Prime Publishing LLC

Discover How Prime Publishing Got its Start!

Northbrook, IL — Prime Publishing was recently featured on Starter Story. Starter Story is the home of over 3,000 business success stories designed to teach and motivate aspiring entrepreneurs.

Read the full feature and learn:

• – How we built our first website, including a peek at our very first site design
• – SEO and email marketing strategies we use to grow and engage our audience
• – Our CEO’s favorite business advice
• – What Prime Publishing is looking forward to in the future

We’re proud to share our story and to be featured alongside many other innovators!

Prime Publishing Co-Hosts VIP Networking Event at h+h americas

Northbrook, IL — Together with Koelnmesse Inc., Prime Publishing proudly co-hosted a VIP Networking Event at the first-ever h+h americas trade show in Rosemont, IL on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. 

h+h americas is a new platform for the North American Handicraft Industry. It is an all-inclusive industry event uniting all types of handicrafts, and is open to anyone who makes a living in fiber arts, no matter what background or industry sector. The trade show was open June 22-24, 2022 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention & Conference Center in Rosemont.

Prime Publishing helped kick off the trade show with an exclusive networking event that took place directly on the exhibit show floor. It brought together top fiber and fabric influencers (including Heidi Gustad from HandsOccupied.com, Rebecca George from PurpleandLime.com, Laura Coia from SewVeryEasy, and more) with top fiber and fabric companies to network, mingle, and learn about their latest products. The event offered free drinks, appetizers, and plenty of room and time to network in a friendly and relaxed setting.

“The H+H Americas trade show provided excellent opportunities to connect with old and new colleagues in person and online. I look forward to attending in the future.” – Heidi Gustad, HandsOccupied.com

“This was such a fun event! I left feeling inspired with a renewed love of all things textile and sewing.” –Rebecca George, purpleandlime.com

“The most recent HHA show in Chicago was absolutely amazing!  I enjoyed it so much, I have already scheduled to attend it next year.  Hope to see you there, as it’s a show you don’t want to miss!” –Laura Coia, youtube.com/SewVeryEasy

After the show, Prime Publishing will host an “America’s Best” contest for influencers to design and submit original projects using the Sponsor products they receive at the show. All projects will be permanently hosted on FaveCrafts.com and featured in our free email newsletters and social media, and cash prizes will be awarded to the top 3 “America’s Best” projects, as voted on by readers. 

Stay tuned for two post-show look books featuring products from Networking Event sponsors to be published later this year on FaveCrafts.com.

This year’s sponsors included Clothworks, Harbor Sales/ViviLux, James Dillehay, M Creative J, Prym, Universal Yarns, and Prime Publishing.

Prime Publishing Raises Money for World Central Kitchen

Northbrook, IL – From March 21-March 28, 2022, Prime Publishing raised money for the World Central Kitchen through its quarterly Clicks for a Cause program.  

WCK is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. During March 2022, WCK served thousands of fresh meals to Ukrainian families fleeing home as well as those who remain in the country. We are proud to have supported their efforts at this time.

We shared Ukrainian-themed DIYs and popular Ukrainian recipes with our readers to help raise awareness and celebrate our friends in Ukraine. Featured recipes and tutorials included this Ukrainian Borscht recipe (the national dish of Ukraine), Peace for Ukraine Sunflower Quilt Pattern, and the Crochet Ukrainian Heart Pattern. 

Learn more about the World Central Kitchen here and how you can help.

Learn more about Prime Publishing’s Clicks for a Cause program here. 

Prime Publishing Celebrates American Heart Month

Northbrook, IL – From February 21-February 28, 2022, Prime Publishing raised money for the American Heart Association through its quarterly Clicks for a Cause program.  

Heart disease is the most common cause of death in the U.S. for both men and women, and February is American Heart Month. In support of American Heart Month, the Clicks for a Cause effort benefited the American Heart Association, which builds public awareness, improves healthy behavior habits, and ensures research is inclusive for heart disease and stroke.

We shared heart-healthy recipes and red DIY projects with our readers to celebrate American Heart Month, such as the Red Knit Cowl pattern, Heart Healthy Chili, and more. 

Learn more about the American Heart Association here and how you can donate.

Learn more about Prime Publishing’s Clicks for a Cause program here. 

h+h americas finalizes partnership with Prime Publishing

Northbrook, Illinois —

• Together we are expanding industry outreach, connecting with our community.
• First international offspring of the world’s leading trade fair “h+h cologne.”
• We are uniting the soft crafts industries In North America.
• More than 100 exhibitors signed up.
 

