Let's talk about calendars

Ann McRae

Alrighty then. We know we won't have calendars available from smugmug this year. But I like the idea of making calendars and using them as gifts, for customers and also for coworkers.

Two years ago, I used Lulu. Nice enough, but not perfect, not spectacular print results. But I liked being able to get good pricing on small quantities, and to be able to offer them for sale (although sales did not happen).

I just put a calendar together at my day job (ran a contest among employees and then did the layout using these templates). We are printing over 300 so a local commercial print shop is printing them.

I certainly won't be printing hundreds, unless I somehow manage to get them into a store and I am not working on that!

So, share your calendar printing stories and ideas please.

ann

And I just found that Zazzle has a 40% sale til the end of October.

Elaine

Ann McRae wrote:

Alrighty then. We know we won't have calendars available from smugmug this year. But I like the idea of making calendars and using them as gifts, for customers and also for coworkers.

Two years ago, I used Lulu. Nice enough, but not perfect, not spectacular print results. But I liked being able to get good pricing on small quantities, and to be able to offer them for sale (although sales did not happen).

I just put a calendar together at my day job (ran a contest among employees and then did the layout using these templates). We are printing over 300 so a local commercial print shop is printing them.

I certainly won't be printing hundreds, unless I somehow manage to get them into a store and I am not working on that!

So, share your calendar printing stories and ideas please.

ann

And I just found that Zazzle has a 40% sale til the end of October.

Nice templates!

I used Zazzle last year for just a couple calendars. I was rather disappointed...enough that I didn't give away the one I had planned on giving. The pics were over-all very dark and a bit saturated, and shadow detail disappeared completely. I've heard others have had fine results with Zazzle, however. I'm interested to learn of more options.

dlibrach

I've just created a few calenders here. at RedBubble. Free to set up an account and you can sell them online too at your price. Just about to order some so can't speak about the end product firsthand, but from what I've heard the quality is excellent. Do a search around the site and you can see a few journal entries and pictures of people with their calendars. Also a great site for visual artists and writers.

Cheers,
D

P.S. Should disclose that I do some work for that site but I wrote the above simply as a happy user there, not as an ad for the company or in any official capacity. I do not benefit one little bit by sales or new members. If any mods see a conflict here, please feel free to remove the post.

Ann McRae

Hi David

I am anxiously awaiting a review of the quality of the product. Please keep us posted once you see the finished work.

BTW, I love your logo!

ann

dlibrach wrote:

I've just created a few calenders here. at RedBubble. Free to set up an account and you can sell them online too at your price. Just about to order some so can't speak about the end product firsthand, but from what I've heard the quality is excellent. Do a search around the site and you can see a few journal entries and pictures of people with their calendars. Also a great site for visual artists and writers.

Cheers,
D

P.S. Should disclose that I do some work for that site but I wrote the above simply as a happy user there, not as an ad for the company or in any official capacity. I do not benefit one little bit by sales or new members. If any mods see a conflict here, please feel free to remove the post.

dlibrach

Ann McRae wrote:

Hi David

I am anxiously awaiting a review of the quality of the product. Please keep us posted once you see the finished work.

BTW, I love your logo!

ann

Thanks Ann! Just sort of came to me one day. Did the first draught on a napkin at a bar.

Will let you know how the calendars come out.

Cheers,
D

mercphoto

Ann McRae wrote:

Two years ago, I used Lulu. Nice enough, but not perfect, not spectacular print results.

I was a bit disappointed with Lulu. I get better results from my Epson R200 on matte paper. Has anyone tried Costco for photo calendars?

jrnylst

ImageStation was the best of the photo printers I've tried, but they're gone. I, too, do a calendar at a local printer through and for my work, and they come out spectacularly when I work very closely with the printer. I have to convert everything to CMYK, and I'm still very much a novice at maintaining quality through that process. It takes me a good three months of 40-hour weeks AWAY from work to design, create, proofread and convert the final product and then proof the printer's proofs. ImageStation would take me about two hours.

