Mollie Makes: Making It! is the perfect guide for anyone out there who wants to turn their craft into a successful business. The book is compiled by the fabulous team behind Mollie Makes magazine and covers pretty much all you need to know about starting a craft business – from your first steps in researching your market and defining your brand, right through to the nitty gritty of insurance, tax and accounts. With sections on writing press releases, pricing, photography, selling to shops, running workshops, getting magazine features and copyright, there’s enough advice to justify a place on the book shelves of any growing or established craft business too.
The book takes you through the practical stages of launching and growing a business, with clear, concise information, interspersed with interviews with makers and experts who have learned from experience what works and what doesn’t. So here’s your chance to pick up social media tips from Jane Foster, creative networking advice from Cat Morley of Cut Out + Keep fame, and online selling tips from Folksy’s own Emily Barnes, among others.
We’ve got two copies to give away. To be in with a chance of winning one, just tell us what part of running a craft business you most need advice on. You can either leave a comment on this blog or email us at competitions@folksy.co.uk with the subject line “Help me make it!”
The competition closes at midnight this Sunday 25th May. Two winners will be chosen at random and we’ll let the winners know here on this blog next week.
Mollie Makes: Making It! is published on 22 May by Collins & Brown, price £14.99
137 comments
I need help figuring out where to start! I think this book would be so useful to me.
Need all the advice I can get , what a fab book to be able to win :) xx
Me please! Please! I so need a push in the right direction…
Pricing always pizzles me!
yes please x
Balancing building up a craft business with full time job.
Hi there,
I need help with marketing **help me make it**
Where do you source materials at wholesale prices so that it keeps costs to a minimum?
Great giveaway! I would love help with selling to shops and making the next move with my business.
Would love to win this x
I would love help with marketing and doing wholesale, amongst a dozen other things….x
I love Mollie Makes magazines and they have already provided me with so much inspiration, but this book will finally be the gentle kick start to my new creative life x
Help me make it please!!
I need help knowing exactly where to start – it all seems so overwhelming!
I need this book! I need advice on pricing, tax and accounts and marketing in the digital age. If it’s not too much to ask! My fledgling craft business is my lifeling dream and I’d love to make a success of it :-)
This book looks like just the push I need !!! Loving the graphics on the front too xxx
Our 2 areas where we need help are pricing our products and then marketing them.
How to build the business into a full-time day job!!
Fab giveaway,
Would love to win this book in order to help me to find more outlets for my jewellery and generally coping with the highs and lows of running your own business.
Hmm, it’s gotta be marketing for me. I’ve got what I think is a great product, but I desperately need to learn to how push it out there more efficiently, and probably a bit of branding wouldn’t go amiss either.
Yup, I’d definitely love this book please!!
I have an idea for a craft business…but need help with getting it off the ground and advice on how to establish it as a brand x
I would like help with pricing and also the best way to start selling my
I always find the hardest part is knowing where to start once you’ve got an idea, trying to put that idea as a real visual object, especially if nothing like it even exists, being original isn’t easy. I’m sure this book Making It would be the perfect read for inspiration.
I need help with marketing.
I would love to get advice on everything from tax/accounts to photographing my products. This book would be so helpful :)
This would be an amazing start for me to start my own business. I am a full time mother, who now that my youngest is getting ever closer to pre-school age, I am wondering what I do next in my life. I have a design degree, so hopefully something like this book would give me the confidence, direction & skills to start my own business in the creative/craft industries. Hoping for some good luck!
Finding our niche market and getting in there
How do I balance a small crafting business with a full time job? Not sure where to start!
How to get my product `out there ` to the right people .
Fabulous book – would it help me decide whether to start selling? I look forward to reading it.
what a fantastic book. I’d love this :-)
I really need this because I am seriously losing faith in what I have to offer the world!
The book looks great! I think marketing is the main area where I could do with some help.
This book looks really useful. I love the sound of all the interviews. Its interesting to see where people started out.
Help me make it!
