A VERY PERSONALIZED REJECTION FROM...

Blue Mountain Arts came today in the mail! It was actually very nice to receive this letter because I could tell that they had read and understood the "vision" behind my cards...even though it didn't fit their needs :) I think I should categorize the rejections I have received in order of niceness...here goes, from lowest to highest:

1) The company that told me my cards were a "dime a dozen."
2) Form emails.
3) Form letters.
4) Super nice personal emails.
5) Super nice personal letters.

And just about now I am ready to hear about an acceptance...hello, anyone??????

PERSISTENCE IS MY MIDDLE NAME...

Almost every day this week I have spent 10-12 hours behind this computer designing, marketing, social networking, etc. The most frustrating part of this entire process is that I don't get responses as fast as I think I should. For example, if I send an email with images I expect that within 24 hours someone could take a quick look (say five minutes) and give me a yay or nay. Maybe I'm expecting too much as I'm sure the art directors receive hundreds of emails every day...but then maybe they should hire more art directors? I think eventually all the hard work will pay off but right now I need to get away from this computer and have some fun!

THIS IS WHAT I ENDED UP WITH - DEFINITELY WORTH THE $12!

MY DAD WAS A GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER!

I'm having a slide show today with all of my dad's slides (all 1,500 or so of them) and having a difficult time selecting the ones that I want to have scanned. I think I'm just beginning to realize what a great photographer he really was. I wonder if he ever studied photography or if he just had a natural talent. I, however, was never a talented photographer...just a persistent one. Right before my dad died I remember that suddenly it became very important for me to take a great picture of my daughter. Well, 200 photos, four days later, and $12 poorer (she wanted $12 for her modeling fees)...

I'M SO EXCITED!!

I received an email yesterday from a woman who had seen my Google Adwords ad on her blogsite and she said both she and her mom were interested in my cards...yay! You can't imagine how good it feels to hear from someone...ANYONE!!! And she was such a nice woman who gave me a link to both her and her mother's blogs and I could tell that they were exactly my target audience. Thanks for making my day!

I'M HAVING FUN DESIGNING TODAY!

I decided to take a break from marketing (which is a necessary evil) and get back into designing today, which I haven't actually done in quite awhile. I have had a successful week so far...actually made contact with an art director of a greeting card publishing company who is "going to bat" with her creative director for one of my images...yay! I don't think there's much hope because my images/designs don't really mesh with their greeting card line but who knows?

I alternate between thinking that I have a great vision with so much potential and then thinking "What the heck am I doing?" But right now I'm in the "yes" mode...I KNOW that there's a niche for this type of greeting card and it's simply (ha, ha) a matter of finding the right company that "gets" the vision. O.K...I'm going back to designing now. It's more fun than updating this blog :)

LAST WEEK WITHIN A 12-HOUR TIME SPAN I RECEIVED...

the worst rejection (where they told me my cards were a "dime a dozen") and the nicest rejection (where they commented on their favorite image, told me it just didn't fit their venue, and gave me suggestions of where to submit my images). All in all, I consider it a somewhat successful week since I actually heard back from two companies :) To put this into perspective, you have to understand that each day I send out out many, many images and haven't heard back from most companies...so to hear anything is a plus!

Next week I am going to get back into designing...just for the fun of it!