Tarot cards have been around since the mid-15th Century; initially designed to play games, tarot decks later became used for divination and occult purposes. Today, the tarot is designed to help navigate problems by encouraging the reader to question and think through symbols. It’s common for a tarot reader to become attached to a specific deck, even going as far as to design and sell their cards.
When selling your tarot cards, it’s essential to look at the method of publishing and the various avenues used to sell them. It’s as much about making a great product as it’s about reaching your audience—setting up your website, utilizing an established marketplace, or even going to local markets.
If you are looking into creating your deck for publication, this guide will help you on your journey. We will look at the options for publishing, how to create your brand to begin selling, and the advantages of using your website over a global marketplace. We will also look at the importance of marketing and how you can use social media effectively.
Creating Your Deck
A traditional tarot deck has 78 cards and is approximately 7cm x 12cm (2.7 x 4.7 inches). The designs on the cards can change with each deck, but the suits and their meanings should always stay the same.
When designing your deck, you can express the cards and their meanings as you see them. It is open to interpretation and is part of the tarot’s symbolism. For example, the traditional image of gender representation may be something you choose to alter to fit your spirit better.
The only important thing is to make your design consistent. The cards should fit together as a unit while still displaying the traditional cards, like the Hanged Man or the Fool. You can take their name and recreate them your way as the designer. Their design can change, but they need to be present.
Looking for a new Tarot Deck? These are the top sellers on Amazon
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Publishing Your Deck
Once you have created your deck – spending countless hours ensuring your cards are of the highest quality – it is time to look at publishing. Much like publishing a book, this is not something that can typically be done at home. Materials and consistency are critical to a solid product, and you will likely look to a printing house to ensure your deck is clean and professional.
Self Publishing – Small Batch
Unlike self-publishing for an author, few online services are available to help publish your tarot deck similarly. Unless you have the money for it, chances are you are looking to self-publish in a small batch.
A few websites allow you to upload your design and order prints, such as MakingPlayingCards.com. They offer full-color decks with your choice of finishes, and the more decks you order, the cheaper the cost per deck will be.
This is an excellent option if you are starting. You can publish your deck professionally without investing thousands of dollars. Of course, it will be more expensive per deck than if you were to print in larger batches. But for a first-time batch, when you may not have an established customer base, it makes sense. The downside of this option is that your deck will not come with an ISBN.
Self Publishing – Large Batch
An International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is issued to book products sold in bookstores and online. If this is your goal, you should look into printing in larger quantities (usually starting at 500 decks) with an established printing house, such as Amazon FBA. Though this would require a more significant investment, it will open you up to a larger market, including bookstores worldwide.
Of course, there are printing houses that will publish in slightly smaller batches. You will need to purchase the ISBN on your own. Here you can find information about how to buy an ISBN in your country.
Professional Publishing
The dream option would be to have your tarot deck professionally published. As with traditional book publishing, this requires submitting your proposal and hoping you can find an agent that feels as strongly about your product as you do. Of course, there is no guarantee here, and you could be left waiting for an answer for months.
But don’t be discouraged. A quick google search will show you several high-profile publishing houses that have published tarot decks. Once you have selected a few potential options, check out their submission guidelines.
Per their website, “Llewellyn is the world’s oldest and largest independent publisher of books for body, mind, and spirit.” They have published works on astrology, wellness, spirituality, and tarot. You can find their tarot submission guidelines here.
If you are lucky enough to find an interested publisher, they will handle the printing and distribution. Of course, you will need to work with them in marketing, but you will not be out of pocket.
Where to Sell Your Tarot Cards
Once you have your deck designed and printed, regardless of how you had them published, it is time to look at how to sell that deck. Now is the time to create a brand and online presence to reach customers.
Global Marketplaces
The idea of a global marketplace is to create an online space where people from all over the world can exchange goods, ideas, and services. From Amazon and eBay to Etsy, these are established marketplaces that take the guesswork away for sellers.
Etsy
When considering selling tarot cards, Etsy is a great place to start. Their focus is on handmade, vintage, and craft items. They sell everything from jewelry to clothing to home decor, and as of December 2019, they had over 60 million items available in their marketplace.
Starting a shop on Etsy is free, though you will have to pay a fee of $0.20 per item listed in addition to 5% of the final sale price. But the beauty of using Etsy is the ease of setting up the shop and the fact that they have millions of users already using their site. For a new business, finding customers is key, and Etsy has already established a large consumer base.
Amazon
You may not think it, but Amazon has a marketplace version. Much like Etsy, there is a fee to sell, but they also have an established consumer base and trust built around the world. Many of the options available through a traditional amazon search will include products from the marketplace rather than their products.
This would be great if you used Amazon FBA to print your deck. Amazon will print, pack, and distribute your product for you. It is a little more expensive than Etsy, but it is far more accessible in terms of what you require.
Building Your Store
Your website allows you to sell whenever and however you choose. You won’t be stuck in a design template of an established site and can create your brand. And it is not as difficult as it once was. Wix, SquareSpace, and WordPress provide templates and design help to make your store your own.
Whether you use one of the services mentioned above or seek a professional to build your website, you will find much more freedom in this option. By creating something that is yours, you will stand out and be able to develop a brand for your work.
