Suggestions to tutorial writers from your purchasers

[Beadbug]

I realize I could get totally flamed for starting this thread but having purchased many tutorials I see things that are being done that drive me crazy when I am trying to follow the directions. That said I know many of you out there may also have suggestions for the tutorial writers to make them easier for you to use.

Please don't point fingers or use names in your suggestions. I hope this can be a positive place to put your 2 cents in.

Here is my background in case any of you wonder if what I have to say is worth reading. I taught sewing for a major sewing machine company and wrote four books sewing under a different name (divorce). For 10 years I traveled all over the US, wrote tutorials for the folks who sold and purchased sewing machines so I do have a little background in writing detailed instructions just not for glass. My bad side is my spelling and punctuation suck and I spend to much money on tutorials I always had my knit picky friend read everything before it was sent out.

The best tutorials I have seen usually have several photos or steps to a page with all the instructions that go with that photo off to the right or left side of that photo. These are easy to use and read when I am at the torch. The photos are also a nice size not to big not to small. Extra photos of work in other colors are included and even projects that have been made using the bead or other item are featured at the end of the tutorial. In my opinion this is a big bonus.

Please don't stop writing the tutorials just step back and take a look at it from the consumers side.

Are your photos bigger than they need to be for the point to get across to the consumer?
Is there more background in your photo than the actual bead or item?
Is your text huge and taking up more space than it needs to?
Are all your photos of good quality and not distorted?
Are the instructions that go with the photo on the same page?
Do you have a lot of bold print? It takes more ink to print is it necessary.
Is there empty space on pages that could be filled up with photos of finished work or other tips?

Many of these things I never had to think of when I was doing tutorials because the consumers were not printing them themselves but now that the e-tut is available many people are choosing to print and it can be expensive. I think they are worth printing and having a hard copy if they are well formatted.

If you are a tutorial writer I hope you take these things and what the people who write after me into consideration.

Thanks for reading,

[playswithfire104]

When you say "Add a small amount of glass......" Try to explain how small. Small means different things to different people. Do you mean pea sized? Do you mean head of a pin size?

[Karen Hardy]

I'll chime in.
I like it when the pictures and the instructions are lined up.
Sounds like a small thing, but I bought some tutorials
(actually they are NOT glass related - but wire, and no one from LE )
and the person put all the pictures together, then wrote
out the instructions. I had to read the instruction, then
try and figure out which pic it went with.
Drove me insane.

[LeahBeads]

I'm sure this has been pointed out before, but I'd love to see what special glass, tools or frit are needed for the tutorial, what COE, etc. If you could print that in the thread when you're announcing your tutorial, that would be great!

Leah

[Carolyn M]

I second the not too big pictures. It makes printing them out expensive and when I'm at the torch, I'm continually flipping pages.

[Beadbug]

In your photos is the color of glass you are using going to show up in your photographs? This only applies if there are other color options.

Do you have a supply list at the beginning of your tutorial, does it include all the tools and glass used in the following pages included stringers that need to be pulled.

Please don't base your tutorial on a glass that is no longer available. It's one thing to write about glass that is available now but may never be made again but to use a glass that can no longer be found at the time of it's writing is just wrong unless stated in your tutorial add. If an unavailable glass is used it should only be shown as an option since many folks may still have a sliver of it left.

In your tutorial do you talk about another tut that you have wrote and use items made from that tut? If so please say so in your tutorial add so we have all that is needed to complete the project. I want to know if I have to purchase more than one tut, I don't mind I just want to know.

[granny]

Originally Posted by Carolyn M

I second the not too big pictures. It makes printing them out expensive and when I'm at the torch, I'm continually flipping pages.

Years ago I would agree with this...but my eyes are not as good as they were once
So please do not make your text and pictures too small for "old eyes"


granny

[PixieFireBeads]

My suggestion would be to be cautious when you make generalizations in a tutorial discussion thread (i.e. the tutorial was passed on and not paid for thread, the copyright thread, etc.).

I think there will continue to be a plethora of issues in regards to the written tutorial, and a lot of necessary discussion about the medium. However, when I see someone making negative generalizations my first thought is either "I will never buy a tutorial from her/him" or "that person has gotten my money for the last time." You might think this is insignificant or sounds pissy, but since those threads were hot and heavy with negativity that at times seemed directed towards ALL purchasers, I haven't purchased a single tut. That's pretty remarkable when you consider I purchased in excess of 40 tuts before the events leading up to those threads.

