What kind of Greeting Cards do People Buy?

I  asked Meryl Hooker some questions about the retail scene and what artists should know about greeting card trends.

She has worked with many independent card designers as a greeting card sales rep, won several awards for her sales skills and has a special talent of pinpointing what people want. When I worked with her, she was often my top selling rep.

She is now the card and gift buyer at Pulp, a trendy store in Washington DC. (more bio below).



What do customers want these days?

One thing I see every day is that people still want, and actively seek out contemporary items that reflect who they are. We have a national drugstore chain one block away from the store and people could choose to get their cards there, but they come to Pulp instead. That says something to me about the quality of product and aesthetic our customer base is willing to pay for.

Going from a manufacturer's sales reps to a greeting card buyer at a store, my plot point has moved and I'm closer to the customer than I was. I am exposed to vast amounts of raw, uncensored data every day in terms of what customers want, think, and are willing to spend.




For the independent card designer, what do you think they should pay attention to? What should they stay away from?

My best advice for independent card designers is:

• Build the strongest, most cohesive, sellable line you can. 
• Create a strong collection of birthday, thank you, sympathy, wedding and baby cards. 
• Blank cards still have legs provided the designs are strong. 
• Learn how to run a business and understand it is, first and foremost, a business. 
• Learn about the industry from both the creative and retail side. 
• Ship on time. 
• Be professional and easy to work with.
• Stick with a traditional 5x7 size and stay away from square cards.

I recently interviewed six stores who sell handmade cards and they all said card sales have increased over the last 2 years What do you attribute this to?

People have an innate need to connect with other people. As sexy and convenient as social platforms are, ultimately, they lack human warmth. You can't send a text to the birthday boy at the party when you hand him the gift and even in our practically etiquetteless society, you still can't email your condolences.

At the end of the day, each of us wants to feel connected to other people and just the right card can express how we feel. No matter how tech savvy any of us is or becomes, we can't get away from that basic need.
The primary thing I've noticed is how much paper we still sell at Pulp. Cards have always been a key category and I'm really happy to say it continues to be true. I've seen so many independently owned stores move away from greeting cards as a major category in favor of gift items so I was pleasantly surprised to see that cards are still cranking at our registers.



As a buyer, what are the important things you look for, when selecting cards for the store?

I am primarily looking for a solid lines that will meet the needs of my customers in terms of purpose, price and design. Every card on my shelves must pass the "why would someone send this card?" test. The price has to be consistent with the type and quality of the card and, most importantly, the design has to fit in with the Pulp brand. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of card lines that I personally love but will not bring into the store because they aren't the right fit. Believe me, it's hard to turn so many brilliant companies away, but the business manager side of my job has the final say over the creative, artistic buying side.



MORE ABOUT MERYL

Meryl Hooker is an independent business development expert dedicated to helping locally owned businesses thrive in a big box world. She is an internationally recognized speaker, consultant and writer currently serving as the General Manager & Buyer at PULP in Washington, DC. In 2012, Meryl retired after nearly 15 years of serving as a Mid-Atlantic sales representative for greeting card and gift companies.

She was a partner at Center Aisle Group and co-authored a book for the greeting card industry  "Pushing the Envelope: the Small Greeting Card Manufacturer’s Guide to Working With Sales Reps" and"Showtime! The Greeting Card and Gift Company’s Guide to Trade Show Success".
 
A self-described sales nerd, Meryl takes great pride in the fact she’s seen the legendary rock band, KISS, 19 times – and counting—and openly credits KISS, Inc., as the model and inspiration for her business structure and success.

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The Greeting Card Business

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Get Your Greeting Cards Into Stores: How to Find and Work With Sales Reps (Updated 2017 paperback) If you like to make greeting cards, this book explains how to get your cards into stores and sell them nationwide.  Learn about changing trends in the indie card market and niche opportunities available for artists. Book includes detailed guidelines on pricing cards for a profit, getting professional feedback on your designs, finding sales representatives, pitching your card line to them, approaching stores, and the industry standards you should follow. Information is also applicable to gift items, such as magnets, journals and calendars.

Start and Run a Greeting Card Business From a British author, whose country has a long history of greeting card design, she takes you step-by-step through the process of starting and running your business with lots of useful practical advice to help you, including: - Deciding what type of cards to produce - Finding your market - Dealing with printers - Copyright and licensing - Pricing and profit. Kate's note: Some specs are different (card sizes) since it is UK standards.

