Partner Spotlight is a series designed to highlight the vendors that partner with ABA to offer discounted products, services, and business opportunities to ABA members. Each installment, we interview a different partner to learn more about their organization and why indie bookstores matter to them.
Fine Moments is a husband-and-wife-owned greeting card and paper goods company creating modern, design-forward products with humor, heart, and a refined aesthetic. Known for their foil-pressed cards and clean typography, their work has been recognized with 10 Louie Awards, honoring excellence in greeting card design.
Bookselling This Week met with Fine Moments founder Jason Carberry to learn more.
Bookselling This Week: I'd like to start with talking a little bit about the origin of Fine Moments. It sounds like you had a different experience than some other small companies, because your designs started out online and in chains.
Jason Carberry: Originally, I was designing stuff for myself, for our kids, and for family friends. So, it wasn't initially my primary thing. Then, in 2005, my wife got an opportunity to relocate us to California, and there wasn’t really a market there for the kind of work I was doing at the time.
I was like, “Well, what can I do? And do it from home.”
Since I had been designing things for years, I decided to create a stationery company. I started putting my designs up on my own website, and very quickly I got approached by Tiny Prints. They were like, “Would you be willing to close up your shop, put your content on our sites, and get paid a royalty?”
It took me a bit to decide, but ultimately, I decided to do it because then I could only wear one hat. I only had to design it, I didn't have to be a marketer, I didn't have to be a fulfillment person, and all those things.
I did that for quite a while, and that opportunity gave me a lot of exposure in stores like Target, Costco, Walmart, and Walgreens.
If we fast forward to around 2010, Shutterfly acquired them. I continued to do work for them for a while, but that acquisition changed things in a way that I didn't want to be part of anymore.
I decided to go back off on my own again, but I realized that I didn’t have the resources financially to compete with bigger online companies, in terms of things like the infrastructure they have on their websites. So, I pivoted into wholesale.
That's what we've been doing ever since and we haven't looked back.
BTW: It's kind of cool that you've seen all these different sections of the industry and found what worked for you.
And some of our readers may have seen your designs before and not even realized that they're yours.
JC: Yeah, I've definitely seen it from all sides.
BTW: How would you describe your style to someone who hasn't seen it?
JC: We definitely tilt a little bit more modern, with a more minimal aesthetic that’s designed to appeal equally, and most of our cards come with a blank interior.
When I got into the wholesale side of the business, I was trying to find a foothold, something that would be unique.
One of the things that make our line unique is that all of our greeting cards have some element of foil to them. So, in the light, they all give off a shimmer.
While there are certainly other lines that do foil, we commit to having foil in every card in some way, shape, or form.
We like to say our line exists for people who appreciate “less is more.”
One of our customers told us that they would never mistake our line for somebody else's, and I think that's a good compliment.
BTW: What prompted you to partner with ABA and our members?
JC: Bookstores are naturally one of our largest clients. When you look at the amount of independent stores that we sell to, we have quite a few bookstores. They also tend to reorder more often.
We also do some of these larger trade shows, like in New York, Atlanta, and Vegas. Those shows are extremely expensive, and you're not always getting the kind of buyer you're looking for because the shows are so big.
I’m a member of the Greeting Card Association (GCA), and one of the things that a lot of our members talk about is alternative markets or other ways to get our product to the audience that we're looking to sell to. That’s how I learned about ABA.
I went to one of the regional association’s bookselling shows last year, and I was blown away by how awesome it was.
I couldn't believe how many people I got to talk to. When I compare my experience at that bookselling trade show to one of those larger shows in New York, it was very refreshing.
At those shows, there's this pressure to try to sell right there, so you're looking at the success of those shows based on what you sell at the show. At the bookselling show, we weren't inherently focused on writing orders, but we talked to so many people that have turned into clients since then. The buyers that came to visit our space were much more engaged and interested in getting to know us, getting to know the line, the story behind the line.
It’s something I never experienced going to a larger trade showing, and I know I'm not alone in that. Other members of the GCA who have done bookselling trade shows have shared the same sentiment. It takes the pressure off of trying to sell, lets you meet people on a human level and connect with them, and lets the business happen later.
BTW: I'm so glad that you’ve had such good experiences with those shows so far.
I think because to own a bookstore, you have to be passionate about it, and I think that transfers into wanting to partner with other small businesses that are passionate about what they do.
JC: Some of our longest standing and best accounts are honestly bookstores. After the call that we're on now, I'm actually going to go run an order out to one of our bookstore accounts that’s really close by.
BTW: Are you a big reader? Do you want to tell us about the role of books or independent bookstores in your life?
I am a big reader, but it's kind of fits and starts. I could go a year not really reading much. Then I'll suddenly read twelve books.
It depends on what my time allows, because I'm the type that gets completely focused on something.
Independent bookstores influence our work a lot.
We have quite a few designs influenced by bookstores and the literary world. When we have good representation in an area, either a region or type of store — in this case bookstores — I try to design more things for them. Since we’ve been doing well in bookstores, I’ve added more speak to books or have literary messaging in some way, shape, or form.
In fact, I just designed a birthday card with a stack of books that says “Your story just keeps getting better.”
BTW: Is there anything else that we haven't talked about that you feel is important to mention?
JC: I’ve found that a lot of small businesses like to buy on Faire. We are on Faire.
But in order to get the best discounts, please order directly from the Fine Moments website or use the Faire link provided on BookWeb.
Using those direct links will make sure that you get the discounts that you’re supposed to, and that I can continue to offer you those savings!
Another thing is, if I get enough requests within a region or type of business, then I try to accommodate them and introduce products that they'd like to see. So we always love to hear feedback from our buyers or potential buyers about things that they like to see.
A lot of our lines happened that way. Like, we have a ton of birthday cards with ages. We certainly did not start out doing all those age cards, but we kept adding them because there was a request for them. I mean, somebody had asked for a 100 card. I was like, “Are there really that many people turning 100?” Sure enough, there's a ton. That thing's been reprinted so many times.
So, we’re always interested to hear from folks.
ABA members are eligible for a 10% discount on orders over $150 or a 15% discount on orders over $250.