Back in late October I was running a search for greeting card companies – not the POD (print-on-demand) type, but places like Hallmark and Abacus Cards that accept submissions from artists on spec. If they select your work, you get paid for the artwork they purchase.

While doing this, I ran across Greeting Card Universe – somewhat like a POD, but a little more unique. Unlike other POD sites, it specializes only in greeting cards – nothing else.

I signed up with GCU on a whim – I thought if the quality was good it might be a worthwhile source for printed cards to sell locally. Within a day of having my first 6 cards approved, I had a random sale. Already I’ve had more random card sales in a month from GCU than I’ve had in a year on Redbubble and Zazzle.

One of the questions I’ve been asked is “Why lower your art to the status of everyday cards instead of keeping them as prints?”   While a large majority of my work is art prints, they are far more costly which means that there are many people in today’s current economy that can’t afford a print, and others who just won’t spend money on items that aren’t considered necessities.

Releasing some of my work as card-art means that my work is still in the public eye. People send more cards during economically tough times than they do gifts, so the card market isn’t likely to suffer as much as other art markets.  Apart from that, at least half of the work I’ve submitted to GCU are simple and quick graphic designs made primarily to sell as cards, keeping the major artwork as prints.

I thought long and hard about this before adding to my holdings on GCU; it certainly isn’t about the money, because the earnings are quite small per card as opposed to the earnings on a print. It’s about exposure, and keeping my work and my skills in the marketplace, even when the marketplace is suffering. In some ways, it is a form of advertising – one that costs me little financially, and it provides me with samples which can be sold.

All-in-all, it isn’t the way I’d normally choose to market my work, but in this particular time, where many are in financial crisis, it’s an alternative that I think is worth looking at.