OK, I've caught the "Sell Local" bug, and since it's no fun doing things alone, how about anyone who wants to venture out to sell their GCU cards locally get tagged a Looney Bird.  I know some artists like Sandra Rose, Denise Beverly, and Angela Castillo are already successful Looney Birds.  Each have already contributed to this topic and their posts have been most helpful and instructive.  It's also good to note that they sell a lot of cards!!
 
So who will pledge to join the club?  Let's set a goal to each get cards in at least one local shop by the end of the year.  Share your adventures here.  It will be fun!
 
To start off, I've done a quick look at display racks.  I am CLUELESS of what makes the most sense.  Perhaps some of my fellow Lonneys will chime in.
 
http://www.storefixture.com/cat3.asp?ID=24252
 
This one has a good selection of Vertical and Horizontal bays on the same racks:
http://argonautpress.com/displays-greeting-card.html

Hi Mooney,
 
    Start with your local Art Guilds, then if you have some small tourist areas in your town, they may be willing to try them on consignment.  For every 10 no's, you usually get at least one yes.   I usually just walk in and hope to see the owner, as I have sent samples, and written letters to tons of shops with no luck at all, I have better luck if I just walk in.  At least that has been my experience with local sales.   Look at it this way, if they say no, it has nothing to do with you as a person, they may just not have the money, or their sales have been very bad lately.     rosiecards

I walk in with samples, I try to go in on a Monday afternoon when the business is slow. I reccomend asking for the owner or manager. Try thinking outside the box. Perhaps a florist or bakery, somewhere that people need cards, but doesn't nessecarily already sell cards.
Those display racks are really nice, Tom.

Well, better men than you, Tom, have called me looney! Count me in. I've been selling locally since June and here is what I've learned.
 
I work one day a week in a local gift shop in lieu of leasing space, as some artisans at the shop do. I also do the marketing for the shop. My experience from seeing other artists approach the shop to sell their merchandise:
 
1. Make an appointment. Others may have had success with cold calls, but store owners don't view this as a professional approach. Their time is valuable and they appreciate artists recognizing that.
 
2. Bring in more than one sample and package the cards in plastic jackets.
 
3. Be open to suggestions. No one is criticizing your work, but the shop owner knows what sells. He/she also knows what lines of merchandise they already have. If the shop already has a local artist making cards of local scenes, they may not be interested in your card now. Leave your business card and check back. Artists are always leaving stores and store owners then have to look for replacements.
 
4. If you have a local following, be sure to let the shop owner know. They will see this as an increase in traffic.
 
5. If the shop is buying your cards outright, be sure to let the shop owner know when you have new cards that fit your niche in that store. Even if you've given them your shop URL, don't count on them to check it out.
 
6. If your cards are at the store on commission or other such arrangement, be sure to have a starting inventory sheet and keep it current. Be sure you freshen up the merchandise at least once a month. Have your cards up at least a month before a major holiday. Be aware that your most popular cards on-line don't necessarily translate to local sales. Present a broad assortment, but not necessarily deep, ie have Mother's Day cards with a variety of card front images, but don't represent all relationships as you are able to in your on-line store. That would be a large investment for an artist and may not translate into more sales.
 
7. Show your face at the shop periodically. And it wouldn't hurt to buy something once in a while!
 
8. Make sure everyone you come into contact with knows that you sell at the shop. And when friends/family shop at that store, have them say that they're there because you told them about the store. The owner can then see that you're building their traffic.
 
9 Marketing: Use Kijii. Put a photo of your new merchandise on Facebook and let people know that they can buy it locally. Participate in local non-profit auctions.
 
Pattiann

Well, as mentioned, Walgreens has 4x6 prints on sale now for 10-cents each for qty>50.  Just go to their site and enter their promo code (EVERYLAST), good thru the 17th.
 
BUT - since our card fronts are 5x7(1500x2100), they will not print fully as is; they need to be resized to 4x6 (1200x1800) otherwise they will get cropped (not good).  
 
A slick free tool to do resizing is FastStone (at FastStone.org).  I copied my target 50 images to a new folder then had FastStone resize them in batch mode to 1200x1800.  It took only about 2 minutes to do them all.  I then did a bulk upload to Walgreens, also very fast, about 3 minutes, and then placed an order for 1-each ($5+tax).  Had them in an hour and they came out great!
 
It makes a nice sample collection of images to show in addition to the real cards.  I'll placed them in 4x6 photo holders like these:
 
6 images per side:
http://tiny.cc/ztlMl
 
4 images per side plus one real card/envelope (Slick!):
http://tiny.cc/3sm8U
 
Roughly 35-cents/sheet, so for 50 images you'll need no more than 5-7 sheets.  I will organize mine by category (Birthday, Anniversary, Holiday, Love/Romance, General Humor, and "custom").  Easy to show that way.
 
======
FYI:  On the resizing, be aware that the aspect ratio of a 5x7 is 0.71 vs. .66 for a 4x6, so there will be a slight stretch lengthwise.  On mine it wasn't a problem.

I've often thought of doing this...but don't really know where to start! These suggestions are great. I'm feeling less than confident, however, since I've only sold 4 cards here at GCU (2 were the same card).  Do the local sales do better than the online sales? I'm beginning to think I'm the only one who likes my cards....LOL...and my mom, but you know how that is! Mom is always the biggest fan! I also only have about 50 cards so far...I'm still wondering how the people uploading batches get them done so fast! But it seems my posts don't get answered anymore....I must be asking too many things that have already been asked, I dunno!
Hope all the Looney Birds do well! I might get brave and join in!
 
Oh, just to throw out there, my mom and I had the idea of doing "card parties"...especially around the holidays. Kind of like the tupperware parties, home decor parties, wine tasting parties, etc. Why not card parties?  People can place orders and even personalize their text and have the order within the week, maybe? Any thoughts?

Thanks Tom! I guess that makes sense (on how to do more cards so quickly). I guess I'm putting so much thought into trying to be original, I'm overlooking some simple common sense things. I guess I should go back to the cards I've made and see how many different categories I can get them in!
 
If I did pursue card party thing, I'd be happy to include some other artists for variety, especially since I don't have that many cards yet.  Yours are actually my favorites...I'm drawn to that kind of humor! In fact I've thought of a few myself that would be similar to yours, but I don't want to be a copy cat  ....I do love your cards!  
I also thought on the card party thing it would be helpful to make up an order form with all the cards listed, a place for personalizing, etc, to make the order process more streamlined. It would take some work to get it going, but I think it could be profitable. That same order form could possibly be useful for selling to local stores, or possibly as a "reorder" form.  Just some thoughts!
 
Thanks, Tom, for taking time to explain things. You are so helpful and always so kind!

Quote from Tom_133317 on Oct 12^th, 2009, 3:11am:

 
 
Great idea Tom.  My main business is custom photo books and I create and print them through http://www.blurb.com/
 
A soft cover 5x8 book is $4.95.  They have some basic layouts and a program to download that works well with a mac.  Printing is terrific on this site.
 
Just thought I'd share.
 
Thanks for all the good ideas and info!
 
Kati