Greeting Card Design This volume features a vast array of fun, elegant, simple and imaginative greeting cards designed by internationally-known artists, illustrators and calligraphers. With over 300 full-color photographs of creative, popular, and inspiring greeting card designs, this invaluable sourcebook showcases the very best of what is happening in the industry today. Accompanying text explores the history of the greeting card industry and examines the major contributions from the leading innovative companies.

Good News for Indie Card Artists: New Sales Trends

If you publish your own cards, or design handmade cards, there are some positive trends leaning your way.

Since most sales statistics for the card industry are based on figures from large or publicly traded corporations, it is hard to know what is going on in the independent card market.

To find out what is happening in the alternative card industry, I interviewed six independently owned gift and card stores in Berkeley.  I talked to ten different people and asked them what trends they are seeing in card sales. Some of the best news was that there is an increase in sales of handmade and hand-embellished cards.

Here are the notes from my interviews:


SALES TRENDS 

Here are what the stores reported on sales trends:

• All stores reported an increase in greeting card sales over the last two years.  When I asked them to respond to negative news articles I'd read on the greeting card industry, they felt those statistics did not apply to their store.  

• The gift oriented stores reported that cards are a popular item in their store and customers often look at the racks.

• Most stores are selling more artistic, handmade and local artist's cards.

• One store manager who had a significant increase in card sales this year attributed it to "people want to touch paper again." 

• One stationery store reported that it was common for a customer to come to the register with $35-$40 worth of greeting cards. He said that customers will buy a lot of cards because they like a particular art style or theme (and not necessarily because they need greeting cards).

• One upscale greeting card store is expanding to two local branches. 

• All the stores said they felt they served a completely different market than chain stores that carry greeting cards.  One store reported "People who buy cards in our store take time to evaluate them.  People who are just running errands or need to buy a card out of an obligation tend to buy cards in drugstore chains."

CUSTOMER TRENDS

Here are what the stores reported on customer trends:

• Buyers are now willing to spend $5 per card.

• Younger "hipster" buyers are coming into the market.

• Two stores reported that customers will buy cards to keep and frame for inspiration. 

• One store reported that their customers often ask for help when selecting a card.

• Some stores reported that customers ask about "the story" behind the card publisher or the artist. 

• One store clerk said she received special training on learning about the artists, and the different paper qualities of cards.

CARD DESIGN TRENDS

Here are what the stores reported on card design trends: 

• More cards are now being packaged and protected in individual cellophane bags because they are handmade or have embellishments added.

• Almost every store strongly emphasized that their customers buy cards for the interesting imagery, and not for text. Text is not as important as it might have been in the past.  

• One store said trends are moving towards "thought-provoking" imagery.  These are images that make the customer ask "what is this about?"  

• Here are some examples of images the stores pointed out as being good sellers:

1. A moose riding a bicycle.
2. Mute-colored, over-sized serious clown with a tiny head.
3. A loosely drawn ballerina with glitter sprinkled on it.
4. A geometric-shaped man that only covered a small edge of the card.
5. Green letter press card with a man's exterior head and internal ribs.

*Note: None of these cards had words on them.

• Two stores reported that they make a point of encouraging customers to come up with their own text for the inside.  One store specifically advises customers to search on google if they get stuck.  These stores seem to prefer blank cards. 

ADVICE FOR ARTISTS

I asked stores what they suggest artists do if they want to succeed in the card business today.  Here are their responses:

• Pay special attention to your image. It is more important today than it used to be.

• Witty text isn't as necessary as it used to be. For example, leaving it blank or just saying "happy birthday" can be good enough.

• Designers should create more cards that can be bought any day of the year (and not limit them to an occasion). 

• Artists should try to make cards that are curious and unpredictable. 

• If an artist is just starting out, they should focus on creating Birthday, Thank You, Valentine's day and blank cards (no words).  

• One store said that artists should be very careful about over-investing financially.  She said some of her favorite designers did not display at a recent gift show* and she later found out they had quit the business because they couldn't afford it.

*Kate's note: Some gift show fees can range from $5,000-$8000.


CONCLUSION

While my informal survey was limited to Northern California, the responses are also consistent with the IBIS World Procurement Report on the state of the greeting card industry.  This report stated that overall corporate card sales were down, but that "Areas of growth are likely small geographic areas and niches in the market." 

