Craftsu.com: New Network for Artists to Reach Buyers of Handmade

Craftsu.com is a new social platform for artists, craftspeople, and photographers to tell their stories and interact with shoppers looking to “buy handmade.”

Craftsu was born from the marriage of two emerging trends:

1) Purchases of handmade crafts online grew almost every month for the last twelve months, despite the tough economy. Etsy.com, the leader of the pack in sites that offer handmade crafts for sale, sold $58 million worth of goods in the first five months of 2009, doubling their sales volume over the same period last year.

2) The latest stats show people are turning to social networks to find out what products people are talking about and to look for special deals. Mashable.com reported on a prediction that more than half of shoppers would research gift ideas and check out friends’ and family members’ wish lists this year.

Craftsu.com founder, James Dillehay, has a history as craftsman and author/publisher. “As much as any artist or writer, I know the inner struggle that goes on between finding time for creative expression and the need to pay the bills. My background includes a time when I was weaving full time and making my living solely from selling my work. At some point, I decided to move up the social ladder from ’starving artist’ to the more respected status of ’starving author,’” he says. “Because of my own experiences, I feel motivated to help remove the ’starving’ part from creative careers.”

Dillehay thinks the handmade life is easier on the mind. But for now, he is active online at the site about 12 hours a day, encouraging artists to promote themselves through their stories with pictures, displays and links to their Etsy or other storefronts for making sales.

For more information, visit Craftsu to buy and sell crafts.

In addition to growing Craftsu and weaving his own craft items, Dillehay has authored nine books and been interviewed in Family Circle Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Bottom Line, The Chicago Tribune, Entrepreneur Radio and on HGTV

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