I admit it’s frustrating and I am ready to give up. We all work hard on creating and I literally feel defeated. I am still so new at this but it’s hard to be seen, even on social media. Anyway, if anyone is actually interested in purchasing patterns from me my link is here Unique patterns | Sew Kismet Creations | Ribblr
If anyone wants free patterns or to learn a few beginner crochet tutorials my blog is sewkismet.com
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I do feel your pain and at first i felt like maybe my patterns were not good enough etc. But thankfully i do make a sale every so often now and my patterns are in a lot of wishlists 
So please never give up! I am sure in time people will start buying your cute little patterns. I think maybe expanding your shop a little more with some more patterns and promoting your pattern releases if you haven’t already 
I think that helped me to gain more shop favourites over the past couple of months 
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Honesty same. I do mostly free patterns because I know how annoying it can be to have to buy one but I do sell the ones that took me longer to design or I feel deserve to be a paid pattern. I’ve only gotten one sale so far and that was about a year after the patterns release but I am still holding out hope that one day more will happen. Good luck!
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It can be difficult and ribblr is still in its early growth phase, going strength to strength.
It might be worth putting some of your free patterns of ribblr to help drive traffic and allow people to get a feel for how your patterns go.
I’m sure your sweet patterns will sell with time and promotion but I know how disheartening it can be listing an item for it to never sell.
Silver lining being, unlike sites like etsy, you aren’t charged for listing items here so you don’t start at a deficit.
Best of luck to you 
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I fully agree with you!! It’s really disappointing to see how others (could be smaller or bigger accounts) get sales while you don’t. What I’ve been doing is trying harder in my social media to promote my patterns. True enough after more than 6 months of trying hard I finally got my first sale! Getting sales didn’t easy so don’t give up because one day we’ll be successful 
Everybody starts with nothing (or a little bit of something)
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Free patterns would definitely help you grow slightly if you want gain a little bit more of a following Maybe people want to try something out first before purchasing.
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Your patterns are really cute 
Don’t give up! Just keep making things that make you happy and I’m sure the sales will follow.
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I have been designing (although not producing the number of patterns as most) for about a decade and if I’ve made a total of $200 I’d be surprised… Honestly, I think making a living off of designing is something that takes a LOT of time, energy, and skill… And it takes a unique pattern to set you apart 
I decided many years ago that I’d rather make a couple bucks every few months on them then turn out a million patterns, so I stopped designing as hard… (I’m now in the process of slowly getting them all into Ribblr as I took them off Rav 3½ years ago)…
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Thank you all for the suggestions! I added some free patterns. I know I can’t exactly make a living from this but having funds available for a few necessities like gas or food, it helps. I appreciate all of you!! Thank you!! May we all flourish in all our endevors.
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I think most crocheters want to get a feel for your pattern writing before buying one. If they don’t feel that your free patterns are comprehensive enough they are less likely to buy one. I know that is true fir me.
Tester calls are a great way to promote your shop.
From what I understand promotion on Instagram can feel tiring and futile.
As with any business, persistence and consistency builds the business.
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Well, it depends how you look at it. If you’re doing something because you enjoy it then things tend to go better. If you’re doing it hoping to make a business out of it you’re bound to get frustrated from time to time. If you’ve never done a small business before it takes a lot of self motivation, No matter what that business is. When I was younger and wanted to bake people always told me “9 out of 10 restaurants close within a year and of what’s left 75% will close within 5 years.” I’m not really sure if it’s trying to demotivate people from trying or give them realistic expectations, but it’s pretty accurate and not just for restaurants. 
Small businesses take about a
6mo-year for a business to be viable. Some people put that work in before opening but that method comes with it’s own risks. Things always start slow, but if you want it to be something that generates profit try to be profit minded. Or to put it another way the people who are good at shoving the things they’re selling in people’s faces and reminding them it’s for sale tend to make the most sales. 95% of you’re battle is making sure not only do people know you exist, but you’ve got stuff to offer them.
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Thank you for your input on things. I’ve had small business on and off since 2019, It took 2 years to get 7 sales. I took a break and I did rebrand, so perhaps that is part of the issue, however I have gotten at least one sale on Etsy last month, when I reopened my shop. I realize it takes time, and yes, I enjoy it and yes I am trying to make it just a bit successful… My biggest issue is social media, it’s not very easy for me and that is where I am lost. I post, I share, I promote, I have a blog with free patterns, but sometimes that isn’t enough. So let’s see what happens in the next six months. It is hard to do this alone, but I am sure in time, it will work out. I was just so frustrated, and it happens. So again, thank you for your input, I wish you the best as well.
