PLY Books FAQs

We are looking for book about all aspects of spinning. We want you to write about topics you are passionate about: the things that make you jump out of bed in the morning and send you running to your wheel or spindle.

Just fill out a book query form and send it in!

After you’ve filled out and sent in your book query form, you should hear back from us within a month.

If we are interested in your idea, we will ask you to send us a full proposal.

Lot of factors go into accepting a book proposal, but if you have had your writing about spinning published in any magazine, it’s definitely a plus.

If you submit a query and we like it, think it’s a good fit, and think we can make a great book together, we’ll ask you for a full submission proposal. This will help us get a better idea of you, how you work, and exactly what you envision for your book. Once we get that, we’ll have a meeting and let you know our thoughts. If we all agree, we’ll sign a contract and start work! You’ll have a calendar and a managing editor for help and support. You’ll have regular meetings with your editor, and we’ll go through the book creating process together!

It all depends. Some books take longer than others and some authors work faster/slower than others. We’ll talk about all of that when we meet, but it’s good to start out with an idea of how long you think it will take you to write your book. Think about the time you can realistically devote to it (don’t forget any samples you need to spin).

Writing is exciting and hard. It’s a lot of work, and if you’ve never done it before, it can be overwhelming. It’s our job to make it as smooth and stress-free as possible (though it’s never going to be easy). We have experience, and we’re here to help. When we work though your book idea, we’ll come up with a plan that will have everything spelled out in an overarching timeline and will include all the support and help you need/want. We’ll have regular meetings and check-ins, with tiered deadlines to make sure you’re on the right time-track and that both you and PLY are happy with the direction. In other words, we’re not going to say “write us a book, see ya in 9 months.” We’re going to be with you, helping, supporting, guiding, every step of the way.

Our advance and royalty structure is very fair and far above most in the craft book industry. It’s also very clear, not overwhelming, and not sneaky and will make you smile instead of shudder. We’ll talk specifics once your proposal gets accepted, but trust us, you’re going to be happy

It will; we wouldn’t make it if we didn’t feel sure it will make spinners happy. We won’t let a book get to the printing stage if it needs help; instead, we’ll adjust and make it great! Just write a great book, put yourself and your knowledge into it, and watch what happens!

Full-color, hardback books are few and far between in the craft world these days; they are expensive to produce, come with a high retail price, and are often printed overseas to offset these high prices. PLY is committed to keeping our spinning books affordable and printed in the U.S., so crazy big art museum style books aren’t in our plans right now. We can promise that any book we work together on will be fantastic.

As wonderful as that sounds and as much as we’d like to go with you, we don’t have the budget for it. However, if there’s a LYS you’d like to visit, we can help set that up!

Our authors get to be part of the discussion about the look of the book, including the cover. We want you and your voice to stand out in your book, so we will take your opinion into account, but the final word is up to our very experienced book team.

Nope, we’ve got people! However, if you have somebody you’d like to use, tell us about them and show us their work. We love new talent, and we’ll see what we can do.

Do you or your friends have experience and a portfolio we can review? It’s not out of the question; we’re always looking for skilled artists.

We’re happy to help you find spinners and knitters if you don’t want to do the spinning or knitting yourself, but currently there isn’t a budget for PLY to pay for them

Your editor can help you source materials from fiber artists and fiber companies that want you to use their fiber in your book.

First, you can keep subscribing! Without subscribers we can’t exist! Second, you can tell everyone you know to subscribe! Third, you can contribute creatively to PLY, or advertise.

Of course, we also accept letters, e-mails, size 8.5 handknit socks (because we don’t have time to knit any more and our feet are cold), and home-baked cookies!

While we would love to see your video chops and perhaps an interpretive dance relating to your book, we need your book query and proposal to be in writing.

No, we won’t, we promise. However, the world of spinning is large and the history of spinning is long, and chances are your idea probably isn’t 100% unique. A book may get published that is similar to your idea, but that doesn’t mean we took your idea and asked someone else to write it. We’re super nice and upstanding and that kind of mad duplicity just isn’t in our nature. Similar ideas are pitched all the time for articles, classes, and books. Ideas for things pop up simultaneously with creative people. We think there’s something in the water.