FREELANCER TIPS
Take Advantage of the Billion Dollar Greeting Cards Market
Cash in on all that creativity
According to Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the Greeting Cards global market was estimated at USD23 Billion in 2020.
And while it makes sense to assume the world is shifting towards a paperless society, even the online market for this industry is promising. In the U.S. alone, it reflected a market size of $1 billion, says IBISWorld Research Report (updated March 2021).
With such an optimistic outlook, it’s a no-brainer there are opportunities for freelance creatives. Check out the threesome below for motivation.
Viabella
In business since 1941, Viabella works with verse writers and artists on an international level. Their site lists they’re constantly considering new photography and art.
The details:
- $150 — $250 per image (art or photography)
- $50 — $100 per verse
- an offer/agreement letter (if they like your work)
- Submission guidelines here
Note: they’re not looking to review secular or religious pieces, pay more for humor, and do not respond to submissions unless they decide to purchase your stuff.
Blue Mountain Arts
A player in the game for over 50 years, Blue Mountain Arts was founded by poet Susan Polis Schutz and physicist/illustrator Stephen Schutz. As history tells it, her poems and his paintings captured folks across the U.S., making BMA a “publishing phenomenon.”
According to the web, they’re keen on:
Contemporary prose or poetry written from personal experience that reflects the thoughts and feelings people today want to communicate to one another, but don’t always know how to put into words. Because our cards capture genuine emotions on topics such as love, friendship, family, missing you, and other real-life subjects, we suggest that you have a friend, relative, or someone else in your life in mind as you write.
The goods:
- new, original, creative writings (unlike what they’ve previously published)
- poem length can vary (from 50 — 300 words)
- only English language content
- email pieces to [email protected]
- submission criteria info (with an online form)
Culture Greetings
Entrepreneur, business psychologist, and technologist Dr. Dionne Mahaffey founded Culture Greetings as a customized web-to-print African American greeting card platform. In an interview with VoyageATL, she outlines her unique concept:
Using technology to send out the card on your behalf, customers can pick a culturally relevant physical greeting card and write a personal note inside (with handwriting fonts that mirror real penmanship). The cards feature original designs by me, as well as art from renowned Black and Latino artists like Steve Allen, whose work is in the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture; Jesse Raudeles, an official artist of the Olympics and Abu Mwenye, a Tanzanian artist and award-winning cartoonist, Quinn McGowan, among others. Currently, there are nine card artists in our collective and I am always looking for more designs to feature on greeting cards.
Interested in sending your digital images, artwork, and/or paintings for use as a card design? Culture Greetings does things a little differently. To design for them, complete an online form requesting to attend an “upcoming webinar/information session about revenue sharing opportunities for artists, designers, makers, creatives, illustrators, influencers, and more.”
Check out their Twitter account.
Experimenting Options
For a different arena to showcase your work, look into either writing verses for or submitting images to greeting cards companies. Maybe you’re in a position to send them both types of material, in which case you can potentially double your chance of making some cash.
Either way, it could be a lucrative addition to your income stream. And it’s another way to experiment with ways to use your creativity.
So, what are you waiting for? Give it a try, you might be pleasantly surprised to land a gig.