I could do with help on pricing work for the market. Fingers crossed
I’d love to win this for my mum, who after running a non-craft business is now hoping to start making and selling and perhaps teaching. This book would give her the help she needs to get started.
What a great prize ! Looks like the perfect book. Where do start. I need help in all fields but probably most of all in marketing and promotion .
I would love some help with the financial end of things. Being creative is the easy part, knowing how to budget and do taxes is a who other shebang!
I would love some help with developing useful contacts and the how to’s of selling wholesale, to shops etc. In fact thinking about it, I’d like help in many many places. Cheers!
I want to know how to get the kind of customers who walk into Art & Craft Galleries to walk into my webshop.
I need help with Finding good wholesales and branding
Great prize! I need advice on wholesale pricing :)
Pricing, branding, networking and making the next move from part time to full time… I’d love advice on all of that and more! Oh and doing craft shows, need advice on that too please!
Having the confidence to move my designs onto different products and market them effectively would be so useful. I know who my market are, but there is a real disparity between commitment to buy or commission work that reflects the skills and effort involved.
I need help in taking my business to the next level. How do I get my products in magazines, on blogs. How do I contact the right people amd what do I write. Its an area I have no idea where to start! So I think this book would become a great tool to find the answers.
Brilliant! I’d love to be able to learn more and this book would hopefully help me make my plans a reality
I would love to make it this year
I need help with all of the things you’ve listed! From tweaking my photography to giving my account system an overhaul, but I’m especially in need of advice for running craft workshops. I’ve had a request to run a jewellery making workshop, which I’d love to do, but I’ve no idea how to go about it.
I hope with a little help I can make a thriving craft business :)
Help with marketing and getting seen.
I would love this book, I love to learn how to help my business to grow. I would love advice on marketing and advertising, I’m rubbish at promoting myself!!
Yes please! Could do with some help on pricing/branding/a million other things..
I need help with pricing items that are time intensive
Please HELP! It would make me very happy indeed.
Information and trobleshooting on those areas that aren’t part of my making process….areas of running the business the quickest and simplest way so it doesn’t interfere with my production.
I need to know how to market effectively, and promote – I’ve been trying to sell my photographic work (runnycustard) and now illustrations and surface design (runnycustarddesign) yet hardly sell anything – I’m pretty sure the work is good so I should be selling… it’s very frustrating and I’m fatigued by it all :-( it makes me want to give up and it’s taking away the joy of actually making… I like (or would like to) make more jewellery and textiles but if I can’t sell it then it’s pointless and expensive!!
I need to figure out the right pricing and how to manage my inventory
Good luck everyone!
It would be my dream to make it!
Pricing, paying tax etc and the best places to sell X
I love making a variety of home made things , I just need guidance in where to take it next and turn it into a business rather than a hobby.
Would LOVE love this book! pretty please for me ❤️
I would like to know more about marketing and communication. How to find customers when you’re starting out and the only people following you are friends and family. It’s hard to sell to my Dad!
I need help with getting my business up and running properly. I am currently working full time and don’t have much time to focus on my jewellery making (which is my passion). I would love to be able to make jewellery for a living but need guidance on how to do this successfully! x
I have 2 children under 12 and a 94 year old Nan I am main carer for. Iwas once a Make Up Artist in the theatre so want to work making crafts to sell from home and this book would provide invaluable advice on how to set up and thrive…. wishing very hard.
I’m in the VERY early stages of formulating dreams into reality of starting up a craft business to make and sell stationery, cards, wedding invites. I really need advice on where to start to make sure that the foundations of the business are strong – what are the laws, rules, tips and advice for getting started to ensure you give your business the best chance of success?
I’ve made a start but I need help with moving from occasional markets to wholesale and also how to approach blogs and magazines to feature my handmade goodies!
Pricing is probably high on my advice-wish-list closely followed by product promotion.
I need a good ole kick up the bum, or a whack on the head with this book. Whilst I have been crafting I haven’t made any attempt to sell since going back to work full time. I know this would help me heaps.
