E-book or real book for the beach this summer?

After a series of sunny bank holidays, you’re probably thinking ahead to this summer’s holiday. One of the decisions to be made this year is whether to take the traditional pile of books – or lighten your luggage by taking an e-reader instead.

It seems that more and more of us are opting for the e-reader, with a fourfold growth in digital book sales reported by the Publishers Association on Tuesday this week. E-books and audiobooks worth £16m were sold in 2010.

But those publishers of the airport novel who are committed to print don’t have to worry too much just yet, since by far the biggest chunk of the market still goes to academic and professional books. That’s easy to understand since such books are often weighty items that aren’t fun to hoist around.

When it comes to leisure books, however, it seems digital has yet to make a large dent.

Mintel research released in March showed that while 18% of consumers said they read e-books, 49% would rather read a real book

Overall, electronic publications still account for a relatively small share of the market.

It’s worth bearing in mind though that their share of the market is growing, and expected to grow fast, making this an issue that booksellers need to be taking account of now in order to stay ahead in the future.

Richard Mollet, Chief Executive of the Publishers Association, said: “Parallel to this vibrant performance in digital publishing, the traditional print book market remains hugely popular for the majority of readers, and these figures point to a future of print and digital books co-existing in the marketplace.”

Are you thinking of using flyers for your business?

Flyer advertising is still a much-preferred method used to engage with your customers and potential customers.

By printing fundamental information about your business in a colourful and eye-catching way you can communicate with consumers in their own individual homes. Many of these consumers keep flyers with regard to future reference.

Typically this type of advertising medium should only contain a minimal amount of information to ensure the message you are trying to get across does not get lost in a mass of print. Flyers can be printed in one or more colours and can be imprinted on both sides.

• Flyers offer flexibility as they can be altered frequently to publicise your company’s newest offer, including discount vouchers and special offers
• They can also produce genuine feedback (& measures) through customers when discount vouchers are used
• By using a professional company for leaflet printing you can make sure first impressions of your business will really make an impact

Small businesses often benefit from printed flyers as they can be produced using the minimum amount of investment and targeted to specific viewers. They can also offer an invaluable way to create a bond between your business and the local community.

What are canvas prints?

It seems like a simple enough question, but if this is your first time buying a canvas print then you are probably excited by the idea but are not 100% sure about what to expect.

So, here’s some information that will help you to fill the gaps and discover why a canvas print is a fantastic way to display your photo and why you might want to seriously consider the option.

From your photo onto canvas

The initial stage in canvas printing is to receive an image from our customers – usually in a .jpg format but we can also work with many other file formats – along with your canvas size requirements.

We then carefully look at your image. Identify any editing that needs to be completed, for example removing red eye, small blemishes etc. and then crop the image to the specified sizing. At this stage we also balance the colours to achieve the best possible print from your image.

Once the image is fully prepared we print onto the canvas using a range of wide format printers.

The canvas print is then stretched on to a wooden frame, which is ready to hang!

Canvas prints from Kall Kwik, Farnham make the perfect personalised gift. It could be of your pet, the family or perhaps a shot from your holiday of a lifetime – it’s your choice, and they do make a great talking point in the home and is something which is bound to be treasured for years to come.

You'll enjoy this video of The Printing of the Royal Wedding Stamps

Here is some behind the scenes insight into how the Royal Wedding Stamps were created and printed.

Genuine insight from a story not often told, this two minute video shows:

• Attention to detail
• Pride from the Printers
• Brilliant reproduction

And, of course, they are now on sale!

Make your copy interesting and intriguing

Writing copy – or in other words – copywriting is a skill.

If you’re not confident in your own skills, then it is well worth hiring external assistance.

Investment will soon pay off with increased interest, more leads and ultimately sales for your business!

If you wish to adopt the in-house approach then here are some good examples to follow.

• A heading must make the reader want to find out more, and not reveal so much they might not feel they need to read it.
• Try to avoid ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ … the writing most likely to be read is me to you. People don’t necessarily relate to organisations
• Count the number of ‘you’ words … you, yours, your versus ‘me’ words such as I, us, our, ours and we. The ratio should be at least 2:1, preferably 3:1
• You can also use questions at the ends of sentences or paragraphs. Why is this?
• Because you then have to read on to get the answers (and if you notice, the end of point 5 and start of this point demonstrate what I mean)

Oh yes, and whatever you do, ignore the grammar suggestions (from Microsoft Word) they are 100 per cent useless!

When thinking about your copy ... it's always good practice to speak with your printer as well.Why?

Because we do print a lot of sales material!

Paper, Paper, Read all about …. The Paper

We take paper so much for granted that I’m tempted to say: Where would be without it?!

Okay, being a printer, I would say that.

But this got me thinking about the history of papermaking, so here’s a quick trip through time to where it all started.

The word paper is derived from the name of the reedy plant papyrus, which grows abundantly along the Nile River in Egypt. However, true paper is made of pulped cellulose fibres like wood, cotton or flax.

First there was Papyrus

Papyrus is made from the sliced sections of the flower stem of the papyrus plant, pressed together and dried, and then used for writing or drawing. Papyrus appeared in Egypt around 2400 B.C.

Then there was Paper

A courtier named Ts’ai-Lun, from Lei-yang in China, was the first recorded inventor of paper circa 105 A.D. Ts’ai-Lun presented paper and a papermaking process to the Chinese Emperor and that was noted in the imperial court records.

Chinese Papermaking

The ancient Chinese first made paper in the following fashion:

• Plant fibres such as hemp were soaked and beaten into a sludge
• The sludge was then strained through a cloth sieve attached to a frame that also served as a drying platform for the resulting paper.

Newsprint

Charles Fenerty of Halifax made the first paper from wood pulp (newsprint) in 1838.

Fenerty was helping a local paper mill maintain an adequate supply if rags to make paper, when he succeeded in making paper from wood pulp.

And, as I said at the outset … where would we be without paper?

Answers please, of course, on a postcard!!

Some Tips on How to Choose a Typeface

Let’s face it; choosing a typeface can be tricky … there is so much choice!

The beauty and complexity of type, combined with an inexhaustible supply of options to evaluate can make your head spin.

But don’t be baffled, and don’t despair.

While there are no easy-to-follow rules on how best to choose a typeface, there are many tried-and-trusted principles you can quickly learn and apply to make an appropriate typeface choice.

Let’s look at some of the key factors:

What is your Goal?

The first thing you have to do is form a strong impression in your mind about how your audience to react to the text. You might provide this impression, or it might be dictated to you by your client, or it may be determined by your audience.

Whatever the case, your choice of typeface needs to strike a good combination of both legibility and readability, while remaining appropriate for the audience and the message.

Legibility

It may seem at first glance that legibility and readability are the same thing … but they are not!

Legibility refers to the design of the typeface, as in the width of the strokes, whether or not it has serifs, the presence of novel type design elements etc.

Generally speaking, it is often better to choose typefaces with conventional letterforms.

Readability

How your typeface is set, combined with the basic legibility of the typeface, yields a certain level of readability. Readability is the dynamic interaction of the type style, size, tracking, leading, colour and other properties all combined into one overall impression.

They add up to a typographic style which has a quantifiable degree of readability.   

In most cases, communication comes before style, so resolve readability first.

And, of course, it’s always a good idea to talk it through with your printer, who will gladly share knowledge and experience with you.