Submission Policy Change
A year ago yesterday, we launched craftgawker and we've had a lot of fun looking at all the arts and crafts you have submitted. Our main objective was to make it a place where people would come to get ideas and find inspiration for their own arts and crafts projects. At the beginning, we made the decision to accept listings from commerce sites, such as Etsy, Artfire, etc., and while we love Etsy, craftgawker has turned into a marketing tool to promote and sell arts/crafts. The site is no longer what we had envisioned and is too different in purpose than its sister sites, foodgawker and weddinggawker.
With that in mind, we've come to the difficult decision to no longer accept listings from any commerce sites (Etsy, ArtFire, Folksy, 1000Markets, etc.). We really want to turn craftgawker into what we originally planned and more aligned with its sister sites... a place for ideas and inspiration.
So, what does this all mean? Once submissions are re-opened, we will block any commerce site listings from being submitted. All items currently in the moderation queue will be evaluated as they have been, so we will be publishing Etsy listings until we run out of them.
Our ideal submission would link back to an art or craft blog post, which would discuss the item, provide tips on how to make it, or present a DIY guide. The key component is the content on the page. If you only post an image and link to an Etsy listing, we will decline it. If you provide more details about the item, we'll most likely accept it.
We know that many of you will be disappointed in this decision, but we hope you understand our desire and need to re-align craftgawker closer to the spirit of foodgawker and weddinggawker. Please let us know if you have any questions by leaving a comment.
Clarification: We won't require a blog post with a tutorial or DIY guide for acceptance, as some message boards have suggested. That's the ideal submission. All we want is a blog post that is more than a photo and a link back to your shop. Just tell us something about the product, why it's unique, why we should get it or make it.
