Jennicakes' Interview with Jen of Indie Fixx!

Jennicakes' Interview with Jenn of Indie Fixx!

As both Media Specialist and official interviewer here in Sampler Town, I like to mix things up a bit - a media interview here, a crafty Q&A there. But what's really fun is chatting with somebody who's both, which is why I contacted Jen of both Indie Fixx and Tilting Swiftly. She's not only a subscriber to our Media Sampler, but a super-crafty gal who loves to represent other super-crafty types!

Jen and I did a little gmail chatting this weekend! Here's what went down:

Hi, Jen! How are you?

I am well, thanks. How about you?

I'm great, thanks! Are you ready to talk to The Sampler?

I sure am. I'm really honered actually. ;)

Aw, thanks! Can you start with a little bit of background on your blog, just in case anyone hasn't seen it?

Indie Fixx is a blog devoted to featuring indie products and the artists/crafters/designers who make them. I started it in August 2006 and it has grown from a small blog that only my friends read, to having over 20,000 unique visitors each month (that number grows each month).

That's a pretty fast rate of growth! Congratulations! How have you managed to get so many readers?

A lot of hard work! I think that the whole blog thing has really just grown in popularity and I was in the right place at the right time. I've gotten a lot of mentions on other big name blogs and I've developed a loyal reader base. I post every day, sometimes several times a day, and my reades have to come to expect posts written with humor and wit.

I'm sure the contests help, too!

Maybe, a little bit. ;)

You really round up a lot of great stuff for those! When and why did you start doing contests?

The first contest I did was in fall 2006. It was called the Indie Knockout Contest and contest entrants "duked' it out to see who was the biggest indie supporter. I actually had a poll and let my readers choose the winner for that one. I started contests as a fun way to further promote indie shops and generate traffic, of course.

I was happy to see some Sampler Contributors in your Fall Shopping and Gift Guide! Can you tell me a little bit about that concept?

I started gift guides as another way to promote indie shops and to expand the content of the blog. Some of the guides that I put together are ediotorial and some are advertorial. Either way, readers really respond well to the gift guide concept. I've down seasonal & holiday gifts and special topic guides. I received a lot of attention for the Wedding Guide I put together this summer...I was really pleased about that.

Definitely! Is it tough to narrow the goods you want to feature down to just a few?

No, not really. If I like something, I feature it, or add it my bookmarks. The problem I have is it having enough time to feature everything I want to feature. My list of bookmarks is really long.

Does your Reader Fixx feature help show off more designers, do you think? I love that idea, by the way. You might be getting a submission from me soon!

I'd love to have you submit! I came up with the idea for Reader Fixx in the shower, where I do my best thinking, to do just that--promote more designers. I was toying with the idea of having guest bloggers to offer readers a differenet persepctive and to maybe find out about shops I've never heard of, but having a guest blogger wasn't exactly what I was going for. so I modified the concept of the a little bit and came up with Reader Fixx. For your readers who may not be familar with Reader Fixx, each Thursday I feature a top ten list from one reader of their top ten indie sites. The list can include shops, blogs, mags, forums, and really anything as long as it's in the spirit of 'indieness'. In exchange for all their hard work, the list submitter gets a menition on Indie Fixx.

It's really fun to see what your readers submit! And what's up with Mintd Friday?

On Mintd Friday's I feature a product from Mintd, which is an online selling site for indie designers similar to Etsy. Etsy gets a lot blog mentions, but I didn't see many bloggers featuring Mintd, which I think is another great resource.

Oh, cool! Well, thanks for being such a super-great promoter of Indie and handmade!

You are so welcome. I feel so lucky that I am in the position to do so and I love that I get to help so many deserving designers. Being a designer myself, I know firsthand how hard it can be to get the word out about your products and how important it is to do so. It doesn't matter how great the stuff you make is, if no one knows about it they won't buy it.

That's so true! Anything else you want to say to Sampler Contributors, Subscribers, and Fans before we sign off?

Sure! Thanks for supporting Indie Fixx and keep reading! I plan on keeping it fresh and keeping it real. ;) Also, I am finally opening my own online shop featuring some of the amazing designers I've featured on Indie Fixx. The new shop can be found at indiefixxshop.com and the Grand Opening is taking place November 1st. I'm super excited about it!