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You can share your frustrations, it’s not a problem. ( well, as long as you learn from it
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I understand your frustration! I invite you to look into marketing strategies to get word out there! Social media is annoying and it’s really hard to stay consistent, but it’s what works best these days to sell. If you’re selling patterns, you’re gonna want to share multiple photos of your products in different angles/colors and styles, always helps if you have tester photos/customer photos too. People like to see if your patterns look good in different yarns etc.
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I’m a very beginner to crochet (I can knit basic and some intermediate level if I’m slow- but since I became disable it’s harder) and new here, so still learning how everything works. I have not bought any pattern yet because I can’t understand them yet, so I’ve been putting them in my favorites as I find ones I like. I’ve been collecting free ones and watching as many tutorials on YouTube as I can, until I can follow the instructions on a pattern and turn them into something presentable 
! I think one of the reasons it’s hard for people who design patterns nowadays is how many free things are available, online, on YouTube, in books you can get at the libraries… There are different places besides here and Ravelry also, and so many groups on Facebook where people share things. That and the economy, if people are getting patterns just to make things for themselves or for their families (not for selling), there is a huge percentage that will not even think about buying a pattern, because they are everywhere. Unless there’s an specific one that they absolutely want exactly that way, and can’t find it any other way, and that is horribly unfair. I am not a designer but I am a writer and I understand very hard how frustrating and upsetting it can be to have your work copied, or ignored, or not valued. All I can say is don’t give up. Your patterns are cute. They are different because they are feminine without being childish. Explore that, build up on that. There are not many clothing items out there with a feminine touch that are modest, delicate, a little boho, colorful, flowery, but not childish or “weird”. I think you are in for the win here but it’s not a quick or easy path. And yes, your stuff is in my wish list, it’s way too cute not to be. 
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I keep hearing that you really have to work the social media, I do not understand how to use more than the most basic features of the social media, and I’m not really comfortable with a lot of the platforms.
I’m mostly focusing on getting my scribbled and tattered handwritten patterns into ribblr format along with scaling them for size. I suppose I’ll dive in once I’ve exhausted my existing library.
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Social media is hard because you have to know how to play the game. For instance it took me 3 months of really getting into it and trying to figure out how the heck Instagram works before I got any traction, then I got 300 followers in a month. It’s a pain to sort out and everyone wants you to pay them for them to tell you which annoyed me so I kept at it till I figured it out. And those “pay me for what is really simple info” people annoy me so heres how to Instagram:
-this is gonna be long-
First, brand your stuff. Ideally you did this before starting but if not no worries from now on is the best time to start! So what kinds of thinga so you like best? Accessories, bags, gloves, blankets, amigurimi? Pick like one ‘general’ theme and then ideally one more specific theme. The more pinned down your brand is the easier time you’ll have attracting people. I started my theme with crochet - video games/anime. Mines too general, so it’s a very slow start, I can specify down which would make the process faster, but I’m doing what I enjoy so I’m okay with slow. If you have a setup where you take photos so they all look the same it’s helpful to prevent theft and making your page look uniform but not nessecary to having a successful page.
Next, pick a schedule that fits YOU. Everyone’s going to tell you post everyday! If someone was making cooking videos it would be unreasonable to expect a new video everyday, even though we eat everyday. Posting once a week is okay, as long as it’s consistent. If you post every Wednesday at noon awesome just keep that you day/time every week. I try to do twice a week. When picking a time pick it early in the morning. 7am-11am get the best results in nearly every time zone. Just make sure the language you post in matches your time zone. IE posting in English in Chinese time zone won’t help you need to post in English time zones. Make a day for creating your content and a day for releasing it. Personally I did my vid today, I’ll post it Wednesday because I’m not a morning person I’ll have it written up before hand so when I get up I just have to hit post. You can get one of those post schedulers but I’ve never used one. Sunday/Wednesday are my most successful days, your time zone/day may be different. When you hit 100 followers ig will actually tell you when to post to hit your followers.
