This has been a fascinating 48 hours of my little experiment. When I first noticed the hot right now section, there were a TON of patterns up there by Julia Mueller (Laris Designs). Gorgeous gloves, hats and mittens were flooding the top 30 plus "hot right now" patterns. Turns out she's closing her Ravelry store and all her patterns are free. Here we go with the free is good again. I wondered if I'd hit a higher level if she hadn't flooded the market but I can't go there.
Then I noticed another pattern hitting the top - Picea Mittens by Mary O'Shea. She put a price tag of $5.00 on hers then offered a coupon code to get them free. I've learned the hard way when you provide a promotion or coupon code you get charged by Ravelry for a percentage of the patterns "sold" or "discounted".
Then as I was weaving on my loom and listening to the Yarniacs Podcast (I love this podcast and greatly respect the input and opinions of Gayle and Sharlene), they were discussing an earlier episode where they discussed the "hot right now" algorithm to calculate the rankings on that page. I haven't heard the earlier episode (I was way behind as my iPod died and luckily I got a new nano for Christmas). Apparently some designers are annoyed that when people make their patterns free their pattern shoots to the top. Something my little experiment has confirmed. Sharlene pointed out that in spite of this it does show some patterns/designers we wouldn't ordinarily see as there are so many out there.
So, where are we right now? Boxing Day Mittens sit at #15. Not bad for 48 hours after I started my experiment.
Next, I'll discuss how I promote/market my patterns within Ravelry (I started my life in advertising in marketing - BC - Before Children).
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