I have been designing patterns for almost 5 years now. When I started I had no idea what I was doing lol, just writing down the pattern, using my own template, and then finding testers. Over the last years I have taken a few classes on pattern writing and have a great template (well – I think it's great), and also have an amazing group of testers that manage to find almost all my mistakes.
Marsha & I started the Crochet Designer Community FB group last year as a place for fellow designers to get support, help and ask any questions they may need an answer too. Do we have all the answers? Absolutely not! But usually someone in the group knows the answer or where to find it.
One of the topics we were discussing the other week was Tech Editors (TE). Why do you need one? What do they do? How are they different than a pattern tester? Since I had never used one before, and many other group members hadn't either, I thought I would try a couple of different tech editors on a couple of my own patterns just to see what they did, and how it worked. Interesting experience!
The TE's were each given their own pattern, a beanie, a baby blanket & a shawl pattern. All very different patterns. Each TE gave me different suggestions on how to do the abbreviations, notes, & materials lists. They each had suggestions for changes to wording on the pattern, or wording on the special stitches explanations, some of the changes will be on my template. I did make most of the suggested changes to the patterns themselves. Will need to make notes so I don't forget some of the suggestions :)
They all charged about the same per hour for the editing. Each pattern was around $35 US for the editing. Was it worth it? Yes, there were changes and corrections that needed to be done on all the patterns before the testers got them. Would I do it for every pattern, no. As this is just a “hobby” for me mostly, spending $35 per pattern for the editing doesn't make sense. For some of my patterns I would never make that back. Everyone who is a TE or an established designer with a million followers who make money on their patterns and with ads on blogs, say that every pattern should be edited. Unfortunately I don't make $20 - $50 thousand dollars a year selling patterns lol. I will never have a blog where I can sell ad space either, I have to pinch my pennies so I can continue to buy yarn and continue to design.
Having said that..... I will have some of my more involved patterns edited on occasion. I think everyone should have a few patterns tech edited to see what changes might need to be made to your template or the way you word things.
Hopes this helps you in some way :)
Happy Crocheting my friends!
Thank you so much for explaining about tech editing. It’s so interesting to read about it as I had never heard of the term before. Have a great day!
Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting to read. Makes me wanna dive into learning more about it.