Profit from Greeting Cards

Transcription

1 Helpline: Profit from Greeting Cards How to make extra money by publishing your own range of greeting cards We can all do with a bit of extra cash to pay for life s little luxuries. If you have any image-making skills then selling greeting cards is a very useful add-on to your other sources of income. Some people even make selling greeting cards their full-time source of income. Most greeting cards feature either photographs, drawings or paintings. Obviously, not every one has the skills to create attractive images that will sell on greeting cards, but the greeting cards market is wide open and you might just surprise yourself. Many people have. Most of us have a camera good enough to produce greeting card images and many people have drawing or painting skills, or know someone who does. Why not give it a go? Margins are high in the greeting card business and many cards sell for 2-3 each, or more. The average person buys around 31 greeting cards per year and that does not include Christmas Cards. Most greeting cards are bought by women, with just the odd birthday card or Valentines card being bought by men. Cards are often an impulse buy and as most people only buy one or two cards at a time, the price of each card is not always critical. If someone sees a card that really appeals to them, they will usually buy it whatever the price, within reason. You do not need ask anyone s permission or to register with anyone to become a greeting card publisher. If you are already self-employed, you just add the extra income to your existing tax return. If not, once you are up and running, you just tell your local tax office that you are starting a business. Many existing publishers started quite small, by publishing a limited quantity of just one or two greeting cards. Gradually, as their confidence improved and they started to find which images sell the best, their range grew. Once you have found some greeting card outlets, which are everywhere, the cards seem to sell themselves. A lot depends on the area in which you are offering the cards. If you live in a holiday or tourist area, then selling the cards will be so much easier. However, we know many small publishers who live well away from tourist areas and they have made a successful business with a speciality range of images, often in one particular niche. The GCA Greeting Card Market Report 2014 reinforces what a huge and successful industry this is with 1.29 billion spent on single cards in the last year - more than tea and coffee put together. More cards are bought per person in the UK than in any other country 31 per person an astonishing 884 million single greeting cards were bought from retailers of all shapes and sizes in Interesting Facts About the Greeting Card Industry from the Greeting Card Association The greeting card industry is directly and indirectly responsible for the jobs of 100,000 people in the UK including: publishers; artists, photographers and image suppliers; verse and prose writers; printers; paper and board companies; envelope and cello wrap suppliers; specialist finishers; warehousing and distribution companies; trade fair organisers and retailers. No other country has such a tradition of card sending or card display in the home - the sending and receiving of greeting cards is an important part of our British culture. 85% of all cards are bought by women!

2 The UK card industry is acknowledged to be ten years ahead of the rest of the world in terms of design. There are over a thousand publishers in the UK, most of which are small businesses with fewer than five employees. Out of the 400 plus members of the GCA over 350 are small/micro businesses. It s a creative industry with strong bases in London, The Midlands, Nottinghamshire and the North, especially Yorkshire and Lancashire, where it has replaced many of the heavy manufacturing industries as a major employers. Charities estimate that 50m is raised for good causes through the sales of charity Christmas cards each year. Greeting cards are stocked in more types of outlet than any other product one in six retailers stock greeting cards. The commercial Christmas card was invented in 1846 by Sir Henry Cole, the chief organiser of the Great Exhibition, pioneer of the penny post and founder of the V&A Museum. One of Sir Henry s first Christmas cards, sent to his Grandmother was recently sold at auction for 22,500. Greeting card making is also the number one craft hobby, according to Crafts Beautiful, the top consumer craft magazine, which receives more enquiries about greeting cards than any other subject. Greeting card subjects There are as many subjects as there are card publishers. Naturally, the greeting cards have to be attractive to the end user, but the range of choices is vast. The obvious popular images are animals, local views, flowers, landscapes and art. Within each category, there are thousands of different subjects and hundreds of different styles. For instance, animal cards may include mono or colour pencil drawings of cats or puppies, watercolour pictures of lions, tigers, birds or elephants, sweet photographs of kittens, majestic oil paintings of wild animals and so on. There is no end to the variety that is available. We have customers who never step out of their garden and successfully publish a wide range of cards featuring flowers. Why not spend a couple of hours visiting a few greeting card outlets and see what they have to offer? Unless you are a graphic designer, you will probably want to stay away from many of the comedy cards and the gaudy and brightly coloured ones with glitter and embossing. There is still a huge market for attractive classy greeting cards which are eternally popular amongst discerning buyers. Most of these cards are produced as suitable for any occasions, which means that they are blank inside, for the buyer to add their own message. One advantage of this simple and classy market is that there is no need to pay for printing inside the card. Are you artistic? If you have drawing or painting skills, then the choices of subjects are even bigger. As an artist, no doubt you will already have a style and a chosen range of subjects. However, have a look at existing ranges of greeting cards in various outlets and see what appeals to you. You will not wish to copy anyone else, but some inspiration never does any harm and it is good to see what is selling. If you already have some drawings or paintings that have sold then ask the new owners if you reproduce the images as a greeting card. Most owners will be flattered that your work is going to be published.

