[artshow_photo] Re: Selling Note Cards at Shows

Hi,

I've sold note cards over the years at street festivals and mall shows. Some
times they
have have save a show from being bad to ok and on occasion have boosted some
shows to being very good. They are labor intensive unless you can really
trim you costs and time involved.

Before I went digital I had 4x6 prints printed in batches of 50 ( I worked
in a 1hour lab) so my cost per print was low. I pasted them onto Strathmore
deckled edge watercolor 5x7 card stock, which cost me $6.99 for a box of 20
(which are very hard to fine as they normally sell in boxes of 10) plus my
clear bag and I sold the cards for $5 each or 3/$12.
This was time consuming but I had lots of time.

I had shows where I've sold out not cards and I was showing 20-24 different
images.
I still sell note cards but I keep it to about 12-15 images, which vary
depending on my inventory ad the show. Since I've gone digital my cost have
gone done to produce the cards but I still charge $5 per card 3/$12. I print
my cards now on a Epson R280 with a Big Foot CIS ink system and I use
Canson archival 5x7 card stock with envelopes(per scored), which costs me $7
for a pack of 40 from Walmart (about 18¢ each) plus the Clear Bags so I have
about 25¢ in the card plus ink costs, which with the CISS I use is really
low as I do a lot of printing for other artists so my ink cost are covered.
(my print jobs always include the cost of a set of ink)

I have templates set up for the cards and just drop images in and print.
Takes about and hour to bag up 100 cards, I do that while watching a video.
So roughly I have about $1 into each card and make a $4 profit. Note cards
are the lowest priced item in my booth and images are mostly early work from
years ago and are not in the print bins or on the walls. Or they are images
I'm thinking about bring into the inventory and the not cards are a good
test for me or they are one of the images that a re popular and buyers also
want to give send note to a friend or give a s a gift. These are usually my
balloon photos from the annual Great Mississippi Balloon Race. There are
shows that I do don't allow note cards, which is okay with me.

I would give the note cards a try and see if they work for you

--
Sálongo Lee
Sálongo's Art, LLC
http://salongosart.com
Natchez Studio: 601.620.0569
SF Bay Area: 510.863.4ART
2a. Re: Selling Note Cards at Shows
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artshow_photo/message/55428;_ylc=X3oDMTJydXZzZGVtBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzkyNDI1NTMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDE5MDU4BG1zZ0lkAzU1NDI4BHNlYwNkbXNnBHNsawN2bXNnBHN0aW1lAzEyODk4MTYzNDI->
Posted
by: "michael cothran" michaelhcothran@comcast.net
<michaelhcothran@comcast.net?Subject=+Re%3A%20Selling%20Note%20Cards%20at%20Shows>
michaelhcothran
<http://profiles.yahoo.com/michaelhcothran> Sun Nov 14, 2010 7:48 am (PST)

Mary Anne - Volumes have been written on the subject, and can be located by
doing a search in the archives. I, for one, sold note cards for several
years before abandoning them. In my heyday, I averaged about 150 cards per
show for a couple of years. But those days are long gone. When my average
sales dropped to about 20 cards per show, they no longer were welcome in my
booth.
I believe they do best at very low end shows, local community events,
non-juried shows, etc.
And if you plan to do shows of this caliber, you could certainly give them a
whirl. The bottom line for me, and for others I would presume, is that there
is not enough profit margin to justify the amount of work that goes into the
production of a card. Note cards are NOT good money makers, neither at shows
or retail stores. However, if you have sellable images on the cards, you
should profit enough from each show to have some chump change in your pocket
- perhaps enough to pay for your meals and possibly gas. But when you
consider the amount of time it took you to produce what you sold, it might
dissuade you later down the road. There are people on this site who love to
sell note cards, even $1 book markers. If you're ok with this, then go for
it.

If you're going to make any profit at all, you need to print and produce the
cards yourself. Paying someone else to do the work for you would eliminate
even more of any profit you might experience, but of course, on the flip
side of that, it would free up some of your time invested. Places like
Photographers Edge can provide you with all you need other than the print,
but are very expensive. While they state that they cater to "professional"
photographers, I believe they are best suited for amateur photographers who
want to share or send note cards themselves.

I would recommend printing a 4x6 image on a 5x7 card (10x7 paper folded in
half). I made a template in PS, so all I had to do was insert a new image,
and change the title info on the back side. You can buy paper already cut to
10x7, or cheaper paper in 8x10 or 8.5x11, and cut it down yourself (one more
additional step).
You can buy envelopes (A7 is the size you need for 5x7) at any local paper
company. They will run about $50 per 1000. To package each card, you can buy
5x7 clear bags online from several vendors, which should run about $5 per
100.
You'll need a good straight edge, and a scoring tool to fold the 10x7 paper.
DO NOT try to fold without a scored line.
For display, your best bet is a spinning rack. They come in all sizes from
table models to floor models. They take up the least amount of room in your
already crowded booth. Do an online search for sizes and prices.

Sometimes you just need to experience things

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