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NaNoWriMo is coming! What’s that, you ask? November is National Novel Writing Month, a full month where authors, and people dreaming of becoming authors, focus on writing as much as they can in the hopes of finally finishing their writing projects and goals.

Here’s our take on NaNoWriMo – don’t make this just about writing novels. It’s a great time to use all the mega-writing energy out there to work on creating and writing whatever kind of product you want to do right now! Planners, journals, coloring books, kids books, the sky is the limit!

If you’re ready to finally dig in to a project you’ve been dreaming of, NaNoWriMo is a great time to do it.

Here at Vervante we love it when customers come to us, so excited to finally have a project ready to print and publish. So we’re sharing this simple 3-step guide to help you achieve your goals.

NaNoWriMo writing productivity guide

STEP #1: Set your goal. Choose the project you want to work on. If you want to create a daily planner – go for it! Or how about a themed set of journals? Children’s novels, coloring books, training products, cookbooks, newsletters, tarot cards, prayer books, etc. The secret is to choose just one thing and focus on that.

STEP #2: Create a habit. A lot of people will tell you to set aside specific time blocks for writing. That’s great, do that! But the deeper thing you should be trying to do is create a habit. If you want to be productive in writing and creating, make it a habit. For example, eating just one nutritious meal a week won’t help you lose weight right away. Same goes for writing. If you only write for one hour a week, that project may still be on your table the next year when NaNoWriMo rolls around.

STEP #3: Write, don’t edit. Perfection is the killer of productivity. Don’t worry about writing or creating something that’s perfect. At this point, just let your words and ideas flow. The goal is to produce lots of content you can work with, then go back later to edit and refine it.

You’re done writing, now what?

Once you have your content written, the next steps will often be editing, design and formatting. This can vary depending on what kind of product you’re creating. Check out the Expert Guides section of our website for advice on creating everything from books to card decks to daily planners and more. Even better, go to the Vervante Video Vault page where you can see videos of our products, features and lots of great ideas.

Once you’re ready to print or publish your product, we are here to help. Be sure to reach out to our team of publishing experts at [email protected] for free quotes, advice, or next steps to share or sell your brilliant project with the world.

Bottom line? There’s a lot of great writing energy in the world during NaNoWriMo, so let’s use it to achieve something great before the year is over.

Simple, and yet so beautifully full of potential, journals are an easy-to-create product that can offer a lot of value for your customer. A blank journal that gives someone a place to record their thoughts, goals, dreams and ideas is always a powerful product. But there are a lot more things that journals can do, with options that can help you create exactly the right experience for your customer that you want.

IDEAS FOR JOURNALS
Themes such as cooking, finance, travel, business, dreams, parenting, prayer, meditation, health and wellness, fitness, self-improvement and more can be supported with journals. Content such as adult coloring pages, lists, writing prompts, are also great ideas for adding value to journals.

CUSTOM OPTIONS
Here at Vervante, we can print journals in any size and with all the customizations you’d want to create just what you need.

>> HARDCOVER OPTIONS

• Full color printed
• Faux/vegan leather
• Linen
• 2-ply board covers

>> SOFTCOVER OPTIONS

• Laminated
• Foil stamped poly overlay

>> BINDING

• Casebound
• Concealed wire-o
• Wire-o
• Plastic spiral
• Metal spiral
• Perfect
• Punched for disc binding

>> ADD-ONS

• Foil stamp
• Metal corners
• Elastic strap
• Ribbon marker
• Soft-touch finish
• Tabs
• Pockets
• Stickers

These are just a few highlights of ways you can customize journals. As examples, the journals you see here in this newsletter have the following features:

• Red floral journal: Hardcover with printed endpapers
• Starry night journal: Hardcover with foil stamp
• Daisy journal: Softcover with poly overlay

Be sure to also check out our new Video Vault page filled with videos showing exactly how each of these ideas look and function.

If you have any questions about creating your own journals, we can help. Just email us at [email protected] or schedule a phone conversation with one of our print and publishing experts using this link: https://vervante.youcanbook.me/

Mark your calendars and get ready, Amazon Prime Days (October 13-14, 2020) are just around the corner! This is a great opportunity for everyone – whether you sell on Amazon, on your own website, or anywhere else.

If you haven’t started planning yet, it’s not too late, especially if you use these Prime Day-inspired ideas to add some sizzle to your sales.

#1 Offer a special "prime" deal for your audience
Nobody promotes quite as well as Amazon. Shoppers are excited and anticipating epic deals as Prime Day gets closer, so why not take advantage of the excitement and offer your own “Prime” deals for products you sell on your website, too?

The best way to do this is to reach out directly to your loyal customers and fans. This means sending emails to your list and posting updates to your social media.

• Offer special "prime day" packages where for a limited time several products are bundled for one low price.
• If your clients love packages, take it a step further by creating a subscription service and launch it on Prime Day with free extras or a special reduced rate that will catch people's attention.
• Record a special audio podcast or video tutorial as an extra for one of your books or products and offer it as a special bonus on Prime Day.
• Offer a special personal coaching session or limited-time memberships to your masterminds or coaching groups, with any Prime Day purchase.

#2 Debut new daily planners
If you love the idea of selling a daily planner, but aren’t sure how to get started or worried it’s too late in the game, we can help! Use the already-designed and formatted 2021 daily planner we recently released and sell it as your own!

All you need to do is download the InDesign files for our daily planner, make any changes you want, then use it as your own to sell or share. In just a matter of days you can start marketing and sales for your very own daily planner.

(Learn more about our 2021 Daily Planners including full access to images, files, etc by clicking HERE.)

#3 Prime Days “free-plus-shipping” specials
"Free-plus-shipping" offers are great for Prime Day. It’s the process of offering your book or product for free for a limited time, and the customer only needs to pay for shipping. (This is a very powerful way to build your email list, too!)

(Learn more about how Vervante can support your free-plus-shipping offer by clicking HERE.)

#4 Build anticipation with sneak peeks
Here's one more tip to give your Prime Day deals some extra oomph: Be sure to share "sneak peeks" of the specials you'll be offering in your newsletters, social media and emails. It's a great way to spread the word, build anticipation and join in all of the Prime Day fun everyone is having.

The key here is to be creative - and add value. You don't need to reduce your prices, just give in a way that will excite your customers and make them feel like they got the best prime deal out there!