How a Brand is Born
It all began at Killer Nashville 2016. Not what one might expect to result in a branding for a crochet line. I had entered the Claymore competition, one for non-published works, and was among the finalists. With my writer friend Toni Sorenson I visited one of the vendors, Shari Stauch, Where Writers Win, who was ready to chat (for free!) about marketing.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
I told her. “Danny Lindsey.”
She looked at me, then at Toni, and said, “sorry, that doesn’t resonate.” Toni nodded agreement. “Do you have a middle name?”
“Ray. Danny Ray.”
She smiled. “That grabs. Use Danny Ray.”
I looked over at Toni. She was nodding. “Okay, Danny Ray it is.”
Fast forward through the nightmare of attempting to land a publishing contract (I did), then sitting for a year without even assignment of an editor (long time!), and eventually cancelling the contract and deciding to self-publish. (This is still not about crochet, is it?)
Enter Liz Gatterer. She is the sole reason I have three books available on Amazon. It was she who was able to navigate the publishing software that Ingram-Sparks uses. Without her I’d still be standing at a copy machine churning out pages and stapling them together, then on a street corner hawking handmade books. One of the things she did was create a colophon for my book spines. I’d never heard of that term, much less design one. But Liz did.
So my books are out there. I watched all my writing friends and acquaintances as they advertised and marketed seemingly non-stop for book sales, and decided – no. I wrote them because I wanted to, but working the “circuit” is not for me. (So, still not about crochet.)
The colophon, though. My crochet closet was filling up, and I hatched the idea of going online with a handmade crochet business. A UK company (Naked Labels – why naked? Ask them.) had the best deals on garment tags, but I didn’t have a logo – or did I? Thanks to Liz and the Naked Label folks, I now have a logo, which is the one pictured here.
It may not have taken a village, but it took a long route through several brains. Nothing comes easy.