auralynne

So I have a weird question. I'm thinking of the future of this site and the future of ISG, and I'd really like to start trying to develop a system where I'm using AS FEW stock photos as possible in our social media posts, and instead using photos from our actual community.

We would always credit people. But there WILL be times (especially with Instagram, which is our biggest following) when really the only feasible way to do so is with a business name overlaid on the actual image.

Example #1: let's say one of our volunteers has written a blog post about all the stuff you at least need to be a little bit good at to succeed as a creative indie seller, and they're using an analogy of "wearing many hats" to describe it - and the blog post has the "hat" analogy in the title somehow - so the image we make to share the blog post is literally a collage of hats made by ~3 of our vendors. Each with "Credit: (Business Name)" beside it.

The ~300 people who are shown the post on our socials would JUST see the business names, there would be no link - because we need to link to the blog post. Then the blog post would link to each member's profile. People would need to follow a couple links to get to the member creations/curations, but there is a clickable breadcrumb trail.

Example #2: Let's say we're just asking people a question, and using a photo from a member to illustrate the question (in a similar way to example #1 above). Then we could link to the person's member profile and/or @ tag them so that there is a link to their social media account too (assuming they have one). On Insta it would just be the @ tag, and the business name on the photo since there are no links on Insta. For someone with an Instagram, it would be clickable via @ link, then bio link to the person's shop. For someone without Instagram, people would have to do a shop search on our site.

Example #3: There could also be times when links aren't possible at all, and the only way to credit people is via their business name on the image. Flyers to spread the word about ISG, for instance, fundraising presentations, seller training content, etc.

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Now speaking from the standpoint of a volunteer trying to get AS MUCH DONE in AS LITTLE TIME as possible - basically the easiest way to do this is to have in our "terms and conditions" that any image uploaded to this site can be used by ISG volunteers. Then when we're creating content we can simply look through what people have posted and select stuff. When you add asking specific permission, waiting for replies, coming up with alternative images in case you don't hear back, then potentially repeating the whole process - it makes it so that sharing seller stuff is too time consuming and the end result is it doesn't happen too often!

I worded it like this:

Verified Seller Images

If you are a verified seller member, you agree that we may share your images to promote your business and our Verified Seller Directory, Verified Seller Showcase, and other guild services.  By using this website, you agree that we may share your images on social media and on our blog at our other website, indiesellersguild.org, with credit, and a link to your user profile if possible.

I'd love some feedback!

Do you think most people would understand that phrasing "with credit, and a link to your user profile if possible" means we'll always put your business name somewhere, but we might not be able to do an actual link?

For me personally, if I saw one of my images used as long as there was a legible "auralynne" somewhere I would be ecstatic since it would up brand recognition even without a link. Do you think most others would feel the same way?

Drumroll please...

I have figured out how to create the actual version of our member Directory... myself! We thought we might have to keep using the interim one for a while, and fundraise the cost to hire the UNA developer team to build the final version, but I discovered some tutorials on UNA's site that helped me figure it out!

So. Unsurprisingly, that means I'm going to have to redo some of the stuff I've already done! I will cover this in detail in our upcoming September Guild meeting.

The goal of the member directory is to have something where people can come to us saying I want THIS specific type of maker/creator, and we can direct them to a list of every ISG member that has that skillset. Right now I want to split our top level categories into subcategories. So like - not "Sewing" or "Knitting" yet, but "Fiber and Textile Arts".

Right now, these are our top level categories in the directory:

But we need to modify them a bit.

There are huge advantages to having three top level categories vs 4, and there are very few people in the last two categories in our membership. In fact, I believe every single one of our current craft supply sellers are actually makers or artisans doing handmade craft supplies, lol! I would like to instead have three top level categories - Makers, Creators, and Curators (which is a play on the wording we always use when we're writing copy!)

I exported the data from the old site, and analyzed what everyone wrote down for categories and keywords, looking for words that had to do with type of art or craft.

Makers and Artisans ➡ Makers

I feel like I have a good handle on the subcategories for the maker category - because we had a LOT of data from the old site, and because most of it is stuff that have either done, or spent an inordinate amount of time drooling over how-to books on the subject! The comma-separated lists are the 2nd level subcategories I want to add once our directory grows.

Fiber and Textile Arts

• Sewing, Hand Embroidery, Felting, Knitting/Crochet, Macrame/Tatting, Quilting/Patchwork, Weaving, Dyeing/Fabric Painting, Spinning, Upholstery

Papercrafts and Books

• Hand Bound Books, Origami/Folded Paper Art, Calligraphy/Hand Lettering, Lino-Print/Hand Stamping, Quilling/Hand-cut Paper Art

Glass, Ceramic, and Metal Arts

• Chainmail, Metalworking, Wirewrapping/Wire Art, Stained Glass, Glass Blowing/Melting, Pottery Sculpting/Glazing, Mosaics

Natural Materials Arts and Crafts

• Woodworking/Carving, Woodburning/Engraving, Floral Arranging, Leatherworking, Bone Carving, Soap/Candle Making, Natural Cosmetics, Fragrance and Aromatherapy, Food and Edibles

MISC Arts and Crafts

• Resin/Acrylic/Silicone Casting, Beadwork, Polymer Clay Sculpting, Hat Making, Decoupage / Collage, Upcycled Art/Wearables, Painted Art/Wearables, Cloisonne/Enamel

Artists and Designers ➡ Creators

These were harder to categorize, but I think they make sense. "Other creators" is a category for all the machine-powered arts and crafts, when there's a corresponding made-by-hand craft - IE hand embroidery vs machine embroidery. VERY likely I'm missing some things in this category, due to lack of knowledge on what machinery exists and is purchasable on a small-business scale.

