Crochet patterns are big business. There are millions of crocheters across the world, all looking for new crochet patterns to make. This means there is a huge audience for you to tap into and sell your own crochet patterns to, which means that writing your own crochet patterns is a brilliant business move.
But what makes selling crochet patterns so much better than selling what you make and how much money can you really make selling your own patterns?
Why I Know This Works
I know that this is true because it’s the route I took with my own crochet business.
I started out by selling the crochet that I made. I eventually got to the point where I realised that I was never going to make the profit I needed that way, and so I turned to writing crochet patterns.
I quickly discovered a few things. Crochet patterns are easier to sell because they are low cost. I could sell lots of them because there is such a huge number of people looking for new crochet patterns, and I worked less because they just didn’t need so much of my time to create.
That last one surprised me, but it was a welcome relief after having to crochet every hour that I could when I was selling what I made.
This time element is another reason why writing crochet patterns is a brilliant business move. I was working less and yet within 6 months I had tripled my profits. The reason why I was spending less time working on crochet patterns than making to sell is because crochet patterns are recurring income.
You do the work once when you design the pattern and turn it into a pdf, and then you sell that file over and over again without ever having to do more than promote the pattern through social media or your newsletter list occasionally.
When you are selling the crochet that you make, you’re selling your time for money. How much you can earn is tied to how many hours a week you can spend with your hook in hand. Recurring income removes that link to your time, so how much you can earn is in theory limitless.
How Much Can You Really Earn?
So how much can you really earn from writing and selling crochet patterns?
There are plenty of crochet designers out there earning a full time living from their patterns. It doesn’t happen overnight, just like selling what you make you need to build up an audience and build up a product line. But once a pattern is published, it can be making sales for years.
The best part is that crochet patterns sell automatically, so once a sale is made you don’t have to do a thing because the pattern is delivered to the customer by email automatically.
This means that you can sell while you sleep, make a profit while you are on holiday and your business will run smoothly without you for a while and you get to come back with money in the bank and no horrendous to do list to stress you out on your return.
You don’t get that when you are selling a physical product.
There are lots of platforms out there that you can use to sell your patterns. Ravelry is one of the big ones and they see over $20 million worth of pattern sales every year. That’s just on a single selling site, so you can see that there is a lot of money to be made here.
And there are more ways to profit from crochet patterns than just selling them. You can host free patterns on a blog or YouTube and make money from the ad revenue. You can include affiliate links and earn commission on them. You can get sponsored by a yarn company and tap into their audience too.
The patterns open up many doors and many options meaning that you don’t have to expect to be living on the bare minimum, you can aim for a corporate level salary from writing crochet patterns.
Patterns Sell All Year Round
There are other benefits to writing crochet patterns too. The demand for them tends to stay steady all year round. Ok you get dips in certain things like blankets and hats will sell better in the colder months and beach tops and soleless sandals will sell better in the summer months. But those sales don’t disappear completely like they do for physical items.
Why?
Because the organised people are crocheting gifts well in advance and because you can sell your patterns internationally, there are always people in the other hemisphere who are in a different season to you buying the patterns that match their weather.
So your crochet pattern sales can hold steady throughout the year and you won’t get the seasonal dips.
You also won’t have to work yourself to the bone and stress yourself out during the insane Christmas selling season – I really don’t miss that stress fest. Instead I carry on with my regular routine and maybe add some pattern bundles up for sale that can be gifted.
How Hard Is It To Get Started?
How hard is it to write crochet patterns and how do you get started?
If you’re used to reading crochet patterns, then you know what needs to be included in one. Once you know what needs to be included, you know what you need to write.
Crochet patterns are easier to write than a lot of people fear. To get started you simply need to start. There are no qualifications needed, no courses you have to take, no permissions needed to be sought. You simply start designing, get the pattern written up and list it for sale on a site such as Ravelry, Etsy or Shopify.
After that it’s simply a case of promoting it in much the same way you would a physical item.
If you are ready to get started writing your own crochet patterns then I have a few ways that I can help you.
You can download my free step by step guide on how to write a crochet pattern here.
You can subscribe to the Crochet Pattern School Podcast for just $7 a month here where you will find a library of episodes filled with topics from how to choose your first design, where to sell, how to make sure your pattern is up to scratch and how to profit from your designs.
I also have a course which takes you through everything you need to know to design, write and publish a crochet pattern. You can find out more about that here.
