Monday, August 06, 2012

Because I love stitchery :-) Book update

P1060807Here is my collection of Lynette Anderson's books, and I do love them all, even if I aired some frustration the other day, about patterns being scaled down in the last Christmas book.

I own ALL of Lynette's stitchery books, in case you wondered :-)
My first Lynette book is printed in 2000, so that is about how long I have loved and bought her patterns and I still do!
They are all excellent, and all the patterns in all the books are ready to stitch from, except for the last 3 books, where a lot of the patterns has been scaled down.

If you read closely, you also saw that this concerned someone else's books too, and after closer inspection, all books comes from the same publisher.
After airing my frustration on the blog, I thought the best thing to do was to address the publisher, but as I am more stitchery savvy than website savvy, I apparently ended up on a website that is no longer in use, and I was not able to submit my letter.

Instead I sent the letter to Lynette to forward to the publisher, and we have had a good dialogue since then.
Lynette has been very nice all the way.

Lynette is very very unhappy with the situation,  as she was not aware of the troubles with enlarging patterns from books by photocopying.
Off course - she already has made the patterns full size, and that is how they are given on to the publisher.
Publishers are not stitchers or patchworkers, and have obviously not seen or understood the problem with reducing pattern sizes.
No one has approached Lynette with the problems before, and you can not correct something you are not aware of.

Now I trust that Lynette and her publisher will work everything out to the best!
Since I could not send my letter to the publisher, May Britt sent one to them, so they are also aware of the situation, and I trust that it will all be taken care of from now.

This is a very unhappy situation for all parties, and  it seems like a lot of people has taken the opportunity to flame Lynette.

I feel so embarrassed on your behalf
if you have felt  free to flame Lynette because of a blog post I wrote!


Since this publisher has been doing a lot of stitchery and quilting books over the years, I thought this could  not be the first time the problem with enlarging has been up, but right now it looks like that is the case.

Let me emphasise - the patterns needing to be enlarged is only a concern for  the last 3 books - not for the previous books, not for any BOM program, not for any pattern!
Some of the patterns in the last 3 books are also full size, in case you wondered.

P1060809P1060810Here is about 2/3 of my Lynette Anderson pattern collection, and they are all Perfect through and through :-)
The pile is 9" tall, and I know I have more patterns around the house :-)

The reason I approached Lynette with the enlarging problems in her latest books is that I so want to do her stitcheries, and I have no way to enlarge patterns in a good way on my A4 domestic copy machine.

If there ever is a next time that I am unhappy with something in patterns, I will not hesitate to address the designer or the publisher directly.

Let no one think that someone is trying to make us unhappy on purpose -
the most glitches are down to not knowing or not thinking the same way we do.

loveln2[2]
Let's pick up our stitcheries and enjoy some creative time, wherever we are.
As the generous people I know you are, send Lynette a big hug!
I am looking forward to stitch Lynette's designs for many many years!

lovecl7_thumb

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown

Hanne

9 comments:

  1. I agree with you. You do not always have a copy machine that enlarges patterns, plus to know how big to enlarge a pattern. You cannot blame the author, they are not always aware if there is a problem.
    What a wonderful collection of Lynette's designs. You are a faithful follower. Good for you. I just recently purchased one of her patterns, and have yet to try, life is happening at the moment, but do look forward to it. Have a wonderful day stitching.

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  2. A big hug to Lynette from Lappetausa!
    And a big hug to you, Hanne!

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  3. Lynette is a wonderful designer and I too love all her patterns and books. I actually thinks I have at least one book that you don't have :) Have to check this out when I'm back home from work.

    And a big hug to Lynette who makes such lovely designs for us.

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  4. Oh, we all love Lynette! And yes, maybe the publishers need a slap on the hand...not the wonderful designer!

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  5. I agree 100% with all that you've said, Hanne. Good for you for taking the time to write to both the publisher and designer to bring your/our frustrations to their attention.

    As a published designer in the decorative painting industry, I've had three books published by a leading publishing house. What Lynette said is absolutely true in that once you turn your manuscript over to the publisher, they are in control.

    One of the main costs in determining the cost of publishing a book is determined by the total amount of pages...and the more color pages that a book contains, the higher the cost.

    If a publisher were to publish all the line drawings at 100%, this would increase the cost of the book substantially because the number of pages would have to increase as well.

    One possible solution might be to have the line drawings published extraneously and then have them added to the middle of the book as an insert after the book comes off the press but to my knowledge, this has to be done by hand and of course, this would add to the final cost of the book as well.

    Having said this, I was fortunate to have all the line drawings in my books published at full size but they did not take the space that it would take to publish a book with several quilt designs and the line drawings and instructions for each.

    Ultimately, I think that the publisher opted to reduce the size of the line drawings in order to keep the number of pages down and in so doing, be able to provide a book that would be competitively priced in order for it to sell.

    I feel your frustrations and I too hate having to either enlarge or reduce a pattern. Living in a rural area, office supply shops who can perform the service are located too far away to make the trip worthwhile...and of course, it's an additional cost that we as the consumer has to absorb as well.

    I hope that this sheds a little light on the matter.

    Have a very productive week in your studio!

    Hugs,

    Kaaren

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  6. You said it so well here Hanne.
    Hugs to Lynette, hugs to you and here´s hoping the publishers take notice.
    Like you, I can´t enlarge at home and I haven´t yet found any enlarging printers here in this part of Spain.

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  7. you only aired the frustrations that all of us have........it is not easy or convenient most of the time for me to enlarge patterns........being able to to the correct size copy once is the best options.......I am glad Lynette was able to pass on your concerns to her publisher.......
    OMG you have LOTS of her patterns.........

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  8. I just bought my first (!) book by Lynette Anderson, just had to when I saw the one with cats and dogs! Was I ever surpriced and dissappointed when I discovered that some of the patterns had to be enlarged to 200%. You have done a good job here :-). How bad that some have flamed Lynette, and you have all my sympathy for feeling it was because of your blog.

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  9. I think that if a purchaser has to have access to a printer to use any part of the book it should say so clearly on the cover. Not everyone has the luxury of a good quilting section in their book shop, so rely on on-line sellers. I think also when you use somewhere like Amazon where you can leave feedback, it is a good idea to express frustration at enlargements until the publishers give what is expected of them- a usable book.

    I think the issue hasn't arisen before because all of us were thinking it was only ourselves being nupties with a photocopier. We were saving ourselves the embarressment.

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Wishing you a wonderful day, wherever you are!