I rarely use patterns so I can't help much. I just wanted to say it's the design that sells the pattern. You, as the author, can go any way you want with conveying how to make up your quilt design. But people will buy your pattern if they love your design, regardless.
Bonnie Hunter has lots of free patterns on her Quiltville.com site. She has written tons of books and is a very, very popular author and teacher. I'd look at her pattern formats just as a learning experience. Also other places such as the Moda site.
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/free-patterns.html
http://blog.modafabrics.com/funfree/free-patterns/