Cardthartic releases new card designs throughout the year, so always welcomes submissions from photographers who believe their talent is a fit with Cardthartic’s look and voice.

WE LOOK FOR images that draw people in … down a path or into a child’s eyes, for example. When it comes to people pics, it generally has to be more about what the people are doing, rather than the people themselves (or, as one of our retailers said so well, “I don’t buy cards with photos that look like they came from some family album.”). That said, sometimes the look on a face transcends “the” face, you know?

WE CHOOSE from all the great photography we see based on whether or not we can write to it – does an image say something to us that we’re inspired to share with the world? Needless to say, that’s very subjective ~ and most challenging! And, ironically, the more spectacular and engaging the image, the less its chances of being selected. That’s because we always push ourselves to create messages that truly live up to a photographer’s image; if we feel what we’ve come up with just doesn’t do the photographer’s work justice, we’ll hold off. Maybe the words will come later and we’ll go to press, maybe it will never happen. But we always remind ourselves that it’s the image that draws the buyer in and prompts her/him to pick a card up, and it’s the text that determines whether or not s/he purchases it.

PAYMENT, unfortunately, cannot be based on the quality of the photography or credentials of the photographers, but rather on the sad fact that it’s hard to make a profit in greeting cards(:-( Cardthartic’s policy is to pay our photographers $200 per image for non-exclusive use on our cards and magnets). To clarify, by “non-exclusive” we mean that ~ for $200 a pop ~ we don’t want to limit photographers from selling the rights to that same image to other paper product publishers. That said, seeing it on another publisher’s cards would not be good for any of us.

YOUR CHECK along with a dozen sample cards should arrive within 90 days from the point you release a high-res image. (Fyi, that’s how long it generally takes us to print the product carrying your image and getting it out to our sales reps throughout the US and Canada, so we can start seeing product in the stores).

TO SUBMIT images for consideration, your best bet is to send a link to your website or a lightbox you’ve set up with a Cardthartic pull to Cardthartic Product Development Manager Amy Reinhart at amy@cardthartic.com. Because we’ve published the work of a number of talented photographers who are not quite that far along in their business development efforts, we also are pleased to receive emails with low-res images attached – just be sure to include in your email the statement that you have read and agree to the following:

“Cardthartic’s policy is to pay our photographers $200 per image for non-exclusive use on our cards and magnets.”

Because Cardthartic is fortunate to receive so many great possibilities, please understand that you will be contacted only if there is interest in potentially publishing your work. In any event, please know how inspired we are by the passion and persistence it takes to be a first rate photographer. We admire you all!

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