Step 1: The Idea
You have a friend or a family member who is about to experience a big milestone in life (your parent’s fiftieth wedding anniversary, a coworker’s impending retirement, etc.) and you want to create a truly memorable gift for them. Though your supply of photos and stories is nearly endless, you want others to be able to share their memories, too.
However, from a logistical standpoint, the project seems daunting. What’s the best way to reach out to people? To add their photos and stories, securely store all of it, and then present all of it in one package? So you turn to the Internet, and you find Weeva…
Step 2: Signing Up
Intrigued, you decide to create an account and set up a free project. Next, you’ll begin laying the foundation for your project by creating a working title, adding a cover photo, and writing a quick description.
Step 3: Planting Seeds
Now that you have laid the groundwork, it’s a good time to start structuring your book and adding the first entry. This will set an example of what you’re looking for and will hopefully inspire your contributors to add multiple stories and photos as well.
Step 4: Inviting Others
After setting up your project and adding a couple of entries, it’s time to invite your family and friends to contribute to your project. Our invitation system is simple and safe. You can choose to send invitations via email or a direct link, and only people who have been invited to a book can view and add content to it.
Step 5: Gathering Content & Following Up
Life gets busy and sometimes things get lost in the shuffle. If you’ve noticed that you don’t have much content yet, you can try sending your family and friends a quick message to remind them about the book. Let them know when you’d like to have all of the content collected; having a specific date will help them to remember. Our customer support team can help you manage a “last call” for the project, as it is not uncommon to see a deluge of stories in the days leading up to the deadline.
Step 6: Production
Once you have acquired all the content for your book, it’s time to check out and hand the project off to our team of professional editors and designers. We’ll handle the technical aspects of creating your book (grammar, spell-checking, design, etc.), and once it's ready, we’ll send you a PDF of the book to review. Our production team will implement any changes you’d like to see, and once we have your final approval, we’ll send the book to print. We won’t print the book without your go-ahead, so no surprises!
Keep in mind that there is a three-week turnaround from the beginning of the editing and design phase to the shipping phase, so you’ll need to account for this time when setting your final deadline for adding content. Priority and rush options are available for an extra fee. Contact our customer support team if you would like to know more.
Step 7: Printing & Shipping
The final countdown has begun! With free standard shipping, it takes about two weeks to print and ship a Weeva book. We’ll send you a tracking number for your order when the book ships so you will be able to keep an eye on its progress and know when it will arrive.
Step 8: Delivery
The doorbell rings, the dog goes nuts—your book is here! And with plenty of time to wrap it in pretty paper and top it with a sparkly bow. As you look through the book a few days later with your Nana at her birthday party, you think about your sister’s upcoming wedding and suddenly know the perfect gift to give to her…