[patienthand]

wow.. I am loving this thread.. thanks!!!! I apreciate the thoughtful input.... it is useful for the next tut comming down the pike.

Candice

[sarah_hornik]

I appreciate the good intentions behind this thread. I just want to say that with some types of comments or suggestions, I think it would be much more beneficial and appreciated if you'd contact the author and let them know your impressions. Please understand that it is impossible to improve one's work based on general comments when you have no idea if they're even referring to you or not. "Don't make the pictures too big" is a lot like saying "add a small amount of glass".

Once again, I encourage anyone who has any problems or suggestions for improvement of the layout, clarity, photos or anything about my PDFs, to please contact me directly, because these are things I would definitely like to know about. You can PM or email at sarah.hornik[at]gmail.com. I would prefer to be contacted privately and not on the forum. Thanks.

[Beadbug]

Oh no, Sarah your tutorials are some of the best and well thought out ones I have purchased. I love how you tuck little extras into the corners and your photos are top notch. These suggestions don't just pertain to glass tutorials. Many tutorials I have purchased are not even glass related.

[Ever After]

one thing though,
as far as large font etc...
My first tut the pansy, looks huge when you open it in adobe, but when printed actual page size is about 2 inches smaller,
I have published a pansy tut too through lola, and in book form its great (to me)
large enough to read setting at a place nearby you on the torch etc,

I have sized the font down in following tuts,
but I have heard both opinions, larger print, smaller print, black white, etc..
I dont think I will be changing any already done tuts, lol
but they are all great tips to keep in mind for the future..

[sarah_hornik]

Originally Posted by Bead_bug

Oh no, Sarah your tutorials are some of the best and well thought out ones I have purchased. I love how you tuck little extras into the corners and your photos are top notch. These suggestions don't just pertain to glass tutorials. Many tutorials I have purchased are not even glass related.

Thanks Tracy, so nice of you to say that. I'm glad you feel that way.

What I'm trying to say is - I think constructive feedback is much appreciated by all, but would be better if it were feedback we could actually work with. Trying to guess can be frustrating. Some of us get all self-conscious sometimes.

[playswithfire104]

Originally Posted by sarah_hornik

I appreciate the good intentions behind this thread. I just want to say that with some types of comments or suggestions, I think it would be much more beneficial and appreciated if you'd contact the author and let them know your impressions. Please understand that it is impossible to improve one's work based on general comments when you have no idea if they're even referring to you or not. "Don't make the pictures too big" is a lot like saying "add a small amount of glass".

Once again, I encourage anyone who has any problems or suggestions for improvement of the layout, clarity, photos or anything about my PDFs, to please contact me directly, because these are things I would definitely like to know about. You can PM or email at sarah.hornik[at]gmail.com. I would prefer to be contacted privately and not on the forum. Thanks.

I see your point. I have been happy with most of the tutorials I have. I can also see why sending the author a comment would work better than general comments.

Actually I've sent one author a number of questions and she was always happy to answer question I had.

[Kevan]

From what I understand, PDF's usually print up at a fairly low resolution so it's not like the photos are going to look as good as they would in a book or on your computer screen.

Also, most people don't get close enough to their subject when they take photos. They look at the subject through their lens and know what they are looking at,but don't realize the background is completely unimportant to the viewer. Crop them down.

I don't know how many times I have told my sister that I don't want to see the room around her and her new husband, I want to see THEM. (rolling my eyes)

[Beadbug]

For me these aren't aimed at any one tutorial they are things I have seen several times. I have on occasion wrote to authors and pointed things out that needed to be looked at and most of the time the authors were very happy it had been brought to their attention. My list and the list of others aren't for tutorials that have already been wrote but to be taken into consideration for future ones. No one expects tutorials that have already been written and sent to hundreds to be reformatted. If an author wants to completely ignore the comments given in this thread our feelings here will not be hurt they are merely suggestions. As an author I always wanted to know how I could make my instructions better and I would have appreciated a form like this. Some of the suggestions I would ignore because of the way I liked to format and some would have been used, either way both sides get something good from it.

[Moth]

Posts like this one are helpful to me. I simply assume it is talking about me and do everything I can to fix it. LOL

Fortunately, I look at the specific suggestions I've seen so far and honestly don't think they apply to my latest tutorials as I've learned from each and every one ways to improve the next one.

