Interview with John Morse-Brown of How2crafts 

John Morse-Brown is the founder of How2Crafts, the craft books that keep on growing.  You the reader can not only choose the subject of their next book but can add your own comments and photos to their current books.  We interview John to find out more:

What lead to you setting up How2crafts?  

From a really young age I've loved making things and was keen to find a way of more closely aligning my day job with actually making things. Publishing books about making things is the closest I've managed to get so far!

What did you do before How2crafts?  Do you have a publishing background?

I'm actually an engineer by training but have run my own graphic design agency for the last 12 years or so. About five years ago I got into publishing with my parents, who, at the time, ran a millinery school. We started publishing e-books on hat making and found there was a strong niche market for them. So if you count publishing electronic books on millinery a publishing background, I have one!

What crafts do you indulge in and do you have a favourite?

I'm a bit of an eclectic maker to be honest.  I've done quite a bit of papier mache (some large-ish scale items), woodwork and sewing. I find they go in phases depending on what time I have available. I'm not sure if it counts as a ‘craft' but I'm currently into cider making and am half way through making a pretty large cider press ready for the autumn...

Where do you find your authors? Do you approach them or do they approach you, or a combination of the 2?

I started off with local contacts through friends but rely increasingly on the web. Etsy has been a good source of great crafters. I've also found some authors by seeing their work in craft galleries. I really think we're living through a crafting revolution - you only have to go on Twitter to see how many thousands of people are making and selling wonderful hand-made products all round the world.

How do How2craft books differ from other craft books?

They're really quite different. I reckon the best way to learn a craft is to watch an expert at work. But not many of us know experts in the things we'd like to learn, so I've designed the how2crafts books to be photographic step-by-step guides, with the photos shot, as it were, over the shoulder of the craftsperson. So they really are ‘show and tell' books, rather than text-heavy books with the occassional photo thrown in.  We also wanted to produce books that were more interactive than normal books. So we've made it posible for people who buy the books to upload photos of their creations on to the how2crafts website, and when we have enough contributions, we'll include the photos in the next print-run of the book as a reader's appendix - a sort of inspiration gallery that shows the reader what other people have done with the book. So the book will grow over time.

Can you tell us a bit about your current books?

We have six books at the moment - How to make a felt handbag, Make your own soap, Making and dyeing acrylic jewellery, Simple printmaking, Make your own handbag, clutch bag and purse and Felt biscuits. Apart from the fact that they're all photographic step-by-step guides that would be suitable for both beginners and more experienced craft people, they all quite different books. It's been great working with all the authors and seeing how they all approach their art. To pick out a few - soap making was a real eye-opener for me - it's the closest thing I've found to modern-day alchemy and you can do it all in the comfort of your own kitchen! Felt biscuits is the most unusual book we have produced (and for that I really like it) - it's really quirky and I just love the finished product. Who knows - perhaps they'll be the next big thing after crocheted cupcakes!

What made you decide to allow readers to vote on the next book? 

I just like the idea of involving our readers. After all, they're the ones who are going to be buying the books, so it makes sense to publish books that have the widest possible appeal to them. It also gives me an opportunity to suggest some really random ideas that I'd like to see in print, and see if the ideas have legs. Like cheesemaking... (hint hint).

How frequently do you intend to be bringing out new books?

We haven't really got a time line yet, but I'd love to produce at least four a year.

Do you already have books planned for each of the subjects people can vote on or do you find out what subjects people want and then find someone to write the book?

The latter - I have a few possible authors lined up but it really does depend on what people vote for. The ‘vote for the next book' idea also helps me when it comes to finding new authors - I can go to a new author and say X number of our readers have expressed an interest in seeing a book on your subject - would you be interested in writing one for me?

Can people suggest topics to you to be put to the vote?

Yes - there's an ‘other' box on the voting page if you'd like to suggest a new topic. 

You allow readers to upload their pictures which you then incorporate into the books; does this mean you have to re-print regularly?  How frequently do you re-issue the books?

Yes, our print runs are much smaller than the big corporate publishers. We don't anticipate changing the main body of the books, but the ‘readers inspiration section' we hope will grow over time. 

Do you welcome submissions from crafters?  If so how would someone go about it and what information do you require?

By all means - if someone has an idea for a book they can email me at mail@how2crafts.com

Where can people find your books?  Do you sell purely through your site or elsewhere too?

We hope to sell the majority of our books directly through the how2crafts site but we're getting an increasing number of bookshops and craft and art galleries selling the books. I've just heard they're going down a storm at a georgous craft shop in Norwich called Cherry Cherry.

Will you be doing any shows or exhibitions where people can look through your books?

That's certainly a possibility - it's early days so we're exploring things like this as we go along.

Can you tell us about any books you have coming up in the future?

It'll depend on what you vote for!  Though I can tell you another style of printmaking is currently the winning topic.

Visit their website: http://www.how2crafts.com/ for more information and see our review of 2 of their books here.