on my teaching trips and write orders that I would mail when I got home and sell the one copy I had brought with me.

loom state

wet finished

Do I regret doing this project?  No.  I felt it needed to be done.  I had the production loom that made it possible to weave long/wide warps, a spouse who wound up without a job so I hired him to become VP in charge of assembly, and my then studio assistant got assigned some of the warps to weave as well.  Some friends and family volunteered to help with the assembly.

So no, I didn't do it 'all by myself'.  Far from it.  And it was *expensive* to do, too.  But it was worth the effort, in my opinion, and while I would never take on a 'job' like this again, now, I would not change the fact that I did it.

It was my vision, my expertise and my project, steered through to completion, aided by my spouse,  brother and family and friends.

So when I see others trying to provide good information to the weaving community, like Michelle Boyd, you can bet I'm going to promote their efforts.  If you can't afford the book yourself, encourage your guild (if you have one) to buy for the guild library.  But honestly, the price for this book is a bargain, given the depth of information I know will be in it.

PS - Magic is still available, but only with photographs, not actual samples.  You can still find the original here and there - usually estate sales or aging weavers trying to downsize.  I've seen it referred to as a 'classic' and if you pay less than $200?  It's still a bargain.  Or you can get the 'magazine' format or PDF on line at blurb.  For far less money because there are no samples, just the photos...