What is the role of print in today’s virtual world? What opportunities does print on demand offer for the digitisation of the fine art market? These will be the subjects of our CEO’s upcoming speech at this year’s FESPA, the leading global visual communications event. FESPA stands for Federation of European Screen Printers Associations. Founded in 1962, FESPA organizes some of the most popular exhibitions and conferences for the screen printing, digital printing and textile printing industry. The federation then reinvests profits from these activities back into the global print community.

The event will take place from June 25 to June 29, 2013.  With over 500 exhibitors from more than 20 different countries and a wide range of seminars and features, the event promises to be a great place to discover new technologies and business opportunities.

Our contribution to the program will take place at 12:30 pm on Wednesday June 26 at the Creative Corner. Make sure to stop by if you’re around! You’re also welcome to connect with our CEO on LinkedIn to meet up for coffee.

Need tickets or more info? Visit fespa.com to learn more.

Image courtesy of ARTWORKMEN

ARTWORKMEN is a brand new website where you can browse through exclusive lowbrow and urban art. The site features work from Dutch visual artists and illustrators like Emanuel Wiemans, Hisko Hulsing, Dimitri Versteegen and Sarina Reilingh. Thanks to a recent Peecho integration, art lovers can now also purchase high quality ARTWORKMEN prints to grace their walls with colorful goodness!

ARTWORKMEN is an initiative of Roughmen, an Amsterdam-based agency that represents creative professionals in advertising. Almost all the artists participating in this project are used to producing commissioned artwork for advertising purposes. Thanks to ARTWORKMEN, they can now exhibit their non-commissioned work and also put it up for sale. Started by Roughmen CEO Thierry Beerepoot and freelance creative Raymond Oostveen, the website aims to expose many of these undiscovered art gems and make them attainable for anyone, anywhere.

ARTWORKMEN prints make ideal gifts and fantastic wall decoration for the modern home or office. Visit the shop and take your pick from the site’s collection.

This week we are thrilled to announce a new partnership with RPI, an award-winning industry leader in make-on-demand personalized print products. RPI will enable us to offer high-quality products in a large part of the world and significantly expand our global cloud print network. This means we can now produce locally in several regions and offer customers ecologically friendly, cost-efficient products with faster delivery!

RPI is best known for their private-label personalized photo books, greeting cards and stationery products. The company boasts over 30 decades of experience in high quality manufacturing and has production locations in both Europe and the U.S. With our partnership, we seek to bring print-on-demand to digital publishers worldwide and help global brands generate additional revenue through innovative technologies.

Read the full press release for more details.

23snaps is a private photo sharing app for parents. Until now, this beautifully-designed app has allowed parents to collect photos, videos and updates of their children in a digital journal. But the folks at 23snaps also wanted users to be able to enjoy this precious content in print. So last month, they started working with Peecho to offer print on demand photo books! We spoke with 23snaps’ Meaghan Fitzgerald to find out why the move towards print made sense.

Meaghan, can you tell us why you wanted to integrate print on demand into your offering?

We recognized that there's something wonderful about holding a cherished photograph or photo book in your hands. Print is a really special format. It reminds people of albums and photographs they enjoyed with their family and friends when they were young, and the tactile nature of books and prints really enhances the emotional experience of viewing those memories.

Perhaps more importantly, printed books and photos can connect multiple generations. Many modern photo sharing services can alienate less tech-savvy family members who aren't comfortable with complicated web or mobile apps. Our aim is to make 23snaps the best way for parents to save and privately share photos and memories of their children with family and close friends. That means making content accessible in whatever form is right for each member of the family - whether that's mobile, online, email or print.

We see print as a way to further enjoy special memories while connecting every member of the family through photos of the children they love.

How are your users reacting to the new print features?

The new 23snaps printing features have been incredibly well received. Not only have we had some great press from both tech and consumer publications around the launch of this new feature, but the books and prints are getting really positive feedback from 23snaps users and their families. We've also had some fantastic suggestions from users that will help us continue to improve printing options and layouts for our products going forward.

23snaps photo books - image courtesy of 23snaps

Ordering photo books with 23snaps is really easy. You simply need to select a minimum of 24 images from your own photos or those that have been shared with you in the app. A preview option is also included, so you can set a cover image and see a mockup of what your book will look like. Once you’re satisfied with the way your book looks, you can place your order and the book gets delivered to your chosen shipping address.

Download 23snaps and start creating stunning photo albums to share with your family today!

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions, where a small change at one place can result in large differences to a later state.

On Thursday, May 29th, Peecho experienced a service degradation. Erratic outages affected most of our services, including the Peecho website, Simple Print Button, Simple Print Service and Simple Print API. Now that we have fully restored functionality to all affected services, we would like to share more details about the events that occurred.