My calendars are given to clients of my employer. I'm under contract not to produce a competitive product, but I've often thought if this arrangement one day ends (which the economy may take care of after this year), the local printer might be the best way to do this on my own. I've been very disappointed with the options and/or results from other commercial printers such as Lulu, Zazzle, Shutterfly, Kodak, Walgreen's, etc. I too am anxiously awaiting to hear how RedBubble does, but I'd almost be inclined to print photos myself or commercially and adhere them to blank calendars either purchased commercially or created by me. At least then I have control of how the final product looks. And it would actually be faster than what I'm doing for my work!

ewold

dlibrach wrote:

I've just created a few calenders here. at RedBubble. Free to set up an account and you can sell them online too at your price. Just about to order some so can't speak about the end product firsthand, but from what I've heard the quality is excellent. Do a search around the site and you can see a few journal entries and pictures of people with their calendars. Also a great site for visual artists and writers.

Cheers,
D

I've been seriously looking at the red bubble calendars they look so beautiful, such sophisticated designs. I just haven't liked any other templates as much as there's. I saw you have some beautiful calendars on your site there, please let us know how you like the end product.

Ann McRae

jrnylst wrote:

, but I'd almost be inclined to print photos myself or commercially and adhere them to blank calendars

The template I referenced in my OP would allow you to print the pages at a good photo printer or via smugmug as 11 x 17 sheets, and then bind them. But that would produce a pretty expensive product. I believe Costco price for 12x18 is about $5, so that means $60 for a 12 month calendar! I wonder whether Staples or their ilk could print those files for less (on non photo paper )

My ideal is to find a sub $15/calendar price point with excellent quality. Maybe I am asking too much?

kungaloosh

I also am very interested in this topic. I have it in my mind that I'm going to make a calender for my club to buy this Christmas. My first idea was just to make it put it out there on Lulu, but heard they have quality control issues when it comes to calender printing and high shipping costs.

So next I downloaded the Photoshop templates. (These are excellent thanks so much for posting those, Ann McRae.) Designing with an eye to to taking the finished product to a place in town to get printed / bound.

I just today found Pro-pics and am intrigued by their calendar product. They claim to have a satisfaction promise to reprint it if you don't like the results the first time, which sounds like a nice perk. Also their downloaded software will let you completely customize the dates and appearance (as much as I was with the photoshop templates anyway)

I'm going to do one or the other (local or online) in the next month or so... will let everyone know how they turn out.

--april

BradfordBenn

This might be heresy, but have you looked at Kinkos? They have some nice simple ones that I have used for work.

kungaloosh

BradfordBenn wrote:

This might be heresy, but have you looked at Kinkos? They have some nice simple ones that I have used for work.

not one local to here, but I did get a pretty nice one done by Wallgreens last year, just looking for a better price for multiple printings.

just 2 more releases to get and the print can start :ivar

Ann McRae

David- any feedback yet on the Red Bubble product?

dlibrach wrote:

I've just created a few calenders here. at RedBubble. Free to set up an account and you can sell them online too at your price. Just about to order some so can't speak about the end product firsthand, but from what I've heard the quality is excellent. Do a search around the site and you can see a few journal entries and pictures of people with their calendars. Also a great site for visual artists and writers.

Cheers,
D

P.S. Should disclose that I do some work for that site but I wrote the above simply as a happy user there, not as an ad for the company or in any official capacity. I do not benefit one little bit by sales or new members. If any mods see a conflict here, please feel free to remove the post.

dlibrach

Didn't get a chance to order them until a week later. Should arrive shortly. Will post then.

D

kungaloosh

I just wanted to give positive feedback towards my experiment with using Propicsexpress.com to print my calendars...

They are beautiful!!! the program was really easy to use and very fast printing and shipping and reasonable price too!

I'm just jazzed at the whole process!!!
:ivar :ivar :ivar

Ann McRae

kungaloosh wrote:

I just wanted to give positive feedback towards my experiment with using Propicsexpress.com to print my calendars...

They are beautiful!!! the program was really easy to use and very fast printing and shipping and reasonable price too!

I'm just jazzed at the whole process!!!
:ivar :ivar :ivar

Show us pics of the goods!


ann

Ann McRae

Anybody with any updates? I have left this very late again, but may still make some.

ann

Sticks

lulu calendars
I had a question involving calendars with Lulu. I have used them to make calendars for Christmas the passed two years, but when I went to do another one this year, they changed their format on me. Before, I used to be able to create my own images in photoshop using the dimensions 13.75" x 10.5" but now, they use this wizard program that screws up my images now. I tried to resize to get my image to fit, but nothing seems to be working. When I chatted with their online help, they had no clue how to help me either. I'm currently waiting for results from their tech support, but decided to see if anyone could help me on here while I'm waiting. Does anyone know how to make my dimensions so it fits and doesn't get cut off. I didn't anticipate running into a problem like this and really want to get this project done and ordered. Please help me. Thanks in advance.