3 If your work is not too large, it can be scanned in using a desktop scanner. Do this at the highest resolution that you can. The image can always be reduced when the artwork is created, but lost resolution cannot ever be replaced. If your paintings are large, then the only option is to take a photograph of the work in daylight. It is important to keep the plane of the painting and the camera the same. i.e. both the painting and the camera must be exactly vertical. It is a good idea to show a range of your existing images to a few people, ideally people who do not know you well. Ask them which images they would buy if they were featured on a greeting card. Do not ask close friends or relatives as they may choose to be a bit too kind and flattering, which is not what you need to hear. Are you a photographer? If you enjoy taking photographs, then you are already well on your way to making extra money by publishing greeting cards. There are many thousands of different subjects that will sell, from country cottages to still life groups. An image of dusty wine bottles artistically arranged, with some loaves of artisan bread and perhaps a few grapes, an impressive sunset or a well-lit image of rolling heather-covered hills with an attractive sky, will always sell. If you live in a holiday or tourist area there will be many well known spots that you can visit to take successful images. These are easy to sell to local shops and they know that local images always sell the best. The lighting is important to make your images stand out from the crowd. Unless you are taking a still-life image, make sure that the lighting is attractive at the time you take your shots. The one hour after dawn and the hour before sunset is often especially attractive. Interesting or dramatic skies also add to the interest of the image. Unless you wish to manipulate the image in Photoshop or similar, you can just supply the original files and Centreprint will do the rest. Where to sell your greeting cards Most people just devote their time to creating the cards and let other people sell them. Unless you are lucky enough to already have a suitable outlet of your own, such as an existing hairdressers, retail shop, gallery, guest house, hotel, garden centre or petrol station, you are best advised to go down the same route. It is easiest to start locally and to identify outlets that are already selling greeting cards, as they have an existing market. Footfall is very important for a reasonable level of greeting card sales and the more people who see your cards then the more potential sales you will eventually get. If you have packed your cards in crystal clear cello bags, which is essential with retail sales, they will stay clean and should have quite a long shelf life. This means that you can offer the cards on a sale or return basis, so that the outlet has nothing to lose. This will mean that they are much more likely to give your cards a try and once they start selling on a regular basis, take a risk with some of your new designs. In this way it is perfectly possible to build up quite a large range of retail outlets in your local area. Repeat sales can build you a substantial income, which, like writing a song or a successful book means a constantly growing residual income. Remember, one in six of ALL in the UK retailers stock and sell greeting cards. Bleed Although you do not have to create the finished artwork yourself, it is important to remember that your image will have to be large enough to bleed slightly off the edge of the greeting cards.

4 Example artwork The finished artwork will allow for bleed on three sides of the front, with crop marks and perhaps a thumbnail image on the back of the cards. Centreprint create the finished print-ready artwork for you at no extra cost. Remember, the artwork format is flexible and can incorporate your full-colour logo, the image title, the authors name and website details and any other wording that you may require. Retail outlets selling your greeting cards can include: Hairdressers. General shops. Antique shops. Specialist shops such as gift shops. Cafes and restaurants. Post offices. Public houses. Picture galleries. Antique shops. Farm shops. Photographic shops. Garden centres. Guest houses. Hotels. Local attractions. Petrol stations. Veterinary Surgeons (Especially for animal images). In tourist areas, the range of potential outlets will be much larger. Greeting cards can and are sold almost anywhere nowadays. They are often an impulse buy as many people keep a few to hand for when they have forgotten an event. Never be afraid of visiting an outlet and showing them your cards. They can only say no and a rejection does not hurt. If they show no interest, just move on to the next outlet. The technical side Luckily, Centreprint create the layouts for you, so there is very little that you need to know. Most