For those of you that don’t know: Peecho connects websites with a distributed network of large print facilities, allowing them to sell digital content as printed objects. For example, you can add the embeddable Simple Print Button on your website and sell your photos as canvas prints, or offer your digital magazine as hardcover photo books.

We are a global service, running entirely in the cloud of Amazon Web Services. Our systems are built to grow and shrink dynamically, along with the amount of orders that are placed. As an AWS Technology Partner, we are expected to know our cloud stuff - but unfortunately, we make mistakes too.   

The symptoms

In the server logs we could see an enormously increased number of requests being fired at our server cluster, resulting in larger response times and some downtime. The continuous requests appeared to be coming straight from one of our own Cloudfront distributions that has a custom origin pointing to the Peecho servers. The vast majority of these calls came from the website of a particular, brand new customer. All requests caused the Peecho error page to appear and they all originated from the Internet Explorer browser.  

However, after frantically eliminating many other scenarios, we finally found the root cause. Unbelievable as it may sound, our first real downtime in three years was caused by a reference to a single font file in one of our stylesheets.

The root cause

The customer added our embeddable Simple Print Button on every page of his website. That’s fine, because that is the way it works. As opposed to most of our larger customers, he decided to keep the default styling of the Simple Print Button, rather than applying his own CSS. That’s also fine - normally. This time, however, it went wrong.

When the default styling of our Simple Print Button is used, it loads a Peecho stylesheet containing a @font-face rule with a small icon font file, served through Cloudfront. Coincidentally, the website of the new customer has many - and I mean many - visitors that use Internet Explorer. To cover for this, the default stylesheet contains a font-face hack called “#iefix”. By mistake, the font file extension was missing for this part, resulting in a redirect to the 404 error page instead of an actual font file - which is equal to one direct server hit for every single button view. Ouch.

The visible user impact of the error is practically zero, because this degrades gracefully. However, our servers thought otherwise and suffered the consequences. To make things worse, this particular stylesheet was cached pretty aggressively in nodes of the content delivery network across the globe - so it kept on asking for the file. Since Cloudfront does not cache 404 errors for very long, the requests continued to hit our servers.

The solution

First, we increased the number of server instances behind our load balancer to win time. Finally, after examining the log files again and again, we realized that the problem was a mistake of only three characters in the file name of a font. Quickly, we added a Cloudfront cache behaviour. A cache behavior is the set of rules you configure for a given URL pattern based on file extensions, file names, or any portion of a URL path on your website (e.g., *.jpg). Now, the broken link pointed to the actual file. Then, we fixed the typo. Problem solved.

Of course, cleaning the code and the routing of bad requests are only the first steps. Secondly, we will have to create a better, lightweight 404 page that does not require so much server activity. Third, we should apply better server-side caching as well. Relying on a content delivery network alone is just not safe enough!

Careful with your butterflies

We learned a lot today, and we will do our best not to let our customers down again. If you are a fellow developer, we hope that this story will help you prevent this from happening in your own systems.

Be careful with those butterflies and feel free to upvote, like and share this post with your friends and colleagues: we think that we can handle the load!

Visit Writer Leopard on Tumblr for other memes

We’ve all experienced it. Staring at a blank page, not knowing where to start and feeling like our imagination has abandoned us to dissipate into the clouds. Even the best writers can face a creative block. So, in case you feel like you’ve hit the wall when you’re working on your next publication, we’ve put together a list with the most crucial bits of writing advice to help you get on the right track. Let’s delve right in.

Write every day

Yup, you heard it. Writing every day helps you become a better writer. So try not to let that pen (or laptop) down. Remember that creating and editing are also two different things. While you write, try to ignore your internal editor and let the words flow into the page. As William Faulkner once said: "Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good." (Check this slideshow on The Huffington Post for more advice from famous writers)

Read every day

Great writers read all the time. Read new authors, classic authors, your favorite authors and even the ones you hate. When you’re reading, savour every sentence and take some time to read out loud. Don’t be afraid to look back and read your previous work too, perhaps you’ll find something there that will ignite your inspiration.

Get some sleep

When was the last time you had a good night’s sleep? Having a healthy sleeping schedule helps your mind stay fresh and creative. Skip that cup of coffee in the late afternoon or those extra gulps of soda and, above all, relax and leave your work aside in the evening hours. Try taking power naps too. Short naps, lasting 15-30 minutes, can be incredibly revitalizing, it’s even been proven scientifically! And if you don’t believe us, take it from Mad Men’s Don Draper - he’s the power nap king.

Get out there and move

Go out and see people, get a dose of sunlight, enjoy life’s small pleasures and don’t be afraid to wander around. Stay physically active too. Regular exercise can help you sleep better and you don’t need to go for a killer workout - 30 minutes of daily activity will do. Take a dance class, go for a walk or jog in the woods.