If you are an independent designer or handmade artist, what is your experience?

15 Top Design Skills in Highest Demand

This is an interesting graphic with a large sample of almost 29,000 job postings.  Photoshop wins by a large margin.  I thought for sure web site design would be the tops.

35 Free Photoshop Tutorials

Here are some interesting photoshop tutorials on dzineblog.
Check out the list at http://www.dzineblog360.com/2013/06/35-newly-released-free-photoshop-tutorials-of-2013/

Here are some examples:

Making Poster Mockups

Matte Paintings

Texturing Text

Meet the Master of Greeting Card Writing

INTERVIEW WITH KAREN MOORE

While I was on Linkedin, I met Karen Moore, the author of You Can Write Greeting Cards. Karen has an extensive background in card writing, including 8 years writing for American Greetings. I asked her to do an interview for this blog.

One important lesson I got out of this interview is how one little thing, like a phone call, can impact your writing career. It doesn't take much to open a door for yourself.

QUESTION: You have a long history in the gift industry. Can you give us a brief description of your journey into this profession and why you were drawn towards it?

KAREN: I have a Master’s in Education and was teaching 5th through 8th grades Reading and English. Every summer, I would be laid off and then brought back a day or two before school started. The third year that happened, I decided to see what else I might be able to do and settled down with the yellow pages in Cleveland, Ohio.

Turning randomly to the greeting card manufacturers, I’d never considered that option until seeing the phone number for American Greetings. I decided to call and find out what might be needed to be a writer there since I had been writing poems and stories all my life.

That phone call miraculously opened the door to my whole new life.

I spent almost eight years at American Greetings, being tutored by some of the best in the industry, learning everything from how to handle licensed properties to writing calendars. I went from there to other positions at Gibson Greetings, Current, Inc., DaySpring and a variety of freelance contracts.


QUESTION: Your book covers about every question I can think of on the topic of card writing, but for people who haven't read your book, give me a list of things a new card writer should do, to increase their odds of getting their work published.

KAREN: It’s always important to know two things: 1. What ways the market is responding to new trends and 2. What each company considers to be their bread & butter lines.

If you can tap into either of those areas, your chances improve of getting on board with them as a freelancer and potentially a contract writer.

Doing your homework and showing them you know something about their consumers or showing them that you’re on top of a trend they are interested in can pay the dividends.


QUESTION: While a writer can follow all the guidelines perfectly, what is the best way to make our work stand out among all the other submissions?

KAREN: Of course, these days, not all companies are open to freelance, so for those that are, I recommend going the distance on your initial submissions so they know you’re a serious contender. That means offering ideas for a specific audience, let’s say novelty cards for kids, or birthday cards for teens. Go after something that isn’t easily answered by the publisher, but something they will love if you do it right, and you’ll increase your chances to become part of their stable of writers.

Also, be sure to take any follow-up suggestions they might have for you and do them carefully. If they open the door a little bit, it’s up to you to keep the relationship going. They have a lot of people vying for attention and those people are directly competing with you.


QUESTION: What topics and subject matter do you think are going to be more popular down the road?

KAREN: I’m not particularly clairvoyant about what topics might meet the future most directly, but I always recommend that writers read the current greeting card racks and try to discover what is missing, where the needs are that aren’t addressed adequately. If there’s bigger emphasis culturally on things like job loss, reinventing yourself, facing an uncertain future, or finding ways to laugh at any of those things, then it’s worth developing ideas for that market segment.

I also suggest that writers go to bookstores and see what the best sellers are in terms of topics. Those interests are the same ones that can translate well into new greeting card line opportunities.


QUESTION: For you personally, what it is like to be a writer in the gift industry? Do you have a story that might be inspiring to others?

KAREN: First of all, I love the greeting card industry. For me, it is a kind of ministry that works to connect people at every significant moment of life.

It also works to simply say that you’re important to me that you exist and that we can share this one moment in the day and offer each other a hand or a smile.

In my early years, I loved working with Tom Wilson and getting to create new ideas around Ziggy and the Care Bears lines and Strawberry Shortcake. Later, I got to work with Mike Peters, Jim Davis, and the Kersten Brothers and I learned to appreciate those genius’ cartoonists of the industry.

As I evolved into a more inspirational writer, I enjoyed writing whole greeting card lines for Chicken Soup for the Soul and Hugs and Women of Faith. All of these opportunities enriched my experience.

