Amigurumi Pears And Payments

Posted on | September 14, 2011 | No Comments

stumbleupon Amigurumi Pears And Payments

I found this Amigurumi Pears Pattern over at Planet June. Planet June requests a donation of any size for the pattern, however, also offers it free to those readers who choose not to donate.

I like that idea.

Thanks to Sister Diane, over at Crafty Pod, I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately as to how craft sites can be profitable, without creating a burden for their readers.

Some of the ideas I’ve heard over the last few months have been to…

1. charge for specific content

2. use donationware

3. create a premium area

4. offer a free project but send an upgraded version for pay

5. set up a micro-payment system (a few cents for each click)

Of all the ideas that have been bounced around, I think I like Planet June’s technique the best.

These pears are being offered with the clear expectation that a payment will be sent. And yet, the size of the payment is being left to the reader. In fact, even if the reader doesn’t make a payment, she still has access to the pattern.

In that way, theoretically, the designer will receive a small reward for her efforts, without placing an undue burden on her readers.

The only question is, will some readers actually send in money for something they can get for free?

I think the answer is yes. A certain group of crafters will.

Not those crafters who just save the pattern to their hard drive, to be forgotten forever. They won’t send a penny.

But the crafters who actually create a useful and attractive project using this pattern probably will send a payment. Every time they get a compliment on the project or copy over the pattern for a friend, they will remember that they were supposed to make a payment. Eventually, a decent size number of them will go ahead and do it.

The payments probably won’t come gushing in during the first few weeks, but over a couple of months they will start to trickle in slowly.

What do you think?

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