My jellyfish tutorial is the prettiest, but totally impractical for printing. I did reformat that one to make it easier to print and less ink-consuming...then I sent the new version to everyone who had purchased it. That bit of labor taught me an important lesson- get it right the first time because it stinks to have to change it. LOL

The Canes were next...I switched that around based on threads like this one where people asked the pictures to be on a light background instead of black. This never occurred to me because I love the look of the black background, but it is true it would take an abundance of ink to print all that black.

I also made my pictures more compact for that one. More to a page.

When I did the jellyfish tutorial I was so involved in making the tutorial itself look nice, that it wasn't the best organized for actual torch use. I kept thinking I needed 'negative space' to keep the eye moving...which would be fine for a piece of artwork...but not for a tutorial.

So, I personally enjoy these threads because I can take what I want from them and leave the rest. I always listen though.

Private suggestions are great too because they are focused on precise suggestions.

~~Mary

[Birdy]

Originally Posted by Bead_bug

I
Please don't base your tutorial on a glass that is no longer available. It's one thing to write about glass that is available now but may never be made again but to use a glass that can no longer be found at the time of it's writing is just wrong unless stated in your tutorial add. If an unavailable glass is used it should only be shown as an option since many folks may still have a sliver of it left.

You nailed my #1 Pet Peeve, BeadBug! Terra is the color that comes to mind first, so I'll use it just as an example of the problem. Terra, and all other out-of-production colors really need to be eliminated from all tutorials being published now. If you love it and want to show it, please do so as an OPTIONAL color, not as the color the tutorial is being written around.

When I've spent anything more than $5, and receive a tutorial written around Terra as the "main attraction" of the bead, I feel really cheated. I don't have a stash of Terra. Congrats to you if you do! It isn't fair to just list some alternatives and continue on showing pictures of the bead being made with Terra. Many of us buy tutorials because we learn by seeing detailed pictures of the subject. When your picture is of a glass that there is absolutely no reasonable expectation of the purchaser having because it is no longer in production, it makes it difficult. My "training-wheels" bead, the one that I make first, following the tutorial exactly, has no chance at all of looking like the pictures when I have to use a different glass, especially if you don't even bother to show a sample of the same bead made with the "alternative" colors. That just makes it harder to learn, and doesn't make me feel kindly towards the writer.

If your tutorial requires an expensive but currently-produced glass, that is another matter entirely. If you have warned buyers up front that special glass is required, we have a chance to decide if we want to pursue it or not. But when you surprise us with a glass that no longer exists, for all reasonable intents and purposes, we are sunk before we start.

Those of you who have written tutorials so far - and I've purchased from all, or at least nearly all of you - you are all fantastically talented and creative artists. You are too smart to get away with something like this. You certainly have enough experience and intelligence to develop your tutorials using products that have a reasonable expectation of being available. Too bad for us if the glass goes out of production the next week - that's just the nature of the product. Just please don't put us in the position of sending you our money, hoping that some of your amazing talent will "rub off" on us, only to find that it is impossible for us to make something even vaguely resembling the bead you are teaching us.

Sorry to rave on like this, but I've been laid up with a bad back injury, and spent the time re-reading all of the tutorials, day-dreaming about what I'm going to make when I can sit at the torch again, and checking to see if I need to order anything so I'll be ready to go. It just reminded me all over again of how frustrating this is.

I didn't mean any writer in particular, and Terra is just used as an example of the type of glass that I'm referring to. Please use your imagination and experience to think of optional colors that could be used in place of Terra in complaints and comments similar to this one!

Standing by with Kevlar safety gear on to deflect flames heading my way -
Birdy

[Beadbug]

No Kevlar needed, I agree that if it is an out of production glass there should be some sort of warning. Used as a secondary color choice it is a nice bonus but used as the main focus makes it impossible for many to even try.

[playswithfire104]

Yeah what Birdy said.

AND if you are using a specific frit mix can you also suggest an alternative? PLEASE!!!!

Or maybe give us a hint of what different frits we may have that can be combined for the same or simlar effect. I've had to try to buy several frits for a couple of tuts and still can't find a few others. With shipping costs raising along with everything else I hate to have order 1 oz from this person then 1 oz from someone else and then the next week another oz from the first person.

I'm not a total frit ho, so when I hear a frit name I have no clue what color it is. Or if it is a mix I don't know if it is a mix of blues, reds, or blues and reds. KWIM?