Nikolai Sklobovsky
New member
Asher asked me to shed some light on how I created (and even sold) my Civil War calendars.
Here's calendar publishing 101.
"First you must have an FCC license..."
Just kidding.. It's a catchphrase from a local FM station ad (95.5 KLOS)
Instead, you need to create an account at www.lulu.com. It's free. I don't remember how long does it take, maybe awahile, since its UI is not always intuitive. Just make sure you went through the all nooks and cranies. But you gotta have that done.
Next, you need to prepare some images. Keep in mind that the calendar format does not exactly match any standard photo size, be it 2:3 or 3:4. So prepare the pictures with some inevitable trimming/bleeding in mind and dont' expect the border to be perfect (hence no drop shadow effects on the outer edge).
By default each calendar consists of 12 months and starts with January, but you can modify that.
Assuming you're going for a standard 12 month calendar you'd need to pick 12 pictures - and then one more - for the cover.
I suggest once you prepare them, rename them like "00 cover", "01 Some title", "02 Some other title", etc.
Once you done, I also suggest to prepare a Preview - one image (upto 2Mb in size) that would show all or some of the calendar internals. I usually create an image with 4x3 small images of all the pages.
I also upload all "month" images and cover image to my smugmug account and link this gallery to the calendar, and calendar - to the gallery. In case you're wondering how can I complete this viscious circle - both descriptions can be modified later, so you can upload first and create calendar later, or create calendar then upload - in any case onne or both of the desctriptions will need to be modified (both take minor HTML tags, like HREF)
Now, go back to lulu and click "start a new project" button. Projects are different, you choose calendar.
Everything after that is purely following the onscreeen instructions.
At the end you'll be asked for price. And of course, lulu wants some commission
Once the calendar is ready, you'll be given an option to upload the preview I mentioned earlier.
They can also give you the print ready PDF which you may want to print yourself (I don't do it)
If all the source images are properly prepared and you have a decent broadband, one calendar takes about 20 to 30 minutes from start to finish.
Once the calendar is published, lulu will take care of fulfilling the orders. They also have some marketing tools. But, of course, it's your responsibility to let the world know how great your calendars are
Mine are here: http://www.lulu.com/lulu355
Create some and brag about yours
Good luck!
Here's calendar publishing 101.
"First you must have an FCC license..."
Just kidding.. It's a catchphrase from a local FM station ad (95.5 KLOS)
Instead, you need to create an account at www.lulu.com. It's free. I don't remember how long does it take, maybe awahile, since its UI is not always intuitive. Just make sure you went through the all nooks and cranies. But you gotta have that done.
Next, you need to prepare some images. Keep in mind that the calendar format does not exactly match any standard photo size, be it 2:3 or 3:4. So prepare the pictures with some inevitable trimming/bleeding in mind and dont' expect the border to be perfect (hence no drop shadow effects on the outer edge).
By default each calendar consists of 12 months and starts with January, but you can modify that.
Assuming you're going for a standard 12 month calendar you'd need to pick 12 pictures - and then one more - for the cover.
I suggest once you prepare them, rename them like "00 cover", "01 Some title", "02 Some other title", etc.
Once you done, I also suggest to prepare a Preview - one image (upto 2Mb in size) that would show all or some of the calendar internals. I usually create an image with 4x3 small images of all the pages.
I also upload all "month" images and cover image to my smugmug account and link this gallery to the calendar, and calendar - to the gallery. In case you're wondering how can I complete this viscious circle - both descriptions can be modified later, so you can upload first and create calendar later, or create calendar then upload - in any case onne or both of the desctriptions will need to be modified (both take minor HTML tags, like HREF)
Now, go back to lulu and click "start a new project" button. Projects are different, you choose calendar.
Everything after that is purely following the onscreeen instructions.
At the end you'll be asked for price. And of course, lulu wants some commission
Once the calendar is ready, you'll be given an option to upload the preview I mentioned earlier.
They can also give you the print ready PDF which you may want to print yourself (I don't do it)
If all the source images are properly prepared and you have a decent broadband, one calendar takes about 20 to 30 minutes from start to finish.
Once the calendar is published, lulu will take care of fulfilling the orders. They also have some marketing tools. But, of course, it's your responsibility to let the world know how great your calendars are
Mine are here: http://www.lulu.com/lulu355
Create some and brag about yours
Good luck!
