Blog Tag Archives: resources
Spring into new ideas!
Spring makes many people think - spring cleaning – refreshing their spaces. This is the perfect time to hit refresh on your business and hatch some new ideas! Spring forward and leap into those ‘someday’ projects. Sometimes we just need to start, and here at Vervante we love to support you as you move forward. >> Helpful ideas to propel you forward. FREE Expert Guides: Please take a look at the 31 guides available to help in your publishing journey. These guides include topics such as products we offer, tips and tools for creating your products, print specs and guidelines for your print files, and selling through retail channels. Welcome/VIP/Subscription boxes: Thinking of creating your own boxes? We have a free guide to walk you through the steps to creating your custom welcome/VIP/subscription boxes. 5 Steps to Create Your Product: Check out the series of articles to help you go from creation to selling your new product. Article #1: Getting Started Article #2: Creating Your New Product Article #3: Design and Print Files Article #4: Publishing & Printing Article #5: How to Share & Sell Video Vault: If you’re looking for inspiration, please take a look at our collection of 33 videos. These are quick and jam-packed with product ideas, add-ons and packaging options. We can’t wait to see what you create!
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Best of our Blog 2022
If you’re like us, as the New Year approaches it’s very exciting to think about new projects and new possibilities. But it's also fun to take a look back to celebrate the past as we strive to make our future even better. As we move forward, we thought it would be fun to invite you to look back with us at some of the best of what we put out this year - new products, enhanced services, and ideas that can help you share your talents in a bigger way. So here's our Best of 2022, wrapped up with a sparkly bow! #1 Trend-setting and Goal-getting Our team kept working hard this past year to find ways to guide and inspire you with trend-setting ideas and exciting ways to build your businesses and go for your dreams. Here are a few of the best articles we shared in newsletters and on the blog to help you become the goal-getter you know you can be. How to promote expensive products How to sell on Amazon, Etsy, and your own website - ALL AT ONCE! How to start your own subscription box program #2 How to stand out from the crowd Another direction we took this last year was to share ideas to help you stand out from the crowd, to get your products the attention they deserve, and to create loyal, excited fans. A few of these ideas included customizing for VIP experiences and creating packaging and products that "wow." How to give your products the "Etsy treatment" How to create a disc-bound planner How to create custom VIP boxes #3 In-depth industry knowledge Knowledge is power, they say, so our writers worked hard to give you lots of how-tos, guides, and articles to give you insider knowledge of how this industry works and how to best create, share, and sell your creative ideas and products through us. How warehousing can benefit your business How to send supplied items to Vervante What's the difference between print-on-demand and drop-shippping? How order processing and shipping works #4 Author / Entrepreneur Empowerment Writing isn't always easy, but no matter what kind of product you create it's a given that some sort of content will be needed. Sharing ideas for writing, productivity, and even ways to overcome stress was another goal this past year that we hit on the mark. We even took time to gather up tips from other writing pros to help you write content that captivates. 5-Part Series: "How to Create a New Product from A-to-Z" 5 Writing Mistakes that Make You Look Like An Amateur Stress-Busters for Writers and Entrepreneurs Writing Tips from the Pros That's it! Our best of 2022! Now, moving on, here’s to starting 2023 in a memorable and exciting way!
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What is the difference between print on demand and drop shipping?