Carry a notebook

Carry a pen and a notebook with you at all times. Write about things you notice, people you see on the street and bits of chatter you overhear. Make sketches and doodles too. Any small and seemingly insignificant event can light up a spark and inspire you, so it’s best to stay prepared!

Got your own advice to share with fellow writers? Leave a note in the comments.

The view from the top - at our New York office

Today we’re proud to announce that we’ve officially launched in the United States! With the establishment of our U.S. office we hope to improve our service for a growing customer base in North and South America. We’re also happy to welcome a new team member: Peter Arensman. Peter will be responsible for running our New York office and boosting our business in the U.S. market.

About Peter

Peter Arensman

Peter is an investor and entrepreneur with a large breadth of experience and a proven track record in sales and finance. Prior to joining Peecho, he was CFO al VeliQ, a SaaS provider that offers enterprise mobility management in the cloud. Today he is an active partner in several ventures and non-profit initiatives. He’s an avid traveler and adventure man and spends half of his time in NYC and the other half in Europe.

We asked Peter what he found most interesting about working with Peecho:

“I love Peecho’s disruptive character. Everybody's thinking digital, Peecho delivers an opportunity to go 180 degrees the other direction: 'from pixels to print.' All the while, print is becoming a luxury good. People will print only when and where needed. With the infrastructure and scalability of Peecho’s services, this vision of the future might be closer than most of us think.”

Connect with Peter on Linkedin or stop by our new office if you’re in town:

Peecho USA 

460 West 20th Street # 2J

NY, NY 10011

(347-615-8902)

Eva Navarro

Every so often, we see a person on the street for a fleeting moment and wonder what it would be like to live like them, be like them. Eva Navarro is an award-winning artist whose work is fueled by these moments. In her urban portraits, Eva halts the rush of city life to reveal an inner world of beauty, absorption and quiet turmoil. Eva recently started using our Simple Print Button to offer a book about her paintings through print on demand and we couldn’t miss the opportunity to chat with her about her work. Here’s what she shared:

Eva, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you started your career as an artist?

Although I studied Fine Arts, I had not planned to devote myself to painting, it was something that happened almost by chance. I started working in graphic design and set up my own company. Painting used to be my hobby. Then, a colleague saw my paintings and offered me a chance to hold an exhibition. I put together works for what would be the first of many.

I continued to divide my time between painting and graphic design for a while, but my spare time soon proved not to be enough. So, I decided to stop working as a designer and see if I could survive only with painting. I’ve never regretted my decision. I love what I do and that’s a key element in any career. I still find a challenge in creating new works, and in looking for new ways to express my ideas.

Can you tell us about your creative process and the themes you explore in your work?

I express my thoughts through the figures of the anonymous people that cross their paths with mine on the street, so I normally carry a camera with me and keep my eyes wide open whenever I go for a walk anywhere. I travel a lot and always dedicate time to “people hunting” and taking pictures. People are different in every place, and I am inspired by the way they look, the way they dress, how they move.

These anonymous people catch my attention for a few seconds. I follow them and photograph them without their knowledge, always from behind or from above, trying not to get caught. I seek the expressiveness of their bodies, their positions, their hands. They are the most natural models you can find because they don’t know they are posing! When I translate them into my paintings, I isolate them from all the rest. They come to occupy naked colourful landscapes and they help me express concerns that I share with most of humanity: the passing of time, the meaning of life, feelings of loneliness, concerns, fear, love...

Eva Navarro in her studio

Tell us about your Peecho book, is this the first time you create a book about your work?

Yeah, I’ve had many exhibition catalogs but this is the first time that I create a book about my work. The book is an on-going project that started a few years ago. I wanted to compile some of my recent works and present them in a book, divided into the topics that I paint.

Although I printed earlier versions with other companies, I didn’t think the printing quality was good enough to offer the book for sale. The version Peecho has printed has the quality that I was looking for so I am very excited!

I am going to see the world by Eva Navarro

Why were you interested in using print on demand for your book?

Print on demand is a very useful promotional tool for myself, a sales tool for galleries and a source of information for the art buyer and collector. The fact that I can update my book whenever I want to and print only the number of books that I need is fantastic.

My book will be sold through my website and I am planning to offer some of my paintings through print on demand in the near future as well.

You’ve toured the world for shows and art fairs and have won many prices, what advice would you give to aspiring artists that want to achieve the same?

I would advise aspiring artists to work hard and to not limit themselves physically or mentally. Travel, get out of your comfort zone, move around, learn, visit art galleries and fairs, absorb what you see and search for your personal style, for your own voice. When you think you’re ready, make your own virtual storefront and invest some of your time in self-promotion and marketing your work.

Visit Eva’s website to learn more or like her page on Facebook to get regular updates.

Dearest Peecho users,

After listening to your feedback, we have decided to introduce some changes in our monthly service plans. If you visit our Plans and Prices page, you will notice that we now have 3 different feature plans.  An Enterprise service plan is also available. Please read on to find out what this means for you.

