The Trade Show in Your Computer

Howdy. It's time once again for that cross stitch and needlework trade show that shows up on the interwebs and tempts you with all those lovely new stitchy things. Starting tomorrow at 2 Eastern time, this link will go live: http://needleworkshow.com.

Only registered shops will be able to purchase directly from the web pages, but it's open for anyone and their cat to peruse. So feast your eyeballs, take good notes, and contact you favorite shop to make your selections.

Ink Circles will be releasing one new chart, Pepper Tree. You might have seen this in my recent post where I gave a review of the Sulky Blendables thread that I used to stitch it. Suggested retail is $8. I'll of course have all of my other recent charts, and you simply have to ask your shop for any of those other charts that aren't in the show. The booth is limited to 30 product slots - I have a hundred more beyond that, and all are still available.

Pepper Tree  - available at the online Needlework Show.

#Winning

I'm wrapping up things from the Online Needlework Show that finished last week. Stitchers and shops visiting the show pages seemed to be fewer in number each successive show, but overall things went well. Lots of charts headed to shops and distributors and directly to a handful of lucky winners. I recognize a certain reality of cross stitch being less prevalent among crafts than in past decades, but vow to continue to do my part in offering up a unique slice.

Congratulations to these folks who won a prize in a "Share the Love" drawing. Rather than just reward the entrant, I asked stitchers to give me a name of someone they thought deserved a prize.  It was very fun to see stitchers unknowingly nominate each other or more complicated  pointing loops.  I also had a number of folks include a statement as to why the nominee should be rewarded.  These comments ranged from the person being their inspiration, their stitching buddy, the person they are trying to inculcate (don't you love that word!) to more curious tales...because he just passed a mondo kidney stone, she just lost her job, she's on bedrest for a month, two kids in college. Happy stories, sad stories. I wish I could give them all a prize, but that would sadly defeat the economic attempts to run a viable business.

Here are the ten that did get the goods.

• Kim Berger and her friend Kathy Coleman
• Gillian Murray and her friend Cheryl Isaak
• Debbie Wolfe and her friend Paula Shelgren
• Melissa Frazell and her sister Lindsay Kudera
• Christine Forber and her sister Beth Charette

Meanwhile, I'm not one for living in the past. Always - on to the NEXT chart.  I'm working on this new piece. I'm stitching the 6th turtle in a stack of infinitely many. Fortunately they get smaller as they go down.  If you don't know the reference, you can peek at wikipedia at "turtles all the way down"

Turtles all the way down

What I hadn't thought about

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to my email list you've probably heard me mentioning this thing called the Online Needlework Show. You've made some assumptions and I've made some assumptions. It's become clear this week that we've all got a different take on this show. I'd like to share how I view the show, and analyze a little what is/isn't working.

This post is long. I apologize, but say that if you do read it you will understand me better.

TL;DR = Too long; didn't read.  But please do.

I started participating in the Online Show several years ago, back before I could even imagine the logistics and financing of going to a "real" trade show, before I was distributed by Hoffman and Norden and such.  The only way people could buy my charts was to stumble across my website.  Maybe somebody mentioned me in a Yahoo group or showed a picture in a blog and you took the time to Google me. The Online Show was a framework that let shops know I existed. I did really well in those early shows. Really well.  It played a key role in getting to where I am today.

True, only registered shops can order directly through the show, but the public has always been invited to peruse the booths, with the thought that stitchers would see all of the new things and pester their shops to  buy what they liked.  The Online Show seems to always represent a large number of foreign designers and "little fish" that stitchers might not otherwise see. If shops got enough interest from their customers during the sale week, they could afford to order from companies that they couldn't during the rest of the year.  It meant that stitchers had access to things they couldn't normally get. At least it was supposed to mean that.  It was also enough of an event, many designers planned their calendars to time new releases for the show.

So, how to get stitchers to look at the Show?  The door prize gimmick was a built in show option, with the thought that more stitchers would visit to see if they might win something.  Seriously, you could win anything from a chart to a FULL SET of silk floss.  I've given away dozens of charts in these games, thinking that this would be a good way to get noticed, get talked about, build a fan-base one happy winner at a time. This go around, I tried a different approach where you could win for a friend. Maybe introduce someone to Ink Circles, or say thank you to someone you love, or cheer up someone who's had a bad run lately.  (I've had some great nomination emails that make me wish I could send charts to everyone!) It never even dawned on me that folks might interpret this as "selling their friends info" to my evil giant marketing scheme. I'm glad a few of you mentioned it, or I'd still be in the dark.