Finally, consulting here in Costa Rica with a cute bumblebee character called Pechi and helping him find his wings has brought more color and texture to my writing life. It’s been a gift to me to keep finding new opportunities to grow in this business and now mentoring others, makes me feel like I can give back part of the gift that was given me along the way.


QUESTION: What are some things a writer can do today, to get started in a career of card writing? KAREN: Many things can be done and no one has a handle on what exactly will get you in the door, but these are some things to keep in mind.

1-Once you’ve done the homework and created ideas, you need to make sure those ideas are the best you can possibly make them. You have to believe in them because if you don’t, it’s tough to convince others to believe.

2-Secondly, you have to be willing to learn from the feedback you receive, refine your work and persist in your effort.

3-You have to find your voice. What you have to say is important and no one else can say it more effectively than you can as long as you’re authentic. Yes, you’ll find yourself listening and writing for other voices too if you work with licensed properties, but for your work to make a difference, it needs to have your signature.

Not everyone has your gift for words. Be confident and the world will receive you.

Website: www.karen-ann-moore.com

Favorites Trade Shows: New York Stationery Show, Book Expo America

Side job ideas for writers: Write articles, blogs, newsletters, anything that keeps you researching a bit and current with the market

Favorite Quote: It never serves the world if we hide our gifts under a bushel.

~

~ Books on Writing Card Sentiments ~

You Can Write Greeting Cards This hands-on guide features practical instruction and exercises that teach beginners how to survey the market, find their niche, and write greetings cards that say just the right thing.

A Guide to Greeting Card Writing All forms are discussed in detail: conventional verse and prose, personal relationship cards, humor, juvenile, inspirational, etc. Detailed info on how to submit and sell your work to greeting card markets. All the nuts and bolts of both the creative art and the publishing market.

Write Greeting Cards Like a Pro Moore knows the ins and outs of the greeting card business. In this hands-on guide, she offers practical instruction, idea joggers, and exercises that will teach you how to survey the market, find your niche, and write greeting cards that say just the right thing. From humor to inspirational writing, Moore profiles the special needs of each greeting card category and also shows you how to spot new trends, so you can write the cards publishers are seeking today.

The Freelance Writing for Greeting Card Companies This book targets important areas a writer needs to know in regards to being self-employed, as well as, how to own a small greeting card business. It covers Internet to explore the technology which has opened the door for freelance writers and artists. You will find web sites that will offer a variety of freelance writers opportunities never before known or unreachable outside the Internet world such as: chat rooms, bulletin boards, or forums so writers can communicate with other writers. This type of networking is ideal for finding answers or obtaining valuable information about a company, organizations, writing groups, and available resources.

How to Write and Sell Greeting Cards, Bumper Stickers, T-Shirts and Other Fun Stuff A successful freelancer shares her years of experience and advice in writing for the "social expression market".

Thinking of You: A Card Greeting for Every Occasion This little books helps to jump start your thinking to make messages for cards.

Finding the Right Words: Perfect Phrases to Personalize Your Greeting Cards More than three dozen ways to say "Happy Birthday” for new family members...even pets. Includes thoughtful condolences for personalizing sympathy cards and congratulatory wishes for weddings and anniversaries. There are helpful hints to simplify card-sending and a monthly calendar for birthdays and anniversaries. This is a book of phrases for all occasions.

Ebook by Kate Harper

You can support this blog by ordering Kate's e-Booklets starting at only .99 cents! They can be read on your kindle, ipad, ipod, cellphone, or your computer. Free samples and lending options available. 

7 Mistakes Greeting Card Writers is a booklet that explains what to avoid when submitting greeting card verse to publishers. Learn how to create a trendy card that reflects the contemporary world we live in, and how to use your own personal experience to create card verse. Topics include: how to avoid limiting your market, when to use adjectives, not creating card for enemies, write like people talk and a list of why card sentiment submissions are often rejected. You can increase your odds of success by 60% just by doing a few simple things. Includes a list of card publishers and their guidelines, links to writer interviews, and writing exercises for how to create good verse.

Interview with cartoonist Lynda Barry

I just happened onto one of the best interviews on creativity I've ever heard. Cartoonist Lynda Barry's shares her view on play, memories, being creative and how the brain works. She made we want to sign up for one of her workshops! It sounds like it would be so much fun.

Check it out the audio interview #1 at The Progressive: http://progressive.org/lynda_barry_interview_audio.html

You can also download the podcast on itunes.

