How do photographers get greeting card companys' to use their photographs in greeting cards?

I am interested in sending some in. Do they have to have contracts with Hallmark etc?

How do photographers get greeting card companys' to use their photographs in greeting cards?
get the book the photographers guide.........they make one for writers and visual artists....it lists who to contact....what to send how to do a query
Reply:Check with as many companys as you can, on what they need for submissions. Some may accept "off the street" submits, but some will only accept previously contracted submissions from known sources.
Reply:Some photos come from staff photographers; some come from outside sources. Apply for a position with Hallmark, or submit your work to one of the stockhouses like getty or corbis. Those are the most common ways a photographer's work ends up on cards.
Reply:My suggestion is to get the "2007 Photographers Market" handbook (amazon.com) in there you will get all the information you require to submit to various agencies around the world.





Pay strict attention to guidelines by these companies. If not your images will be rejected. In some cases they will not give you a reason why.. even throw your stuff away.





So to get yourself noticed by the editor you need to have technically perfect images, captions need to be correct and when contacting the editor you get the right person (new editor would not like this).





I would not just consider Cards and Calenders you are limiting your sales and it takes about 2 years to go to press plus.... these companies have a thing they call "speculation" that means they will sit on your images for a long period of time and during that time you are not allowed to sell your images to anybody else.... hmmmm.





Stock agencies, if they are to big you will not get noticed, if to small you will not make much money and their contacts to reach as far. With stock agencies it is usually 50/50 40/60 (their favor not yours) plus other things they tab on you.





Here is a website for you to look at. First don't go to their pictures go to their guidelines and stuff and see if you match what they want. Also just a week ago that site had 8.5 million.





You can also look at some of my past answers under this subject to help you.





Hope this helps,


Kevin