Pitchcards were sold– i.e. “pitched”– by the performer at the show as souvenirs. Most often sold by the performer him or herself from inside the tent, the cards were an added income from which the act split a percentage with the show operator. The design and creation of the cards fell to the show manager, but some performers took an active part in this process and constantly had new versions made after each season.
While many pitchcards were the same size and used the same printing as postcards they differed in that postcards are printed on their back with a place to write a message and put a stamp. Postcard-sized pitchcards were either blank-backed or contained a printed biography of the performer.
Unlike traditional postcards, many pitchcards were printed in non-standard and odd sizes, with differing paper quality. Very often the decision to print pitchcards in unusual sizes was due to the availability of cheap materials from local printers, i.e. whatever the printer had on-hand that could be used to make a cheaper product for the performer.
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