How to Find Greeting Card Companies that Want to Buy Freelance Humor Writing

By May Monten, published Mar 08, 2007
Published Content: 88  Total Views: 43,743  Favorited By: 4 CPs
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So you've decided to try becoming a freelance greeting card humor writer! Perhaps you read my introductory article on the subject (click my name, above, for an article list), or perhaps you heard about this unusual, but rewarding market niche elsewhere. Whatever it was that piqued your interest, if you are ready to get started, the first thing you have to do is locate companies that want to buy freelance humor.

There are three basic ways to do that:

1. Search for guidelines on the internet. Many greeting card companies put their guidelines, which are information sheets for prospective freelancers, on their websites. You could do a general search on phrases such as "greeting card guidelines" or "greeting card freelance."

Or you could go browse cards in brick-and-mortar stores (something you should be doing anyway, as an aspiring card writer!), and when you see a card that you like, look on the back for the company name. Then, when you are at your computer, you can search for the company directly and see if they have any info for freelancers.

Doing an internet search as a way to find companies that accept freelance work has the advantages of being quick and free. However, the process is random and you may miss a lot of the possibilities.

2. Use Writer's Market. "Writer's Market" is a huge book of market information for all types of writers that is published annually by Writer's Digest Books. They used to have a chapter devoted to greeting card companies, and traditionally, this was the way that most freelance card writers got their information. Unfortunately, several years ago, for unknown reasons, they stopped publishing the greeting card chapter, at least in the print version of the book. They still have that information online, though.

Greeting cards

Credit: Coolcaesar at Wikipedia

Copyright: GNU Free Documentation License

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Showing Comments 1 - 6 of 6
 
 
UPDATE -- The greeting card listings are back in the "Writer's Market" starting with the 2008 edition -- the one that's currently in the stores. (I'm putting this in the comments because I'm unable to access my article to edit it.)

Posted on 12/03/2007 at 5:12:00 PM

 
Good info! I submitted to Blue Mountain last month and from I have read on the AC forum this morning it seems it may take a looooooong time before i hear anything from them

Posted on 06/15/2007 at 7:06:00 AM

 
good info. I might try it out on a whim.

Posted on 06/06/2007 at 10:06:00 PM

 
Of course one needs to have the talent to write greetings... Funny, this should be common sense, but I had to read it to learn. Thanks for sharing.

Posted on 04/02/2007 at 3:04:00 PM

 
Thanks for your comment!

Posted on 03/08/2007 at 4:03:00 PM

 
Excellent info. I had absolutely no clue how it works for this market. Thanks for sharing.

Posted on 03/08/2007 at 10:03:00 AM

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