Design and Production Support

For an up-to-date list of all GCA members who are looking for freelance writers, click here If you are looking for freelance writers, and you are a GCA member, login to the Members Area, go to the 'edit your profile' page, and check the box labelled 'writers...

Dos Do your homework. A little time spent researching the market will save you a lot of time, money and frustration in the long run.Do ring up or write to the company prior to sending copies of your work to check whether or not they receive freelance work, what their...

Verses and Prose Every page of work must bear your name and address. Submissions can get separated or mislaid. Consider the amount of copy publishers receive each week - it can be sackfuls! Your work must be type written and kept plain and simple - no decorative...

This varies so much from publisher to publisher. Ask yourself, are you in it for the money or just the pleasure of seeing your work in print. Most of us, realistically, want both, and it is possible to make a living at this. Punchlines require a special skill and earn...

Make sure you have followed the above guidelines and those of the publisher, if you have them. Don't send more than six samples, or more than can comfortably fit into an A4 envelope. Ensure you have enclosed an appropriately sized SAE, if you wish your work to be...

There is a wide range of occasions to write for. When writing for a particular occasion, the copy must be appropriate to that sending situation. Label your work with the sending occasion - even though your writing may make perfect sense to you, it may not to someone...

We have all looked at cards and thought 'I could do that!' However, it is hard to get a piece of writing published. It is only when you decide to have a go yourself that you come to appreciate that, somewhere along the line, talent and skill actually come into it. So...

For an up-to-date list of all GCA members who are looking for freelance artists, click here If you are looking for freelance artists, and you are a GCA member, login to the Members Area, go to the 'edit your profile' page, and check the box labelled 'artists...

The do's and don'ts of greeting card design Dos Do your homework. A little time spent researching the market will save you a lot of time, money and frustration in the long run.Do ring up the company prior to sending copies of your designs to check whether they accept...

There is no set industry standard rate of pay for greeting card artists. There are a number of different ways an artist can be paid by publishers. It can either be made on a per design or range basis. These include: Flat Fee - the publisher makes a one off payment to...

The first step is to establish whether the publisher accepts work from freelance artists and their requirements for an artist's submission. Before you send publishers examples of work, do your research and make sure that the artwork you send is suitable and...

There are two broad categories of publisher - wholesale and direct-to-retail (DTR) - differentiated by the distribution method used to reach the retailer. Wholesale Wholesale publishers distribute their products to the retailer via greeting card wholesalers or cash...

While some publishers concentrate on producing a certain type of greeting cards (eg. humorous, fine art or juvenile) the majority have diversified and publish a variety of greeting card ranges. This of course makes it more difficult for you as an artist to target the...

Designing for the Greeting Card Industry The UK population spends £1.4 billion a year on greeting cards - more than it spends on tea and coffee - yet finding a route into this fiercely competitive industry is not always easy. There are two main options, either to...