Excitement is building around the launch of h+h americas, which will take place from June 22-24, 2022, in Rosemont, Illinois. With seven months to go, the organizer reports strong interest among the US and international soft craft manufacturers and already has over 100 contracts. 

Today the organizer announced a new partnership with Prime Publishing LLC, a leading online platform and publisher for the fiber and fabric community with 3 million followers. Prime will use its vast online reach to draw awareness to the h+h americas opportunity, where it will organize networking events and pre-show introduction of top influencers, bloggers & designers to selected sponsors. Prime will also offer an “America’s Best Contest” featuring project designs and the award winners will be announced following h+h americas. 

Says Stuart Hochwert, President of Prime: “We think that h+h americas will provide some great opportunities for buyers and sellers in the soft craft industry. We are committed to assisting this event via five of our sites including FaveCrafts.com; AllFreeSewing.com; FaveQuilts.com; AllFreeKnitting.com & AllFreeCrochet.com that comprise some of Prime’s free crafting, fiber and fabric online resources for consumers in beads, crochet, knitting, and sewing. Our team of editors will be onsite to cover the launch of this event. We are very excited to enter this partnership.”

“Having Prime Publishing as a partner on our side gives us another powerful channel to reach the soft-craft buying community. We are confident this partnership will be valuable in our effort to deliver a high-quality and diverse trade show, design competition, and educational program. We look forward to this co-operation,” says Mette Petersen, President and Managing Director of Chicago-based Koelnmesse Inc.

h+h americas, the sister event of its German namesake, is slated to become the leading U.S. industry event for buyers of home textiles, tapestry, sewing, knitting, crocheting, haberdashery, quilting, needlepoint, and business software and marketing solutions. It will be held in partnership with the Craft Industry Alliance, a membership organization that has served the craft professionals community since 2015.

For more information contact:
Darrin Stern
North American Show Manager
h+h americas
773-326-9925
www.hh-americas.com
www.instagram.com/hhamericas
www.linkedin.com/showcase/hhamericas
www.facebook.com/hhamericas

About Prime Publishing LLC:
Since 2009, a women’s lifestyle content publisher focused on DIY, Craft & Recipe sites, newsletters, magazines, and social media. Fiber (Knit & Crochet) and Fabric (Sewists & Quilters) consumers find project ideas, inspiration, new product information and engaging content on Prime’s sites, seven sewing & quilting newsletters & 9 crochet & knitting newsletters and several social media channels on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube. To request more information about how Prime can promote your brand to Fiber & Fabric consumers send an email to Chris Wright.

About Koelnmesse GmbH:
Koelnmesse is the number 1 trade fair location for numerous industries with some 1,000 employees and representatives worldwide. Cologne, Germany is centrally located in Europe and the Koelnmesse fairgrounds with 400,000 square meters ranks in the top 3 within Germany and top 10 worldwide. Every year, Koelnmesse organizes and conducts more than 80 trade fairs, exhibitions, guest events and special events in Cologne and in the world’s most important markets connecting 54,000 exhibitors from 122 countries with more than 3 million visitors from 200 countries. Koelnmesse has earmarked 700 million Euro towards the expansion of its fairgrounds which should be completed by 2030.

Koelnmesse Picture Material:
https://www.koelnmesse.de/news/bilddatenbank/bilddatenbank.php 

Koelnmesse in Social Media:
www.linkedin.com/company/koelnmesse-gmbh
www.instagram.com/koelnmesse 
www.facebook.com/Koelnmesse
www.twitter.com/Koelnmesse 

Koelnmesse Inc. located in Chicago, IL for the past 19 years is the North American subsidiary and marketing arm of the Koelnmesse Group, one of the world’s leading organizers of international trade shows. Their experienced team of marketing and sales professionals organizes trade shows and events in North America as well as North American Pavilions for US, Canadian and Mexican companies at more than 25 trade shows around the world. 
https://koelnmessenafta.com
https://twitter.com/koelnmesseinc
https://www.linkedin.com/company/koelnmesseinc
https://www.facebook.com/KoelnmesseInc

Prime Publishing Hosts Cards for Veterans Charity Drive

Northbrook, IL – From October 11 through November 30, 2020, Prime Publishing is hosting a Card Drive for Veterans through its website FaveCrafts.com. Prime has partnered with Help Heal Veterans, an organization that provides free therapeutic arts and crafts kits to hospitalized and homebound veterans.

