Postcards?

I was contacted by someone who wants me to provide my photos as postcards. I did not say no. It is beginning to look like I should have. From what I have been able to gather, I will not be able to offer a product at the same price as the established postcard vendors. In addition, the top vendor has been very good to me and is using my photos in their calendars. I can see how this venture might entirely backfire on me. On the other hand, they don't provide what the prospective client is requesting. Also, can I buy card stock from Red River or someone like that and print them on my inkjet? Would I be better off working with a local print shop? Has anyone out there thought about or tried this? Any insight, advice, or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks'
RL Potts

Robert..
Check out Red River Papers as they have a very good line of card (postcard and greeting card) stock available for inkjet printers. They also have numerous hints and suggestions along that line. I use them for my greeting card stock.

Good luck,
Don

Whether to go with a printer or print your own depends on the market. A conventional printer can print for less per card but you need to order a substantial volume to get those prices. If it is a limited market card then you would do better to print them yourself to avoid being stuck with a lot of cards that don't sell and consequently never recover your original investment. A lot of marketing people, including Alain Briot, advise against doing postcards on the belief that people will buy a postcard (which is virtually profitless for you) rather than investing in one of your small prints. OTOH the market is so bad right now that my note cards are about all that sell. Unless you can tap a broad market postcards are not money makers.

I've wrestled with this a little lately. I live in a touristy area. One of the local services I use tha also serves tourists asked if I could do postcards. The problem I'm running into is they want to sell them for the same kind of money I'd have in them unless I ordered a very large quantity. To do a big enough quantity I'd have to place cards in several local gift shops, tourist attractions, etc. Even then the income from the cards would be minimal.

The other problem I've encountered with having cards (either postcards or notecards) printed is the shipping. Even when I was presented with a sale price that made it appear profitable in the limited quantities that I have a market for, the minimum shipping charge was often higher than the cost of having the cards printed. If you live somewhere that printing is available locally you could avoid that problem.