Here's also a NYT Article:Lynda Barry Will Make You Believe In Yourself http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/magazine/cartoonist-lynda-barry-will-make-you-believe-in-yourself.html?pagewanted=all

How to be funny: According to Bill Abbott

I know most of you have seen Bill's comics and have gotten a good chuckle out of them. If you are like me, you find humor can be difficult when it comes to creating greeting cards. I asked Bill if he would mind writing an article on humor and tell us how he approaches it. He was kind enough to contribute the following tips on how to be funny. To see more of his work, visit his website . -Kate

MAKING FUNNY STUFF

Writing humor, for me, is an absolute joy. To think that people pay me to think up funny stuff, then draw the scenario using my goofy-looking characters, never ceases to bring up a sense of extreme gratitude. I’ve been asked about the broad perspective and process of developing visual humor, so here goes.

FINDING INSPIRATION
First, there is no shortage of inspiration. Every day slices of life, when viewed from the right perspective, provide lots of potential nuggets of humor. Take your average husband and wife and the things we all experience in the course of time. Perhaps the thoughts that goes through a bride or groom’s mind just before committing to a lifelong partnership. Using this as a starting point, I came up with a couple standing at the altar, the groom asking nervously, “For better or worse? How much worse?” – a reasonable question when you think about it.

CHILDREN AS A SOURCE OF HUMOR
For those of us with children, the well of humor is positively bottomless. When my youngest son was in the midst of potty training, an event occurred that I have yet to capture in a cartoon – primarily because he may not wish to have it widely known once he’s old enough to begin dating. But it’s lurking in the back of my mind. As my little boy demonstrated some level of ability in using the bathroom, I would close the door to give him some privacy while I stood just outside. If the process took overly long, I would develop varying degrees of concern.

On this one particular day, based on the length of his bathroom visit, and on sounds that you don’t normally associate with such a visit, I became greatly concerned. Upon opening the door, I found my son standing facing the toilet, with his little hands on the edges of the bowl for support. I would describe his expression, but it was not visible to me. You see, he was dipping the top of his head into the toilet as though he was washing his hair. Upon hearing my gasp of concern, his head snapped up, flinging water onto the wall behind him, and setting his hair into a shark fin-like blade atop his head, wearing an expression of, “Is this bad?” on his little face. That moment will be forever transfixed in my memory. Yes, the well of humor runs deep indeed with children.

HUMOR AT THE WORKPLACE
There are innumerable situations in the work place that, when you think about it, provide fertile ground for humor. I’ll bet that the policy manual for nearly any corporate entity in the United States and abroad could leave one in stitches when read objectively. And how about some of the topics covered in your typical corporate training programs? Fertile ground indeed.

JUST LOOK AROUND
In nearly any facet of modern life, whether it’s school, work, home, or the newspaper, there is a veritable cornucopia of humorous topics and events. How about politicians? Listen to them speak for just a little while, and you’ll come to appreciate how much humor they can pack into each and every sentence – not that that is their intention mind you. Even your typical news channel is chock full of funny events that the best humor writers in the world couldn’t come up with – ever watch Cops?

Whether you write, draw, or speak humor, you need only look around you for an abundance of possibilities. It’s not the event itself that needs to be funny – just the perspective from which you view it. Therein lies the secret.

ABOUT BILL ABBOTT
Bill lives in beautiful western New York with his wife and two sons. He has served over eighteen years in the U.S. military, including service in Iraq, and other places. His art has appeared in Reader's Digest, in Mead Westvaco and American Greetings calendars, in greeting cards, books, magazines and a long, long list of other products and publications worldwide. Bill's cartoons have been licensed to numerous companies to produce everything from figurines, greeting cards, cocktail napkins - you name it.

WEBSITE: http://billabbott.weebly.com/index.html
BLOG: http://billabbottcartoons.com/

~

Technology, Humor and Cards

If you are not tired of hearing my opinions on the card design business and art licensing...here is an interview I did for the blog "The Moon from my Attic" blog on the topic of Tech, humor and cards. Here is an excerpt. To see entire interview go to blog post...

Question: Please give us your analysis of the market based on your own experience and contacts. I still feel so new to this career, that once I think I know what is happening, then the opposite happens. My personal opinion is to look in the direction of tech. That is where the world is right now. Recently I bought a Kindle Touch for $99, yet the only flimsy skins (rubber cover) I could find started at $20! Interestingly, all of these skins had art on them. Common sense tells me these skins can be made very inexpensively, and yet people are buying them for this steep price. In my mind, that's the future.