"What is the difference between “print on demand” and using bulk printing and then drop-shipping? BTW, what does it mean to “drop-ship” something?" If you’ve ever wondered the same thing, we get it. In fact, we’ve been hearing this question a lot lately, so we wanted to give you the scoop on how these two different types of printing and fulfillment work. What is Print On Demand? Print on demand (POD) uses both digital and inkjet printing methods to print books and other products only in the amount needed, when they are needed. Here's how Print On Demand works: An order is placed for a book or other product. We print the exact amount ordered. The order is then shipped to the customer. You only have to pay for printing when an order is placed. Here are two scenarios to illustrate how this works: If you list your book for sale on your website and a customer orders one book, we print one book and ship it to your customer. If you have a speaking event coming up and need 25 books, we will print 25 books and send them to wherever you need them. How does Bulk Printing work? When it comes to bulk printing, the more you print, the lower the price per product. Bulk orders are perfect if you: Are planning a big book or product launch Are headlining an event and plan to make an offer from the stage Have products for workshops and programs that enroll throughout the year Travel often, giving presentations and offering back-of-room sales Anticipate extra sales from joint ventures or media appearances Minimum Order Quantity We're often asked: "What quantity do I need to order to get bulk discounting?" When discussing bulk orders, it's important to understand Minimum Order Quantity, or "MOQ." Minimum Order Quantity refers to the fewest number of units required to be purchased at one time in order to place an order. The main reason for minimum order quantity is due to the upfront fixed costs associated with setting up a custom print job. Minimum order amounts can vary as well, depending on the product. The deciding factor on whether you can use Print on Demand, or MOQ Bulk Order printing, depends on the type and complexity of product. We've created a graphic you can see here that lists many of the products we provide and whether they are POD or MOQ. For example: POD: Card decks, paperback books, notepads, and saddle-stitch booklets MOQ: Hardcover planners and books, kiss-cut or die-cut stickers, and anything with foil stamping or wire-o binding You can see and download this graphic from our website Expert Guides page, or download it directly by clicking here: POD vs. MOQ The MOQ for hardcover products is 25 and we offer quantity discounts for orders of 25 or more. To find out what the minimum order amount is for other types of products, please reach out to us either using the "Get a Quote" link on our website, or by emailing [email protected]. Bulk Order Drop-Shipping In order to take advantage of lower pricing per product, many of our customers choose to have their products printed in bulk and then stored in our warehouse until they need them. Drop-shipping is what happens when we receive notification that 1 or more of those products need to be pulled from inventory then sent to a customer. For every drop-ship order, we charge small order and pick fees to cover the cost of the shipping package/box and the labor to pull the item from inventory. Here is how it works, step-by-step: Products are printed in bulk and stored in our warehouse We receive a fulfillment order for your product. We pull that product from inventory and drop-ship it directly to your customer. Which method is best for you? The answer depends on your budget, your business, and which way works best for getting your products where they need to be. Our team is happy to help you figure out which is best for you, just email us at [email protected]. We hope this helps clarify the differences and benefits for both Print On Demand (POD) and using Bulk Printing with Drop-Shipping. If you have any questions about using POD, Minimum Order Quantity discounts, or bulk printing, storage and fulfillment services, we’re here to help.
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5 Writing Mistakes that Make You Look Like an Amateur
No matter what kind of product you create, the quality of your content matters! The writing you do, whether for books, planners, information products, calendars, or anything else, can make you look like a professional or an amateur, and that make a big difference if you’re trying to create satisfied and loyal customers. Even the most experienced writers make mistakes, but there are some common issues that are easy to avoid, as long as you know what you’re looking for. Mistake #1: Not using a copy editor Nothing can be more damaging to your products and your reputation than publishing a book or other written product that is filled with typos, errors, and incorrect information. If your budget is small, that’s ok, there are free options like Pro Writing Aid or Grammarly that can help. For more ideas and information about copy editing, click here to read “The importance of copy editing for books and products.” Mistake #2: Using passive voice Passive voice is a common mistake that can make your writing less effective and turn the reader off. To put it simply, passive voice makes your writing weak. Active voice is simpler and stronger. It can be tough to recognize passive voice because it’s grammatically correct, and it reads like your average textbook. But that’s the problem. Passive voice reads like a boring textbook – and people don’t want to be bored. The more you work on this, the easier it will become to find instances of passive voice and change them to active. Here are some more examples: Passive: Elizabeth is loved by Mr. Darcy. Active: Mr. Darcy loves Elizabeth. Passive: The coffee spill was cleaned by the barista. Active: The barista cleaned the coffee spill. Passive: The flowers were wilted by the sun. Active: The sun wilted the flowers. Mistake #3: Unnecessary words and “fillers” An easy trap to fall into is using excess words or fillers to stretch out your content. All that extra stuff doesn’t always work, and it can actually end up muddying up your writing and make it seem awkward and confusing. Start by deleting words like “actually, basically, very, quite, just, or somehow.” They take up space without adding anything to your writing. Next look for phrases that can be said in one word. A good example is instead of saying “small in size,” you can just say “small.” Or replace “prior history” with “history.” Mistake #4: Taking too long to get to the point This is especially true when it comes to products that contain shorter passages of content that need to be strong and to the point, such as for daily planners, inspirational or motivational calendars, etc. Don’t beat around the bush. State clearly what is happening, the value of what they are about to read, the point they need to understand. Leave flowery poetry – for poetry. Mistake #5: Apostrophe catastrophes It’s a small simple little thing, but use it wrong and it can make you look like an amateur. Apostrophes are one of the most common mistakes editors watch for and even the professionals let them slip through once in a while. Using the wrong version of its/it’s or here’s vs. here are just a couple of examples. Here’s a tip to avoid this issue: Any time you use an apostrophe in a contraction, where you're combining the verb with the noun (such as "it's" for "it is" or "here's" for "here is"), expand the contraction in your mind so you get the subject-verb agreement right. For example: Writing “Here’s the menus you asked for,” may seem ok at first glance. But, if you expand the contraction, you can can see that saying “Here is the menus you asked for,” is incorrect and you should rather use “Here are the menus you asked for.” Click here to see a fun graphic about apostrophe catastrophes: How to Use an Apostrophe There you have it! Five common writing mistakes, easy to avoid, that will go a long way toward helping you make your writing stronger – and avoid looking like an amateur.
