Quilt Biz #7 – Self Publishing

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

12 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    You go girl!!!! Standing in line for that awesome, self-published compilation of 365!!! Am so excited!!!!!!!!! Over the top hugs coming your way, šŸ˜€

  2. Debbie says:

    Thanks for this info…I really appreciate the time you took to share these informative posts.

  3. beaquilter says:

    wow! never heard of createspace, but do shop on amazon all the time, this is awesome!
    I'm not even thinking of publishing anything, but it's a far away dream for ONE day šŸ™‚

    nBTW I'm soon uploading a youtube video of my long arm quilting doing a zig zag that was inspired by one of your designs šŸ™‚

  4. Ruth Mahon says:

    Thanks for sharing Leah, this is awesome information. It is great that you have documented the good and the bad as it is very easy to go into a project with eyes half closed.
    I wish you every success with your book and hopefully I will be able to get it through the Book Depository (aka Amazon) to get the free postage to Australia.
    Cheers
    Ruth

  5. -amy says:

    Wonderful. Thanks so much for these posts. I can't wait to order a copy of your next book! And someday… Maybe…. I will use this info to help me write a book of my own. Thanks again.
    my

  6. Thank you so much for all your sharing, I love reading your blogs and I have started free machine quilting 10 mins a day. Small steps.
    I am so pleased that you have found a trade that you enjoy doing, can support your family and share with others. Thanks Pippa. xxx

  7. Sooli says:

    I'm really enjoying these posts, I have learnt such a lot from you. Thanks so much for sharing your experience!

  8. Mishka says:

    Fantastic post, thanks so much Leah!

  9. Keelytm says:

    This was such a great, in-depth look at self publishing. I've been thinking about going that route for awhile, but I guess I didn't know fully what that entailed. I am going to have to really think about this now (which is good). One thing I didn't see you mention was how you picked the binding style of the book. Did you do yours perfect binding printing? I know there are other types, and I am wondering which one is the most cost effective.

  10. Leah Day says:

    Hi Keelytm – For binding the cheapest and most standard option is called "perfect bound" which means the pages are sewn and glued together (think paper back book).

    Coil (spiral) binding is very nice for a quilting book because it will lay flat, but it's far more expensive to print.

    Really you have to just compare the two methods with the cost. I went with spiral binding for my mini books because they were so small and wouldn't lay flat if perfect bound. For my first full sized book (365 free motion quilting designs) I had no choice but to perfect bind because I went with Create Space and that's all they offer.

    Again, it's a personal choice and ultimately cost and availability will decide what binding is right for your book.

    Cheers,

    Leah

  11. Dear Leah, Iā€™m working on 2 books, one on my own and one in cooperation with another artist. I found your article really useful when researching how to publish. I will probably follow your recommendations. I love you 365 Free Motion Quilting book by the way.
    Thank you so much

    • LeahDay says:

      Wonderful! I’m so happy you found this helpful. I now publish to Ingram Spark, Amazon KDP and Publish Drive. It’s a lot of work, but worth it to be available in multiple places.

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