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Emergencies happen. Fires, floods, earthquakes, pandemics. Even zombies. Whether you believe in them or not, we’re big believers in being prepared, so we created the ultimate checklist for zombie-proofing one of the liveliest parts of your business… just in case.

Assemble Your Team: There is strength in numbers – whether publishing a book, growing your business, or fighting off brain-hungry hordes. If you can assemble a like-minded group of people with shared goals and dreams - you've got a fighting chance of surviving and thriving! Be sure you have an experienced publisher (like us!) who provides all the products and services you need, AND  gives you access to your customers and their contact information (so you can stretegize together about future book releases or zombie attacks, your choice!)

Add Human Personality: Don't let your book blend into the mindless crowd. Humanize, personalize and give it life by staying true to your unique voice, branding, and message. Content, photos, graphics, they all need to be true reflections of the real, live you. Injecting personality throughout is always a good idea.

True Fact: Good design = zombie repellant: Ever see a well-dressed, stylish zombie? Neither have we. So it stands to reason that great design and beautiful covers repel the living dead. Invest in professional design for the cover and interior formatting that will impress potential readers and make them want to start doing the Thriller dance right along with you.

Fortify! Have you ever seen a zombie gently reading a book? Smash-proof your products by using high quality hard covers, binders, and even leather-bound editions that stand up to wear-and-tear and offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. 

Get the Word Out: There is strength in numbers, and big sales equal big numbers that give your book – and business – lots of life.

• Learn how to plan and execute an Amazon Book Launch.
• Print out this colorful zombie-inspired checklist to breathe new life into your books, products and business
• Be inspired with tips for sharing the word by reading “17 Strategies for Boosting Book Sales”
• Learn how to share your message worldwide with “How to Sell Your Book Online.”

Elevate Heart Rates: Keep things lively by providing extras with your books such as posters, bookmarks, worksheets, wristbands, t-shirts, anything that elevates heart rates. They can even act as useful protection tools in case of attack. Wasn’t there an episode of Walking Dead where they staved off an attack using distracting adult coloring books, Sharpies, and a big roll of stickers?

Automate Your Sales: Life in underground shelters escaping the hordes can really mess with orderly business function. Use a publisher like Vervante that takes care of everything from sales to fulfillment, packaging and shipping so your books can still make their way to customers while you’re off the grid.

Plan Ahead: Follow in the noble paths of our government by planning ahead like with the Pentagon’s CONOP 8888 Plan (real!), and the CDC’s official Zombie Preparedness Plan (also real!)  Check out the link to their Zombie Novella for a printable zombie preparedness checklist. See the full Department of Defense plan HERE. Or, easiest and best for your business, download our zombie-proof checklist by clicking HERE.

Have a Backup Plan: Include a flash drive with your book that has bonus digital files on it. Easy to transport, keeps your files safe, and can be used almost anywhere, like zombie shelters with USB ports.

Bonus Step (If you survive): When the dust settles and we emerge from World War Z alongside Brad Pitt blinking in the sunlight, the first thing we’ll need to do is accumulate enough wealth to rebuild. Be sure to request our expert guide with 100 Publishing Tips (click on the "Get it Here" link at the top of this page) to help you get a head start on creating the book or printed product of your dreams.

Because when it comes to zombies - head starts are always a good thing!

Did you laugh? We hope so. But we hope you also recognized the useful tips and practical ideas we hid in between the lines. Business is serious, but should be fun, too. Thanks for letting us have a little fun with you today.

*Brought to you by Vervante: A source you can trust for high-quality, zombie-proof books and products.  

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/