Greeting Card Writing: How and Where to Start

Go into any Hallmark or other popular card store. There are endless of cards! There is a card for just about anything. Many card companies provide millions of different cards every year. That equals millions of fresh ideas that are needed. This leads to a job for anyone who wants to try their hand at greeting card writing.

One greeting card company that will pay you for your poems and card ideas is Blue Mountain Arts Cards. Blue Mountain Arts Cards are currently looking for submissions. They are looking for cards on friendship, family, special occasions, and positive living. The pay is great at $300 per idea used for a card. Sometimes they will use your idea in an anthology. If your card idea or poem is used in an anthology, then you will only receive $50. You can send an email to writings@sps.com and ask for the full set of writing guidelines.

There are many other greeting card companies out there that can be found with a little bit of searching. If you are not sure whether a company provides work for freelance writers, do not hesitate asking. Sometimes companies rely heavily on freelance writers, but do not advertise it on their site. Once you get the guidelines for a particular company, start writing. Come up with about five or ten ideas. Then mail them all together with a self-addressed stamped envelope. This will increase your chances of selling a card idea.

To write a greeting card, you first need to pick your angle. You can choose to be funny or sentimental. After you have your tone set, pick a card category, such as birthdays, holidays, or birth announcements. This should narrow down your ideas, so that you are more focused on one general theme. Feel free to experiment in all different types of card categories and tones.

It is best to just live your day with pen and paper pad at hand instead of straining yourself to come up with ideas on the spot. Write down anything you find humorous or and poetry lines that come to mind. Even if it is only one line, you can go back later and expand on it. Looking at other cards will also inspire some ideas. Just make sure you are not writing a card that looks like ten different other cards.

How to write greeting cards

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