The Simple Print Button is still free

If you are a Simple Print Button user, you can continue using our service for free and get to keep all of our botton’s features. However, if you want to start your own Simple Print Service or use our API, you will be charged a monthly fee.

The Simple Print Service is now live

Our new Simple Print Service lets you sell prints to any audience from the web domain of your choice. Your visitors simply upload their own content and we take care of the rest. Merchants using the Simple Print Service have access to our Simple Print Button and a variety of features, including content management and custom design. All of this for €50 a month!

Lower prices for Simple Print API users

Our API comes in handy if you want to develop and app to sell print products from variable content submitted by your users. Think, for instance, photo books created from social media images or personalized print products. If you’re planning to start this kind of print business you’ll be happy to hear that we’ve lowered our API usage fee to €25 a month.

If you decide to use our API you can build your own user interface, including payment screens. This means that you will be collecting consumer payments. Because we still need to be able to pay our printing partners for the production of your products, the API can only be used with enough prepaid credit to cover the wholesale cost of all orders placed through your app. Check out our Simple Print API documentation for more details.

Optional service level for enterprises

The Enterprise SLA is interesting for large companies that need extensive technical support and a formal agreement to establish service requirements. Our Enterprise Plan is € 500 a month.

How does payment work?

Once you select your plan, you need to fill in your billing details. You can choose to pay via credit card, Paypal or local payment providers such as iDeal. The amount will be deducted up-front, on a monthly basis. On the first month, you only need to pay for upcoming days within that month. For example, if you start using our plan on May 27, 2013 you will only need to pay the fees for May 27 and the remaining 4 days in that month.

What about my profit?

Your profit is transferred to you on a monthly basis as soon as it reaches € 100. You can fill in your bank account details on your merchant dashboard and see an overview of these transactions in the credit and debit sections of your admin panel.

Can I cancel my plan?

Our Simple Print Button, Simple Print Service and Simple Print API plans can be cancelled at any time. Since we charge for each month up-front, you won’t be charged for the next month if you decide to cancel your plan.  

If you’re still on the fence about which plan to choose, please note that you can try our Simple Print Service and Simple Print API for free for a period of 30 days. Discounts are also available for merchants that pay fees on a quarterly or yearly basis. Read more on our Plans and Prices page or contact us for more information.

Image courtesy of Cory Huff

Artists are using the web more than ever before to sell their work and connect with their fans. But monetizing your art can be a big challenge, especially in a space as crowded as the internet. So, some expert advice can be handy. This week, we talked with marketing specialist Cory Huff from The Abundant Artist. Cory is an art blogger and storyteller on a mission: to help artists take charge of their own art business and build a following online.

Cory, can you tell us what the absolute must-haves are for artists that want to monetize their art online?

Minimum: a website and a way to take money. Commonly, this takes the place of something I call Art Malls. Art malls are huge websites where artists compete with thousands of other artists. Everyone's page looks mostly the same, and everyone's sales are mostly the same. It's very difficult to stand out in these situations, but they provide an easy way to get started.

Successful artists usually have their own websites with e-commerce or print on demand options. They also maintain an email list and possibly a social media following.

But having a website and a way to make money is only the first step, how can artists get traffic and clients?

Collect emails. Sign up for a service like Mailchimp and display an email opt-in box on every page of your site in a prominent place. This way when people come to your site you can capture their attention and contact them again.

Know whose attention you are trying to get. Are you trying to reach gallery owners? Museum curators? Collectors? Niche groups of collectors? Regular people? Your marketing and storytelling will change based on this understanding.

Beyond that, learn to tell your story and the story of your art. If you understand how to tell stories, and regularly present them in an interesting fashion, then use email and social media to spread your story, you will get traffic.

What are some other ways to build a following and market your work?

There are lots and lots of ways. You can teach classes online through Skype or Google+ Hangouts. You can license your work to companies who want to use it in their marketing. You can sell originals online too - it really does happen.

There are also things you can do offline. A basic one is asking people who show up to your gallery openings to sign up for your mailing list, then following up with an email inviting them to your site. I've seen some artists have success with gathering phone numbers and sending out text messages for secret shows.

What are the most common mistakes artists make when trying to sell their art online and how can they best avoid them?

By far the most common mistake is trying to sell your art to everyone. We all have a specific audience. Talk to them, get them really excited, and they will bring their friends along. Set yourself apart from others by understanding who you are and what you represent as an artist. Every great artist has something to say, because artists think deeply, and feel intensely. That intensity is attractive to other folk.

Be you and your message will act as a beacon to the right people. Invest in yourself as an entrepreneur and learn the business side of art.

How do you see the art space developing in the future, with the changes and tools the internet has to offer?