Readers are encouraged to send a card — homemade or manufactured– to a recovering veteran or military member. The cards will then be added to a Therapeutic Craft Kit assembled by our friends at Help Heal Veterans. These craft kits help injured and recuperating veterans improve fine motor skills, cognitive functioning, manage stress and substance abuse, cope with symptoms of PTSD and TBI, while also improving their sense of self-esteem and overall physical and mental health.

The design and message of the cards donated are up to you. For card tutorials and inspiration, check out our collection of Handmade Cards for Every Occasion.

Learn more about how you can donate to our Cards for Veterans Charity Drive here.

Learn more about how you can support our friends at Help Heal Veterans here.

FaveCrafts Sees Continued Growth with Online Crafting Classes

Northbrook, IL – Prime Publishing used to host in-person classes, seminars, events and how-to opportunities. Their four in-house cooking and crafting studios were used every day.  Their large conference spaces were booked months in advance. Local hotels enjoyed the constant stream of visitors. Of course, the pandemic stopped all of these in-person activities. So, in just eight months, their FaveCrafts brand pivoted and has held more than 30 online crafting classes and hosted more than 15,000 attendees looking to expand their crafting knowledge. 

The focus has been on knit and crochet classes, and topics have included everything from beginner Learn to Knit and Learn to Crochet classes, plus more advanced topics such as Continental Knitting, Tunisian Crochet, Entrelac Knitting, and more. We have welcomed a number of talented instructors into our virtual crafting studio including Marly Bird from MarlyBird.com, Marie Segares from Underground Crafter, and Tamara Kelly from Moogly Blog. 

Beginner classes are sponsored by I Like Crochet and I Like Knitting, and are available to consumers for free. The advanced classes are $19.99/each, or attendees can choose to buy a bundle ticket option (three classes for $29.99) and save 50%. Our free, one-hour classes provide a great opportunity for both beginners and experienced knitters and crocheters to learn a new hobby from industry experts from the comfort of their own home. Viewer questions are answered in real time, and attendees receive expert advice for troubleshooting common problems. 

Recordings of our free classes are made available for those that were not able to attend in real time. This also provides attendees the opportunity to re-watch the class on their own time and practice their skills. Visit the AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting YouTube channels and watch them today! 

To date, one of the most successful paid classes has been Fixing Common Mistakes in Knitting. Due to popular demand, we will be offering this class again in August. Learn more about our upcoming classes at FaveCrafts.com, and visit Eventbrite to sign up. Seats are limited, so reserve your spot today!

FaveCrafts Studio Live Sees Continued Success with Virtual Events

Northbrook, IL — Attendance records were shattered last month for FaveCrafts Studio Live. During January, more than 5,000 crafters came together in the virtual crafting studio to learn how to knit and crochet. 

On January 7, FaveCrafts and I Like Knitting proudly partnered with the famous knitting designer, Marly Bird for another successful virtual knitting class. Together, more than 2,602 participants attended the ‘Learn to Knit’ webinar on January 7, held online via Zoom. This was a new attendance record since FaveCrafts Studio Live launched in October 2020. 

Just a few weeks later, another 2,439 joined FaveCrafts and I Like Crochet for our ‘Learn to Crochet’ webinar led by crochet enthusiast, Tamara Kelly of Moogly blog. 

Both of these free, one-hour classes provided a great opportunity for both beginners and experienced knitters and crocheters to learn a new hobby from industry experts from the comfort of their own home. Viewer questions were answered in real time, and attendees received expert advice for troubleshooting common problems. 

Recordings of both classes were also made available for those that were not able to attend in real time. This also provided attendees the opportunity to re-watch the class on their own time and practice their skills. You can watch the Learn to Knit with Marly Bird video here, and the Learn to Crochet with Moogly video here.

FaveCrafts also launched a series of paid advanced knitting classes during January, as well, offering consumers the opportunity to expand their skills with three new classes: Cable Knitting, Intro to Lace Knit, and Brioche Knit Stitch. Over 65% signed up for all three classes. All classes were also recorded and emailed to participants after the event giving them the opportunity to learn and practice skills, techniques and specific areas of interest.