I do have a mailing list. If you are on it, it is because you signed up for it directly, my friend. I have never added a single person. If you enter my drawing, or email me with a question, or send me your friend's name, or even place an order with me, I DO NOT ASSUME anything about you wanting further contact from me. I consider this just basic respect.  It was an oversight not to explicitly state that with the entry rules, but some of you wouldn't believe it anyway.  In retrospect, I recognize not all people would respect your privacy.

At the point of writing this (five days into the show,) I have had 218 people enter the door prize drawing. I didn't do a door prize last year, because of some other stuff going on, but the previous year I had over 200 entries ON EACH DAY. It begs the question, what has changed and what needs to change. I really do appreciate the entries, and if nothing more it means that those of you who entered stand a rocking chance to get a free chart for you and a bud. I truly appreciate those of you that chimed in with some feedback when I asked on Facebook why things were quiet.

As for new stuff at the show, we are given 30 product slots twice a year.  With that math, yes - most of the stuff in any designer's booth is not brand new.  I do have a few companies that order only once a year via this show and get all the "newish" stuff.  A show debut still means brand new, but for each shop and each stitcher, new is relative. You show up at a physical trade show with more in tow than the few new releases. Why the show has a "new releases" page baffles me, too. It doesn't reflect the new releases at the show. I think you had to pay extra to be featured here. The page does look sloppy and out of date, too, when they talk about "when the April show opens." Duh. It is open.

I paid $425 to participate. The booth price has risen over the years, presumably to improve the show infrastructures and drive out the non-serious designers. In the past there were a lot more people who got a copy of charting software and were suddenly "designers."  There have been some improvements on the show website each incarnation, but there are still a lot of basic obvious flaws.  Go to the main page and try to figure out when the show ends, for instance. Or use the search feature - new, but declared as "buggy" on the show's own homepage. How about the advertising that they are doing for us?  What once was a two-page spread with participating companies' logos in the Needlework Retailer had been shrunk to a half page with a blur of a list of websites.  Other advertising? Well, as a stitcher in the online community - what did you see? How did you hear about it? The number of companies participating has been dropping steadily these past years, which sounds like a downwardly spiraling aspect. Am I getting my money's worth? Unless something miraculous happens orderwise in the next day, I won't even be making cost. I'll be in the October show - it's already a sunk cost. Do I care that this show isn't the same exposure and sales for me as it was five years ago? Sure, but I'm not going to become distraught. It's like the party that you realize you should have left from a few hours earlier, the book you bought but know you just aren't going to finish. But I know a little better who I am, and where you all are.

I read a comment from Sue Hillis on a board explaining why she wasn't in the show. It wasn't where her customers were finding her.  I think I'm in that same realm.  Now I do have distributors, do attend physical trade shows, and do have an active social media presence (as active as I can manage :-).  If you're looking for Ink Circles, you know where to find me.

My best,
Tracy

PS. Did you like the Teal Dear that I designed for my friend Wren?  Rather fitting for this post; I expect most of you will skim through. It was just some stuff I needed to get out of my brain so I can move on to other things.

PPS. The number of door prize entrants is likely higher now, as I hadn't counted any that came in during the three hours I've been gnashing at this post.

Online Show Wrap-Up

And thus concludes another edition of the Online Needlework Show. Ink Circles had four new designs hit the streets. Turkish Delight came out just beautifully - I've posted a giant picture on my main website so you can see how amazing the Belle Soie thread colors worked.  I was humming Blue Rondo a la Turk the whole time I was designing this.

This is what it looks like should you decide to stitch it and hang it in portrait mode.  You are allowed to do that, you know.

My Daughter's project, The Pretty Little Dust Collector seems to have been well received.  We're donating 50% of the profits to our local no-kill animal adoption organization Pet Over-Population Prevention.  She is excited to be able to take a check with her during her next volunteering day.

The new stuff will be showing up in shops this week, then at the distributors shortly.   I won't be adding them up on my site for direct orders until mid-May in attempts to encourage you to shop at your LNS.

Door Prizes - Yeah!

The following lucky ducks got the big prizes: Marlene Ackerman, Tara Fidler, Rachel Morton, Judy Royan, Cari Smith, Bonnie Coleman, Cheryl Ann Peterson, and Faith Nichols.  Everybody else who entered should have received by email a new complementary Ink Spot design.  If you didn't get yours, check your spam box or drop me a note.

Just for the record, our favorite color is overwhelmingly BLUE, followed by Purple, then green. We are fascinated by newborns of any species and the intricacies of flowers and birds.  And there are a lot of Monty Python fans out there. If you didn't get that last comment, you didn't get it earlier either - don't worry.