How2crafts shortlisted for FutureBook award

Specialist Midlands publisher, How2crafts, has been shortlisted for a FutureBook Award alongside multinational publishing houses Harper Collins, Random House and Oxford University Press.

The start-up publisher, which only opened its doors in 2010, has been selected as a nominee for the ‘Best Content Innovation’ award for its small collection of six high-quality photographic step-by-step guides to contemporary craft-making.  

The company was picked out by the panel of judges because of its fascination with the social aspect of craft-making and its commitment to promoting this to its readers. After reading the how-to guides, and putting their skills to use, craft-makers are encouraged to upload images of their designs along with any tips that they have discovered to the how2crafts website.

The print runs of the books are purposefully kept short so that readers’ images and suggestions can be included as an appendix, complementing the books’ instructions and giving inspiration to future readers. So the books effectively ‘grow’ as more and more readers respond.

John Morse-Brown, Founder of How2crafts, said:

“As a start-up company we are extremely proud to have been shortlisted for an award alongside major multinational publishing houses. The FutureBook Awards aim to recognise publishers who are actively engaging in new and interesting ways to bring books to the digital generation.

We are passionate about crafts and understand that digital technologies create new opportunities for makers to network with others who share their enthusiasm. Written by experts in their field, our books wil combine high quality instruction togther with visual inspiration contributed by our community of readers and makers.”

The awards ceremony will take place in London on Thursday 17th March.