Okay, raise your hand if you've ever done this... You hear about a new print-on-demand site. "Ooh," you think, "maybe this one will be different. Maybe this is the site where my designs finally take off." So you spend an entire weekend uploading your artwork, formatting every file to their exact specs, writing keywords until your brain is fried, setting up your shop, figuring out the proper header image dimensions... and then you wait. And the sales trickle in at a painful drip. So then, a few months later, you hear about another site... and you think "THIS! THIS is the one."...and the whole cycle starts again.
I see you, because I used to do this too. This is a mistake that I see artists make on repeat, and it's costing you more than you realize. Let's talk about why, and what to do instead so your art can actually start earning the kind of consistent, meaningful income you've been hoping for.
What Is Print on Demand Exactly
Just so we're all on the same page: print-on-demand sites are the platforms where you list your artwork, and when a customer orders, the site manufactures the product and ships it directly to the customer for you. You don't have to store inventory, you don't pack boxes... it's hands-off, which is a big part of the appeal. Now to be crystal clear, I am not here trying to bash print on demand. Some artists genuinely crack the code and find success with it. If that's you, amazing!! Definitely keep going!
But if you're pouring all of your limited time and energy into print on demand INSTEAD of trying to license your art for greeting cards, I want to show you what you might be leaving on the table. Because once you see the numbers, you can't unsee them.
The Math That Changes Everything
Here's the truth: one greeting card design that you license will almost always sell far more volume than one design on a print-on-demand site. Let me show you why. The typical print run for a single licensed greeting card design runs anywhere from about 2,500 all the way up to 10,000 pieces. That's a wide range, and every publisher is different, but think about that for a second... that's thousands of cards printed for just one of your designs.
AND...if a card sells well, it gets reprinted, sometimes for years and years to come! So let's say your first print run is 2,500 pieces. The card does well, so they reprint it... another 2,500 cards printed and sold. And again. And again. A single design that sells well can be reprinted year after year, which means thousands upon thousands of copies sold of just that one little 5x7" piece of art you spent a couple hours creating that one Sunday afternoon 8 years ago. Even if your royalty per card is a bit smaller than your profit on a single print-on-demand sale, the sheer volume more than makes up for it! THAT is the magic of licensing.
Real Numbers From My Own Cards (No Gatekeeping)
I'm all about pulling back the curtain, so let me give you some real numbers. I've licensed close to a thousand of my own designs at this point (I've been doing this a long time!) so I just pulled a handful of card designs to show you what's actually possible.
I have newer designs that have already sold in the ballpark of 1,600 to 9,000 copies even though they've only been out a short while. I have older designs that have sold anywhere from 18,000 copies all the way up to 60,000 copies each! One design...Tens of thousands of cards. The royalties I've collected on those designs range from $4700 to $8000+ each. Because these cards are still selling well, they're still in the line, which means the royalties keep growing and growing on them, year after year! So essentially I continue to be paid for a few hours of artwork creation that I put in years ago. Do you see what I'm saying here?
I don't share these numbers because I think I'm cool... I share them because I want you to see the potential. I am no different than you! If I can do this, so can you. These are the kinds of numbers that are genuinely hard to match with print on demand, where you're often one of a million designs competing for attention in a very crowded marketplace.
The Hidden Sales Force You're Missing
Here's the part that I think most artists never fully appreciate. With a print-on-demand site, you are the entire marketing department. If you stop actively promoting your designs, your sales tend to go quiet, because those sites are enormously crowded and your work can get buried unless you're constantly hustling to be found.
But when you license a greeting card design, you instantly have a full sales force working on your behalf. The publisher's reps, their retail partnerships, their placement in stores — all of it is working to make sure your card sells. Remember this: for a greeting card publisher, your success is their success. They want your card to sell well, so they do the work of marketing and distributing it for you. I like to say each card is a little employee out there working for you. Once it's licensed, it clocks in every single day, in stores all over, without you having to do a thing.
You Don't Have to Choose Just One
Now, here's the freeing part. This is not an either/or situation. If you love print on demand and want to keep it going, you absolutely can keep it running right alongside your licensing efforts. They're not mutually exclusive. I just want you to be honest with yourself about where your limited time and energy are going. If every spare hour is going toward formatting your art for print-on-demand and then promoting those P.O.D. designs, and zero hours are going toward pitching your art to greeting card publishers, you are leaving real money on the table.
What to Do Instead: Pitch Your Art
So here's what to do instead: pitch your art. Take those precious hours you'd normally spend trying to promote print-on-demand designs and redirect even a portion of them toward pitching your cards to publishers instead. That is the activity that actually moves the needle on your income. Building a relationship with even one greeting card publisher who comes back to you again and again will do more for your bottom line than endlessly setting up shop after shop on the next hot new site.
I know it can feel scarier to pitch than to upload. Uploading feels productive and safe and keeps you seemingly in control; pitching feels vulnerable. But vulnerable is where the real income lives. Success is a decision, my friend — and choosing to pitch is one of the most powerful decisions you can make for your art licensing career.
Want me to actually walk you through how this works — the full picture of how licensing your art for greeting cards turns into consistent, compounding income? I put together a free training that pulls back the curtain on exactly that, using real examples from my twenty-plus years on both sides of the table. It's completely free, and it'll give you the clarity you've been missing. Watch the free training here and let's get your art working for you.
xo,
Michele, The Greeting Card Girl