Hey Jennifer! Well done you on using your talents! May I offer a word of caution. As I don�t know your background, you may have already done this. However, many people who are just starting cottage industries are not familiar with practices to protect themselves from unscrupulous businesses. Be sure to copyright, both in writing and in documenting your creative designs, style (where appropriate) and any particular phraseology that represents the uniqueness of your product. This protects you from the unscrupulous who may say �Oh, how interesting! We were just in the midst of developing something along those lines ourselves.�
You may find that rather than sending your designs to one or two big companies, that you consider creating sample packs and pricing that you yourself carry to card shops, along with a sufficient amount of stock, that you can sell on the spot. You may pick up some good business that way and eliminate losing margins to the big companies.
However, if you do this, you must ensure you have a firm payment policy in place. It�s sad to say but card shops have a notorious rate of poor-pay history and are often in the top league of Dun and Bradstreet�s repetitive problem debtor listings.
I know this doesn�t directly address your question, but hopefully will provide food for thought.
I wish you every success
Fr Bill