Making It - Mollie Makes
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Author: Mollie Makes
Publisher: Collins & Brown
Year Published: 2014
Dimensions: 6”x7.75”
Pages: 160 pages
Making It focuses on educating crafters who are interested about turning their hobbies into ventures. This handy guide covers a wide range of topics from branding, money management, selling platforms, making a following, and bringing about brand awareness. Although it covers a wide range of topics, at 160 pages, it is not too long or overwhelming, making it an ideal book for someone who is interested in testing out the business waters, or someone who is just starting their business and don’t have the time to invest in an abundant resource.
This book is written by the English magazine and craft lifestyle blog, Mollie Makes. There are several contributors to the book but it reads as one cohesive, guiding voice. That being said, the writing in this book is concise and to the point, yet still personable. Since this book was published in London, most of the resources regarding business practices and regulations are catered to those is England and the UK, but they do suggest some for those in the United States.
Compared to other books with similar topics like Grow Your Handmade Business, The Handmade Marketplace, and Art Inc., this one falls into the similar range those do. it covers similar topics and information that the others do and does not go into too much detail about any one subject. Chapters range about 20-30 pages with several sections that fall within each one; resulting in about four to eight pages per section, making this feel like a fast read. If you are someone who has not read any of these books, and this is your first time reading a book of this nature, then it is recommended that you check this one out first. Simply because it covers a wide range of topics, serving as a great primer for beginners. Once you read this, then you should pick up other books and resources that go into more depth about specific topics, like taxes, social media marketing, and visual branding.
Speaking of branding, Making It, has the best advice on branding out of all of the craft venture books. Mollie Makes acknowledges that branding is much more than just a logo and color palette, but it expands into the whole identity of the brand. She states that it carries into tone and voice, products and product lines, packaging, website and app development, and even brick and mortar store design. This is refreshing because most books unrelated to graphic design condense branding to a name, a logo, and a tagline. Although they only spends a few pages discussing it, they manage to cram all of this info, along with an interview with an actual graphic designer into it. They even advise that it is not a waste of money to reach out and hire a graphic designer to help assist in the branding.
Another impressive inclusion to this book is the primer on photography, Most books advise crafters to follow their favorite brands and try to mimc their photographic compositions, always use daylight, and use the presets on cameras. But Mollie Makes actually gives background information on exposure, shutter speed, backgrounds, resolution, and composition. Granted, they do this in a matter of six pages, but that is so much more information than most books delve into.
Making It is also a well designed book. It’s hard for a book intended for crafters not to be designed with script typefaces, colorful words, and illustrations, but this book does it well. The readability isn’t sacrificed that much, except for the script intro paragraph written at the beginning of every section [especially when reading under artificial lighting]. The illustrations are cute and fitting, and there is enough consistent visual interest that pulls the eyes from one page to the next without any hassle.
Although this book touches on a lot of important information that all craft entrepreneurs should know, there is a surprising lacking amount of information on starting a website and social media presence. Despite discussing domain names, and templated website platforms, Mollie Makes doesn’t go too far deep into suggesting web platforms, the difference between web hosting and web building platforms, and basic features that should be used for websites. Although most crafters will probably be selling their wares through an existing online platform like Etsy, they should have spent at least a paragraph discussing these topics. When it came time to describe social media, Mollie Makes spent more time describing the step by step process of creating facebook, twitter, and Pinterest accounts than they did discussing how the platforms work, types of example posts, or what each type of communication each platform is best for. In an age where everyone is on social media, everyone expects businesses to be there too, and it is vital that businesses, especially small ones, know how to fill this niche. It also doesn’t help that they state that when it comes to followers, “quality is better then quantity.” This book was published in 2014 so the, “purchasing followers” trend was not as rampant on social media platforms, but when it comes to followers, quality is far better than quantity. It’s the quality followers who are going to be the ones commenting and liking on posts, sending messages, and being social, whereas the others are just going to be taking up a space. When it comes to actually marketing something, those large numbers are not going to yield any results because those inactive followers won’t be doing anything to help out the business. They won’t be making purchases, they won’t be leaving feedback, and they are not an accurate depiction of the audience.
Despite all of this, the book is still an enjoyable read. While reading, it is hard not to imagine owning a craft venture. It is so easy to picture owning a brick and mortar store while Mollie Makes discusses the business aspects of running one. If you’re a crafter who is looking for a quick primer to get your feet wet and your brain thinking about running a venture, then check this book out. But if you are someone who has already read similar books, or have spent a few months already running your venture then maybe save your time and pick up other books that are more catered to your specific business needs.