Every week or so I hear from another artist who has left the gallery world in favor of selling directly to collectors. Artists are becoming more savvy about the Internet and the smart gallery owners will partner with their artists to leverage each others' online presence and create really interesting shows. Gallery owners promote artists to their own lists, and artists should do the same for the galleries that represent them.

Start thinking of the relationship with the artist as a business partnership instead of a dependency, and you'll be heading in the right direction.

Follow Cory on Twitter or visit his blog to learn more about his business courses for artists.

Ravenous by EM van Os (screenshot)

Comic artists have been pretty comfortable in the print domain since the genre first emerged, but some of them are taking a more daring approach. This week, we had a chance to talk to graphic artist Erik Menno van Os, who recently published Ravenous, an exhilarating new comic for iPad. The journey to Ravenous was quite unique, for a graphic artist that is. The comic consists of more than 600 digital images distilled from thousands of PSD files. Erik didn’t finish a single drawing on paper. In this post, he’ll be sharing some tips for other comic artists that are looking to experiment with digital publishing.

What is Ravenous about? Can you give us teaser?

Ravenous is about a 'bad lieutenant' named Hugo Kingsley, who gets back on the job to track down a serial killer. As the story develops, he has to fend off the temptations of the local underworld and he falls in love in the process with a shameless young thief who is obsessed with a 14th century ghost.

Sounds thrilling! Why did you choose to publish it in an iPad app?

Graphic novels have traditionally lived in the printed page but I like to see my drawings fullscreen. They have more impact that way. It feels like you can easily get sucked into my imaginary world. The change of format, from a standing letter format to a lying tablet format, has another important advantage: switching from a multi-panel to a single panel presentation. In a comic formatted for print, readers often overlook several drawings because there’s more to see on a single page. Telling a story this way is also like giving away its secrets. I don't want the reader to see what is coming up next. In a single panel view, the reader stays totally unaware of what is going to happen.

Do you see Ravenous as a reinvention of the graphic novel?

I prefer to see it as a different way of presenting a comic, more committed to modern media. Only the platform changes, it’s still about a good story and drawing until you drop.

You’ve talked extensively about the hurdles you had to overcome to get your app published on the App Store in your blog. Based on your experience, what tips do you have for other content owners?

I worked for 4 years to escape the printed page, designing Ravenous as a digital product from the start. When Apple first reviewed it, they said it was primarily a book and asked me to submit it to the iBookstore! But after I sent them a convincing email (where I expounded on my hard work and disappointment), Apple finally got my drift. As for tips, before you publish ask yourself what kind of reading experience you want to offer. If you want to create a unique experience, add specific functionalities or create a special reading environment, I suggest that you go for an app.

Erik Menno van Os

Would you ever consider selling a version of Ravenous in print?

Print on demand offers a direct line between artist and reader, so it’s great in many ways. But to make Ravenous printable I would have to divide 577 panorama drawings over an indefinite amount of print pages. It is literally not tailored for print. That doesn’t mean that I don’t see print as an extra revenue model. At the moment, I am focusing on the “tablet-first” option but within a year I’m planning to release a series of printable drawings.

Like Erik's story so far? Download Ravenous for iPad or stay in touch with him on Twitter.  

Looking to turn your family photos into wall art or print a copy of your book for posterity's sake? Meet our brand new Simple Print Service, the easy way to turn your digital photos and documents into beautiful print products. 

How does it work?

Using the Simple Print Service is as easy as it sounds. The service does not require software downloads, complicated templates or print-ready files. You simply need to upload a PDF or image file and the service analyses it to suggest a number of available print products. 

Like our Simple Print Button, the Simple Print Service is connected to a global network of leading printing facilities. All orders are produced on demand and as close to the end recipient as possible. 

Can I start my own?

Yes! A white-label version of the Simple Print Service is also available, enabling you to start your own print on demand channel in minutes. The service incorporates a complete, user-friendly checkout and payment module. It supports worldwide delivery and over 30 different currencies, and is fully optimized for search engines and social media.

The Simple Print Service can also be launched in multiple languages, including English, German, Spanish and Dutch. You just need to create a Peecho account and purchase your own domain name to get started.

Contact us to learn more or read the official press release for more details.

With an integrated checkout, on demand production, shipping and customer service, our Simple Print Button offers you an easy and cost-effective way to sell your digital content in print. The button can be styled, supports 31 currencies and calculates prices based on the products that fit your file, so it’s also pretty smart. This Spring, we're thrilled to announce the release of an even smarter version. Eager to know the details? Here we go:

Improved call to action

After receiving feedback from our customers, we decided to make the button's call to action clearer by changing it from “print” to “order print.”

Scaling Options

Our new Simple Print Button scales pretty neatly with the font size you choose, so you can optimize its proportions in the way that fits your website and target group best.

