Half way through November and the diary factories have a good idea of what is selling and what is not. Added to that, sometimes a big order cancels unexpectedly creating an opportunity for the canny buyer. Here is quick summary of what is about: For a corporate client needing a B2C pocket diary, the Amethyst pocket weekly diariesare a good choice and currently there is a surplus on the black cover with gold foil. This is already a low cost diary, albeit well made on good quality paper - if the order is over 5,000x units then the cost may come down further. There is also surplus stock of the calf leather pocket comb bound diaries, a very smart executive diary, black cover only.

Another busy season in full flow for justdiaries!

At this point in the season we find that stocks of the more esoteric diary cover designs and exotic colours are beginning to run low. There is still plenty of choice, and the most popular formats and cover designs are in plentiful supply. Lead times are very quick at 3 weeks from artwork approval, and event organisers looking for a give away for mid to late October can still order customised diaries with good safety margin.

During the last 12 months a lot of corporate quality notebooks have become available, some with extensive customization options - We have only shown a small selection of your pocket notebooks and desk notebooks on our website. If this is something you are planning to do, please get in touch.

We supply a lot of Castelli Diaries, and have a very good understanding of the capabilities of the factory for customized production. We work with all the major diary brands, including Letts and Collins Debden too, however this item is about Castelli. On the justdiaries website we only show a small selection of the diaries available. It might be helpful to put the Castelli diary ranges in ascending price order based on 250x pocket diaries, together with some extra notes:

Columbia diaries,leather look covers, wide range of colours (foil blocked)
Nature diaries, woven look cover, fully recyclable (foil blocked)
Matra diaries, contemporary look covers, wide range of pastel colours (foil blocked)
Columbia deluxe diaries, adds ribbon marker, gilt corners, gilt page edges and uk/world maps
Astro diaries, metallic look contemporary cover (foil blocked)
Matra deluxe diaries, adds gilt corners, gilt page edges and uk world maps.
Tucson diaries, soft touch pu covers, wide range of colours (blind embossed)
Savana pocket diaries, grained leather look covers with border stitching (blind embossed)
Costa Rica diaries, two tone pu covers, wide range of colours (blind embossed)
Arizona diaries, grained leather look covers (blind embossed)
Pangaea diaries, new design, three tone diagaonal design (blind embossed)
Anatolia diaries, two tone cover (blind embossed)
Maldive diaries, tabbed cover design (blind embossed)
Ivory diaries, larger format pocket diaries, notable with pencil
Crosta Milano diaries, grained leather covers (blind embossed)

The lower priced ranges tend to be the big volume sellers, and so stock levels are generally good in both cream and white page versions. Higher up the ranges, and for new lines, the stock levels are lower and so early ordering is advised ie June/July for the following year. Most stock is available for sale from April.

With so many special offers about, it is understandable if you feel a little jaded with it all. On our diaries special offers page we try to be as selective as possible with the offers, and if you find something that coincides with your requirement then that has got to be worth investigating.

There are a variety of reasons why a diary might be featured as a special offer: the manufacturer may have a surplus of that partiicular diary, special production run from a cancelled order, or it may be an early season discount, or even a diary range that we have ourselves discounted to generate extra interest. What we can guarantee is that the price is genuinely reduced from the already competitive rates shown on the rest of the website.

If you have picked up this item, then you will wondering what die charges are. In order to foil block a logo onto the diary covers, first a metal die has to be made with an impression of your logo. In production this is heated and then a piece of silver or gold foil is placed in between the diary cover and the heated die. Pressure is applied, and the foil is embossed onto the diary cover. We normally charge £45 for a standard die, which is sufficient for a small logo on a pocket diary or A5 diary. For a larger logo, or if there is a lot of text as well then a larger die would be required, which costs a a bit more depending on size. Once the die is made this can be used in future years at no additional cost, provided you do not need to make any changes to the design. The year date is usually put on the diary separately, so this is not going to appear for your future diary orders - of course. It is possible to block most parts of the diary cover, both front and back covers, and sometimes the spine. The possible blocking area starts from about 10 - 15mm from the edge of the diary.

There are a range of foil colours available, these cannot be pantone matched, however on occasion something other than silver or gold can work quite well.

Blind embossing still requires a die - in this case no foil is use. Diaries designed for blind embossing are usually more expensive because the cover material needs to be thicker to allow a good impression.

On our website we show only a small representative selection of the diaries available. So typically each cover style will be made in a range of formats: pocket weekly, A4 weekly, A4 daily, A5 weekly, A5 daily, quarto weekly, quarto daily etc. Surprisingly, the higher end, luxury diaries are often only made in the pocket and quarto sizes which are considered to be more suitable for the executive market. So on occasions when we are asked for an A4 daily or A5 daily diary with a real leather diaries cover, then the only way to achieve this is to have the diaries custom made. This requires a minimum order of at least 250 diaries. Each diary will come in a range of formats, and of course each comes in a range of colours too.

Browsing the just diaries website, you will also notice that some diaries are designed to be blind embossed, and some are designed to be foil blocked. Blind embossing, where the metal die is pressed into the diary cover without use of any coloured foil, required a thicker cover material to be effective. These are always significantly more expensive than the diaries designed for foil blocking.

The diary formats page should a useful snapshot of what is available in the market, and if you see something of interest there then do get in touch with your query.

Most of our 2012 diaries are now in stock, and available for order.