The Ladder Club is back! This is an ‘in a nutshell’ one day seminar about greeting card publishing, aimed at would-be, newbie and emerging publishers.
The 2024 Ladder Club seminar will take place 10.00am-4.45pm Thursday 17th October, at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London N1.
What is the Ladder Club
The Ladder Club was founded nearly 25 years ago by Jakki Brown, co-owner of the Max Publishing group (which includes PGBuzz) and GCA Council Member, and the late Lynn Tait to provide information and advice to new or would-be greeting card publishers.
The packed agenda covers all the rudiments of greeting card publishing – avoiding the common pitfalls, how to price your cards to make sure you are making money, production quandaries, how to get your cards to market, what retailers want, what makes agents tick, making the most of trade shows as well as where licensing, export and brokerage come in.
I cannot quite believe it is almost 25 years ago that my dear friend, Lynn Tait and I launched The Ladder Club, with the mission of helping would-be or fledgling greeting card publishers climb onto the greeting card ‘ladder’ by avoiding the common pitfalls while enjoying embracing the sense of camaraderie that is all pervasive in our industry
Jakki Brown, MD Max Publishing
The Ladder Club is supported by key trade suppliers, existing card publishers, retailers, agents, the GCA and other industry experts who have give their time to speak at the seminars and offer support.
Ladder Club is a must-do for anyone serious about building a greeting card publishing business. Bring a notebook – there are so many top tips, and also it’s a great opportunity to meet others starting out in the industry
Amanda Fergusson, GCA CEO
2023 Ladder Club
The Ladder Club sponsors for 2023, including GF Smith, The Imaging Centre, Loxleys and Enveco. Adriana Lovesy, GCA’s membership and marketing manager, and Amanda Fergusson GCA CEO will also be there.
Ben Hickman, co-owner of card publishing company Brainbox Candy will be covering how publishers should approach costing out their cards as well as the power of marketing; well-known London sales agent Jo Bannister will explain what makes agents tick; Sally Matson, inspirational owner of independent retailer Red Card in Petworth, will share what she looks for in publishers and their products; Hannah Dale, founder of Wrendale Designs will reveal learnings from her early years as a Ladder Clubbie to the present day of heading up a global business. Iain Hamilton, founder of Bewilderbeest will also share what he has learned as a growing publisher.
Having attended The Ladder Club in 2019, Iain had no hesitation in wanting to get on board for this year’s event.
I found The Ladder Club REALLY useful and I know it can help a lot of new publishers out. Several new publishers have asked me for advice in the last couple of years and I’ve wanted to be able to point them to The Ladder Club, so it’s great I can now do so!”
Iain Hamilton, founder of Bewilderbeest
The cost of attending The Ladder Club seminar is £90 (+VAT) – the same price as it was in 2019. To book your place at The Ladder Club 2023, head to the dedicated secure site max-tickets.net or, you can contact Jim Bullough of Max Publishing (who is looking after the bookings for The Ladder Club this year) on jimb@max-publishing.co.uk or call him on 07734 111633.
There will be a casual ‘meet up’ dinner the evening before The Ladder Club, which is especially useful and enjoyable, note this is not included in the price of attending, and will be held in a venue close to the BDC.
For more Information about The Ladder Club see PGBuzz, contact PG’s Tracey Arnaud on traceya@max-publishing.co.uk or call her on 01234 740051/07957 212062, or email Jakki Brown on jakkib@max-publishing.co.uk or call her on 07525 634405.