To read entire interview, go to blog post...

The Future of the Card Business

Carolyn Edlund, the Author of the blog Artsy Shark was kind enough to do an interview with me for her blog about the card business. You can read it at http://www.artsyshark.com/2011/10/09/interview-with-greeting-card-designer-kate-harper/

Art Licensing and Card Design Interviews

Here are a list of interviews on this blog applicable to the greeting card and gift industry.


THE HI-TECH ARTIST

Licensing Art for Electronic Devices

Art Licensing on Tech Products

Artist Publishes Digital Children's book

Licensing Artist goes "high tech" in Surtex Booth

How I Use Email to Sell Art & Get Leads

How I Sell my Designs Online: Jude Maceren

Selling My Art Through Social Media

How Artists Can Use Twitter in Their Business

How Blogging Led Me To Art Licensing

MANUFACTURER INTERVIEWS

Interview with Wall Art Manufacturer

Card Publisher Talks about the Digital Shift

Artists or Agents? Tips by Susan January

GREETING CARD INTERVIEWS

Meet the Master of Greeting Card Writing

Greeting Card Rep Talks about Trends

Greeting Card Award Winner Interview

Breaking into the Greeting Card Writing Market

Audio Interview: Getting into the Greeting Card Writing Market

ART LICENSING INTERVIEWS

When Religious Faith Meets Licensing

Surfboard Artist Talks about Art Licensing

Interview with Licensing Artist Patti Gay

Great Images from Italian Publisher & Artist

Interview with Licensing Artist Sara Henry

Artist BJ Lantz Talks About Licensing

Interview with Card Artist Valéry Goulet

Sean Kane: Fun Designs from Bikes to Teapots

CONSULTANT INTERVIEWS

How to Stay Positive & Move Forward in Art Licensing, in a Negative Economy

Special Interview with J'net Smith on Art Branding

Protecting Your Art: Interview with Alyson B. Stanfield

Interview with Greetings etc. Editor, Kathy Krassner

10 Things You Can Do, to Make Time for Art

Ebooks by Kate Harper

You can support this blog by ordering Kate's e-Booklets starting at only .99 cents! They can be read on your kindle, ipad, ipod, cellphone, or your computer. Free samples and lending options available. You can also view the list of all recommended greeting card books by a variety of authors.

 

Get Your Greeting Cards into Stores explains how to sell cards nationwide. Included are detailed guidelines on: How to price cards for a profit, get professional feedback, find sales representatives and follow industry standards. Information is also applicable to gift items, magnets, journals, calendars, collectibles, etc.

20 Steps to Art Licensing is a book about how to license your art to companies that publish greeting cards, or manufacture coffee mugs, magnets, wall hangings, kitchen items, and dozens of other gift items. Learn how to prepare your art, what companies to contact, how to find agents, and what trade shows to attend. Includes extensive resources on social media, copyrights, licensing community groups, and lists of interviews with professional designers.

7 Mistakes Greeting Card Writers is a booklet that explains what to avoid when submitting greeting card verse to publishers. Learn how to create a trendy card that reflects the contemporary world we live in, and how to use your own personal experience to create card verse. Topics include: how to avoid limiting your market, when to use adjectives, not creating card for enemies, write like people talk and a list of why card sentiment submissions are often rejected. You can increase your odds of success by 60% just by doing a few simple things. Includes a list of card publishers and their guidelines, links to writer interviews, and writing exercises for how to create good verse.

Unusual Ways To Market Greeting Cards, and 22 places to get your designs featured is a booklet on how to get your cards noticed in non-traditional ways. Everything from why you should send cards to your dentist, to how to get a special feature in national publication. Great tips for designers who are starting out and want to get their cards into the hands of people beyond friends and family. Special Section: 22 Gift Industry Trade Publications who seek out new greeting card designs and feature artists for free.

How to Make an EBook Cover for Non-Designers is an illustrated book will show you how to make your own e-book cover, even if you are not a designer. It is intended to help the indie writer who is on a budget and wants to publish and sell their own book in online stores such Amazon.com and the Apple ibookstore. Selling your book in these stores will allow readers to purchase your book and read it on multiple devices such as the Kindle, iPad, iPhone and many other electronic devices.

~