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.
Morgan Swank Studio is a woman-owned and operated business selling cheeky but wholesome greeting cards and gifts for people who don’t take themselves too seriously.
Bookselling This Week met with Morgan Swank to learn more.
Bookselling This Week: Why don't you tell me a little bit about the company? Where were you before Morgan Swank Studio and what prompted you to get started?
Morgan Swank: I have a background in fashion. I worked in the fashion design industry for several years, but I've always loved to draw.
Growing up, illustration was what I loved, but I didn’t think I could make a living that way.
So, I chose, obviously, the very practical path in design. I worked in the fashion industry for a couple of years, and was just getting really burnt out. I really wanted to be more creative than what I was.
I was living in Minnesota at the time and I moved back to Richmond, Virginia, to be with my family. I ended up having a sudden-onset chronic illness, which made me do a lot of soul-searching — if I only have so much energy, what is it that I want to be able to do? I read several books about essentialism and priorities. I did a value sheet to sort out what I think is important.
Through all that, I realized that I wanted to do something with my art, but I wanted it to be affordable so that other people could experience the joy of art. (I had been doing commission work, but not everybody can afford custom art.)
I wasn’t thinking of greeting cards and gifts at that time, but I started looking at different businesses that I really admired and several of them were greeting card companies.
It really just clicked with me, because my grandma would always send greeting cards to me. She'd always find the right one and it always meant so much to me to receive a card in the mail.
It was this moment where I thought, “Oh, I think this is what I've been meaning to do all along.”
This was in 2018 or 2019, then I spent a year or two working to create a line because I knew I wanted to work with businesses and do wholesale.
I launched in 2020, which as we know, was a crazy time. I launched at the National Stationery Show, and then a month later the world shut down.
We've been rolling ever since, continuing to grow and working with stores.
BTW: Greeting cards especially are just one of those things that people hold on to. A really meaningful card with a heartfelt message, those are some of the things that you keep.
Do you have a team working with you? Or is it just you?
MS: It is just me.
My mom does help pick and pack, and she goes to shows with me. So, at Winter Institute, she'll be there!
I'm planning on doing some other shows in the fall, and she'll be there too.
She is my biggest cheerleader. She definitely steps in when I need some extra hands.
BTW: I love that. We'll be able to say hi to you and your mom at Winter Institute!
Greeting cards are your main product, but you said you do some gifts as well?
MS: Yes. I started with greeting cards but I also have stickers, notebooks, mini notebooks, notepads, and bookmarks.
The notepads and stickers are a big part of my line. I also recently released mini notebooks. I make them in my studio, so they're small batch, plastic free, and really, really cute.
They've been selling really well.
BTW: All of your items are things that could find an amazing home in some of our member stores.
When you first started, did you expect to be working with bookstores?
MS: At first, I thought, “Oh, stationery goes into stationery stores.”
But all of a sudden, some bookstores started buying and I was so excited, because I've been a reader my whole life.
When I started selling, I didn’t have a ton of book-themed items, but as the amount of bookstores I was in continued to grow, I started expanding my reading-themed items.
Although bookstores can carry any of my designs, I now have more designs that are reading-forward and reading accessories like bookmarks.
I love what independent bookstores are doing and I love working with independent bookstores, so I wanted to lean into it.
It's been really fun. I went to the Heartland Fall Forum last year as a vendor, and it was just so fun and joyful. Book people are really the best people.
I had so many good conversations and met so many wonderful people. It made me even more excited to continue to grow my relationships with bookstores. So, I’ll continue to connect with bookstores and bookstore owners and show up where you all are.
BTW: I feel like many booksellers have the same story that you do, where they left a more “traditional” career to follow something that they found meaningful.
MS: It really is a labor of love, owning a small business.
We are in this because we're passionate, and we love what we're doing, and we feel like there's a calling that we have to live out.
BTW: Is there anything you want to tease? Any hints about future designs?
MS: I am working on a new product right now. It's still in its little baby stage, so I don’t want to say too much, but I think it will be exciting for bookstores and will be a good addition to their shelves.
BTW: Now I'm very curious. We’ll definitely keep an eye out for that.
I know you've worked on so many designs now. Do you have a favorite? Or one that you're most proud of?
MS: I do. It's actually my bestselling card. It says, “Go shorty, it’s your birthday,” and [it’s got] all these corgis.
I had a corgi, so I have a lot of corgi-themed items and they all sell really well.
I also have one that I really love: it has a book illustration on it and says, “Another year for the books.”
It just makes me happy when other people connect with my designs. There's nothing cooler than somebody seeing my art and wanting to share it with someone that they love.
BTW: Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you want to mention?
MS: Just that all the illustrations are mine.
Everything is illustrated by me, by hand, in my studio.
It's not AI. And I’m not buying files from other people.
I also prioritize working with other small businesses for the production aspects. For example, for my notepads, I work with a small woman-owned printer in the Northeast. My goal is to continue to find partners that are on the smaller side.
Like they say, “a rising tide lifts all boats.” I like the chain reaction — when people purchase from me, they're supporting me and they're supporting another small business along the supply route.
ABA members are eligible for 10% off orders $200 (or more). Visit the ABA Partners page for more details.