Sarah

Ann McRae

Sorry Sarah, I haven't tried them this year.

ann

Sticks wrote:

I had a question involving calendars with Lulu. I have used them to make calendars for Christmas the passed two years, but when I went to do another one this year, they changed their format on me. Before, I used to be able to create my own images in photoshop using the dimensions 13.75" x 10.5" but now, they use this wizard program that screws up my images now. I tried to resize to get my image to fit, but nothing seems to be working. When I chatted with their online help, they had no clue how to help me either. I'm currently waiting for results from their tech support, but decided to see if anyone could help me on here while I'm waiting. Does anyone know how to make my dimensions so it fits and doesn't get cut off. I didn't anticipate running into a problem like this and really want to get this project done and ordered. Please help me. Thanks in advance.

Sarah

mrcoons

I had the same difficulty Sarah and I did not get any satisfaction from their support folks either. I just kept resizing my photos until I got them to work.

Looking at the images I ended up using they ended up between 11.70 x 7.82 and 12.97 x 8.65inches in size at 300PPI.

I went ahead and setup my calendar with Lulu but I have started looking elsewhere as I was very frustrated with them this year. I asked them 3 times what their file size guidelines were and they would never directly answer the question.

I hope this helps.

Sticks wrote:

I had a question involving calendars with Lulu. I have used them to make calendars for Christmas the passed two years, but when I went to do another one this year, they changed their format on me. Before, I used to be able to create my own images in photoshop using the dimensions 13.75" x 10.5" but now, they use this wizard program that screws up my images now. I tried to resize to get my image to fit, but nothing seems to be working. When I chatted with their online help, they had no clue how to help me either. I'm currently waiting for results from their tech support, but decided to see if anyone could help me on here while I'm waiting. Does anyone know how to make my dimensions so it fits and doesn't get cut off. I didn't anticipate running into a problem like this and really want to get this project done and ordered. Please help me. Thanks in advance.

Sarah

redleash

Review of Shutterfly
I've used Shutterfly to print cards, books, and calendars. Their notecards are great but a bit small for what my customers prefer. I haven't tried their greeting cards b/c they are not cost-effective. I've been extremely pleased with the quality of their books, but again they are more costly than other sites so I don't think they are a great source for commercial quantities. They do offer discounts if you pre-order in bulk, which I did for cards and books. The books make great gifts even if they aren't the best choice for sales. I created 2 calendars for gifts and was pleased. They don't have the glossy look and feel of commercial products such as you'd find at Barnes and Noble, for example, but my family were pleased. The pics were true to my uploads in color and clarity, and there was plenty of writing space on the days. I'm not sure they are the best choice for commercial use or for sending to clients if you need a "WOW" factor. But for a personalized gift, or for an organization, I think they would work.

One caveat: I have not ordered anything from Shutterfly in several months, so I don't know if they've made any recent changes.

Good Luck!
Lauren

Art Scott

kungaloosh wrote:

I just wanted to give positive feedback towards my experiment with using Propicsexpress.com to print my calendars...

They are beautiful!!! the program was really easy to use and very fast printing and shipping and reasonable price too!

I'm just jazzed at the whole process!!!
:ivar :ivar :ivar

I could not find a published price list.....do they have one???
link please if so.

kungaloosh

Art Scott wrote:

I could not find a published price list.....do they have one???
link please if so.

for 11x17 saddle-stitched, folded calendar the price was $17

for 12x18 spiral bound calendars price was $19

shipped fed-ex 2 day and were really quick. Nice print job, and excellent customer service. getting busy though due to Christmas.

dlibrach

OK, sorry for the late reply. Below are a few pictures of the calendars that I received from RedBubble. They are awesome! Nice and big (~12"x17"). It is a very clean style that works quite well for my work. Plus they did a great job rendering the colors from the original images. There is also a link back to your online portfolio on RedBubble on the back of each calendar. Unfortunately can't customize it to direct to your own personal website.

You can see my calendars on the site here.

Happy to answer any questions.

Cheers,
Dave

P.S. Should note that I did have a slight QC problem with one page (June) on one of my calendars (I received 4 in total). However, their customer service is awesome and they'll be sending a replacement. Looked like something was wrong with the printer for that particular page.



