Yearly Archives: 2015

Why you should (really) invest time in your product description

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Creating a calendar is a very visual business, yes. However, there’s more to it and since we like to make sure their your products have as good a chance of selling as possible we’d like to draw your attention to a check list we’ve put together that will help you improve your product description (link below). Here’s why this element of your calendar is so vital for your success as a self-publisher:

So, you’ve finished designing your calendar. Everything is really looking good. You’re happy. However, you’re not quite done yet because words are no less important than the visuals. In order to turn you project into a product that can be sold successfully, a convincing product description is needed.

This calendar element is made up of your short description, your advertising blurb and your keywords. Together with the thumbnails, these three components are the most important information that we transfer to the central book trade catalogues and retail platforms. Search engine exposure and making your calendar visible on the web largely depend on a good product description.

Our advice therefore: Don’t rush through this bit and take some time to get it right. After all, this is your chance to attract potential buyers’ attention and let them know why your calendar is special and just the thing they should be hanging up on their wall!

Click here for our lowdown of product description dos and don’ts

 

Answering your questions: Amazon ‘on stock’

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We often get asked why some Calvendo products are listed by Amazon as ‘on stock’ and others not. Based on the Calvendo digital print-on-demand set-up, the latter will then have  a longer delivery time because they are only produced upon customer order. Admittedly, the ins and outs of this gargantuan online retailer are pretty much unfathomable, however, there’s a bit of background we can give you about the ‘on stock’ issue:

First of all, if Amazon (or other online platforms, for that matter) pre-order Calvendo products and stock calendar copies is solely at their discretion. Calvendo can’t influence this. Retailers base this decision on their market assessment and how customer demand develops.

So, if you want your calendar to be put on stock, it is important that new releases swiftly achieve initial sales. Certain online mechanism will then take effect so that visibility and availability in online catalogs will be increased and improved for further customers. If customer interest in your product persists, it will become even more visible online.

Successful products are then in a kind of ‘upwards spiral’ which is on Amazon, for example, reflected in a product’s ‘Bestsellers Rank’. And sometimes it’s little things that you yourself (or friends and family) can do to move things in the right directions, such as repeated clicks on your listed product on Amazon. ‘The machine’ will register this interest and sent the right signals onwards then …

CALVENDO self-publishers in conversation: Brian Ross Haslam

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With a background in arts and photography, Brian Ross Haslam is applying all his skills in order to create his elegant floral photos. Here, the Devon-based photographer  tells us why training with an advertising photographer in London was an eye opener for him plus he reveals some of his personal ‘tricks of the photography trade’. By the way,  the photograph you see in the image below (also on the cover of one of Brian’s Calvendo calendars) won second place in the International Garden Photographer of the Year’s Plant Portraits category! It’s a Magnolia campbellii var. “Alba”, just in case you’re wondering. (We were.)

Copyright: Brian Ross Haslam

Copyright: Brian Ross Haslam

Brian, can you talk a bit about your background as a photographer and how and when you took up photography?

The only ‘A’ level I passed at Torquay Grammar School in 1979 was Art, so Art School seemed the next option. I moved next door to the Technical College to take a one year Art Foundation Course. Here, you have a go at everything including sculpture, pottery, printmaking, jewellery, life modelling, photography, painting and drawing. I then applied to Exeter for Fine Art, Brighton for Graphics, and Bournemouth for Photography and Film. Luckily, I was accepted at Bournemouth for a three year Diploma Course. Nick Knight, the renowned fashion and documentary photographer, was in the year above me and always in another league.

After graduating, some of us gravitated to London to look for assisting work and advertising photographer Paul Windsor took me on as assistant which was an eye opener. His equipment ran from Nikon to Hasselblad to Mamiya and to Sinar for 5×4 and 10×8. Lighting included tungsten and strobe flash on an industrial scale. Until then, I had never even heard of an art director, and Paul had worked as an art director and photographer for fifteen years, For me, it was the introduction to the world of advertising photography and advertising agencies. Eventually, I had to return to Torbay. I have taken some book signing photos for The Torbay Bookshop, and worked for many years as a wedding photographer.

On the amateur and personal side, the choice seemed to be landscape or flowers. Since you need to travel for dramatic landscapes, I settled on florals. I used to visit gardens open to the public, but now try to grow my own to have more control over the photos. A clean background always helps when shooting flowers, as well as no wind.

How would you describe your style and approach as a photographer? Continue reading →