Language support

The button is now available in multiple languages, including Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian and German. Even the error messages are displayed in the language of your choice!

Product awareness

Our nifty new print button also displays a different icon depending on the product types you’re selling. For instance, if you’re offering wall art, the print button will display an image icon - as opposed to a book for magazines, softcovers and other book-like products.

Customizable tooltip

You’ve probably noticed the tooltip that pops up when you hover over the new Simple Print Button. This tooltip can be particularly useful if you’re offering a single product, like a book or magazine. You can customize the text on the tooltip by using the button variable data-tooltip.

New Colors!

Last but not least, the new Simple Print Button comes in different colors! The button is green by default but if you want to go back to blue, you can do so by changing the button variable data-theme to blue.

These changes will be made effective for all Peecho publishers using the button javascript code, except for those who have chosen to customize the button with their own text and design. If you want to customize the new button texts, you can change them on your dashboard using the button variable data-text. Check out the manual more information about using and customizing the Simple Print Button.

Got feedback? Like what you see? Tell us in the comments!

Image courtesy of Rebecca Landmér

Frank Zappa once said that “art is making something out of nothing, and selling it.” Now, we all know that’s not always how it works. There are plenty of amazing artists who never sold anything in their lifetime and many more that are simply undiscovered or not producing stuff to make a buck. Luckily though, it’s become easier than ever for artists to share their art with the world and connect with the people it speaks to. Nowadays, artists also have multiple channels to sell their artwork without having to depend on patrons and galleries, like they used to in the distant past. Print on demand is one popular option. In this post, we’ll be talking to Rebecca Landmér, a Swedish artist that’s using Peecho to offer physical copies of her book.

Rebecca, when did you decide to become an artist?

I took a couple of U-turns while getting to where I am today. At a young age I wanted to become a picture book illustrator, but instead I found myself working as a sculptor in New York City in my twenties. I did odd-jobs, graphic design and web production on a freelance basis to support myself. Eventually, the latter developed into a fascination with information management, which lead me to become a librarian and then a teacher, and so on…Finally, about a year ago, I got back to where I wanted to be in the first place: as an illustrator (of picture books, among other things) and graphic designer.

You’re currently using Peecho to print a beautiful children’s book, what can you tell us about it?

My Peecho product is a picture book for kids, 2-6 years of age, who are dealing with issues of separation and divorce. In Nordic countries, separation often results in 50/50 shared custody of the children, giving them two primary homes. That of course also means that the children are always missing and longing for one of their parents. My book focuses on that sense of longing, what it is, how it feels, and that it’s OK.

I am very happy that the book has been well received by reviewers, and that it can now be found in many public libraries.

Rebecca's book

What are the advantages of print on demand for artists like yourself?

I think print on demand brings fantastic opportunities for artists everywhere! POD is the democratic approach to publishing – it makes it possible to bring your story to people, without excessive investments and requirements for high profits. Do it. What could possibly go wrong?

Swing by Rebecca’s website to learn more about her work or click here to purchase a copy of her book.

Image courtesy of Erwin Blom

Erwin Blom is a Dutch blogger, author and award-winning media strategist. In 2008 he co- founded The Crowds, a company specializing on social media. Before starting his own venture he was head of New Media and Innovation at the Dutch broadcasting organization VPRO. His division has been widely recognized as one of the frontrunners in The Netherlands when innovation is concerned. Nowadays, Erwin also keeps busy with his blog Fast Moving Targets, where we were recently featured in a live Q&A. Last week, we also had a chance to talk to Erwin about using multiple media to enrich your publishing strategy. Here’s what he shared.

As a media innovator and avid social media user, what's your take on the future of printed media?

I love printed media. And I love it most when it's special. So I see a good future for print that is personalized, that looks pretty and looked after. I see a good future for print that's made to last.

You decided to offer your book "De Realtime Revolutie" in digital formats and in print. Why is that?

I think you should give people options. Some people like it digital, others like to read from paper. And because we think paper should be special, we put a lot of effort in the design. Esther Gons did a brilliant job there.

You also recently launched a magazine that features your blog content. Why?

This is another example of giving people options. Some people are regular visitors of our site to read articles, others watch shows and others listen to podcasts. For the people that want the comfort of a summary, or the highlights of a month we make a monthly magazine.

What are your future ambitions in self-publishing?

We like to experiment and we like the Do It Yourself attitude. What we want is to build a large audience of people that are interested in innovation, media communication and tech so we can sell them stuff that's dedicated to them. And because we have the technique ready, it's up to the audience how they want to consume it. So we see a big future for self-publishing!

What was your experience like using our print service?

Worked like a charm!

If you can read Dutch, make sure to check out Erwin’s magazine on Issuu or buy a copy of his book for more insights on media innovation and the realtime web.

