Creating and Selling Calendars

I know no one is thinking about 2015 yet, I'm still stuck in Christmas 2013 in my head, but now is the time to start thinking about calendars. It takes 2-3 months to get into the Google grid, and people start buying Christmas gifts sooner and sooner every year, so time's a-wastin', as we say in Texas. Actually, last year I didn't make calendars at all, so I totally missed the train. I'm not sure what happened. (Oh yeah, I was finishing up my first kid's book.) ANYWAY, since I didn't want to miss it again this year, I have just finished my calendars for 2015. In June. You can see them here,

I'm sure everyone has their own processes and methods with calendar design, but I decided to explain my process for those who have never created them but have always wanted to. The first time I made calendars with my sister's fairy tale pictures, we went the expensive route. We ordered 100 of them from a company to sell to family and friends. The results? We just barely broke even, and I still have several in the garage. From 2008. So unless you have for sure sales, I don't suggest this route.

I design my calendars with Zazzle, because it's free, good exposure, and a relatively simple process. I am going to also sell them through Lulu this year, because I can purchase them myself for about half the price that Zazzle offers. But Lulu's design process, for me, has been much more time consuming.

Here is my calendar design process:

1. Choose my subjects. I look through my huge bank of photographs from Cherie and see what jumps out at me. Like this year, I noticed she had a lovely variety of rose pictures. So I decided to do an entire calendar for roses. I create a folder for each calendar I want to make and place photo options in each folder. A few things to keep in mind when choosing photos: Are they high quality, will they still look good in 8x10 prints? Will they crop to 8x10 size with bleed space? Are they photos people will want to look at for a whole month?
2. I also look at the top selling calendars for the year before. If you check Zazzle's top selling calendars, you will notice there are a lot of niche categories, like one breed of dog or cat, or cars from a specific decade. Niche categories are good to remember when you are looking through your photo banks. This year, I made a calendar dedicated entirely to turtles.
3. Choose my photos. Remember you will need 12 photos, one for each month, plus a cover photo and a back photo.
4. Choose my cover photo. You want a picture that has room for your title font, and you want a photo that will really capture the essence of the subject. Here is the one I chose for our "Enchanted Forest" calendar. 

On your back cover, you will want to include your photographer information, as well as your website info, in case people want to purchase your calendar from you next year.
Another trick for covers; you can use a photo that wouldn't crop right on a background color, then insert a frame and text block, like I did for this calendar.

Remember, you want something that will catch people's attention. Zazzle currently has almost 47,000 calendars up for sale.

5. Edit my photos. I crop each photo to the 8x10 size first to make sure they will work without comprising the integrity of the photo subject. If I'm dealing with photos my sister hasn't already edited, I use Adobe Elements 12 to run them though a few filters to see how they look. Here's an example of one editing process:

I am by no means a professional graphic artist, but I really like the effect. You don't have to do every single photo this way, in fact I would recommend changing up the filters and effects. Check all your photos in full-screen view, watching for blurry spots and unprofessional backgrounds you can crop out.

6. Upload them to Zazzle. Make sure you use good descriptions and key words for each calendar.

7. Promote, promote, promote. Create a Pinterest board just for your calendars. Mention them on Facebook. Ask around to see if family and friends want to order them for Christmas gifts. Remember, the more clicks and favorites you get, the more noticed they will be.

I have been designing calendars for several years now, and enjoy the challenge every year. I have a lot to learn, still. I would love any thoughts or suggestions you may have, as well as any thoughts you have on selling with Lulu, as I haven't been working with them very long.