Personal Website
There is something to be said for using your website and having your domain name:
- It presents a level of professionalism and gives your customers confidence in your product
- You are not competing for customers in a large marketplace
- The consumer is not drawn to another seller’s page by a discount
- You are not sharing space
Though it may be slow initially, once you become more established, it will be easier to add to your brand. You can create new products alongside your tarot deck, for example, crystals, candles, or even a new deck altogether.
Another excellent reason to create your website is the option to start up a blog. Though it may seem daunting, having a blog with posts containing relevant information can:
- Improve your ranking on google
- Establish yourself as an authority in a specific subject
- Help to create opportunities beyond your website
When done right, your blog post will help drive traffic to your website by using words and phrases to improve your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Blog posts add content and substance to your website, and using keywords in the copy will help get your page in front of users searching those keywords on google.
Shopify
Per their website, “Shopify is one platform that lets you sell wherever your customers are—online, in‑person, and everywhere in‑between.” Shopify will help you create a website and give you the tools you need to sell. They take away the guesswork and make it easy to scale your business, should you need to.
The biggest drawback of using a service like Shopify, over Esty, for example, is the lack of traffic. Like a personal website, there is no built-in consumer base, and you must work to find your customers.
However, a huge pro with choosing Shopify is its point of sale (POS) feature. With this option, you can sell your tarot cards in person, for example, at a market or craft fair. The app is designed for iOS and Android and lets you process and take orders in person.
Markets and Craft Fairs
If you have created your tarot deck, it stands to reason that you can read tarot cards for other people. You understand the symbolism and can interpret the meanings in a way the average person cannot. So what better than to display your deck at a market or fair and use them for readings?
Whether you search for local craft fairs, traveling medieval fairs, or even the local flea market, many people are drawn into tarot readings when available. When you have a booth and a table, people are likelier to stop and have fun reading—especially those at a medieval fair, who have come for the experience more than shopping.
In offering readings and showing the quality of your cards, you might find this translates into sales. Whether from reading customers or other people in the trade. If your product is good, they will want to support you. Either way, you are getting your cards in front of people and establishing yourself as a seller.
Marketing
Marketing will be vital in finding customers regardless of where you sell your tarot cards. From Facebook and Instagram to creating your blog, growing your online presence will encourage consumers to buy your products and potentially recommend and review them.
Social Media
When we talk about social media, there are quite a few options. These include, but are not limited to:
- TikTok
Establishing an online presence is essential in today’s market. Consumers like to visit web stores and browse before buying, and an aesthetically pleasing Instagram feed can encourage those users to want to follow you and your work. Let’s look at the most prominent platforms and see how they can help you sell your product.
Having a Facebook page is essential in this day and age. You can’t argue with their numbers or their reach. As of 2020, Facebook has 2.7 billion active users monthly and is the largest social media platform in the world.
With Facebook Marketing, you can create promotions and ads to reach more customers using pictures, videos, and targeted audience statistics. For example, when selling tarot cards, you may want to look at potential customers in your own country for easy shipping. You might also target people interested in tarot, crystals, or astrology. Finding relatable characteristics will help you target the right audience for your ad.
Instagram may only have 1 billion active monthly users, but it is still one of the most used social media platforms. The photo and video-sharing app is less cluttered than Facebook and used by a younger consumer base.
It is far easier to gain followers on Instagram with hashtags and marketing campaigns. The algorithm in place offers consumers posts and products it determines they would enjoy. For example, a user searching for cooking videos will begin to see similar videos appear in their ‘Explore’ feed. This feed is of suggested videos based on the users’ activity.
Much like with Facebook, you can create ads using target marketing, focusing only on users that have expressed interest in your product or similar products. These ads contain links to your chosen website, allowing users to tap and be taken to your product.
You might not consider using Twitter to drive sales, but it can’t be overlooked. With over 150 million worldwide users, it would be silly not to consider the platform. However, unlike the direct advertising you see on Facebook and Instagram, Twitter needs to be used differently.
Twitter is about engaging people and making connections. Maybe those connections never leave the app, but perhaps they lead to a sale. Their idea of Social Selling is to engage your audience in a dialogue. Your content should show off your knowledge and allow people to seek help. With that in mind, you might find your name popping up in a buyer’s mind somewhere down the line.
TikTok
TikTok launched in 2017, making it the youngest of our options, but it is small. As of 2019, TikTok has been downloaded a massive 738 million times, and though it may not be the space for traditional advertising, it can be a unique way to connect with your customers.
Without actively pushing your product, it is possible to gain a following on Tiktok using trending videos. One particular success story shows how a simple TikTok video can lead to real-life results.
User Emily Shaw began posting simple DIY videos when redecorating her parent’s house. Almost overnight, she reached more than a million followers and had requests for interviews from various media outlets. Currently, she has 3.4 million followers on TikTok and has received several paid projects as a direct result of her TikToks.
Final Thoughts
When asking how to sell your tarot cards, there are a few things you need to consider to be successful. It will not be easy, from the initial design and printing of your deck to deciding how best to reach your customers.
However, if you consider the following, you will find the process more approachable:
- Create a great product
- Decide if you want to mass produce or print a smaller batch to start out
- Look into global marketplaces and decide if they are right for you
- Consider creating your website to build up your brand
- Attend fairs and meet people
- Establish a social media presence to reach your target audience further