Designers

• Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Web Design, Game Design, Crochet/Knitting Patterns, Sewing Patterns, Embroidery Patterns

Artists

• Digital Art, Fan Art, Photography, Painting, Drawing and Illustration, Comics/Graphic Novels/Zines

Other Creators (Digital Creators?)

• 3D Printing, Heat Transfer/Apparel Printing, Machine Embroidery, Laser-cutting/Machine Carving, *Authors

*not sure if we should actually have a category for authors - just included it because someone put that down in directory keywords.

(New Top Level Category) Curators

I didn't have enough data to come up with ideas for 2nd level subcategories on Vintage Sellers or Craft Supply Sellers. We might need more people to join us in those categories so we have feedback on how to define them further!

But this opened up the door to create a new category for our people who gather/grow what they sell from nature!

Vintage Sellers

• ???

Craft Supply Sellers

• ???

From Nature with Love

• Rocks/Gems/Minerals, Dried Flowers/Herbs, Insects/Shells/Bones, Seeds/Live Plants

What we need

If what you do isn't mentioned in any of the lists, reply to this post and let us know!

The Collabs group isn't made yet, but I wanted to get some basic instructions online for member networking in the meantime! I'll move this tutorial over to the group once it's made!

When you edit your profile, there is a "Member Networking" field:

The boxes you check on this field won't show up on your profile anywhere - but people can use them to find you on our member search page! Following is an explanation of each Member Networking option, to give you some guidance on which boxes you might wish to check.

Cross Promotion

There are a plethora of ways we could use this site to promote each other's businesses! Here are a few ideas:

1. Add each other's Showcases to favorites (favorite lists show up on the second tab of your profile)
2. Create a follow-for-follow chain on social media
3. Sharing each others' businesses on your social media or email list
4. Cross promoting complementary products (ex. Stationary and wax seals, Victorian women’s clothing and Victorian men’s clothing)

Business/Product Collaboration

We have makers who create craft supplies, and some amazing artists in our lineup too - which opens the door for awesome one-of-a-kind products collaborated on by multiple makers and creators.

Vending/Events Collaboration

Vending is EXPENSIVE. Pooling travel/stay expenses, and possibly even sharing a space can make a huge difference. For any IRL (in-real-life) collaboration, please exercise caution, the same as you would any time you connect with someone from an online group.

Photoshoots

Lifestyle photos (the on-a-model real-life-appearance ones), for many makers and creators, involve locating additional items and props that you do not make or create. Collaborating with other creative small business owners can solve this problem!

Accountability/Body Doubling

It can be hard to stay on track with important business goals as a creative indie seller. An accountability group helps by having people you owe a report to on whether you achieved your goals for the week or month. Body doubling is a more one-on-one approach to accountability that's been requested by members in the past.

Social Hangouts

This one's self-explanatory - fun hangouts!

Check the boxes for any/all of the Member Networking opportunities that interest you. Once we get the Collabs group online, we'll post info on how to use this site to achieve them!

Haha I was working on website stuff while I got interrupted by my phone making the Cha-CHING! sound. Two pair of my garter shorts to someone in NYC! ? It made me think about some stuff, and I wanna share a tip of sorts, while it's at the top of my brain. My #1 items in my shop historically are my garter shorts and leggings - basically comfy cotton shorts with garter tabs at the bottom and matching leggings. Actually a pic is worth a thousand words lol, and I think I have a random collage of them somewhere, let's do that.

My leggings never get copied. But my garter shorts get copied very regularly. I'll notice that they aren't selling anymore so I'll search Etsy and find someone making something really similar but for half the price.

I know most people would get aggravated, but I just shrug. Then several months later, suddenly my garter shorts will start going gangbusters again, and I see that the other person who was making them either isn't making them anymore, or they've raised their price to be comparable to mine. This has happened SO MANY times over the years.

In June of 2026, I'll celebrate the 20th anniversary of my creative business. Holy crap is that a lot of time, lol! In that time I've noticed that it's possible to at least partially insure yourself against copycats. You want to have a shop that's got a lot of variety, so whatever is currently being copied isn't your whole line. Copycats suck at sourcing materials - so if you can incorporate hard-to-find materials that make something look really cute, that can make it un-copyable. Copycats are looking to make a quick buck, and everyone knows niche sales are pretty slow, so the more niche something is, the less it gets copied. They also suck at pattern-making, so having your own patterns for things helps. Similarly, if you can work out a technique for making something that is fast but takes a LOT of skill/coordination, that is pure gold for a maker business, for more reasons than copycat insurance! And the more VISIBLE all those things are when people are looking at your stuff, the less your stuff will get copied.

With my garter shorts, they are my own pattern, but the thing that makes the pattern unique is the fit - superb butt-lifting Brazilian-jeans-style pattern - and that's something that's felt, not seen. The hardest-to-find material is the fabric - it's thicker and stretchier than what any of the copycats have ever been able to find, but that's also something that's felt, not seen. The garter tabs are a bit hard-to-find, because I use metal instead of plastic ones, but that's something people would have to really notice in the pics, and understand why metal is better. So they're prime fodder for being copied! But that brings me to the last point.

Copycat businesses aren't sustainable. When my garter shorts sales drop off, I know I can just wait and they'll come back. When I was new, I used to freak out, and think "OMG am I NEVER going to be able to sell all those garter shorts I made when they were selling several pair every week?! Am I going to have to take a paycut and discount the price?" The answer is no. Be patient. It'll come back. It'll take a while, but it'll come back.

Those are my own observations over the years, anyway. What are your best tips for creating things that defy being copied?