Legendary US distributor’s two-volume Counting Cards memoirs released
Cramming 43 years of greeting card industry experience into two volumes is pretty good going, and that’s what Alan Harnik, founder of the legendary US distributor of many UK card publishers Notes & Queries, has managed.
Company president Alan, who received the ultimate Honorary Achievement trophy at The Henries Awards 2022 for his championing of UK greeting cards, and his managing director daughter Vanessa have just self-published his two-book history of the company, Counting Cards: Confessions Of A Card Shark, which is available as a PDF download, as well as a hardback.
“I’m actually very surprised with people saying that they really want the hard copy,” Alan said modestly, “it was never designed to be printed other than for immediate family and my bank!”
Known throughout the UK greeting card industry, Alan and Notes & Queries have specialised in finding and importing cards from British publishers since moving on from his initial business selling arts, crafts and handmade paper brought in from Madagascar, where the trained anthropologist lived with wife Gillian in the early 70s and where Vanessa was born, later followed by brother Paul when they were back home in the US.
Peppered with photos of UK greeting card publishers, the volumes, Roots And Branches and On The Ground And In The Weeds, began life as a series of talks during a family holiday with the whole Harnik brood in August 2016, which were transcribed by Vanessa as a Christmas gift for her dad that year, and Alan has developed them further with help from his wife and daughter.
In a video filmed by Vanessa and posted to YouTube to coincide with the launch of the books – which can be viewed below – Alan explained: “I never first envisioned it in two volumes, it just came that one thing led to another, one chapter to another, and it fell into place. And I have to say, that was not an easy task, so much had happened to our company.”
It’s always been a family business with loans from relatives and friends helping Alan get started, Gillian working to support them while Notes & Queries was being established, and Vanessa moving back to Baltimore from Washington temporarily to help out in 1996 – but she never left and has now taken over as md.
“It was really designed to be to be a history of Notes & Queries,” Alan said, “and be left as a legacy for our kids, and our grandkids, then for our great grandkids. It turned out to be a bit more in terms of, not only the history of Notes & Queries but, essentially, part of the history of the alternative greeting card market in the United States, the differences between the US greeting card market and the UK market.
“It’s stories about sales people that I’ve met, retailers that we have traded with, companies that we have purchased from overseas, so it’s quite extensive. And the last two chapters deal with such issues as Covid and how companies survive during challenging times from things that they had no control over.”
From selling his Madagascan products, Alan worked up to representing 36 producers of handmade cards and stationery which he sold from a pushcart in Boston’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace – also called Quincy Market – then, having realised his future lay with greeting cards, he decided to give his American audience something different from overseas, particularly the UK.
The first volume has a section dedicated to Memorable People: Memorable Companies, which includes Alison Solnick and Jenni Barnett of Roger La Borde; Les Stevenson and Derek Clement of Apricot-Stop Press; Julian and Mami Williams of Two Bad Mice; Garry and Sara Hill of Robot Designs; Phil Boulton of Lip International; Claire Mitchard and Mark Everdell of Paper D’Art; Len Shaw of Ampersand Studio; Lucio and Meera Santoro of Santoro Ltd; Caroline and Angus Gardner of Caroline Gardner; Tristan Williams and Kate Harrison of Earthworks Art & Design; Gareth Marshall and Pauline State of Picture Palace Cards; Sarah and William Allardice of Archivist; David Hicks of Soul and Really Good Card Company; Ged Mace and Karen Mace of The Art File; Jane Crowther, Anne Crowther, and Chris Griffiths of Bug Art and A La Carte; Alan and Debbie Williams of Museums & Galleries; and Janie Jones of Madame Treacle.
The final section of volume two is a series of tributes from people across the trade, including Dandelion Stationery’s Jo Wilson, The Art File’s Ged Mace, the late David Hicks of Really Good and Soul, Michael Gray of M.E.G Cards & Gifts, Jenny Cummins of McMillan Cards & Paper, and former Clintons’ boss Dominque Schurman, who is also ceo of the 400-store Schurman Retail Group, America’s second-largest greetings speciality retailer.
He admits the writing and editing process has helped him learn a lot about himself and his company, particularly its accomplishments since 1980 and how the team dealt with challenging times, adding: “I mentioned that we’ve made a fair amount of money but we’ve almost gone bust two or three times. And it’s how you respond to the challenges that I think talks about successful companies as much as when you are having a really great year financially.”
Admitting that he thinks the current economic climate isn’t great for starting a new business, Alan said potential publishers should “do your research, set up a marketing plan, understand who your customer is, and then full steam ahead” as he pointed out: “You can’t be part-time entrepreneur, you have to throw yourself entirely to enjoy what you do, be driven by a passion.
“One of my lines is that enthusiasm is contagious. After 43 years in the business, I really enjoy what I do. I really enjoy finding new products and finding new trends before my competitors. It’s one of the things that excites me the most.
Apologising for any omissions, stories he may not have put in and people he may not have recognised, he pointed out Notes & Queries has dealt with over 10,000 retail accounts, had 2,200 salespeople on its books, and sold for more than 200 companies when “longevity in our industry is not to be taken for granted”.
Alan finished with: “The greeting card industry is filled with a cemetery of greeting card companies that have come and gone. And, of course, each year there are new companies, which is the excitement that the new publishers bring to the industry – new visions.”
The PDF versions of Counting Cards: Confessions Of A Card Shark can be downloaded here:
Top: Alan shows off his book
