How much are designers paid?

[Chie]

Does anybody know how much a crochet designer get paid for a pattern by a crochet magazine publisher :think :?

[fran]

I send my designs to Crochet World. They pay anywhere between $50 and $400. They get the copyright.

[sharoninseattle]

I wish I knew, I'm still trying to find out how to copyright patterns. I can't even set my blog up the right way and have been begging for someone to help me.:think

I do know of a person that may be able to help she is on crochetville sometimes, but not very often, she mostly hangs out at LiveJournal.com her name is Julie Holtz and she sometimes edits for Crochet Me magazine.
Hope this helps.

[crochet smartcat]

My mom says that to copyright a pattern to you, all you have to do is send it to yourself via registered(certified) mail so it has the date and a signature on it. DO NOT OPEN IT, unless you need to prove you have the copyright, I would open it in front of a legal witness that can verify that it was unopened and dated properly. You can attach a copy of the pattern to it, but you need some kind of date certification to prove that you created it before someone else thereby proving your copyright.


Do not take my word for this as I am not a lawyer or anything, but this is a simple way without the legal hassle. If you are mass producing something, you may want to take more legal actions than this.

[NancyCA]

I also heard the send it to yourself certified and don't open it.

Hope that helps!:hook

[Chie]

Thank you all for your input! :ty

[HRH]

Based on info from the US Copyright office website. http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html

As soon as you write it down, it's protected. If you want to go a step further, you can register the copyright which makes it a matter of public record and provides advantages should you need to go to court or something.

I believe it is up to you, the author, to enforce the copyright. No one is going to make sure there aren't any violations for you, unless you hire them. That's why companies like Disney employ people who do nothing but search the web for unauthorized use of their images.

HRH

[kstrong112]

Would a registrar public work too? That way you could look at your original pattern & not have to deal with "what's in the envelope"?

[jleinhauser]

This depends entirely on the type of design, the publication, the reputation of the designer, etc. A well-known designer would command the highest price, a beginner would be at the low end. Payment for an afghan might range from $75 for a baby afghan to $500 for an elaborate, very unusual
design, with an average probably about $250.

A woman's sweater could range from $100 to $500, average probably
$150 and that includes a full range of sizing in the instructions.

Very few designers get the top of the range. It takes years of hard work
to get to that point. Designing and writing the patterns takes a lot of time and effort, and is not a way to get rich quick.

Jean L.

[cupcake]

Designing and writing the patterns takes a lot of time and effort, and is not a way to get rich quick.

Jean L.

:yarn :lol:lol lol aint that the truth!

[AmyS]

My mom says that to copyright a pattern to you, all you have to do is send it to yourself via registered(certified) mail so it has the date and a signature on it. DO NOT OPEN IT, unless you need to prove you have the copyright, I would open it in front of a legal witness that can verify that it was unopened and dated properly. You can attach a copy of the pattern to it, but you need some kind of date certification to prove that you created it before someone else thereby proving your copyright.


Do not take my word for this as I am not a lawyer or anything, but this is a simple way without the legal hassle. If you are mass producing something, you may want to take more legal actions than this.


Sorry, but this doesn't really hold up in a court of law.

To establish copyright, you don't need to do anything. Copyright is automatically granted upon the point of creation. This means the author controls full rights as to how/when/where/if the creation can be distributed.

If somebody infringes upon your copyright and distributes it elsewhere, you can get them to stop. But you can't seek any damages from them, such as for loss of income from lost sales.

If you want to be able to seek damages when your copyrights are infringed upon, you have to register your work with the US Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov). There is a fee to do this, around $35 or so, I think. There's lots more information on copyright at the US Copyright Office.

[Krakovianka]

I know this is an old thread, but...I suspect a lot of minor things with very little $$$ potential are never registered. I mean, if you write up a pattern for a hat or purse and want to sell it to a magazine...they are going to own the copyright. I wonder if they register those copyrights? (I don't really know--now I'm curious about that.) $35 is a lot to pay to register a pattern that might only earn $50-100 if sold to a publisher.

[jleinhauser]

You do not have to register a copyright for it to be valid. Having it registered is helpful if the holder needs to defend it in a court of law,
but registration can be done at any time.

You do not need to register a copyright on the design before submitting it to a magazine. If they purchase it, your contract will state that you are assigning ownership in your copyright to them (or whatever rights you are selling them). The magazine then registers a copyright for the contents of the entire issue, not the individual patterns.

Some publications buy all rights, worldwide, forevermore. Some buy
first rights only, which means that after a specified length of time you can publish it somewhere else; or only US rights. Most contracts today
include rights for use in electronic media. Some contracts state that
when the publication goes out of print, the rights revert back to the designer.

It's all in the contract, so be sure that before you sign one, you read every word and know what you are selling.

Jean Leinhauser