As we near the end of 2023, I want to take a moment to reflect on the last year. I also want to share where we are headed in 2024.
We relaunched the digital magazine this year as a quarterly publication. We re-calibrated our content in the magazine based on input from artisans. We’ve added several new types of articles, and shifted many of our articles to focus on case studies. Our goal is to provide new insights, ideas, and pragmatic approaches for artisans to build thriving businesses. We are always open to hearing about topics you want us to dig into further.
At the same time, we realize we are not an island. Our industry is very fragmented. We’ve been steadily building relationships across the industry to make sure we are staying in tune to what is happening across the industry. We’re building relationships with companies, industry associations, trade associations, industry experts, and other publications. All this work will continue into 2024. We believe you can never have too many connections in your network and all of these different groups are bringing new and fresh ideas that we all need.
2023 was also the year to build out our magazine distribution. We are now available on most of the large digital distribution platforms so that we show up in other places you read. We also brought the magazine to print in the US, starting with our first issue in 2024. We’ve added archive only subscriptions to allow for reading the back catalog. We have both digital subscriptions now as well as print subscriptions. We also combine several subscriptions together to provide essentially an all access pass. Just like in your businesses, so much change has taken us time to digest.
Where are we headed in 2024?
The start of 2024 will see us continue to build on the foundation we’ve established in 2023. We will be continuing to produce our quarterly magazine content, supplemented with monthly content on our website. We will continue working with partners that have training courses available for sale, as well as beginning to develop some of our own original training. We are beginning a transition to being a media company, further embracing delivering content through different methods and channels.
The first step of this is re-launching our podcast. We originally called it the Handmade Seller Skills show. I know, I know, what a terrible name. *insert smiley emoji here* It is being narrowed in focus for the re-launch, and we are starting to record episodes for it in January. This podcast will focus on the early years of creating your business (the 0-3 year old business). After the hundreds of conversations with artisans this year, I have a much cheekier and memorable name for it in the next version. But I am not ready to share it yet.
We will also be traveling more in 2024. We have several trade shows lined up in the US already, including Creativation in New Orleans in March and H+H Americas in Rosemont in May. We are still exploring others to potentially attend.
Our first ever research report will be coming out in the first three months of next year. This was delayed from last year. It will be an in depth guide on how to create events and experiences to diversify your revenue. We’ve interviewed a number of artisans that sell experiences, and have a lot of ideas to share.
We will continue traveling to do some of our artisan features. Last year we kicked this off with trips to St Lucia, Istanbul, and Duluth, MN in the US. We are currently in Australia. These trips allow us to learn a lot about different approaches to artisan craft, consumer purchasing, and getting support for artisan businesses.
We also want to continue to dig deep into our artisan case studies and profiles, as there is much to learn from fellow artisans. We also know that finding free publicity for your business can be difficult. Did you know that we don’t charge any of the artisans featured in our publication?
We know not everyone has worked with publications before, so here is how our process works for the different types of articles. Our artisan features are written by the artisans themselves. These are typically a story of the artisan, along with practical wisdom learned along the way.
Our case studies are written by us at Handmade Seller. Case studies involve getting on a discussion call where we ask you a number of questions, and then we construct the article. You then review it for accuracy to make sure we didn’t misstate anything. It’s a very simple process that generally only takes a few hours. Artisans have told me this process is surprisingly easy.
Do you want a little more free publicity for your business in 2024? Here are some ways that you can be involved:
- Apply to be one of the feature stories in the magazine.
- Share a topic you are an expert in, or have experience you think we might find interesting via our contact form. Truly you can just drop us a note- the worst that happens is that it is a topic we aren’t covering right now.
- Drop us a note if you want us to consider coming to your city to do Artisan interviews or have some kind of magazine event.
- Volunteer to be on our podcast- fill out our contact form if you are interested. Right now we are looking for guests that have had their business 0-3 years. Yes, you read that right. This podcast will focus on the early years of a business.
It’s an honor to be part of this community. When I bought this publication 18 months ago and decided to bring it back, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The journey of building a business is never easy. But I love working with small businesses. And I love the handmade community. Thank you for welcoming me in and treating me like a human that is also still figuring out her business model. For all of you that have answered my “what is that?” questions as I learn about so many different areas of craft, thank you!
A huge thank you to our early advertisers that have believed in us and supported us as well. They are a key piece to helping us make all this possible! And thank you for supporting us on social media, liking, and commenting on our content to help us stay visible in a changing social media landscape. A special thank you to those that have bought subscriptions to continue supporting us.
There is so much more to share in 2024, and I can’t wait to get started!