Bella prepping her penguin gear 

It’s always a joy to meet people that are committed to make the world a better place. Last month we met such a person: Bella Papadopoulou. Bella is an environmental journalist on a mission. Today, she will travel to Antarctica as one of the 30 selected members of Robert Swan's International Antarctic Expedition 2013 and the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador Programme. Her goal is to raise awareness about Antarctica's environmental situation and safeguard the future of the continent and its wildlife. But travelling to Antarctica isn’t cheap. That’s why we decided to collaborate with Dutch storytelling startup Driply and other sponsors to get Bella on her way. She will use our print button to offer some awesome images of her journey as posters and other print products. The proceeds will assist her in funding her expedition. In this post, she’ll be sharing her story.

Bella, what is your role as a youth ambassador and what will you be doing in Antarctica?

I will be traveling to Antarctica to see its pure and pristine nature with my own eyes and feel how vulnerable our planet is. After experiencing this, I want to transmit this feeling to the rest of the world through my writing, hoping to motivate people around the world to work together towards a healthier earth.

Today, seeing how the Arctic is almost completely melted, it is more important than ever to preserve Antarctica. Human activities in Antarctica are governed by an international agreement called the Antarctic Treaty Protocol. This unique international agreement is ensuring that Antarctica is used for peaceful purposes and that the environment is protected. It also prohibits drilling and oil exploration. However, the agreement will be expire in 2041 and it is important that we keep it in place. As an Antarctic Ambassador, it is my responsibility to inform people about this and prepare them for the voting.

What motivates you personally to participate in this project?

I have loved nature since I was in elementary school and I decided to become an environmental journalist to give the environment the voice that it deserves. My interest in Antarctica began when I read that seals in Antarctica have organic poison in their milk because of industrial waste from the northern hemisphere. This made an extreme impact on me and I felt it was my responsibility to do what I can to stop this.

What are you looking forward to and what will challenge you in this trip?

The biggest challenge will be - aside from crossing the 14 meter high waves on the way to Antarctica - to get people engaged and make them care. But, of course, there’s so much to look forward to. Just the feeling of being in a remote region of the planet will be overwhelming. I'm also looking forward to seeing the penguins, of course, because penguins rock!

Help Bella protect Antarctica! Visit her Driply site to learn more or make a donation.

Last December we rolled out our new service plans and a simplified product catalogue. Today, we launched another feature that will make it even easier for Peecho merchants to set up their print button: profit schemes. Profit schemes help you define retail prices for your entire catalogue in a single click. Profit schemes will be a default feature for anyone that signs up for our free service plan starting this week. Merchants with a premium plan have access to custom profit schemes and can specify their retail pricing on a product level at any time by clicking on the “custom settings” link. Customers that have set up their own retail prices in the past will still have custom profit options. These are also accessible under “custom settings.” However, please note that if you switch completely from your custom profit options to standard profit schemes, the custom settings option will no longer be available. To help you understand how profit schemes work we’ve prepared an explanation below.

How do profit schemes work?

Profit schemes help you specify the percentage you earn as a publisher over the wholesale price of any Peecho print product. As you know, our catalogue is divided into product categories (books, wall decoration products and cards), and each of these product categories is subdivided into product types (hardcover books, magazines, glossies, etc). Profit schemes can be applied to each product type, allowing you to earn a fixed percentage with the sale of every Peecho print product.   

What are my options?

You can choose to earn either 0%, 10%, 20% or 50% over the wholesale price. For instance, if you sell medium hardcover books of 24 pages, you may earn 0%, 10%, 20% or 50% over the €10.80 specified in our catalogue. If you decided to earn a 20% margin over the sales of these hardcover books, as shown in the example below, your profit will be €2.16 for every book sold.

What are the benefits of profit schemes?

Many merchants had a hard time setting their own profit margin over our wholesale prices. We decided to implement profit schemes to simplify this process. Choosing a profit scheme is also handy because it will set a profit margin automatically for all of your Peecho products - you don’t need to change it every time you upload a new publication.

How do I define my profit schemes?

To access and define your profit schemes go to the print button tab in your admin dashboard and click on “product catalogue.” After you’re done selecting your profit percentages, scroll down and click on the green “save scheme” button shown in the image below. Remember, if you’re a merchant with custom retail pricing you can make adjustments under the “custom settings” link. In addition, please note that you no longer need to delete products from your offering, you can simply uncheck the product types you don’t want to sell.

Got feedback or questions about our new profit schemes? Contact support or drop us a line in the comments!

OrGaya, book print by Peecho - photo courtesy of Eldad Maestro

Love can mean many things. It may stand for passion, kindness, affection or a deep sense of attachment. In OrGaya: An Invitation to Fall in Love, Israeli photographer Eldad Maestro explores love in its most playful and symbolic sense - by portraying nature as a mirror to human relationships. The book turns luscious fruits and flirty vegetables into characters, telling stories about the ‘ups and downs’ of human affairs and knitting them together through inspiring quotes that offer a common thread of knowledge. Eldad recently started working with Peecho to offer OrGaya in print, making for a beautiful product to showcase this Valentine’s day!

