Kate Harper's Blog: 7/18/10

Book on How To Get Your Cards into Stores

Finally, a book about selling your cards!

If you want to learn how to get your greeting cards into retail stores, you will want to read this book called "Pushing the Envelope."

Meryl Hooker, one of the authors, was one of my top selling reps for several years and she has also written an article on social media and the stationery industry for this blog.

This book is geared towards newcomers in the stationery industry for the small manufacturer and it covers many topics, including:

-How do I find sales reps?
-What do I pay reps?
-How do I know which sales reps are right for me?
-Recommendations for keeping your line fresh.
-Dealing with territories and orders,
-Places to find reps,
-What reps expect from a manufacturer, and
-How to keep the rep and manufacturer relationship healthy and profitable long term.

AUTHORS:

Meryl Hooker is a nationally recognized, award-‐winning sales rep, writer, speaker and all-around sales rockstar. She has served the Mid-Atlantic as a greeting card and gift manufacturer’s representative for nearly a dozen years where she specializes in working with independently owned greeting card and gift stores. Meryl is a highly sought rep in large part because of the uncompromising standards of excellence to customer service, account development and manufacturer relationships she brings to the table.

As the writer of, “Road Rage: The Blog”, Meryl chronicles life as a road rep and sales lessons learned while driving miles of highway. She is a contributing columnist to numerous industry publications and blogs and is the co-author of the newly released book, "Pushing The Envelope: The Small Greeting Card Manufacturer’s Guide to Working with Sales Reps". She can be reached via www.merylhooker.com

Rob Fortier is the owner and creative director of Paper Words, which manufacturers greeting cards and personalized stationery. His card designs have earned him write-ups in industry magazines such as Greetings etc, Gifts & Decorative Accessories, Art Buyer, Giftware News and Stationery Trends, and have been featured on the HGTV cable network.

For additional information on Pushing the Envelope, you can contact authors Rob Fortier or Meryl Hooker at info@CenterAisleGroup.com or visit http://www.CenterAisleGroup.com

You can also order it on Amazon.com

5 ways to get your products noticed

Another great article by Artsyshark:

Tell me what your company does . . . in one sentence.

When I consult with companies that want help boosting their sales, this is always my first question. I recently met with a few first-time exhibitors at this year’s National Stationery Show. Besides the main goal of making sales, they all wanted to hire sales reps too. I started with the kick-off question, and here are some of the responses I received:

“I make letterpress cards that are fun and edgy, but sometimes whimsical, and make people feel good. And I use glitter sometimes, too.”

“I have something for everybody- recipe cards, children’s birthday, and some handmade collage pieces.”read entire article...

(card: Kate Harper Designs)

Too much spam in your art licensing mailbox?

After receiving a flurry of spam through my art licensing mailbox recently, I decided to do some research on how to fight back. Here's a great article on some general tips and also one for apple mail where you can actually have your spam bounce back to the sender.

Excerpt:

The "Bounce" Feature

Apple Mail comes with a smart feature to actively fight spam: the Bounce feature.

Apple Mail can emulate the behavior of a bounced back email: to bounce back an email to its sender, control-click/right-click on the junk email, and choose "Bounce". The sender's mail server will receive -and relay- an undeliverable failure notice.

article continued...

BOOKS FOR THE CARD DESIGN

These are books I own and recommend. Some may be out of print, but used copies may be available. Check link.

Start & Run a Greeting Cards Business Book covers starting a card business in the UK. Good basic info, but financial/measurement info is in different monetary units.

Greeting Card Design Book that shows examples of professional card design.

Publishing Your Art as Cards How to make and sell your own cards for an extra income.

Pushing the Envelope How to work with greeting card sales reps.

Complete Guide to Greeting Card Design and Illustration Great Book on understanding the greeting card profession and how to develop a style.

1000 Handmade Greetings: creative cards and clever correspondence This is not a simple craft book for hobbyists,instead it is a picture book of professionally handmade cards by leading companies and designers.

By the Batch: Creative Cards, Postcards, Envelopes & More Book that addresses how to "manufacture" handmade greeting cards.

How to Write and Sell Greeting Cards, Bumper Stickers, Tshirts and Other Fun Stuff

Sell the Fun Stuff: Writers' and Artists' Market Guidelines for Greeting Cards, Posters, Rubber Stamps, T-Shirts, Aprons, Bumper Stickers, and More!

Writing Card Sentiments

Freelance Writing for Greeting Cards Another good book on how to write for cards professionally.

You Can Write Your Own Greeting Cards Clear guidelines on how to write card sentiments professionally.

Finding the Right Words One of many basic books of this series that tells you how to add words products, cards, etc.

Licensing Your Art to Companies

Licensing Art and Design

Licensing Art 101 Good beginners guide on the art licensing business.

2011 Artist's and Graphic Designer's Market List of greeting card companies, art licensees and agents.Detailed information on submission guidelines.

Gift and Product Design

Start with a Scan One of a kind book that tells you how to transform your art into a scan and what to do with it from there.

Design Your Own Repeat Patterns Simple book on learning repeats.

Twentieth-Century Pattern Design Great book for inspiration and creative approaches to designing patterns.

How to Break into Product Design Overview of product design in all industries.

Designing a Digital Portfolio Shows you how to put a digital portfolio together for the modern era.

Mary Engelbreit: The Art And The Artist Amazing story of how Mary ended up doing licensing.

Principles of Pattern Design Good info on pattern design

Imagery on Fabric Basic info on putting images onto fabric.

Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing Yearly updated guidelines for pricing for people in art careers.

5,000 Years of Textiles Far East, Americas, Africa, Scandinavia, and Egyptian. Good for studying fabric design.

Abstract Design and How to Create It Over 380 illustrations, diagrams, designs, border patterns and textile patterns.

Creative Illustration Workshop Exercises for integrating illustration with other mixed-media techniques, and scan and layer your illustrations using a computer.

Print Workshop Hand-Printing Techniques for low budgets. Interesting ways to put imagery on products. Perhaps a good technique for putting our designs on model items to show what they would look like on real products.

Digital Alchemy Printmaking techniques for fine art and how to transfer images to a variety of surfaces. It includes decals and skins.

Critical Mass Cutting-edge developments in international printmaking. Since printmaking is fundamental in most surface design concepts, this book's goal is a modern approach on a traditional printmaking.

Tradeshows and Booth Design