There were a number of comments on my original post as well as even more behind the scene emails and conversations with other designers regarding this topic.
Interestingly the whole discussion of self publishers vs. traditional publishing came up numerous times. Some self publishers (but not all), think I should put my patterns there ASAP, yet at the same time they are cognizant of the fact that the quality issue is very real. Traditional publishers seem to hesitate to make any substantial commentary almost as though the whole subject is taboo or simply because they haven't had any experience in the self publishing world. Many in both camps expressed concerns about the lack of tech editing on Ravelry patterns and that there are no standards for quality. An employee at my LYS said she was having real issues with the number of free patterns on Ravelry that customers bring in for help and how poorly many of them are written. It is also thought that many Knitters assume that because something is on Ravelry that it has some sort of stamp of approval or credibility simply from having been posted there.
There are also concerns about the devaluation of designers work by free and under-priced patterns in a constantly evolving marketplace of existing and new pattern sources.
There are also concerns about the devaluation of designers work by free and under-priced patterns in a constantly evolving marketplace of existing and new pattern sources.
Patternfish does review the designers that submit to them before they go live on the site. I was told that I needed to have everything tech edited. I received very clear and constructive feedback on the first patterns that I submitted. Fortunately most of it was positive and some showed me exactly where to direct my first efforts into improvement.
I'm still mulling this one over for myself. Please feel free to continue this discussion in the comments.
