Since putting my new pattern up on Facebook, my blog and on my website I’ve had a particular question a few times (or variations of it!).
“Why don’t you sell this as a PDF download?”
This is an excellent question, so let me answer it for you.
PDF delivery is fraught with so many problems. It is SO open to people sharing the pattern electronically with 100s of their nearest and dearest friends. There are websites specifically set up for the illegal sharing of patterns. (If you didn’t know this, please don’t go looking for them. And if you are a member of one of these sites, may I encourage you to leave it.)
I put many, many hours of time into pattern development, and I need a return on that time. Coming up with a new pattern is no small deal. There is the designing time, the stitching time, the instruction writing time, the diagram creating time, the photographing time, the graphic design time, the checking time. It is a long and involved process, and it is only fair that I am paid for that. (Otherwise where will I find the time to design more?)
Whenever someone illegally shares a pattern, they are stealing from the designer. You may be familiar with the now-closed online embroidery magazine “The Gift of Stitching”. Kirsten had to close the magazine because of people illegally sharing.
While PDF delivery is a great thing for the customer, it is too dangerous, in my opinion, for me as a designer. While others have weighed up the risks and decided to offer their patterns via PDF download, I have decided the risk for me is too great.
Usually this question is asked by someone who would NEVER consider illegally sharing patterns. It is so easy for stitchers to forget that not everyone is as honest as they are. But unfortunately dishonest people are out there, and the difference that they make can be large – as in Kirsten’s case with The Gift of Stitching.
I understand that downloading patterns is terribly attractive to stitchers – you can have it almost instantly, and assuming you’ve got a lovely large stash from which to draw, you could get started on it almost immediately. You wouldn’t have to wait for the pattern to be posted to you. I get that. I think it would be great too! However, post does not actually take that long. My patterns are sent as large letters, and the Australia Post website generally says that even if they are being posted internationally, they should only take 3-10 working days to arrive. Within Australia it can be much quicker, sometimes even arriving the next day!
If technology changes to the point where PDF downloads become possible to control in terms of illegal sharing, then I will certainly consider it. However, at the moment I just don’t feel the technology is there. I am sorry if this disappoints you!
This is a conversation I am very willing to have, so if you have thoughts on the matter, I am happy to hear from you. You can leave your comments below, and then we can all join in the conversation.
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
I think your points are very valid, but there are ways to add a person’s name and address to every page of the pdf. You could consider doing this, enabling you to track down who is sharing.
Honestly, it is a digital world now. The vast majority of the knitting and crochet patterns I have purchased are pdfs, and only available as pdfs. Perhaps this easy availability of patterns is one of the reasons knitting and crochet are growing in popularity while cross stitch is not.
It is such a shame that using pdf files to send designs to customers is so abused. It is a great way of delivering ordered charts instantly and I really enjoy receiving charts this way. I have a number of pdf files that I have bought from reputable stitchng sites and well known designers. I would never dream of sharing them with anyone else. I understand why the author of this article doesn’t use this method though,it must be beyond frustrating to see ones own designs being shared in this way,it is pirating and that is against the law.
Ditto
You are soooooo right!
Hi Silverlotus. Yes, there are ways to add a person’s name and address to every page. For anyone with any digital skills though, it would be extremely easy to remove these. I find these are really no deterrent at all.
I have no comment on whether cross stitch is growing in popularity or not compared to knitting and crochet – I am not involved in the cross stitch industry. 🙂
Your new pattern is lovely.
Regarding marking PDFs and the possible removal of such markings…I wonder if those who are involved in the illegal pattern sharing would spend the time or energy to do so? Maybe it’s easier than I think it would be. Unfortunately, paper patterns aren’t immune to such sharing shenanigans either. I wonder if those who do the sharing would mind if you showed up and took money from their paycheck just because you wanted it?
My biggest bug bear is shipping. I’m in Aus too, but more of the designs I want are in the US. So for say a $8 chart I’m often looking at over $10 in shipping. Making my $8 chart now an $18 chart. If it was available as a download, that would be far more appealing and I’d probably buy it, but at $18, I won’t. That and I have folders of patterns waiting for stitching!!!
Maybe investigate Patterns online as model for instant downloads?
And scanning is so common nowadays, I’m not sure it really stops anyone anyway …
Thanks Jenny, I’m not really looking for a solution to this – it won’t come any time soon. We designers all talk about this regularly, and I know how absolutely RIFE pattern piracy is, so I’m just not willing to make it any easier for anyone to pirate my patterns or books. 🙂