Next, whatever your goal is, start with that and keep with that. If you want to sell patterns then you need to post every time that’s what you’re doing. You don’t want to give people looking at your posts the wrong idea. I saw recent examples a girl with 15million followers doing music, she gave it away free on YouTube. So when suddenly she wanted to sell a cd she got less then 2k sales on a 7$ cd. That’s .0001% return. Because her fans see her as “free music” not I pay for this. So if you want to sell things you need to attract people who want to buy things, not collect free things. So freebies can be nice, and attract eyes but make sure the majority of what your posting is not free. If you only make a big deal when it’s free you’ll just get people that want free. That does make blogs sites difficult - growing a blog is also one of the slowest types of site to grow. 
I’m told with ig reels you do not need to hashtag, but I still do. It’s good to have hashtags ready anyway for when you post an image instead of a vid. I have a ton of pre-prepared hashtags in a notepad I copy paste the ones I want these are my main ones: #crochetcrew #crochetting #crochetallday #crochetproject #crochetfun #crochetanimal
#crochetaddiction #instavirkkaajat #crochetlovers
Then I add specific ones based on what I’m posting. It doesn’t hurt to use like #crochet but it’s gonna have millions of posts on it so I only add it if I have extra tags. You can add 30 I believe. Ideally ones with 200k-1m posts on them are best. Honestly I haven’t checked my tags since October when I did this originally so some of my tags may be no good anymore. I did all this in oct when I found out I was pregnant ended up taking a break to prepare for all that and only got back into the past couple weeks so I’m still updating all my tags and what not. So you’re welcome to use those tags but I’d suggest double checking them first.
Once you got all that in a row you gotta find people. Now here’s where everyone just says “spend ‘x’ minutes on Instagram everyday!” Wtf does that mean? It means nothing because once again you need a plan. -that they want you to pay them for- Hanging out on the suggested list or explore page for an hour won’t get you any where. Instead take one of your main tags and search it. Those are gonna be people who are interested in what you’re doing afterall! Go through and like and comment on the posts insert this tag. And keep an eye out on the other comments being posted. If you’re on a good activity time you’ll find other people doing the same exact thing but are crazy out pacing you. That’s because it’s a bot, you can usually spot them because every comment will be exactly the same like “so cute! 
” Now click the bot person. Look at their follower list, do they have thousands? If so great your found your target. Bookmark or follow them cause you can keep returning to them so long as they’re using the bot. If not they’re just starting and move on to the next bot. This bot has done your work for you! Now instead of commenting on random people under the tags you have a targeted list of people that you know respond to comments and check out profiles. So go down the follower list and like and comment on something on each of their followers. This only lasts 1-2 hours at most depending on how fast you are because Instagram only lets you comment/like a certain number of times per hour/day. This netted me 10-40 followers a day, you could pay for a bot I’ve seen those using them net 100+ a day but I’m cheap and refuse to pay. Botting can also get you banned I’m told but I’ve never seen it happen.
Then you start getting followers! So long as you did the other steps before it the people that will react and follow are people interested in what you’re offering. And they’re people that interact which is good for your engagement rate if you want to do sponsorships.
Things to keep in mind, Instagram promotes reels, more heavily if you ‘make’ the reel in their program. If you like canvas or something you can trick this by making it in canvas then uploading to ig but add music to the vid in ig’s reel maker so now it sees it as made in their reels thing. They do scan images and videos for logos, so if there’s a TikTok Facebook or any other social media logo they suppress it. They also scan for ig logo to promote it so I’ve seen people add a card when taking photos that has the ig logo on it for the small boost, whatever works eh?
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Don’t worry if you don’t get it all right away. I’m still not great at it because I have a very hard time pushing sales. I feel like I’m bothering people. So just go at your own pace.
Knowing what your doing or where your going just makes sure it’s never wasted time.
If you wanna go the free route people usually instead monetize by going sponsorships or selling materials/kits instead. Good luck!
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Wow! Thanks for sharing! So many gold nuggets here!
I get you about refusing to pay for the knowledge. When I had to do my clinical practicum for my Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner some of the psychiatrists were charging for them to oversee you. Greedy bastards. Did they pay the people who provided oversight for them? NO!
I consider it unethical to charge people money in an area where others have invested in you with no thought of money.
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Agreed!
I should probably note the 40+ follower days where ALWAYS a Saturday. Saturday is a terrible time to post cause too many people are posting that day, but a great day to collect followers.
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