Blog

Vervante • November 11, 2021

If you plan on selling products this holiday season, this is one of those emails you need to keep on hand. No matter what you need - from extra print runs to calculating postage and shipping - we can help. CHOOSING SHIPPING METHOD Vervante gives our customers the ability to choose the best shipping method for your needs. Our shipping system will automatically default to Media Mail for domestic shipments. However, if you want your orders to arrive by Christmas, we don't recommend Media Mail after November 30. If you want to set a specific shipping method for a product, you can do this from your Author Dashboard. Here's how: STEP #1: Log into your Vervante Author Dashboard and select the link that says "Select Specific Shipping Methods." You will see a list of your products, their estimated weights, and the default shipping methods. Initially the shipping methods are set to the default of "Best Way." This means that we will use Media Mail unless you change (or have previously) changed the shipping method to something else. (Remember, if you want your packages to arrive by Christmas, we don't recommend using Media Mail after Nov. 30). STEP #2: FOR INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING please click on the link at the top of the page for International Shipping Methods. STEP #3: TO SET DEFAULT SHIPPING METHODS for each of your products, select the desired method you prefer in the right hand column, then click on the "Update Ship Methods" button at the bottom of the page to save your preferences. (VERY IMPORTANT: Don't forget to save your changes) For more details and tips on things like using Media Mail and making sure you're choosing the best shipping method, be sure to check out our article on the blog here: "How to Set Up Shipping for the Holidays." CALCULATING POSTAGE We offer a postage calculator on the Vervante website for our customers. Here’s how to use it: Log into your Vervante account Scroll down to the Support section and select Calculate Postage You will see your products listed and their weight Below your product list you’ll see a USPS shipping calculator.  You can then enter information such as destination, dates, weight, etc to calculate shipping costs. PRINTING TURNAROUND TIMES Be sure to allow time for your products to be printed as you plan your holiday sales deadlines. Turnaround time for products printed on demand is usually 5-7 business days.  Due to increased volume in December, orders may take an additional 2-3 business days to print. HOLIDAY SHIPPING Did you know that because Black Friday falls on Nov 26 this year, you only have less than a month to make sure all orders make it to your customers on time? For that reason, it’s a good idea to get familiar with shipping deadlines. UPS: If you use UPS, check here for their November and December deadlines US POSTAL SERVICE: For USPS, you can check here for shipping deadlines and postage information 2022 DAILY PLANNERS If you’re planning on selling a daily planner for 2022, here are some important dates and information to know. Turnaround times for hardcover planners is approximately 4-6 weeks. For all other planners (laminated, board covers, poly paper, etc.), turnaround time is approximately 4 weeks.  If you are planning on selling a hardcover planner, we are still accepting orders, but cannot guarantee that they will be finished and shipped in time for the Christmas holiday. Please email our team at [email protected] for questions or assistance. FULFILLMENT HELP If you already printed your products and need an easy to manage distribution resource for the holidays or for any time of the year, we can help. Here’s how: Store your products in our modern warehouse facility located in Utah Provide us with order information and we will pull the required products from inventory, package and ship directly to your customers This can be done for individual orders or bulk orders Click here to learn more about our Fulfillment Services Click here to learn more about our Warehousing and Inventory Management Services

Vervante • September 14, 2021

Every author  needs a website. Especially self-published authors. Social media is great. But when it comes down to it, an author website that you control is the best way to promote your books, boost your sales, and create a loyal following that will support your future endeavors too. As a self-published author you should have a website, at least one social media account, and an Amazon Author Page that works together in harmony to connect and promote. But the mistake that many authors made is building them – then forgetting about them. An active website can do wonders for sales and engagement. An outdated or stagnant one will do the opposite. Luckily, it’s easy to improve your author website so that you can make sure it’s supporting your goals. If you’re thinking to yourself “Gee, it’s been a while since I’ve checked in to my own site,” we’ve rounded up a few tips for making your author website all it can be. 5 Things You Need for An Author Website First, let’s cover the basics. You should have the following 5 things on your author website. Author Bio Your Books and Products Mailing List Sign Up Contact Info Blog or Calendar Tips for improving your author website TIP #1: AUTHOR BIO: Make sure your bio is up-to-date, and that it includes a clear call-to-action at the end. If a reader feels connect to you, give them a way to stay in touch. This can include pointing them to your email/newsletter sign-up (see Tip #3), buying a book, or even just following you on an active social media account. TIP #2: BOOKS & PRODUCTS: All of the books and products you currently have available for sale should be listed and have easy-to-find links for purchasing. If you have multiple products or lines, make sure this page is well-organized and easy to read. Many readers will go to your website to find your books, and if you make it easy for them to click and buy, you’ll make them very happy (and get more sales!) We encourage you to sell directly from your site using any shopping cart, then let us print and ship the product to your customer.  Selling direct allows you to collect the customer data, specifically their email address, and build your subscriber list. You can then sell your products on Amazon as a secondary distribution channel. TIP #3: MAILING LIST SIGN UP: Start collecting email addresses even if you don’t have a newsletter yet. Building a database of interested followers and loyal fans is a very powerful way to boost future sales, connect with your readers, and create a community that will support you for the long term. (You can read more here about how a contact list can support your next book or product launch.) TIP #4: CONTACT INFO: Don’t leave them hanging. You don’t have to share your personal email or phone number, but be sure that readers have a way to stay in touch including an email/newsletter sign-up, social media, or even how to follow you on your Amazon Author Page. TIP #5: BLOG or CALENDAR PAGE: A blog is a great way to let people know more about you, share your world, announce new books, launch campaigns, and give them a place to connect in a deeper way with you. A calendar is also a great method of announcing events such as book signing, online live streams, holiday promotions, etc. TIP #6: MAKE IT SPECIAL: Offering incentives can go a long way toward creating a loyal and enthusiastic following. Lead Magnets Pre-Sale / Pre-Launch Offers Discounts Bonuses VIP Status Free Content Swag (Stickers are fun -- Custom card decks too!) If you’re gearing up for a book or product launch for the holidays, now is the perfect time to update your author page. Having one more support system updated and ready to go will streamline your launch and help with smooth sales throughout the year ahead.