Our next series of advanced crochet classes begin in February. Check them out here and reserve your spot today — seats are limited!

FaveCrafts Studio Live Sees Continued Success with Virtual Events

Northbrook, IL — Attendance records were shattered last month for FaveCrafts Studio Live. During January, more than 5,000 crafters came together in the virtual crafting studio to learn how to knit and crochet. 

On January 7, FaveCrafts and I Like Knitting proudly partnered with the famous knitting designer, Marly Bird for another successful virtual knitting class. Together, more than 2,602 participants attended the ‘Learn to Knit’ webinar on January 7, held online via Zoom. This was a new attendance record since FaveCrafts Studio Live launched in October 2020. 

Just a few weeks later, another 2,439 joined FaveCrafts and I Like Crochet for our ‘Learn to Crochet’ webinar led by crochet enthusiast, Tamara Kelly of Moogly blog. 

Both of these free, one-hour classes provided a great opportunity for both beginners and experienced knitters and crocheters to learn a new hobby from industry experts from the comfort of their own home. Viewer questions were answered in real time, and attendees received expert advice for troubleshooting common problems. 

Recordings of both classes were also made available for those that were not able to attend in real time. This also provided attendees the opportunity to re-watch the class on their own time and practice their skills. You can watch the Learn to Knit with Marly Bird video here, and the Learn to Crochet with Moogly video here.

FaveCrafts also launched a series of paid advanced knitting classes during January, as well, offering consumers the opportunity to expand their skills with three new classes: Cable Knitting, Intro to Lace Knit, and Brioche Knit Stitch. Over 65% signed up for all three classes. All classes were also recorded and emailed to participants after the event giving them the opportunity to learn and practice skills, techniques and specific areas of interest.

Our next series of advanced crochet classes begin in February. Check them out here and reserve your spot today — seats are limited!

Prime Publishing Rises to Challenges of 2020

Northbrook, IL

Prime Publishing had an incredibly busy 2020, rising to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and engaging its readers in exciting and unprecedented ways.

When the pandemic hit in March, the Editorial Department worked quickly to meet readers’ needs, creating new craft content, resources, and projects immediately. These pages quickly became incredibly popular; the top sewing face mask and crochet face mask pages on AllFreeSewing.com and AllFreeCrochet.com have collectively received more than 600,000 pageviews to date since March.

Prime also launched a series of online crafting classes this year. With more people at home due to the pandemic, there was an opportunity to engage new and experienced crafters alike with Learn to Knit and Learn to Crochet classes taught by Marly Bird and hosted via Zoom. More than 4,500 participants signed up for these two classes, which were offered for free and sponsored by I Like Knitting and I Like Crochet.  

Another exciting area of growth in 2020 was launching new email newsletters. This year Prime introduced four new titles to its craft catalogue: Pet Projects from FaveCrafts, Quilt Block Club from FaveQuilts, Simply No-Sew from AllFreeSewing, and Easy Breezy Crochet from AllFreeCrochet, which have a combined subscriber base of 189,000 and growing.

Also in 2020, Prime launched two special edition newsletters at the beginning of the pandemic, which have since grown to a circulation of more than 1.2 million engaged readers. These bi-weekly mailings compile the top recipes and crafts from across Prime’s websites, with a focus on fun and safe activities at home, as well as cheap and easy at-home dinner ideas. In the last nine months, these special edition mailings have received nearly 11 million clicks.

Another accomplishment of 2020 was the redesign of one of Prime’s ‘all free’ websites. The Audience Development Team revamped all aspects of AllFreeJewelryMaking.com for an improved user experience on both desktop and mobile, and the new design will soon roll out to Prime’s other sites in 2021.

As always, Prime hosted a handful of large promotions in 2020, most notably National Sewing Month in September and AllFreeCrochet’s 10^th Birthday Celebration in June. National Sewing Month featured five giveaways (including a sewing machine worth more than $3,000) and 30 pages of reader-favorite sewing content. This year saw a 49.45% increase in engagement over last year, with pageviews reaching 280,794 and giveaway entries totaling 71,149. AllFreeCrochet’s 10^th Birthday Celebration was a first of its kind promotion featuring new patterns and giveaways for the entire month of June. It generated more than 271,000 pageviews.

2020 was a challenging year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but Prime rose to the challenges of this unprecedented year, engaging its audience with new and timely content via its websites, email newsletters, online classes, giveaway promotions, and more.