What kind of profit percentage should I be aiming for realistically?! Many thanks :-)
Starting up, product design or finding my niche, balancing creating with a family.
Would love to win :) hope you all have a lovely day
I am considering setting up a small business selling my crafts, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Having the confidence to charge what I know I should is my problem, so I guess you could say… pricing!
Marketing to my target demographic rather than scattergun!
I’d like help in focussing on how I decide what to make. I have too many ideas and keep flitting from product to product.
Help me make it…. I need help with everything!!
i’d love help with exposure/traffic
I need help with everything! From finding the courage to start, to how to juggle a full time job with a craft business and how eventually to turn the tables so my craft business is my full time job! Dreaming…
Would love the chance to win. Brilliant magazine xxx
My dream is to make my business successful, and by that I mean making enough money to earn a salary. I had now idea how to run a business, so when I achieve small milestones, the satisfaction is amazing. I would love to be able to give up my job and do this full time but I need to learn how to find my customers online, how to market successfully, how to write great product descriptions, how to take gorgeous product photos…. and a whole lot more that I don’t even realise I don’t know yet!
This looks like a useful and interesting read! I need help with deciding on ‘collections’ to sell, with marketing and photography (and probably some other things that I am not aware of!).
Where to start? What to create? How to reach buyers? I’ll be keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed hoping to win a copy of this book.
I’m realising that designing and making my product is only the beginning of the story! I need to learn how to find my customers on and off line, how to market to them, how to write great product descriptions, how to take gorgeous photos to make my products desirable! But I’m loving the challenge. My dream is to be able to run my won business full time…and I’m quite determined! I think this book would be an invaluable resource. Thank you.
I need help with most parts of having a business. Pricing and marketing are tough subjects.
Getting exposure in press
How to get marketing like a pro, take over the crafty world and keep an eye on two crazy pre-schoolers all at the same time!
I am being made redundant and planned to start my own business BUT have just discovered I am pregnant after being told I couldn’t. Now need to rethink my whole plan/life but have no idea where to start.
I would like help with advertising and sourcing wholesale supplies xxxx
Juggling a 9 to 5 job with my creative business. I don’t make enough yet to stop working. This is a real juggling act. Focus and planning.
Help me make it! Time management please…work, college, kids, crazy diy house madness…..eek!
The first steps – just about to graduate so need help starting up!
I would like some help with adjusting my wholesale rates to retailers so that I can make a reasonable profit selling to them and then adopt their selling price when I sell my products direct to customers if that makes sense!
I would really appreciate some help with promoting my little venture – I’m new to it and am at the 6 month mark… spending quite a lot of time chasing my tail in a confused fashion! Thank-you :-)
been making it .. but also been making babies .. now need to get back in the business saddle and re vamp my bussiness to be more up to date ..
looking to start selling some items… working on building a small product set, so looking for help with a launch.
Cheers
This book sounds brilliant. I have been making and selling prints and books in online shops; but only a few sales every few months. And none on Folksy for over a year. I need help with marketing, writing press releases, pricing, selling to shops, and running workshops. Hope I am lucky!
Pretty please with a cherry on top xxx
Oh this book sounds too good to be true! I need help with marketing, networking, and balancing a crafting business with bringing up 2 very small children! Dying to get back to creating again soon.
This is lovely! I think I need help figuring out how tomake it financially viable – fitting crafting in with a day job!
fingers crossed!
I need help with just that…Making It! I have the ideas, but worry about the bits I just have no idea about, like copyright and how to just set up and get going! I would treasure this book.
I need help in working out how to find who my customer is.
I want to know where to go from here, i have a shop, items and a decent online presence, but its turning this into a profitable business my dream is fulltime!!
I would love some help on how to get my items into galleries and gift shops, best approach and best practice, that’d be awesome! good luck everyone :)
I need tips on what to focus on, pricing, posting stuff out (it seems so simple but making sure things turn up in one piece isn’t)
I need help on widening my customer base, contacting press and being featured. And how to write the kind of awesome product description that online selling needs. Pick me!
