GCU Forum - A verse or not a verse?

Angela_151919

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A verse or not a verse?
Jul 25^th, 2011, 6:58am

Hello everybody.
I am undecided as to whether including & verse in a card is a good idea or not.
I've noticed that on some of my cards that have them, the clicks don't materialize into a sale & I'm wondering if this might be the reason.
I don't mean a couple of lines, but a full blown verse of say six lines?
Can anyone who has more experience than I do, please tell me if they sell better with or without the longer sentiment?
Thanks
Angela

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Tracie_152843 Gold Member artist Posts: 573	Re: A verse or not a verse? Reply #1 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 7:02am Here's a good article that might help: http://gcucommunity.com/2011/06/19/nuts-and-bolts-inside-verse/
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SunAtNight_145914

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Re: A verse or not a verse?
Reply #2 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 10:02am

Below are some industry guidelines ... not necessarily GCU but from the larger traditional greeting card companies.

"Jokes ideally are hilariously funny with great sendability, covering the regular old favourite subjects to more topical matters.

Verses can be rhyme or prose but need to flow well and be easily readable first time. They can be anything from 4-24 lines but the majority we use are 8, 12 or 16 lines. Try not to be too specific, it needs to sound personal but in reality must have a wide appeal."

Hope that helps at least some.

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Angela_151919 Gold Member artist Posts: 552	Re: A verse or not a verse? Reply #3 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 10:32am Thank you both for your replies to this. What I suppose I'm really asking is do artists find that they sell more cards with or without a verse? Suppose it might be a hard question to answer though.
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Tracie_152843 Gold Member artist Posts: 573	Re: A verse or not a verse? Reply #4 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 10:37am I've heard that cards without a verse sell better in the UK, and cards with a verse sell better in the US. Why? I have no idea
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Doreen_137017

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Re: A verse or not a verse?
Reply #5 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 10:40am

Quote from Angela_151919 on Jul 25^th, 2011, 10:32am:

Thank you both for your replies to this.
What I suppose I'm really asking is do artists find that they sell more cards with or without a verse?
Suppose it might be a hard question to answer though.

Personally only 3% of my sales in 2+ years have been blank cards. With that said, some of our artists from around the world have stated that blank cards are preferred in some places. So what I do is create a card that is blank with just the art and place that in the appropriate Collections category. Then I create the card with a verse to suit a more specific category. That's the beauty of GCU, we can cover both areas.

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Angela_151919 Gold Member artist Posts: 552	Re: A verse or not a verse? Reply #6 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 10:50am Thanks Doreen. I think I'll put say a four or six line verse in the flowery cards that would suit a sentiment, & perhaps just a couple of lines in the others. I've taken a look at cards that sell & there doesn't seem to be any real common link verse wise.
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Kathleen_137290

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Re: A verse or not a verse?
Reply #7 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 11:25am

After my first year here, I did some checking and found that I was selling more cards with verse. Especially noticed that the verses I spent more time on composing, or went back and reworked, were becoming some of my best sellers. Some verses are short and some are longer, so length does not seem to make a difference.

The exception being of course cards specifically for "Any Occasion/Blank Note Cards" category under collections. The categories under the blank card collection have been expanded to include a wide variety of areas where you can list cards. Some of the artists from Europe have shared that their population prefer blank cards, so this is a good place to add blank versions of your designs that can be used for any occasion.

I wish I had a skill for humor because I believe those cards with humorous verse sell well too. Alas, I will have to leave the humor to others.

Just my experience... others may feel differently.
Kati

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Graham_156878 GCU Newbies artist Posts: 1	Re: A verse or not a verse? Reply #8 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 11:25am Hmm when I submit a card without a verse or greeting they send it back telling me to put text on the inside, is there a way round this?
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Doreen_137017

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Re: A verse or not a verse?
Reply #9 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 11:45am

Quote from Graham_156878 on Jul 25^th, 2011, 11:25am:

Hmm when I submit a card without a verse or greeting they send it back telling me to put text on the inside, is there a way round this?

That's probably because you are trying to put it in a category other than Collections/Blank.

You can not put a blank card in any of the other categories unless there is text on the front to sufficiently match the category. So if you want you cards to have no text on the front (cute cards by the way) and you do not want an inner verse, then your category selection must be Collections/Blank and there are lots of specific sub-cats under that.

Does that help?

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Lynn_150145

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Re: A verse or not a verse?
Reply #10 - Jul 25^th, 2011, 11:57am

Quote from Graham_156878 on Jul 25^th, 2011, 11:25am:

Hmm when I submit a card without a verse or greeting they send it back telling me to put text on the inside, is there a way round this?

Graham- for cards without verse or text on the inside, they need to have a category of Blank Note Card found under Collections. If you chose another category - say - Holidays, Merry Christmas, General, then you will be asked to write text on the inside.

Here is a helpful link for getting started.

http://www.gcuwiki.com/gcuu.html

Select categorization. Good lcuk.

Lynn

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Angela_151919 Gold Member artist Posts: 552	Re: A verse or not a verse? Reply #11 - Jul 26^th, 2011, 12:22am Thanks everyone for your input. I guess what I will take from this, is if I can't put in good verse, then keep it simple. I haven't been making them long enough to be able to make a good comparison, but they are now starting to get some clicks & I have mad some sales, so hopefully, before too long, I'll know.
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