Writing
the verse or sentiment for greeting cards for all occasions. Greeting
card companies pay freelancers for individual card ideas, or ideas
for a card line. Greeting cards fall into a number of different
categories, such as baby announcements, conventional, humorous,
inspirational, invitations, juvenile, religious, studio, and wedding
announcements. In these different categories of cards they also need
them for all the holidays, seasons, or occasions: anniversary,
birthday, Christmas, congratulations, Easter, Father's Day,
friendship, get well, Halloween, miss you, Mother's Day, new baby,
relatives (all occasions), St. Patrick's Day, sympathy, Thanksgiving,
thank you, Valentines, and wedding.
Payment
for individual ideas is typically an outright payment, not a royalty
situation. If the idea is for a line of cards, it may be handled on a
royalty basis. When submitting ideas by mail, put each on a separate
index card or page, indicating the text that will appear on both the
outside and the inside of the card. Give each idea an identifying
number, plus include your contact information on each one. You can
usually send several ideas at a time. With the ideas on individual
cards, the publisher can select those they want and return the
others. The company's writers'
guidelines
will tell you how many you can submit at one time, if they want them
by mail or email, as well as their pay rate. If they prefer email
submissions, type them up with the same information you would have on
the index card and separate the ideas with a solid line across the
page.
Greeting
cards are a good outlet for short poems that fit the holiday or
season, however all greetings would not be poems; some are gags or
one-liners, or something inspirational or religious. Visit a local
card shop to get a better feel for the types of cards the different
greeting card publishers prefer and submit your ideas accordingly.
For more information on writing greeting cards, go to:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/greeting_cards1.htm.
You will find listings of greeting card markets in Writer's
Market
and the Christian
Writers' Market Guide.