Yes please would love a copy :)
Getting myself out there via a website, why do I find it so hard to do the one thing I know will lauch my handmade glass business. Feels like a minefield, money and postage.
Mollie Makes is the bomb! If good old Mollie can help me, I’d be eternally grateful. I have a geat support system for creating a craft business but must be lacking either skills, online business know-how, or the right product. Hubby and I are middle-aged and starting over with nothing as a new couple. It’s now or never that we create the life we want through cottage industry. Oh, Mollie, can’t you send one out to everyone? We all need and love you! :-)
Should I not be a lucky winner of making it!, I’ll need help claiming back my expenses having rushed to the nearest bookshop to bag myself a copy…fingers crossed :)
This books looks like it would be very useful to me right now. I’m currently putting my ideas together, but pretty much everything to do with money, from pricing structure to taxes and everything in between, is beyond me!
I could really use a good starting point to take my business plans forward.
I think this book would be a smart investment for any budding business person.
I need more help in photography and search relevancy.
I need help taking my ideas and making them come into reality. I’ve got great ideas, but need help!!
This looks great! I’ve started my business but need help to focus and grow.
Networking with other artists and successful social media for me
This book sounds ideal for setting up my own business. I would like help with Marketing, using social media and especially how to get photography right for online selling.
Information on tax and keeping accounts. Also, advice on juggling making with p/time work and family.
I find juggling the making and the promoting difficult so could do with help with this! thank you x
I’d love help with marketing my online shop and how to write appealing product descriptions.
I could do with help on some of the legal bits like registering my business name and also advice on how to approach more places to sell my products :-)
I need help with start up and pretty much everything after that!
I really struggle with marketing and building an audience, all help gratefully received!
Wow, I’d love advice on the general basics of starting a business and how to make best use of social media.
Oooh where to start…pricing, best places to sell, marketing the only thing i don’t need help with is the enjoyment i get from crafting lol!!
Hello, I am just about hand in my months notice for my part time boring office job to pursue my dreams of been a full time, self-employed textile artist. I have been working hard at Punto Belle for over 2 years and I feel like my time has come to spread my wings. This book will be my bible of success and help me figure out how to keep my head above the water and my feet on the ground when I become self-employed.
I need help with market and advertising, sourcing wholesale fabrics, insurance and writing contracts. So loads of stuff really…………
I would like to know what’s most important to devote your time to! Having a little one and juggling a business – you need to know how to use your time effectively. Should I be making things, concentrating on brand and blogs or getting out there meeting people where they are??
Yes please :) I would love to find out more about how best to advertise effectively and how to actually make a profit. http://www.littlegreenwoodhouse.co.uk
I often find that by the time a certain product has become popular I’m never sure of how to predict the ‘next big thing’, vintage is still in, but anticipating the next step helps get you ahead of the game!
The majority of my sales have been through craft fairs and markets – although I enjoy them – I’d really like to focus on driving traffic to my online shop – an art fair is for 6-8 hours on one particular day – my folksy shop is open 24/7 – (almost) 365 days a year! I’m hoping this book would help me focus on what I need to do in order to achieve this! * help me make it! * :)
Advice on time management would be great. Working round the kids is proving a challenge! Tips on selling wholesale would also be really helpful.
After teaching for 20 years, I am reducing my hours and am starting very small with the occasional children’s craft club in a local pop up creative venue. It is going pretty well and I am loving it but would like to know how to take it further. Your book looks just the job!
I’d love this book! I really need help with marketing and press.
Wow, this book looks amazing! And I like the list under the picture, what the book contains, I have a lot of ideas how to manage things, but I need to organise them, so I need help with everything :)
love to learn how to move from experimental stage to branding stage, i’m afraid i have to plead ignorence on branding lol
Finding a drive and a theme for the business instead of just odd bits and peices with no real ‘collection’ like status! I would love this book! x
[…] ‘Making It! The hard facts you need to start your own craft business’ by Mollie Makes [read our review here]. I wish I had read something like this when I was starting […]
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