Getting back to nature

Eldad and a bunch of turnips - photo courtesy of Eldad Maestro

Eldad has been a professional photographer for 30 years. He made a name for himself as a fashion photographer in the 80s and founded a studio in heart of Tel Aviv. After many years, he decided to move to the countryside where he could spend more time visiting local food markets and doing landscape photography. He became interested in the aesthetics of food and was constantly fascinated by the “food that nobody wants to buy” - the one that appears distorted or misshapen. He studied these fruits and veggies in his barn and after a few experimental shoots, some curious stories started emerging: a garlic couple getting married and dealing with conflict in their lives, two mushrooms dancing, a pair of broad beans in an embrace...

A collection of images from OrGaya - photos courtesy of Eldad Maestro

By telling these stories and linking them to quotes from famous philosophers and writers, Eldad hopes to remind us that “love is a fruit in season at all times and within reach of every hand.” You can find his book on Issuu and purchase a print on his website.

Want to learn more about OrGaya or help Eldad transform his photos into an animated project? Connect with him on Facebook or leave a message in the comments!

Last week, we unveiled a new feature that lets Peecho merchants issue coupons and offer discounts to their customers. Coupons are a trusty old friend of marketers because they can be powerful sales tools. In this post, we’ll be sharing some tips to help you promote your Peecho print product using the coupon codes feature. Let's get started!

Run a promotion on social media

Social networks are great marketing channels and there are several tools you can use to run a successful campaign on social media. WildfireApp, for instance, has a coupon promotion format that you can run on social networks or even your own microsite. If you choose to spread your coupons on social media, make sure to use a special design for your promotion and an appealing call to action that promises to get your followers’ attention.

Send out an email newsletter

If you want to offer a discount to a select number of customers, an email newsletter is your best bet. MailChimp offers pre-designed newsletter templates for coupon promotions that you can customize to fit your branding and house style. Make sure to include a link to your product's checkout in the newsletter itself to make things easy for your email's recipients.  

Offer coupons to your digital readers

If you have a healthy number of digital readers and would like to boost your print publication’s sales, offer your print product at a discounted price. For example, you can entice your iPad magazine’s readers to buy your product in hard copy by offering it at 50% off. Try placing an ad with your coupon code and a link to your print product inside the digital mag itself and make sure to measure results.

Use coupons on special occasions

Valentine’s day is coming up! Offering your discount at a time when people are more likely to buy things can make your campaign extra powerful. Run some Google search ads or sponsored stories on Facebook to draw attention to your promotion. Make the ad’s design appealing and relevant to the holiday in question!  

Set an end date for your promotion

Whether you choose to spread the word about your promotion on social media, email newsletters or ads, having a good call to action and a clear end date is absolutely necessary. Setting an expiration date for your coupons will not only create some thrill around your offer, but will also prompt your customers to take action.

Tried our new coupon codes feature yet? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

If you’ve been eagerly waiting to run a promotion that can boost your publication's sales, the wait is over: our coupon codes are finally here! You can view your coupon options under the settings tab in your admin panel, as shown in the image above.

How do coupon codes work?

Coupons allow you to give your customers a discount or offer a product for free. In order to issue coupons, you need to purchase credit by clicking on the “buy credit” tab in the coupons page - as shown in the image below. You can pay for credit using your credit card, PayPal and local payment methods such as iDeal.

Once you’ve purchased some credit, you can start generating coupon codes and define your coupon preferences. To generate a coupon code, click on the green “create coupon” button located at the bottom right corner of the coupons page. Every time you create a new coupon or a set of coupon codes, you can specify their settings. For instance, you can indicate how many times you want to allow your customers to use the coupons and the discount amount or percentage you want to offer.

In the example below, I have created 10 coupons. Each of them can only be used once. I’ve set the discount amount to €5.00, so my lucky clients can get € 5 euros off on their next purchase. In addition, I’ve chosen to apply this discount to a maximum of one product per order. To change or review your coupon settings, click on the blue "details" button in the coupons page.

Your credit and balance explained

When a coupon is used, your customer will receive a discount according to the settings you’ve selected and the coupon’s value will be subtracted from your balance. Once the order has been confirmed, the value will also be subtracted from your remaining credit. If the order is not completed, the discount amount will be returned to your balance. Please bear in mind that your balance needs to be high enough to cover the value of each coupon, otherwise your coupons will be invalid. To get a detailed summary of your balance and credit movements, check out the handy overview on the "buy credit" tab.

Got questions about our new coupon codes feature? Leave us a note in the comments and stay tuned for more coupon tips and tricks!