5 people just supply the original photograph, with the image name. Centreprint s studio do the rest then send you a printed proof to approve, before printing commences. The only things to keep in mind are that your image must be large enough for a little bit to be chopped off all around when printed. This is called the bleed and is standard throughout the printing trade. The bleed is essential to avoid any small white edges showing after the cards are trimmed to their final size. We are only talking about 2mm on the final edges. If you have to avoid using any bleed, such as when you have a signature right on the edge of your image, then a 5mm white border looks equally good and avoids any of the image being cropped off. Many people also choose to have a small thumbnail image on the reverse of the cards. All that you have to do is to supply the original image and the wording for the reverse. This usually includes the image title, the artist or photographer s name and the website. Centreprint do the rest at no extra charge. They can even add your logo on the reverse if you wish, at no extra charge. Simply upload it when ordering the greeting cards. The only other specifications are that the image must be large enough to fit the card area. plus bleed, at a resolution of 300dpi. Images for print have to be CMYK as opposed to RGB, but Centreprint will automatically convert RGB images before printing, so this is not a problem. If your image is too large, the studio will reduce it to fit. You can upload any size images on their website. Colour matching Most greeting cards are printed by a digital process, using the standard printing ink colours of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. These colours approximate the red, green and blue colours of light, which are capture by the scanner or the camera. RGB images will be automatically converted to CMYK images before printing. Sadly, this means that the final printed colours may be slightly different to those that you can see in the original or on the screen. Luckily, most greeting card buyers will have never seen the original image, so any slight alterations in colour and tone will never be noticed. Even much more expensive litho printing has the same problem. Standard greeting card sizes There are many standard greeting card sizes. The following are the most popular UK sizes as special diamond-flap gummed envelopes to fit are readily available and are always supplied with the cards: 140mm square when folded (image should be at least 144mm square at 300dpi to allow for bleed). 150mm square when folded (image should be at least 154mm square at 300dpi to allow for bleed). A6 (105mm x 148mm when folded) (image should be at least 109mm x 152mm at 300dpi to allow for bleed). A5 (148mm x 210mm when folded) (image should be at least 109mm x 152mm at 300dpi to allow for bleed). 5 inches x 7 inches (still a popular size. These cards are 127mm x 178mm when folded) (image should be at least 131mm x 182mm at 300dpi to allow for bleed). DL (210mm x 99mm when folded) (image should be at least 214mm x 103mm at 300dpi to allow for bleed).

6 If a 5mm white border is required on any of the cards, there is no need to allow for bleed. Heavy quality diamond flap gummed envelopes are always supplied with the greeting cards cards and are always slightly larger than the above sizes. Glass clear cello bags to fit any of the above cards are also available, to make the cards more saleable and to keep them clean in the display. Cello bags hold one card and one envelope. The cards are creased, ready to fold and pack. Greeting card finishes Centreprint greeting cards are printed on environmentally friendly 340gsm white board. Two standard finishes are available. The most popular finish is satin-smooth, which has a delightful semi sheen. A high gloss laminated finish is also available, but this costs more and does not suit every image. It is probably best to go with the standard finish while you establish your market and see how each image sells. If you are unsure, please ask for samples of both finishes. Thank you Thank you for requesting this report, which, hopefully has proved useful to you. Centreprint are committed to making your greeting card business a success. We offer actual printed samples of your cards, free help and advice, free card layout and proofing, free heavy quality white envelopes and free UK mainland delivery. Our service also covers supplying glossy clear cello bags for you to pack your cards in and we also offer a full greeting card packing service if you require it. Please ask for a sample pack of the various sizes and finishes of greeting cards. Please also read what our customers say about us Centreprint Print & Mail - Specialist Greeting Card Printers Units 1 & 2 Lanesfield Drive, Wolverhampton. WV4 6UA Telephone: sales@cpmailing.co.uk About Centreprint - Established Offering very high standards of customer satisfaction Centreprint also print postcards, bookmarks and correspondence cards, as well as a full range of commercial and business stationery such as letterheads, compliment slips, business cards and invoice sets. Centreprint produce millions of Business Reply envelopes and Freepost envelopes every year, to extremely strict Royal Mail specifications. The Centreprint Mailing Division send out millions of mail pieces every year, working to highly ethical standards of data integrity and customer satisfaction. Units 1 & 2 Lanesfield Drive, Wolverhampton WV4 6UA Telephone sales@cpmailing.co.uk