Front cover on left. Example of inside page on right:


Frong cover on left. Back cover on right. The back has thumbnail previews of the images for each month:


I apologize for the poor image quality of the photos. These were all quick grab shots at ISO 3200 in my dimly lit office with my shadow thrown in for good measures. They do not do the original product much justice but should give you a good idea of what they look like:)

ewold

dlibrach wrote:

OK, sorry for the late reply. Below are a few pictures of the calendars that I received from RedBubble. They are awesome!

Thanks for the update. The do look fantastic. Time for me to put one together!

MaryBoo

How much $$ ?
What's the printing & shipping costs on the RedBubble calendars?

Costco's calendars are OK, but not great. However their price is great. Calendars are $9.99, plus shipping at $4.95 + $2.50 for each addition calendar.

ewold

MaryBoo wrote:

What's the printing & shipping costs on the RedBubble calendars?

Costco's calendars are OK, but not great. However their price is great. Calendars are $9.99, plus shipping at $4.95 + $2.50 for each addition calendar.

It's $19.00 for the calendar and shipping probably depends on where in the world it goes to. For me it's $5.17. It seems to be somewhat equivalent of other places I've looked such as Mpix.

dlibrach

ewold wrote:

It's $19.00 for the calendar and shipping probably depends on where in the world it goes to. For me it's $5.17. It seems to be somewhat equivalent of other places I've looked such as Mpix.

Yes, it's $19 (USD or CDN...they still have the CDN exchange rate at par to the US ). I think I paid about $8 to have four shipped to Canada. The great thing is that you can sell them directly online and you can set your own markup price. They'll handle all the shipping, printing and money just like when someone orders your prints when you have a smugmug pro account.

I've already sold 2 of the ones above after people saw them firsthand! I have also received great feedback about the calendars from people who bought them directly from the site.

Hope that helps.

D

PS: I should disclose that I used to work for RedBubble. However all I cared about was finding a great calendar. I find smugmug prints to be of much better quality (and the best I've seen anywhere online!) but I have not found an equal for RedBubble's cards or calendars (locally or online).

fotofool

Calendars are now available through SmugMug
MyCanvas and SmugMug have partnered to offer an awesome option for calendars. You can check out the calendars as well as photobooks and posters at smugmug.mycanvas.com.

• There is a 20% off coupon code, SMHOLIDAY, that can be entered at checkout which is valid until midnight, December 24th.

Please let us know what you like or don't like about the calendars so we can make it an even better product.

Thanks, Kelvin

Ann McRae

Hi Kelvin

Wow, thanks for this. Had a quick look and things look pretty nice.

Can you tell me how to make all months have the 'one photo' or blank template? I haven't really had a good look but my first glance shows each month with a specific fixed template.

Guess What! I figured it out! This is sweet.

ann

fotofool wrote:

MyCanvas and SmugMug have partnered to offer an awesome option for calendars. You can check out the calendars as well as photobooks and posters at smugmug.mycanvas.com.

• There is a 20% off coupon code, SMHOLIDAY, that can be entered at checkout which is valid until midnight, December 24th.

Please let us know what you like or don't like about the calendars so we can make it an even better product.

Thanks, Kelvin

fotofool

Ann McRae wrote:

Hi Kelvin

Wow, thanks for this. Had a quick look and things look pretty nice.

Can you tell me how to make all months have the 'one photo' or blank template? I haven't really had a good look but my first glance shows each month with a specific fixed template.

ann

Ann -

Unfortunately, to get this out before the new year, we had to launch without theme and layout selection capability which we are still working on. That functionality will make it very easy to do what you'd like but in the meantime you can do it on your own several different ways:

• Drag an image onto the page and then drag it so that the upper left hand corner just snaps off the edges of the page. Scale and crop the image so that it's edges completely overlap the page area.
• Go to a month that has a full-bleed image/image well and click on that image. Right click and select "copy element(s)". Go to the paqe where you want the full-bleed image and right click on that page and select "paste element(s)". You may have to drag the pasted image so that it is centered on the page. It will probably bounce around a bit so please be a bit patient. Drag the photo you want onto the image/image well.
• Delete everything on the page and right click on one of your images under the My Photos section to the left. Click on "Use as background". The problem with this is that you can't scale or pan the image.

Good luck.