Vervante • May 16, 2021

You’ve created the perfect planner, now the big question is how much to charge for it? It’s like a scary math problem where the answer isn’t always clear. Price it too high and no one will buy. Price it too low and you devalue your work and your profits. Finding the right price doesn’t have to feel like a guessing game, though, especially if you follow these steps. (btw, these work for any product – books, journals, card decks, etc.) STEP #1: Research similar products and see what they are charging. This will give you a starting price range and an idea of what customers are willing to pay. A note about pricing: If your community is relatively small and you’re planning on printing a small batch, for example less than 500 planners, don’t compare your product and price point to planner industry leaders Emily Ley or Erin Condren who both print thousands at a time, making their costs significantly lower.  STEP #2: Calculate your costs including printing, production, and fulfillment to get a break-even baseline. If you plan to sell on Amazon, remember to add in 15% commission for Amazon.  If you sell from your own site, include fees such as credit card processing and other merchant fees. STEP #3: Consider the value your book, planner or product is offering to your customer. Will this product help them save time, money, stress? If you deliver a lot of value, this in turn raises the value of your product and the price you can charge. STEP #4: Set a price that feels right to you. If you think you’re charging too little, then you’ll feel resentful and that will come through. If you think you are charging too much, you might feel nervous, unsure or scared to put it out there. STEP #5: Poll beta testers. Reach out to friends, colleagues, anyone who might fit your target customer demographic and ask for feedback.  A soft-launch is a great way to test the water.  Pre-orders are another great way to test your product, price, and even help determine how many to print. The other added benefit of pre-orders is that it helps offset the cost of the print run. STEP #6: Relax that this isn’t set in stone. Pricing can be nerve-racking, we know, but you can always adjust. You might start out with an introductory price to test the waters and then adjust it to fit demand. Coupon codes, special packaged deals, and other similar methods can be used until you’ve got it just right. STEP #7: Add value to support your price: Make the price you set a no-brainer by adding so much value that your customer is excited to buy! Create packages to make it unique and different than anything else – and add value with extra products that complement it. For example, for daily planners you could include extras like pens, clips, bookmarks, notepads, stickers, card decks, or even experiences like an introductory coaching session or limited-time membership in a mastermind or online program. Adding a little something extra like this will elevate your planner's value in your customer's eyes. Yes, there might be similar products with lower prices (that are most likely bulk-produced in China), but you have the ability with self-publishing services to create something unique, elevate your customer's experience, and make yours the choice they want.

Vervante • October 6, 2020

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!

Vervante • September 3, 2020

Want to know the best time to promote your new product? Before it's officially available! Preselling is a powerful marketing strategy that everyone can benefit from. The presale period is so important, in fact, it should be the centerpiece of your marketing and promotional campaign. What is a presale? It's that period of time when you're in the final stretch, polishing up your new product and preparing for the big launch, but not quite ready to print and ship. Presales offer several big benefits #1: Takes the guesswork out of knowing how many books, etc to print ahead of time if you want to use bulk printing #2: Helps offset the cost of printing, marketing, etc. by collecting payment for the product before you officially launch it. #3: Generates good "buzz" to support stronger sales How to generate interest in preorders Preorders work wonders for building buzz and building excitement about your upcoming launch. They can lead to more sales initially and lead to sustained sales over time as well. But how can you convince readers to buy a product when it isn’t available to read yet? Offer free swag: This is a popular strategy, and it works! Give readers an extra incentive to preorder and something that offers instant gratification to hold them over until official launch day. Send a digital gift pack: If you're on a budget, this is a more economical version of swag. Send them downloads, recordings, exclusive short stories, extras they can print and add to the planner, etc. Form a fan squad: If you have a group of friends and fans who are excited about your upcoming launch, harness that power by asking them to be your official launch team. Send them early copies so they can leave reviews and recommendations. Let them share details about the new book on their own social media and give them special links to let their followers pre-order. Use your social media: Give your social media images an update by adding information or images about your upcoming launch. Have a strategy that takes readers on a journey to get them invested and excited such as cover reveals, printing snapshots, excerpts and more. Send an email to subscribers: If you have a mailing list, (every author should), then you already have a group of people who are interested in what you are doing. Send them updates, build the excitement, and give them exclusive offers to support your presale offer. How to set up your products for presales It's easy to offer presales, here's what to do: Set up a landing page and allow customers to pay you for the product ahead of time. Be sure to communicate clearly when customers should expect to receive their purchase. At the close of the presale window, let Vervante know how many you need printed. Send us an export from your shopping cart of all presale orders and we'll ship your planner or product to each of your customers. Each person's situation might be different, so if you are planning on offering presales, it's always a good idea to consult with our publishing team so we can make sure you're optimizing each step. Just reach out at [email protected] or schedule a 1-on-1 call using our online scheduler.