Selling on Amazon

I spent the day yesterday setting up an account with Amazon and KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).  I'm not sure if it will be a good platform for selling my patterns or not but thought it would be worth trying!  I'm constantly on my Kindle and thought other people might be the same.  Sometimes it's nice to follow a pattern from your tablet rather than looking for your paper version!

First of all, I looked at what knitting patterns were available for baby knits.  I browsed through them and downloaded some samples before going on to buy one that I really liked.  I realised I'd have to change the format for my patterns so that it is more like an ebook rather than a traditional printed pattern, removing the columns and rearranging some of the pictures for example.

Kindle ebooks require a front cover in a picture format such as jpeg.  So I took my pattern cover, deleted the pattern and changed some of the formatting.  I selected all, copied and then opened Paint and pasted it in.  I had to do this a few times since some of the details were distorted when it was transferred into Paint.  When I was happy with my cover, I saved it as a jpeg.

I opened up my original pattern and deleted the front cover - what was left was now my 'manuscript'.  I had a few adjustments to do after changing the columns.

In Amazon, I logged into my newly created KDP account and set up the details for payments etc - which was quite time-consuming as I had to add bank details (IBAN and BIC codes - which can usually be found on a bank statement) and tax codes. 

The actual adding the pattern to Amazon was quite quick and straightforward.  If you don't have a front cover they offer you a option of creating one (however some people online recommend using fiverr.com for a cheap but professional cover design).  The other details you have to enter are quite straightforward such as author name.  There is a preview button, and it is highly recommended that you use it to check formatting issues where there are tables etc - however, each time I tried to view it, it didn't work.  I think that my front cover image was such a high picture size that my computer and/or internet wasn't able to complete the action!

Finally, a message appears saying that it can take up to 72 hours for your ebook to appear on Amazon after you click 'publish' but I received a text after a few hours saying that my epattern was live and ready to view.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=premature+baby+romper&rh=n%3A341677031%2Ck%3Apremature+baby+romper

New Premature Baby Sea Collection out now!

At last, my newest premature baby design collection is published!

 

I love the little sea horse on the cardi!  The clothes are knitted using very soft 4ply acrylic and the octopus is cotton.

The octopus is a knitted version of the crochet ones that are popular in NICUs across the country - it helps give security to the tiny babies.

 

There are many other fabulous designs in this issue!

Been busy of late designing the collection for the summer edition of Love Knitting for Baby.  I really like the finished design!  Will share once the magazine is published.

Since then I have knitted up a premature baby romper with bunny slippers for a customer on etsy.com.  She loved it and requested that I add more premature baby knits to my etsy shop, so I have!  I will continue knitting up some more items, it's something I love doing.

 

In addition to this, I knitted up a matinee jacket and bonnet for another customer using luxury merino yarn.  It was gorgeous knitted up!

My first customer went on to buy my premature knitted bunny set - within 5 minutes of me listing it for sale!!!  Wow!

I'm hoping to have enough time to do more orders and more knits for sale.  I started working on the next commission for Love Knitting for Baby last night, and I received a copy of the current issue in the post yesterday.  If you enjoy knitting for babies I'd definitely recommend it.

I like the new style!  And it came with a bonus baby knits book!  My chick baby hat and booties, mouse baby hat and booties, little rabbit doll and baby lamb rattle designs are all in it.  I had loads of fun designing them.  :-)

Mr Penguin Tea Cosy

I've been busy this last week knitting up the emperor penguin tea cosy design from this month's issue of Simply Knitting.

It is a Christmas present for a friend who is mad about penguins.  Her father invented the Penguin biscuit and was affectionately known as Mr Penguin by friends and family ever since.  I hope she likes this Mr Penguin tea cosy pair!

10" premature baby wrap and loafers knitting pattern

Just finished this morning!  A new 10 inch premature baby wrap and loafers knitting pattern.  Available on etsy.com, ravelry,com and ebay.co.uk.

Twitter Knitter

I've recently signed up to twitter.com.  Have a look at https://twitter.com/designbabyknits.

New premature baby design:

Available on ravelry.com, etsy.com and ebay.co.uk.

Professional Knitting Pattern Leaflets

The time has come for professionally producing the patterns I sell on ebay and on etsy!  A lovely lady from Ravelry contacted me to see if I'd be interested in getting my patterns printed as she was starting out a printing business.  I've contacted printing businesses before but although I thought the finished products were beautiful, it just wasn't practical having to print a huge amount of each pattern at a time - so I was delighted to hear that Louise was happy to print small numbers.

I decided to start with my premature baby patterns, as well as my popular little baby shoes.  Now when people purchase these pattern leaflets, it is a pleasure posting them out a high standard product.  I was very happy with the printed patterns Louise did for me.  And it is very exciting seeing your designs printed like this! :-)