Making Stories

The following are rates for Making Stories.

—Posted 14 April 2019 —

Year of Publication: 2018

Type of design: Gloves/Mittens

Is your design: Knit

How much were you paid by a flat fee?: 150 euros

How much did you gross in royalties in the first year of the design’s release? (if N/A enter N/A): 0 euros

Was your design: a response to a call for submissions

Was your sample returned?: Yes

Were you paid according to the terms of your agreement?: Yes

Relationship with company: ongoing/pre-existing relationship

Did you have a written contract?: Yes

Did you negotiate your contract terms?: No

Briefly describe your royalty payments: I was paid the full amount (the payment was about a week late) after being told it would be reduced by almost 1/3 after their tech editor claimed she needed extra time on my pattern. After myself and several other designers (many of us who had experienced this with this company more than once) complained and asked for proof, they caved and paid us the full amounts stated in our contracts and blamed the tech editor for not being very good.

What best describes the rights you granted this company? Rights revert back to me after 4-6 months.

Who was responsible for the following:

Yarn Support – Company

Sample – Designer

Grading – Designer

Tech Editing – Company

Photography – Company

Layout – Company

Customer Support – Designer & Company

Yardage of sample: 250-500yds [229-458m]

Weight of yarn used in sample: DK

How many sizes did you grade?: 2

Primary stitch used in the design:Stranded

This company/publication promotes equality, diversity, and fairness: No

BIPOC are represented by this company/publication: Yes

LGBTQ are represented by this company/publication: Yes

People with disabilities are represented by this company/ publication: Yes

I feel the need to minimize various aspects of my race, ethnicity, or religion to be able to “fit in” to the culture of this company/publication: No

I feel the need to minimize various aspects of my sexual orientation or gender identity to be able to “fit in” to the culture of this company/publication: No

I feel the need to minimize my disability to be able to “fit in” to the culture of this company/ publication: No

I’ve been excluded by this company/publication because of my race or ethnicity: No

I’ve been excluded by this company/publication because of my sexual orientation or gender identity: No

I’ve been excluded by this company/ publication because of a disability: No

I experienced or witnessed racial harassment or discrimination when working for this company/publication: No

If I were to report racial harassment or discrimination to this company/publication they would respond to it appropriately: Unsure

Does this company/ publication offer accommodations for designers with disabilities during the submission/design process?: Unsure

This company/publication genuinely addresses the concerns of marginalized groups: Unsure

Would you like to elaborate on your experience?This company seems genuinely committed to inclusivity but does not treat designers fairly.

Would you work with this company again?: No

Anything else? This company is in the habit of re-distributing the work of designers in formats other than those which were originally agreed upon. For example, this and other print books have been re-published as e-books without the designers’ prior consent, knowledge, or financial compensation. They also publish individual copies of the pattern before rights revert back to the designers and are in no way transparent about this to their customers.

I have had issues on each design I worked on for this publication in that the designer has no input over yarn base or color choices and the suggestions on my submissions were ignored. In all cases this caused a lot of stress, often needing to completely rework the pattern at a different gauge, and being unsatisfied with the finished result. I really felt that this creative freedom being taken away was detrimental to my work.

—Posted 14 April 2019 —

Year of Publication: 2018

Type of design: Socks

Is your design: Knit

How much were you paid by a flat fee?: 153 euros

How much did you gross in royalties in the first year of the design’s release? (if N/A enter N/A): 0 euros

Was your design: a response to a call for submissions

Was your sample returned?: Yes

Were you paid according to the terms of your agreement?: No

Relationship with company: ongoing/pre-existing relationship

Did you have a written contract?: Yes

Did you negotiate your contract terms?: No

Briefly describe your royalty payments: The fee stated in the contract was 175 but I was charged for going over on tech editing. While this is contractually allowed, I was given no advance notice that this would happen and no supporting evidence as to why this extra time was required (there is no transparency for designers into the tech editing process). This happened to many designers and to myself on repeat occasions with this publication, so I will not be working with them further.

What best describes the rights you granted this company? Rights revert back to me after 4-6 months.

Who was responsible for the following:

Yarn Support – Company

Sample – Designer

Grading – Designer

Tech Editing – Designer & Company

Photography – Company

Layout – Company

Customer Support – Designer & Company

Yardage of sample: 250-500yds [229-458m]

Weight of yarn used in sample: Sport

How many sizes did you grade?: 3

Primary stitch used in the design: Cables/Twisted Stitches