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5 Stress Busters for Writers and Entrepreneurs
No one likes to be stressed, but it's a big part of life and we all have to deal with it. Work, health, relationships, politics, community, neighbors, friends and family - they can all throw curve balls that cause stress, which then roll on to affect all other areas of our life. Learning to deal with stress is important for both mental and physical health, so we wanted to take a break from talking about printing products and focus on something that we can all benefit from right now. STRESS BUSTER #1: Prioritize Avoid letting everything you need to do swirl around like a big bunch of stress-balls in your brain. Prioritize. Do the things first that have the most impact and spend less time on less urgent matters. Here's a tip you don't often hear when people talk about prioritizing: When you're making your lists, zero in on the things that are really out of control and remove them from the list totally. Feels so good! STRESS BUSTER #2: Set realistic deadlines Try not to set unrealistic deadlines for yourself. Writing a book? Instead of saying you'll have it done in a month, instead say you'll write for 1 hour per day. If someone else is giving you harsh deadlines, see if you can negotiate. STRESS BUSTER #3: Know Your Peak Performance Times Are you a morning person? A night owl? We all have certain times in the day when we're more productive. Try to adjust your hours to fit your peak performance times. For example, if you are best during early morning hours, head to your "office" at 5 a.m. for a few hours of creative writing before the kids get up, then schedule exercise, conference calls, social media and other breaks from work for later in the afternoon. STRESS BUSTER #4 Get Outside / Get Active Fresh air does wonders for your mind. A little bit of cardio will do even more. Take breaks from work by stepping out into your backyard to soak up some sun, or taking your dog or kids on a quick walk. Mother Nature gives us plenty of space to breathe and surroundings that are bound to make you feel at peace. Plus some of the benefits of exercise include boosting energy, creativity, focus and productivity. STRESS BUSTER #5: Give yourself a break When we say give yourself a break, we mean it literally. Take some time for you and do something that gives you joy or peace. Art, exercise, sipping a caramel cappuccino in the park, reading a lighthearted novel, crafting, cooking, whatever it takes. It's easy to get caught up in trying to go-go-go and do everything for everyone else. Stop, breath, and take a moment for yourself. It'll do wonders.
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Writings Tips from the Pros
Writing Productivity Tips from the Pros Sometimes when you’re writing, the ideas and words flow. Other times, not so much. We know how frustrating that can be, so we gathered up some of the best strategies for writing others have shared for getting your ideas out of your head and into your product. TIP #1: Write first, edit later We read this in a blog from productivity expert Laura Vanderkam titled Write Fast, Edit Slow and loved it! “When you write fast, you just get it down. You let the momentum of seeing words add up push you forward," she said. "Turn off the inner critic because you’re not trying to create a perfect manuscript, if such a thing is even possible (it isn’t). ... Done is better than perfect because there is no perfect without being done. I truly believe it is easier to turn something into something better than to turn nothing into something”. TIP #2: Know what works best for you Everyone creates differently. If you're someone who thrives on routine, make writing a habit. If you like to wait until you're "in the zone,", then you might want to try batching. Here are tips for both writing styles: MAKE WRITING A HABIT: What works for many people is setting aside regular time for writing and making it a habit. Set aside specific time blocks for writing. If you feel overwhelmed, start small. Write for 30 minutes a day at the time you feel most productive or creative. You'll be amazed what you've accomplished after just a few weeks of doing this. LEARN HOW TO BATCH: We loved this tidbit writing expert Melissa Cassera shares about getting in the mood to write. She said: "Some people love writing “a little bit every day.” I do not. I like to schedule a handful of big writing days per month (called “batch days.”) When the next scheduled day rolls around, I write a ton of material in one, long, mostly-uninterrupted burst. It’s like baking a whole bunch of word-cookies all at once." TIP #3: Get rid of interruptions If you find your writing going nowhere due to distractions from family, friends or surroundings, take control! Silence your phone, turn off your email, send the kids to grandma's or a playdate for a few hours. If working from home is too distracting, head to your favorite coffee shop and sip on a delicious drink while letting the words flow. TIP #4: Take a break You can't type on that keyboard forever, and your brain deserves to rest and recharge once in awhile. So be sure to take regular breaks, this will give your mind a chance to hit the refresh button and loosen up all those brilliant thoughts that can get stuck in the bottleneck of intense focus.
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