Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, on her well-loved yarnharlot.ca blog, asked today why publishers don’t often offer charts and text instructions both; was it cultural? The expenses involved?
The cost is a huge point; every page adds up. On the other hand, offering both greatly expands the audience, given that people tend to feel passionately about the method that they prefer.
When I first contacted Martingale Press, I told them upfront that I had visual memory damage, and that one of the effects of that was that my instructions were all going to be line-by-line; chart symbols were scrambled scribbles to my brain, but text, no problem. (To me, following line-by-line is like reading music, just moving the hands in another language.)
Martingale said sure, text is fine.
But after some time and some discussion, they felt they really did need to add charts, and that my instructions were short enough that they had the space. They asked Donna Druchunas, author of Arctic Lace and The Knitted Rug, if she would be willing to draw up those charts. She did. I will forever be grateful to her for that, and to be able to tell knitters that my “Wrapped in Comfort” book is accessible to both styles.
One more month and it’ll finally be out!