Thursday, April 4, 2013

Publish A Birthday Card

You have made a great card. Now what?


Creating birthday cards is a creative and rewarding experience. Once you have a marketable card idea, it can be confusing get your card published. There are many different ways to bring your card to market, from contacting already existing greeting card companies to creating your own business to sell the birthday cards yourself. There are many resources available to help you along the way. It is rewarding to see your card in stores available for sale to the public.


Instructions


1. Create the birthday card. Traditional birthday cards have a visual on the front of the card, such as a picture or drawing that might include text. The inside of the folded card has additional text. Cards can be humorous, sentimental or romantic.


2. Find your niche. The greeting card market is full of birthday card ideas. Your card must be able to fill a void that customers will buy, or it must expand an existing idea of birthday cards and make them better. A recent innovation in birthday cards is music playing when the card is opened or being able to record voice messages from the sender. Take a look at card stores, and see what is out there. Compare that to what you have produced to see if there is a place for your card in the marketplace.


3. Research greeting card companies. Each greeting card company has its own set of guidelines and requirements for freelancing artists and writers to submit their ideas. A few greeting card companies will even have job offers available to create cards for freelancers. Look at large and small companies as possibilities for submissions.


4. Submit your birthday card proposal. Some items that need to be included in your proposal include: What is the theme of your line of birthday cards? What makes them different from other cards? Who is going to buy your birthday cards? Do you have additional ideas to keep the publishing line moving forward with fresh ideas?


5. Self-publish your cards if you are unable to sell your cards to a traditional publisher. There are many websites that will help with the printing and selling of your creative works. Do a little research to find which website company offers the best pricing and services to meet your needs. Going on your own requires much more work on your part, including marketing and sales.